The price of these eyesores, and the minimal energy they produce is reason enough not to use or make them. Has anyone done a study of how much energy they take to make, compared to energy used the conventional way?
But faacts never deter liberals' wishful thinking!
More effective but still horribly expensive would be solar cell roofing installed directly on each home IN THOSE AREAS WHERE THE SUN SHINES ENOUGH TO BE EFFECTIVE.
What conventional way? Your concern is misdirected.
I agree that most of these are a collosal waste of money (usually taxpayer subsidized,) but not all.
If you have energy to spare, lean on Congress and our retard president to allow drilling and actually building more nuclear plants.
At least in the Western US, there is probably less energy produced the conventional ways than there was 20 years ago.
Importing electricity, however produced, from 1000 miles away is stupid. Half of it is wasted in "transmission losses."
Evidently from what I've read a considerable amount of energy is needed to make the panels. A company is supposed to be locating in my area. The news article stated the solar panel manufacturing plant power requirement would equal that of a nearby TVA hydroelectric {dam} generating capacity for production. If this is true it likely would take decades to recoup the power required to make them per panel.
I know that more energy is used to make and transport windmills than they will ever produce.. and in our area if you “green electricity “ you also pay more for it on your bill
I worked at Solar Power Corporation of America in the early 80’s. Solar Power cost about $5 a Kilowatt hour. It’s only efficient and effective in remote locations. Like the ARAMCO pipeline we built the panels for.
“The price of these eyesores, and the minimal energy they produce is reason enough not to use or make them. Has anyone done a study of how much energy they take to make, compared to energy used the conventional way?”
Yea, I did an estimate once. It’s pathetic. The panels are fixed, so they lose a boatload of power they would otherwise get if they were tracking. Second, the New Jersey weather isn’t exactly the ideal for solar panels (they haven’t figured that out yet, though). Third, all of these have some degree of shadowing, I suspect a lot of them have a lot of shadowing. So, on the production end, they’ll be lucky to produce 1/3 of the power that they would produce if they were in the California desert, as part of a farm, with tracking (and even that is not yet economic). Snow on them probably doesn’t help either...but when you’re talking milliwatts anyway, who cares. Finally, you have the cost of having to go pole-to-pole to install them. Not cheap.
But, since New Jersey must be swimming in money, I guess it’s a fantasy they can engage in.