Natural gas is by far the dominant source of power in the U.S. Gas plants produce more during the day, and less when demand for power declines at night. Nuclear power is in second place. Nuclear power isn’t as flexible as natural gas, but nuclear plants produce electricity with monotonous certainty, 24/7. Despite all the efforts to kill it, coal ranks third, responding to demand much like natural gas.

Then we have the also-rans. The yellow line is solar. It contributes a modest amount during a few daylight hours, then switches off. Wind is more unpredictable. Occasionally, when the wind is blowing, the green line shows a decent amount of electricity being produced, although nothing like natural gas or nuclear. Worse is the fact that when the wind isn’t blowing, it often isn’t blowing all across the country. Thus we see periods when the nation’s thousands of wind turbines are producing almost nothing. Obviously, a normal life can’t be run on occasional electricity, let alone an economy.