A bitter dispute. A clash. A battle royale.
Those are just a few descriptions of a new study countering Mark Jacobson's 2015 report showing that we can source 100 percent of America's energy from wind, solar and water.
Jacobson's study is controversial. Celebrities like Mark Ruffalo and Bernie Sanders have lauded his work. Jacobson himself has called it the "only moral choice."
Other experts have long questioned his assumptions. This week, Twitter erupted with debate over Jacobson's modeling -- resulting in personal attacks, a litany of tweet storms and wide press coverage.
In this episode, we're going to dig into the dispute over 100 percent renewables that has spilled out of academia and into the mosh pit of Twitter and politics.
This podcast is sponsored by KACO New Energy, a leading solar inverter company with superior engineering and unmatched customer service.
Here are some top tweet storms about the debate over Jacobson's work from experts around Twitter:
- Vox's David Roberts
- New York Times' Brad Plumer
- Breakthrough Institute's Ted Nordhaus
- MIT's Jesse Jenkins
- Policy advisor Tyler Norris
- Harvard's David Keith
In the second half of the show, we'll focus on reliability and renewables. Does Europe’s better outage record tell us anything about variable wind and solar and the health of the grid?
Finally, America just got 10 percent of its electricity from non-hydro renewables. What does that tell us about where we are headed?