A letter to the editor from the Appleton
Post-Crescent:
Kurt Williamsen is at it again. In a letter published Oct. 19, he claims that wind and solar aren't practical because there is a whole array of vast, untapped energy alternatives available.
The resources he mentions are untapped for a very good reason: they are all difficult and expensive to produce.
For example, recently the capital cost to set up one barrel per day of production from tar sands has risen well in excess of $130,000, causing many producers to scale back or cancel projects.
As for shale, Shell Oil recently scaled back its experimental shale oil production project due to — you guessed it — rapidly escalating costs.
Despite the mind-boggling potential size of the reserves Mr. Williamsen trots out, it's not the size of the resource that matters. What matters is the rate at which it can be produced and whether or not the energy produced exceeds the energy expended to extract it. Most unconventional natural gas sources suffer from both to these problems.
As for methane hydrates, don't hold your breath. The history of energy production is littered with schemes that looked good on paper but failed to ever reach meaningful levels of production. And besides, do we truly need yet another method to pump carbon dioxide into our atmosphere?
Both wind and solar are proven energy sources that can be developed in meaningful scales in the relatively near future.
Joe Gregg,
Appleton
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