One of the best sources of rational analysis and well stated opinions concerning energy is Cal Berkeley’s Energy Institute at HAAS. If you are interested in energy, go here to join their email list.
I thought that Catherine Wolfram’s recent blog “Fossil Fuels are Dead, Long Live Fossil Fuels” (See blog here) was great. A long, but valuable quote: “One general finding of these studies is that systems based entirely on renewables plus storage involve a whole lot of wasted solar and wind. In order to have enough electricity during periods when its cloudy or the wind isn’t blowing – or worse, when it’s cloudy AND the wind isn’t blowing, the models design electricity systems that vastly overproduce during periods when it’s sunny and windy. This paper cites studies that find we would need to build generating capacity equal to anywhere from 3 to 8 times peak demand to meet demand with renewables. These results hold even with relatively cheap battery storage, mainly due to the multi-day periods of low renewable generation which are particularly likely to occur in the winter when loads are projected to grow disproportionately due to the electrification of heating and other end uses.” The paper she cites above is also very good.
If you want to control carbon emissions, it has to be done on a global scale. If it is going to be done on a global scale, cost matters. As Catherine says in summary, “I know fossil fuels are a dirty word in a lot of environmental circles, but they are ubiquitous worldwide for two fundamental reasons: they’re cheap and energy-dense. If we can work on ways to also make them environmentally benign, that could be huge.”