[onlooker]

I am pretty sceptical of renweables ever since I read preato and halls EROI analysis of solar power.

That said I beleive that wind power is a viable source of energy IF you can find a cost effective way to store it.

Basically all Renewables have shortcoming relative to Fossil Fuels. One they are intermittent. Two, they do not provide the concentrated energy fossil fuels do. Three, they would demand a very large infrastructure just to have satisfactory power for a large country. Fourth and most importantly the energy and money needed to embark on a truly ambitious change to renewables will be lacking at this point!

[davep]

Costs for solar PV are falling below 4c/kWh and will apparently hit 2 cents soon, according to this https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/cheapest-solar-ever-austin-energy-gets-1.2-gigawatts-of-solar-bids-for-less.

That's not to be sniffed at. And the Chinese are getting serious too. Sure, it's not huge yet, but new energy installations were over 50% solar/wind in the US in 2014 http://cleantechnica.com/2015/02/03/solar-wind-53-new-us-electricity-capacity-2014/

Though natural gas was still the leading single energy source, in terms of installations during 2014, its 7.5 GW of added capacity is overshadowed by close to 10 GW from the renewable sector.

It's a start (even if wind capacity doesn't tend to reflect output). And if the storage nut can be cracked then renewables may have a future, even if they're not as versatile as fossil fuels.

[Dybbuk]

And if the storage nut can be cracked then renewables may have a future, even if they're not as versatile as fossil fuels.

The Tesla Powerwall for residential homes holds 7 kilowatt hours. That's probably not enough to keep a house warm all night when it's 20 below zero outside, but it's a start. If they can increase the capacity a bit and bring the price down (big ifs to be sure) then that storage nut may be adequately cracked for most people.