In a message that absolutely tells you how off the rails California Governor Gavin Newsom is, he is planning to make California “carbon neutral” by 2045. All by harnessing the power of the wind.
The stated goal is to create 20 gigawatts per year via wind.
This is the state that has to buy power from other states. It is taking water from the Colorado River to keep its population and crops alive, that doesn’t have enough power generating stations now and they think that wind will be the answer.
Texas has a boat load of wind power. Unfortunately when it gets really hot the winds stop blowing, just when everybody wants to turn on the AC.
Of course the plan is unlikely to account for the vast increase in electric vehicles. Many states are already asking EV owners to only charge their cars during particular times of day, in order to avoid rolling brown/black outs.
You just know that this is going to cost Billions of dollars and it will come from tax payers. And the odds of it actually achieving anywhere near the goals stated are near zero.
— Governor Newsom Calls for Bold Actions to Move Faster Toward Climate Goals
Well…. I believe the part about “wind”….ol gavin makes enough himself…
“Carbon neutral “…. Hey gavvy! Take a deep breath and hold it…. Shortly after you will be “carbon neutral “.
As soon as the climate morons started in on carbon dioxide I knew they were F’in stupider than I thought
And of course 2045 is sufficiently distant in time that Noisome (and THANK YOU, autocorrect, for that one!) won’t be around to have to explain why it never happened the way he said it would.
Wind power is not carbon “free” or even “carbon neutral.” Those giant wind turbines use blade made from carbon fiber held together with polymer resin made from petrochemicals. The gear boxes use 80 gallons of PAO synthetic oil (see https://www.webnews21.org/how-much-oil-does-a-wind-turbine-use/). Assuming 5 MW per wind turbine to achieve 20 GW (20,000 MW) target means 4000 turbine will be needed. In actuality more will be needed to account for scheduled and unscheduled outages, uncertainties of the wind speed and availability (i.e. what happens when the wind doesn’t blow?). For the sake of argument I’ll add 15% reserve capacity, so an additional 600 windmills equaling 80 gallons x 4600 turbines means 368,000 gallons of lube oil, manufactured from crude oil with the attendant loss, used each year. This doesn’t even address the amount of oil and fossil fuels used in making the needed steel, and installation. Hardly “carbon neutral.”