Re: IQotW: "Renewables simply don't cut it for power generation..." @ jeffypoooh
"If Canada didn't export much of the hydro power to the USA, I suspect that Canada could be 100+% hydro."
I doubt that much of the energy exported to the US would be from "Hydro", unless, of course there's some dedicated lines running from where the things mostly are to where they connect to the US grid. A map of where exactly the plants are is most edifying in that respect. The losses in transport would be... significant. I've a feeling most of the actual speedy electrons generated are produced in the set of nuclear stations in the southeast much nearer the US border.
"The post was aimed at the quoted "don't cut it" which is obviously a false claim."
It isn't. It's nice to quote Canada for Hydro, but it would be the same as taking Iceland stating "why don't you use Geothermal then?" : The conditions for building a plant simply aren't met in most places.
And the thing is, to tackle the problem of energy generation and distribution, especially if you want to shift a major amount of required energy to the electrical grid, as you'd need to do if most transportation would switch to electricity, you have to look further than just the places where [renewable energy X] happens to be feasible on a large scale. Because in most other places it simply is not, and as such Does Not Cut It.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
