"We hurtle down the road to 'net zero' without any idea how it is going to work."

"As I’ve been pointing out now for a couple of years, the obvious gap in the plans of our betters for a carbon-free 'net zero' energy future is the problem of massive-scale energy storage. How exactly is New York City (for example) going to provide its citizens with power for a long and dark full-week period in the winter, with calm winds, long nights, and overcast days, after everyone has been required to change over to electric heat and electric cars — and all the electricity is supposed to come from the wind and sun, which are neither blowing nor shining for these extended periods? Can someone please calculate how much energy storage will be needed to cover a worst-case solar/wind drought, what it will consist of, how long it has to last, how much it will cost, and whether it is economically feasible? Nearly all descriptions by advocates of the supposed path to 'net zero' — including the ambitious plans of the states of New York and California — completely gloss over this issue and/or deal with it in a way demonstrating total incompetence and failure to comprehend the problem....

    "[The hope is that government]s will 'support research' into 'novel technologies,' of course using the infinite money pile, and the technology will magically appear. And what exactly is the technology that will then emerge to rescue us? They have no idea....

    "Well, how about just using that ubiquitous element hydrogen, easily available through the electrolysis of water? ... Funny that private investors aren’t putting any real money into this “hydrogen economy” thing. That’s because to get hydrogen out of water is extremely costly, and once you have it, it is inferior to natural gas in every way as a source of energy for the people. It’s less dense, more dangerous, and more difficult to transport and store. But again, throw in some of the infinite pile of federal money and it will all magically work....
    "Bottom line: I’m not trusting anybody’s so-called 'model' to prove that this gigantic energy transformation is going to work. Show me the demonstration project that actually works.
    "They won’t. Indeed, there is not even an attempt to put such a thing together, even as we hurtle down the road to 'net zero' without any idea how it is going to work."

~ Francis Menton, from his post 'MIT Weighs in on Energy Storage'