"The Sun Notoriously Doesn't Shine at Night Time," Said Walter Kohn - He's Right!

Not long ago, I was able to hear a Nobel Prize winnercould take over and solve that problem. He later
in chemistry Dr. Walter Kohn speak about the futureanswered questions from the audience about ways
of alternative energy. He believes that our futureto store the energy generated from solar during the
rests in solar energy and wind generation. In fact, heday underground by creating pressure and allowing
showed a brilliant and motivational power pointthat pressure to escape and run turbines during the
presentation during his speech. I say brilliant becauseevening.
it was one heck of a PR piece and a good deal ofTherefore, it was his contention that we could go to
promoting the wind and solar energy sectors.solar and wind energy, and not need coal-fired plants
Obviously, Dr. Walter Kohn was recruited by thein the future. His future thus, was one without using
global warming crowd and alternative energyfossil fuels. And to promote this potential eventuality
research industry to put forth his vision of a cleanerof this Utopian energy Society and civilization he
tomorrow and utopian society with all the energynoted the exponential growth of both solar and wind
we'd ever need for freeover the last good many years during his PowerPoint
He admitted that it there is no such thing as freepresentations and graphs. However, just because you
energy, and you still have to build the solar farms,can put exponential growth charts up on a large
and wind generating farms to collect this energy, butviewer, doesn't mean that you can predict such a
it was free for the taking once the generationfuture.
platforms were built. He admitted that wind wasIn fact, isn't that what got us into trouble with
temperamental, in that it doesn't blow all the time,mortgage-backed securities, runaway real estate
and that "The Sun Notoriously Doesn't Shine atbubbles, and the financial global fiasco which ensued?
Nighttime," which of course got a huge round ofAll this seem quite fitting because I believe global
laughter and applause from the crowd. And youwarming is a bunch of hot air, and a bunch of
know what he's right! And still if one thinks throughblowhards generating a lot of wind, and looking
this a little extra, one might come to the conclusionthrough rose-colored sunglasses at solar farms. The
that if solar energy doesn't work at night then it onlyreality is wind generation is inefficient and unreliable,
works half the time.and solar is inefficient to start with, not even
Dr. Walter Kohn suggested that the wind blows moreconsidering it doesn't generate any energy at night.
at night than during the day, and people don't use asPerhaps, we all ought to consider this.
much energy during the nighttime, so the wind power