The same workers who can build gas and oil facilities can build wind and solar facilities, so Texas had a workforce ready to build renewables.
Texas’s electricity system allows the cheapest producers to win the bid, so as long as someone built the wind or solar, they could beat out the pre-existing facilities.
Texas built a lot of transmission lines.
Texas had a lot of natural gas power plants, and these plants can ramp up fast, so they can turn on at night after the sun goes down.
Texas also had both good sun and wind to harness in the first place.
Small modular nuclear reactors may not have a large enough market to gain from the advantages of mass production, especially when there are multiple companies trying to do it around the world, splitting the market further.
Renewables combined with storage may be getting cheaper faster than progress on making small modular reactors profitable.
“The Trump administration will pay $1 billion to a French company to walk away from two U.S. offshore wind leases as the administration ramps up its campaign against offshore wind and other renewable energy.”
Compared to the alternatives, coal is worse for air pollution, worse for ocean pollution, worse for global warming, uses more water, is less efficient, and costs more. Coal was a competitive source of energy before we had modern gas plants.
“In the executive order, Trump directs the Department of War to enter into agreements to purchase electricity from coal plants to power military operations.”
Bad for the environment, bad for the economy, bad for the military.
Coal is not just bad for global warming, but adds to regular air pollution that kills.
We should use energy that is most efficient to use, not that the president forces people to use, with the exception of protecting the environment.
The military should use whichever energy source best serves its purpose, not the energy source that Trump likes for confused/incompetent purposes, or political purposes.