Cruel, cruel irony
Renewable energy sources work better when the world is warmer (Solar meets polar ...):
As concern has grown about global warming, many utilities and homeowners have been trying to shrink their emissions of carbon dioxide — their carbon footprints — by installing solar panels, wind turbines and even generators powered by tides or rivers. But for the moment, at least, the planet is still cold enough to deal nasty winter blows to some of this green machinery.
... a bus stalled in the middle of the night on Interstate 70 in the Colorado mountains. The culprit was a 20 percent biodiesel blend that congealed in the freezing weather ...
... Winter may pose even bigger safety hazards in the vicinity of wind turbines. Some observers say the machines can hurl chunks of ice as they rotate. ...
... Days are shorter and the sun is lower in the sky during the winter, ensuring less [solar] power production. ...
luckily, global warming won't change the tilt of the earth relative to the sun, right?
or will it?!?! gah!
Posted by: ryan | December 29, 2008 at 08:45 PM
Freezing diesel is a problem for fossil fuel derived diesel as well as biodiesel. It can be handled, but it occurs when trucks/buses/cars drive from an area with a warmer weather formulation.
This is another one, where your bashing biofuels as a reflex, merely shows naivety. Of course as ryan points out the last one is indeed an entirely different thing.
Posted by: Eli Rabett | December 31, 2008 at 08:48 PM
Eli,
"bashing biofuels as a reflex"
Huh?
Posted by: John Whitehead | January 05, 2009 at 11:40 AM