Renewable energy is viable now

In an Oct. 1 op-ed, Chet Sullivan stated renewable energy (wind and solar) were not reliable energy options based solely on government subsidies, and that nuclear power is the only reasonable alternative.

Actually, government subsidies for nuclear, oil, natural gas and coal amounted to $664 billion from 1950 thru 2010. The renewable energy sector received $74 billion during the same time.

Renewable energy production is not an emerging technology, it is viable now. Powerful energy conglomerates have always required taxpayer support. Sullivan states, 'Experience has shown that when the federal government can no longer subsidize them, they are no longer viable.” While this is partially true for renewables, it is equally true for all forms of carbon-based and nuclear energy.

Sullivan implied a solar thermal installation from the late 70s represented the current economic environment of renewable energies. That's like comparing computer and telephone technology from that time to the computers and smartphones we use today. Citing 40 year old data presents a misleading portrayal of today's renewable technology.

In a recently released report by the United States Energy Information Agency, the construction costs of a nuclear generating facility are approximately $53 per watt of generating capacity. At current prices, a large solar array is in the $2 per watt range and can be installed in months vs. the years of planning and building required for a nuclear facility. Nuclear power is not renewable. Its waste products have no safe and reliable disposal mechanism even after 70 years of the nuclear age.

It is important to address the core of this multifaceted problem, which is our centralized, antiquated and overutilized energy grid. Most of our generating capacity is 25 to 50 years old and inefficient. Our grid infrastructure is in the same dire need of upgrading.

In Germany, the standard of industrial innovation, 30 percent of first-quarter energy production was derived from renewable energy sources. The countryplans to decommission its remaining nuclear facilities within the next decade.

Distributing renewable energy-generating facilities to widely distributed micro grids and localizing energy production will avoid most of the 30 percent transmission loss that is characteristic of our current system. With the imminent arrival of cost effective energy storage systems, the need for large centralized energy production facilities will be a thing of the past, much like the carbon-based fuels they use to propel their turbines.

As a Master Electrician who has installed electrical systems for over 35 years, I believe the future of electrical energy production could not be more exciting. New renewable technologies offer hope for the future. The solar industry is growing more than 45 percent per year and provided more than half of the growth in energy production in the first half of 2014. Solar expansion accounts for thousands of new well-paying jobs being added every year.

The idea that renewable energy is not economically viable, and that nuclear energy is the only alternative, is dated and flawed.

' Clark Zivojnovich is a Master Electrician, NABCEP Certified Solar Installer and co-founder and Vice President of Eagle Point Solar. Comments: solarclark@eaglepointsolar.com.