Mixing It Up: Why Can’t We Only Use Renewable Energy?

You know those commercials and promotional videos that use images of clean energy like wind and solar to exemplify a brighter future? For example, this commercial from Amazon casually shows a power plant and then sweeps to a large field of solar panels as if just using more solar will solve all our problems. These commercials anger me to my core, mainly because they always seem to come from gigantic corporations that are heavily responsible for greenhouse gas emissions (Yes, Jeff Bezos, I’m looking at you), but also because the solution isn’t that simple.

For the purposes of stability, we must have a grid with energy sources that address our base load and peak load needs. Let’s back up for a minute. Imagine a typical day in your household. For me, I wake up, turn on some lights, use my appliances, and then head to campus until I come back in the evening. When I get home, I turn the AC back on, cook dinner, and essentially use a lot of electricity. Because we all follow our own individual patterns like this one, the amount of energy we consume as a society varies seasonally, daily, and hourly. Due to these variations, base load is the minimum amount of electricity needed over a defined period. Peak load is the amount of electricity needed when demand is the highest. This is typically in the evenings and early in the night when most people are home and using lights and appliances.

This basic graph from Sinovoltaics shows the difference between base load and peak load.

Different kinds of energy are used to sustain base load or meet peak load needs. Larger power producers that run over extended periods, such as nuclear, hydroelectric, and coal power plants, typically contribute to base load power. Meanwhile, Sinovoltaics lists more variable forms of energy like wind, solar, and gas plants that can be turned off and on easily as power options to meet peak load.

Right now, too much renewable energy on the grid could cause issues. We have already seen this in California, where rooftop solar is especially prevalent. Electricity produced by solar energy typically peaks around midday, while energy usage peaks in the evening when solar panels aren’t creating electricity. Meeting these needs can result in expensive difficulties and wasted unused electricity. (For a further dive into this concept, here’s more about the California duck curve.)

Photo from Getty Images in this International Atomic Energy Agency article shows a wind turbine contrasted by a nuclear power plant in France.

There’s still hope for renewables to meet more of the grid’s needs. As energy storage options increase, these variable forms of energy will produce electricity to be stored for later use. This can fulfill certain peak load needs and base load needs as well. Overall, pursuing cleaner options in both forms of power production will keep the grid resilient and stable. This is the only path forward that ensures a strong grid and a healthier climate. In the meantime, I’ll still be yelling at the screen every time I see yet another beautifully unrealistic Amazon commercial.