Gore: U.S. Can Get 100 Percent Renewable Energy in 10 Years ?

[prashamk]

Originally Posted by LMagic007

Imagine the US spending $300 million per day on renewable energy projects to help decouple its energy and strategic security from oil. I think the more significant message in Gore's mantra, is not so much the headline grabbing 10 years, but the fact that if the US could steel it's attention toward a more noble goals, it might find itself in a place where it's economy could benefit and perhaps its dependency upon oil producing nations reduced and of course last but not least the environment itself stands to benefit.

Youve opened up a whole new prospect. But does obama love solar/wind or geothermal as much as bush loves war?

[Deathridesahorse]

Originally Posted by Besoeker

Not sure where you got your figures from.
US consumption is about 3.816 trillion kWh
Or 3816 teraWatt hours.

But I agree with your point. 100% renewables in 10 years is, at best, poetic licence.



Not a cat in hell's chance of all that in 10 years.

Terrawatt-hours are energy units....Terrwatts are power units: apples and oranges!

Power is an Energy rate i.e. Energy / time!!

It's a simple concept with a fancy name called "Dimensional Analysis"

Watts are actually Joules per second. Scientists sometimes get attributed a unit name instead of a planet and is just a cultural thing.

Joules per second is an Energy rate as Joules is the proper unit for Energy.

Multiplying Watts by the number or hours you have used the elctricty in a month is how you get Watt-hours...Dimensionally Watt-hours= Joules!

There you have it...a simple as mud explanation!

(Yes, I failed Mechanical Engineering btw: l(no, seriously)ol!)

[Besoeker]

Originally Posted by Deathridesahorse

Terrawatt-hours are energy units....Terrwatts are power units: apples and oranges!

Power is an Energy rate i.e. Energy / time!!

It's a simple concept with a fancy name called "Dimensional Analysis"

Watts are actually Joules per second. Scientists sometimes get attributed a unit name instead of a planet and is just a cultural thing.

Joules per second is an Energy rate as Joules is the proper unit for Energy.

Multiplying Watts by the number or hours you have used the elctricty in a month is how you get Watt-hours...Dimensionally Watt-hours= Joules!

There you have it...a simple as mud explanation!

(Yes, I failed Mechanical Engineering btw: l(no, seriously)ol!)

And I have a degree in electrical engineering, 40 years experience in the field of power and power electronics, so I think I have a half reasonable understanding of the concepts.
SI units make calculations reasonably simple and commutable from mechanical to electrical units.
1J = 1 Nm = 1 Ws
Calculations involving speed, torque, power, inertia, acceleration etc. are reasonably straightforward if you have a grasp of the fundamentals.

As you said:
"Power is an Energy rate i.e. Energy / time"
Quite right. Rate of doing work.
Put the other way round, energy is power times time.
No passage of time = no energy.
One of our prolific posters seems to have difficulty with that concept.

Anyway, the 3816 TWh equates to an average power consumption of about 4.356*10^11 W.

[LMagic007]

It's not exactly rocket science. no time no energy transfer. not no energy.

[LMagic007]

Originally Posted by prashamk

Youve opened up a whole new prospect. But does obama love solar/wind or geothermal as much as bush loves war?

Hmm will he win? either way I suspect that money could go along way toward changing US energy dependance. An interesting hypothesis.

[Deathridesahorse]

Originally Posted by Besoeker

And I have a degree in electrical engineering, 40 years experience in the field of power and power electronics, so I think I have a half reasonable understanding of the concepts.
SI units make calculations reasonably simple and commutable from mechanical to electrical units.
1J = 1 Nm = 1 Ws
Calculations involving speed, torque, power, inertia, acceleration etc. are reasonably straightforward if you have a grasp of the fundamentals.

As you said:
"Power is an Energy rate i.e. Energy / time"
Quite right. Rate of doing work.
Put the other way round, energy is power times time.
No passage of time = no energy.
One of our prolific posters seems to have difficulty with that concept.

Anyway, the 3816 TWh equates to an average power consumption of about 4.356*10^11 W.

ta, cheers! It looks like I misread and thought some clarification was needed....meh, it's all good!

[Besoeker]

Originally Posted by LMagic007

It's not exactly rocket science. no time no energy transfer. not no energy.

Quite right. It isn't rocket science. But the basics continue to evade you.
Energy is power times time.
No time, no energy. It's that simple.

[Besoeker]

Originally Posted by Deathridesahorse

ta, cheers! It looks like I misread and thought some clarification was needed....meh, it's all good!

No problem.
I just thought it fair to explain my background.

[LMagic007]

Originally Posted by Besoeker

Quite right. It isn't rocket science. But the basics continue to evade you. Energy is power times time.No time, no energy. It's that simple.

Wrong, no time no energy transfer. It's that simple.

[Besoeker]

Originally Posted by LMagic007

Wrong, no time no energy transfer. It's that simple.

E = P X t
If t = 0 then P = 0
QED.