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Dumb Energy: A Critique of Wind and Solar Energy Kindle Edition

by Norman Rogers (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 313 ratings
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Wind and solar energy have negative economic value. An objective analysis of the economics involved show that wind and solar are heavily subsidized. Some of the subsidies are open, but much of the subsidy is hidden from the public. There are special tax deals and sweetheart power purchase agreements. Although wind and solar are promoted as a low carbon solution, they are a remarkably expensive way to reduce carbon emissions. The erratic nature of wind and solar means it is necessary to have a dual system - the wind or solar, and in addition, a conventional system to backup the erratic wind or solar. Sometimes the wind does not blow. The sun does not shine when it is cloudy, or at night. Extensive lobbying and outright propaganda has convinced the public that it is a good idea to spend billions on this dumb wind and solar energy. The facts and figures are in this book, in an easily-understood format.
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  1. Print length
    139 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    March 23, 2019
  5. File size
    2505 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07PVV23FB
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 23, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2505 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 139 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 313 ratings

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
We don’t use a simple average to calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star. Our system gives more weight to certain factors—including how recent the review is and if the reviewer bought it on Amazon. Learn more
313 global ratings
Fabulous! Simply Fabulous!
5 Stars
Fabulous! Simply Fabulous!
I am a professional Geological Engineer PE. I have been saying the same things as the Author has so well articulated in this book. It is truly "Dumb Energy" the energy systems we have in the USA. Electricity should be dirt cheap. Great Job.David Q. Tognoni, PE
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Top reviews from the United States

Byron Claghorn
5.0 out of 5 stars Understand Just How Ineffective & Costly Solar and Wind Energy is Actually for the Grid!
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2018
Verified Purchase
“Dumb Energy – A Critique of Wind and Solar Energy”, by Norman Rogers, 2018.
An outstanding and brief (only 131 pages) critique and summary of the many reasons that Wind and Solar Renewable Energy are NOT a Cost-Effective and Viable solution to our nation’s Grid and the world’s Energy Problems! It also defines the many needs to protect and modernize our nation’s vulnerable power grid.

Norman Rodgers exposes the false “Illusion that Renewable Energy is Free or Cost-Effective” as perpetrated deliberately by special interests that hide its many real and costly subsidies as well as its limitations as a viable substitute for other technology power solutions.

Rodgers shows how many of these subsidies are designed to incentivize ( i.e., Profit From) the expansion of Wind and Solar Technologies which actually are Detrimental to our Nation’s Grid while increasing the Cost of Energy to the Consumer as well as the Taxpayers.

An excellent and informative read to better understand the overblown Renewable Energy and phony Man-Made Climate Change (CO2) claims. It is very clear, specific and authentic.
14 people found this helpful
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Mike Johnson
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Basic Summary
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2018
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If you are a utopian attracted to romantic dreams this book will likely just upset you. If on the other hand you would like to read a summary of the basic energy issues without becoming a specialist this is a serviceable reasonably priced book. There are many problems with reliable power supply here to consider including huge fires started by an overloaded grid and lack of any real security. Like most infrastructure the power system is a few days from complete collapse at any given moment and you may find it a lot shakier than you think!
4 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Wind/solar and stability of electric power grid
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2018
Verified Purchase
As an engineer, the author points out a little known but huge problem with wind and solar energy: it can lead to instability of the power grid. I am an electrical engineer and the gird requires a "real-time control system." Since there is no way to store the large amounts of energy delivered by the grid-- for example, all the batteries in California in cars, solar power plants, etc store only a few minutes of the energy delivered by the grid--the control system needs to match up the power source with the power demand on an instantaneous basis. But wind/solar are inherently non-dispatchable. You get what the wind and sun give you and you cannot increase it when there is demand. This is from an article in the Los Angeles Times (no climate change deniers they)

"In a sprawling complex of laboratories and futuristic gadgets in Golden, Colo., a supercomputer named Peregrine does a quadrillion calculations per second to help scientists figure out how to keep the lights on. Peregrine was turned on this year by the U.S. Energy Department. It has the world's largest "petascale" computing capability. It is the size of a Mack truck. Its job is to figure out how to cope with a risk from something the public generally thinks of as benign — renewable energy. Energy officials worry a lot these days about the stability of the massive patchwork of wires, substations and algorithms that keeps electricity flowing. They rattle off several scenarios that could lead to a collapse of the power grid — a well-executed cyberattack, a freak storm, sabotage. But as states, led by California, race to bring more wind, solar and geothermal power online, those and other forms of alternative energy have become a new source of anxiety. The problem is that renewable energy adds unprecedented levels of stress to a grid designed for the previous century."

You cannot post links in these reviews so do a search for "peregrine grid stability latimes kevin halper" on DuckDuckGo -- google does not provide any link (I wonder why??) .

Excellent book that points out these and other real, practical problems with wind/solar power.
110 people found this helpful
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A.J.ekelmans
5.0 out of 5 stars Opinion on the wild-west situation of climate change.
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2018
Verified Purchase
The book makes very clear that the cost for wind and solar is not the end of the problem. Our politicians tell only a small part of the story and probably do not know enough to really solve the problem.
You require a continuous stand by of gas turbine plants with capability of very fast start, which will basically double the cost of power supply to the industry and the Citizens .
They are now building 50 M-watt test installation in La Porte Texas where the CO2 is collected at a much higher pressure and cost are going to be minimal for this effort. Contrary to when you collect flue gas from a conventional plant and clean the CO2 out.Which takes around 15% of the produced power
It is also my opinion that there are many industrial applications for super-critical CO2 for selective extraction of many products in the industrie.
In my vision CO2 will be a very valuable product in the future for the industrial development, and not some thing you have to get rid of.
38 people found this helpful
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Tucson Tom
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding summary of the issues.
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2018
Verified Purchase
Outstanding summary of the issues.

Read this book with a lot of "stickies" to mark especially useful passages.

Solar & wind depend on unreliable and subsidized capital physical plant.

The "Duck Curve" is on page 55.

Pages 56 ff on the need for extensive and expensive and very very limited availability of electricity storage.

Pages 98ff on the advantages to plants from carbon dioxide.

Page 120ff on the use of natural gas as backup.

Pages 115ff on the use of cheap natural gas from fracking.

Also check books and newsletters by Howard Hayden, "Energy Advocate", Vales Lake, etc.
5 people found this helpful
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Canman
4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive Summary of Energy and Climate Skepticism
Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2018
Verified Purchase
This small volume (146 pages) provides a surprisingly comprehensive summary of not only energy, but climate skepticism. It covers almost all the points made by climate skeptics without being overly wordy. Whatever you think about climate skeptics, they are much more practical and go into far greater detail when it comes to energy. The one big criticism I would have of this book is that there is no mention of Michael Shellenberger, who has become the world's most prominent proponent of nuclear energy.
16 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Brian W. Raymond
5.0 out of 5 stars Really dumb, hugely expensive, unreliable energy
Reviewed in Canada on February 22, 2020
Verified Purchase
An excellent book on the actual costs including availablity of the electrical output from wind and solar. The book could have said more about the disincentives of utilities to build backup combined cycle powerplants because the least reliable energy ( wind and solar) is base loaded. No electric system operator would ever choose the least reliable most expensive power supply as a base load. Environmentalists know that without huge subsidies, no wind or solar would ever enter the grid. The cost of batteries for storage is a joke, one hour of storage a dumb energy name plate costs more than the windmills or solar farm.
3 people found this helpful
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Renato Lanzi
5.0 out of 5 stars Análise sobre fontes de energia x ambientalismo
Reviewed in Brazil on January 16, 2019
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Muito boa análise sobre o tema.
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will
4.0 out of 5 stars Pitfalls of wind and solar energy
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 27, 2018
Verified Purchase
An informative book focusing on the pitfalls of wind and solar energy. Many engineers are of the opinion, wind and solar will never replace fossil fuels as a reliable form of electricity generation. Wind energy, if a full life-cycle is included, (e.g. gas/coal generation that are kept on standby) the overall saving of CO2 is very small. This book gives a brief explanation of most of the technical aspects of various forms of electricity generation. Let’s hope some of our political masters read this book, including the vulnerability of the grid from attack, before we continue spending trillions on useless alternatives. Rogers mentions ‘modular nuclear reactors’ which unfortunately, the UK government has kicked into the long grass for some unexplained reason. The UK, along with the EU, has a ridiculous energy policy dictated by various vested interest groups as well as NGOs. There are many ‘sceptical’ scientists that believe that CO2 may only have a slight warming effect on world temperatures. Therefore, spending trillions on ‘Dumb Energy’, increasing the cost of electricity, which has a disproportionate increase in cost for the lower income families is unfair. The graphs in this book show that here is no evidence of a link between recent warming and extreme weather. Half of the recent warming of world temperatures occurred before 1940, with no possible link to CO2. The IPCC have no explanation on how this temperature rise occurred. A slight global warming possibly linked to CO2 has substantial benefits. Rogers believes quite rightly in my opinion, that nuclear power is the only real option in the longer-term electricity generation. The 2018 satellite (UHA) world temperature data is showing a downward trend since the peak caused by the 2016 El Nino, although CO2 has continued to increase. Climate model temperature projections overestimate the possible warming effect of CO2 by at least double. There are safer forms of nuclear power generation which should be developed to reduce general pollution and supply our energy needs for future generations. This book covers most of these aspects very well.
One person found this helpful
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Xenon 6
5.0 out of 5 stars The numbers don't lie. Renewables don't stack up..
Reviewed in Australia on August 13, 2019
Verified Purchase
A well written book. The calculations are easy to follow. It exposes the faults in the religion of renewable energy. Climate change is just a manufactured crisis to political activate the young and naive. Once they accept the need to "do something " then accept the non-solution with all the taxes and left wing politics.
3 people found this helpful
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BrianT
4.0 out of 5 stars A fair book
Reviewed in Canada on October 29, 2020
Verified Purchase
written more like a text book. Some good information but too bad they did not delve more into the recycling, or lack therof, of the windmills and the solar panels.
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