If the Portugese can do it, why can't we?

The American corporate media all seem to tell the same story when it comes to clean, renewable types of energy like wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal.  When they tak about it at all,  the  stories are shaded to make it seem too expensive, not reliable, decades away from contributing more than minimally to America's energy needs.

I spent two decades writing and producing for the media on renewable energy. Put me on record: the corporate media are selling a line of B.S. when they diminish the potential of renewable energy.  In the Spring of 2013, wind and solar have become competitive economically with hydrocarbon fossil energy sources like coal and oil.

Right now in 2013,  Portugal, a lovely country on the western third of the Iberian Peninsula,  gets 70% of its electricity from renewable sources of energy. The Portuguese are on their way to eliminating their remaining coal-fired power production.

Germany and Denmark are also rapidly replacing fossil fuel power plants with clean, renewable sources of energy.  Nuclear power is on the way out in many European countries.  In fact, the European Union has embarked on a bold course that will substantially replace its dirty fossil powered energy production with clean, renewable technologies over the next few decades.  They have shaped public policy to make it happen, and they have authorized billions of Euros in funding to cover the cost.

If the Portuguese and their European brethren can do it, why can't we?  The reality is, we are all earthlings. That makes us subject to the same primary dynamics where energy is concerned. The cost of our dependence on  fossil fuels like coal and oil has become too high.  Moreover, our use of dirty hydrocarbon fuels is directly linked to global climate change, the greatest threat to human civilization ever known.

The Portuguese and the Europeans are showing the way. They are proof positive that a concerted transition away from coal, oil, and nuclear power can be done.  It needs to happen in the US as well. Why then is America mired in its dependence on fossil fuels?   Why can't we strive for the same brand of clean, renewable energy independence the Europeans are working toward? 

It all boils down to politics.  Big oil in America is the richest industrial cartel in the history of the world.  They use their money and influence to make the rules where energy is concerned.  They put their interest ahead of the welfare of the American people. That's not going to change until we the people demand that our government put our welfare ahead of corporations and the super rich.

I pulled the following article from the Think Progress website....

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Is 70 Percent Renewable Power Possible? Portugal Just Did It For 3 Months

 

By Ryan Koronowski on Apr 14, 2013 at 9:06 am

 

 

Portugal’s electricity network operator announced that renewable energy supplied 70 percent of total consumption in the first quarter of this year. This increase was largely due to favorable weather conditions resulting in increased wind and water flow, as well as lower demand. Portuguese citizens are using less energy and using sources that never run out for the vast majority of what they do use.

 

 



Alto Lindoso (Image credit: Energeias de Portugal)

Hydropower supplied most: Hydroelectric power supplied 37 percent of total electricity — a 312 percent increase compared to last year.

• Wind turbines broke a record: Wind energy represented 27 percent of the total share, which is 60 percent higher than last year. This is 37 percent above average and good for the highest amount generated by wind in Portugal, ever.
• 2.3 percent less energy used: Energy consumption has fallen every year since 2010 and is now at 2006 levels. Some of the drop this quarter was due to fewer working days and a warmer winter, but even controlling for those factors, there was still a drop of .4 percent.
• Not so much solar: Solar energy supplies only .7 percent of total energy demand, according to 2012 figures (Q1 2013 figures were not available for solar). This constitutes 225.5 MW in total photovoltaic capacity.
• Dropping the fossil fuel habit: Portugal’s electricity had 29 percent less coal and 44 percent less gas in it from 2012 figures. The country must import the fossil fuels it burns.
• For sale: Portugal exported what would have been 6 percent of total electricity consumption to other countries. It will also be able to sell a chunk of its allotted carbon credits offered by the EU’s carbon trading system.

Actually 70 percent isn’t unheard of for Portugal. For a few hours in 2011, Portugal was entirely run on renewable power. Yet this was the first time so much was sustained for a quarter.
Portugal’s investment in modernizing its electricity grid in 2000 has come in handy. Like in many countries, power companies owned their own transmission lines. What the government did in 2000 was to buy all the lines, creating a publicly owned and traded company to operate them. This was used to create a smart grid that renewable energy producers could connect to (encouraged by government-organized auctions to build new wind and hydro plants). In 2010, the New York Times reported on Portugal’s renewable energy push that started in earnest in 2005:

Five years ago, the leaders of this sun-scorched, wind-swept nation made a bet: To reduce Portugal’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, they embarked on an array of ambitious renewable energy projects — primarily harnessing the country’s wind and hydropower, but also its sunlight and ocean waves…. Nearly 45 percent of the electricity in Portugal’s grid will come from renewable sources this year, up from 17 percent just five years ago.

There was a massive amount of skepticism over the plan at the time. The Prime Minister at the time, José Sócrates, noted that the nation’s network of electric car charging stations elicited ridicule — including former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Burlusconi who jokingly offered to build him an electric Ferrari. While a totally electric version isn’t available, the fastest Ferrari ever was unveiled last month, and it’s a hybrid.
Some locals complained about higher utility bills or the green economy bypassing them, while others were thrilled. The Mayor of Moura explained that the reason his town got the nation’s largest solar plant was because it “gets the most sun of anywhere in Europe and has lots of useless space.”
So now that it demonstrated the ability to generate 70 percent renewable energy for 3 months, where does Portugal go from here? Oddly enough, it does not have much in the way of offshore wind capacity — only 2 MW. The recent economic situation and austerity programs have endangered not only jobs and commerce, but continued investment in renewable energy and electric vehicles. Yet saving on the cost of having to import fossil fuels will be helpful for decades to come, and as its economy improves, it will have a strong renewable electricity grid to rely upon.
Other countries have been making steps of their own on renewable power production. The U.S. had a record-breaking year for wind energy in 2012, growing by 28 percent. Sweden is looking to have no dependence on oil by 2020. Australia could be looking at 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. Global solar power world will soon be a net-positive energy source.