How Dependable is Renewable Energy-The Issues with Wind and Solar Power

Ken Caldeira, PhD, Atmospheric Scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science's Department of Global Ecology examined 36 years of weather data and found that wind and solar power could potentially generate up to 80% of U.S. energy needs. However, it would require significant and expensive improvements to the nation's energy transmission grid. He said he was surprised to find that wind power is even less consistently available than solar. He also outlined the ways that energy providers must generate electricity by other means when renewable sources falter.