Geothermal already provides 5% of California’s electricity. It could easily provide 100%. Why would wind turbines use permanent magnet motors when no other large turbine generators do. Oh you must be talking about those micro-watt ones you put out in your backyard. Let’s continue to build those coal power plants that destroy the landscape, pollute our streams, spew lead, mercury and other toxic metals on everyone else at no cost to the companies who do the mining and spewing. I am old enough to remember hearing that the demise of the U.S. chemical industry was imminent if they had to quit dumping toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, lakes and streams when the EPA was formed. It never happened and our economy will continue to grow even if a carbon tax is imposed to begin to reduce this ridiculous dependence on fossil fuels simply because that is what was done in the past. A 2.7 GW Compressed Air Energy Storage plant is in the planning stage in Ohio. That’s the equivalent of a large neclear power plant. It will charge on off-peak power and wind when it is available and supply load leveling on demand. These technologies are already in use and have been for years and are available for widespread deployment economically all over the country. This solves the problem for intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar and at a price about the same as coal with almost no carbon footprint. Over time energy intensive industries such as chemical and fertilizer manufacturing, aluminum, bio-fuel and any other energy intensive industry will move to areas such as the central U.S. where cheap wind power is available. It will happen faster with the correct economic policies
