Quote:
Originally Posted by starslayer
1. The US does not represent the entire world, but I am actually suprised to hear that only 8% of US power is renewable (I thought you guys had a lot more hydro-power) <reference: https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=427&t=3 says 12% which is close enough to what Ryan Said >
2. However that is locally based. Power in say, the Niagara region gets 80+% of its power from the dam, which will happily keep chugging away for decades after all human intervention stops.
As far as requirements, that's kind of the point
If consumption is only 8% of peak, then renewables will be able to cover 100% of useage even if they only provide 8% of the grid total capacity, because only 8% of the grid is actually being utilized. |
Yeah, but it won't be a soft landing. Considering the chaos, most urban areas will have at least localized fires, and some of those fires will take down lines, and some of those lines will short, and that means that sections of the grid will cut out. That, in turn will cause cascading failures that will cut the continental grids apart.
So the gift shop at Hoover will have power. Houses that have solar panels will work. Maybe a neighborhood right next to the nuclear plant will have power for a few days. But unless there's a good reason the power's still on, it'll be out everywhere.