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Solar energy upgrade boosts efficiency
USAF ^ | June 8 2012 | Senior Airman Jack Sanders

Posted on 06/08/2012 2:38:15 PM PDT by moonshot925

6/8/2012 - NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (AFNS) -- The 99th Air Base Wing headquarters building here is adding solar panels in an effort to make the building more energy efficient.

Nellis Air Force Base is in the process of starting and completing eight separate projects to make Nellis AFB, Creech AFB and the Nevada Test and Training Range more energy efficient.

"A while back, a major command-wide energy audit came to Nellis," said Lynn Haarklau, the 99th Civil Engineer Squadron chief of asset options. "They decided that one option to increase energy efficiency use on base was to install solar panel arrays on key buildings."

Beginning in 2003, Nellis AFB has had to reduce its energy consumption by three percent annually to meet Air Force policy targets, officials said. If the base continues its trend of meeting this goal, the base will reach the ultimate goal of cumulatively reducing energy use by 30 percent as of fiscal year 2015.

(Excerpt) Read more at af.mil ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: energy; panels; solar
Interesting
1 posted on 06/08/2012 2:38:23 PM PDT by moonshot925
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To: moonshot925
Obamah places his own order for solar panels.

That's one way to prop up and bail out his failing green companies.

2 posted on 06/08/2012 2:40:24 PM PDT by TexasCajun
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To: moonshot925

They will NOT be more efficient until they hit the break even point. How long will it take to generate electricity whose values finally exceeds the cost of the panels and their installation?


3 posted on 06/08/2012 2:48:28 PM PDT by Right Wing Assault (Dick Obama is more inexperienced now than he was before he was elected.)
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To: moonshot925

They are using military money to pump up Obama’s energy companies.


4 posted on 06/08/2012 2:52:29 PM PDT by aimhigh
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To: moonshot925

I think they should use solar to power Air Force One.


5 posted on 06/08/2012 2:54:21 PM PDT by funfan
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To: moonshot925

Maybe the USAF should be concentrating on mission preparedness and not this environmental BS...


6 posted on 06/08/2012 2:54:39 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: moonshot925

if the price of solar panels has dropped like a stone, why hasn’t the consumer, either in industry or homeowners seen lower prices of an installed product? It happens in other “high tech” products like TV and computers - why not solar?


7 posted on 06/08/2012 3:15:28 PM PDT by q_an_a (the more laws the less justice)
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To: q_an_a
I'm no expert, but I can read a graph. Cost reductions in the previous 10 years haven't been that great, and if you include installation labor as a significant (and not decreasing) part of the total cost, I think you can see the answer to your question.


8 posted on 06/08/2012 3:22:51 PM PDT by nascarnation
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To: moonshot925
I'm undecided about this. For most homeowners solar is a waste of money.

On military bases in Nevada just send the young airmen out once a month to clean the panels for peak efficiency. My gut still says it's a waste of money, but in some cases it might work out OK.

9 posted on 06/08/2012 3:23:14 PM PDT by ken in texas (I was taught to respect my elders but it keeps getting harder to find any.)
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To: ken in texas

One problem solar has is competing with the plunging price of nat gas.

I’m getting nat gas bills here in Indiana that are lower than any in my recent memory.

I’ve changed stove, water heater, and clothes dryer from electric to nat gas and my electric bill is way down too.

I’m retired and don’t drive that many miles but if I was driving like the old days (20,000 mi plus / yr) I’d take a strong look at a nat gas car also.


10 posted on 06/08/2012 3:30:15 PM PDT by nascarnation
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To: TexasCajun

“Beginning in 2003, Nellis AFB has had to reduce its energy consumption by three percent annually to meet Air Force policy targets, officials said.”

Even when he was is the state senate in 2003, Obama was working to push a socialist green agenda and destroy or military by forcing solar panels on the USAF.


11 posted on 06/08/2012 3:46:07 PM PDT by Uncle Slayton
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To: moonshot925

With more than 500 years of cheap energy stored in our ground, which can be produced to the benefit of the nation in terms of employment and national independence, we keep on screwing around with windmills and solar cells.

Stupidity seems to be an American invention.


12 posted on 06/08/2012 4:27:05 PM PDT by 353FMG
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To: moonshot925

What stupidity. What’s the AF gonna do - drop solar panels onto the bad guys?

The money should be spent on more F-22s


13 posted on 06/08/2012 4:37:41 PM PDT by bkopto (Obama and Biden merely symptoms of a more profound, systemic disease in American body politic.)
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To: moonshot925

What’s the life expectancy of one of these solar panels??? They do deteriorate in the sun, don’t they???


14 posted on 06/08/2012 4:38:15 PM PDT by Uncle Chip
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