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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (1008)	7/26/2008 2:30:30 PM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

The sun doesn't shine all the time, the wind doesn't blow all the time. When the wind and sun aren't producing, people still want electricity. So you need backup power. From what I've read the backup amounts to 70% for wind, but I'm no expert on this - still whatever the percent is very significant backup power is gonna be needed. And its gonna be needed on short notice w/ little predictability. So it needs backup power that can be brought up and taken down quickly. And natural gas is the best at that. When the turbines are becalmed, we'll need other power plants — primarily gas-fired ones, which can be started more quickly than other types of generation — to meet demand. chron.com