Peter Clack@PeterDClack
Wind and solar aren't the future - they are a high-maintenance, low-yield, asset-degrading collection of assorted technologies.
Ultimately, the actual physics makes them extremely inefficient and they fail to deliver a true net profit to the citizens forced to subsidise them. We are told wind and solar are the limitless, romantic future of energy. But when you strip away the romance, wind and solar installations are not pristine, eternal monuments to progress.
The reality is, they are complex jumbles of electronics, specialised glass, composite blades and concrete foundations. Like any domestic appliance, they degrade, malfunction, and eventually wear out.
Whether it is a 'minor rural block' or a massive multi-million-dollar commercial farm, the financial equation is plagued by intermittency. Because these technologies only work sometimes, they require trillions in redundant grid infrastructure, backup gas plants, or toxic, short-lived battery arrays just to keep the lights on.
The narrative promises clean, free power from the sky. But physics doesn't care about narratives. Both wind and solar are bound by immutable, proven physical barriers that guarantee they can never deliver the promised utopian returns.
A wind turbine cannot simply absorb all the energy passing through it. In 1919, physicist Albert Betz proved that if a turbine extracted 100% of the wind’s kinetic energy, the air behind the blades would stop moving entirely, blocking any new wind from entering. The absolute mathematical maximum efficiency for any open-airflow turbine is 59.3%.
Because of this physical wall, real-world utility turbines max out at around 45% efficiency in perfect conditions. But because the wind rarely blows at perfect speeds, their actual annual output (capacity factor) sits at a dismal 25% to 35%. They aren't magical power plants; they are mechanical bottlenecks.
Solar panels face an equally rigid thermodynamic wall. Standard silicon panels have a maximum theoretical efficiency of roughly 33% because nearly half of all incoming solar energy is simply too powerful to be captured and is instantly lost as heat, while another chunk of photons passes right through the material like a ghost.
Millions of homeowners who bought into rooftop solar since the late 2000s are discovering the financial math didn't hold up. As early subsidies and high buy-back tariffs evaporated, owners were left with creeping daily grid supply charges and degrading panels. After only 10 to 15 years, the costly inverters fail, leaving properties with expensive, non-functioning roof clutter.
The fuel might seem to be free, but catching it is an incredibly expensive, resource-intensive and physically limited endeavor.
Reality will always win.
