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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (45549)	9/2/2010 5:58:52 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

(That guy can't even argue with himself without tripping all over his very own feet inside a paragraph or two! <g>) First he says that wind generated power should be compared to gas-fired and not coal-fired (because wind is generally not considered to be suitable for 'baseline power' like coal because it's too intermittent, so it generally goes head-to-head with gas-fired 'peaking' and 'load-leveling' plants). Now that's a fairly standard and widely accepted point (though, of course, not necessarily applicable in all locales... some world sites might not have access to gas or favorable pricing for gas, etc. But of course no single technology can be said to be economic everywhere). But almost in exactly the next sentence he reverses that sensible argument and argues that introducing wind power into a grid 'makes coal plants operate more inefficiently'!!!!!!!!!!!! The CHEEK of this PR flack! Firstly, he introduces absolutely zero evidence to support that claim (the big power companies I've read about have never claimed that... mostly they argue that diversity of generation sources is a 'good' thing, allowing for more cost/efficient operations.... And Secondly, he is advancing that unsupported claim in DIRECT OPPOSITION to what he'd said just a sentence before (that 'wind usually competes against gas, but not coal'). LOL! And, regarding this last misleading broadside from the PR flack: "If wind can compete absent subsidies, mandates, or tax credits, then Americans will benefit from a more robust, competitive energy market." I submit that ALL WE GOTTA DO to find the answer to that question is remove all the subsidies (direct and indirect) from coal and nuclear and gas/oil... then, in a fair marketplace competition, with no 'thumbs on the scales', we would surely see rational choices made (often different ones though in different geographic locations) about energy technology options. (Gee... I wonder how much Heritage will get in continuing financial support from the Koch Billionaires for this string of 'editorials' and blog posts favoring their personal financial interests? :-)