Are Renewables Practical for All the US?
S/R wondered if there were areas, say, Central Texas, with a mediocre wind factor, where renewables would not be cost-effective. Wasserman pointed out that the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River “was estimated by the Department of Energy in the 1980’s to have sufficient wind potential to generate twice as much electricity as the (entire) US uses… [and that] the transmission lines are already in place. You don’t have to build a new gridbut in the long term, there are other methods, especially hydrogen, which is really the fuel of the future.” He believes it is feasible, everywhere, to have a hydrogen economy but it has been blocked by the oil industry, which in its transport spills enough oil “everyday to equal the Exxon Valdezit’s a slow and less visible but nonetheless ongoing catastrophe that’s going on with fossil fuels.” He added in response to often-stated fears about the explosive potential of hydrogen, ” But natural gas explodes too, and oil burns Hydro
