Have you ever heard of an Obtanium?

It's the magical energy mineral found on the planet Pandora in the movie Avatar.

It's a fantasy in a science fiction script.

But environmentalists think they found it here on Earth in the form of wind and solar power.

They think all the energy we need can be supplied by building enough wind and solar farms and enough batteries.

The simple truth is that we can't.

Nor should we want to.

Not if our goal is to be good stewards of the planet.

To understand why consider some simple physics realities that aren't being talked about.

All sources of energy have limits that can't be exceeded.

The maximum rate at which the Sun's photons can be converted to electrons is about 33%.

Our best solar technology is at 26% efficiency.

For wind, the maximum capture is 60%.

Our best machines are at 45%.

So we're pretty close to wind and solar limits.

Despite PR claims about big gains coming, they're just aren't any possible.

In wind and solar only work when the wind blows in the sun shines, but we need energy all the time.

The solution we're told is to use batteries.

Again, physics and chemistry make this very hard to do.

Consider the world's biggest battery factory, the one Tesla built in Nevada.

It would take 500 years for that factory to make enough batteries to store just one day's worth of America's electricity needs.

This helps explain why wind and solar are currently still supply less than 3% of the world's energy.

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