Posted on 09/30/2016 7:55:33 AM PDT by rktman
“Monday was always laundry day at our house....” Thus was born red beans and rice down south. Cook them red beans all day long with some sausage and dinner time on Monday night was awesome. LOL!
There is a place and economically viable means of applying both solar and wind power - neither of which involves the production of electricity.
Wind power is just great for pumping water up from a well, and delivering it to a storage cistern, especially in areas where no electricity is readily available. Rural homesteads all across America had just such a system in place over a century ago, and it proved to be reliable and pretty largely trouble-free, if sited and designed effectively. Its biggest objection - it was slow, and during extended periods of no or minimal wind, the stored supply of water would run out, unless augmented by hand pumping of water.
Solar power is an excellent method of creating dehydrated fruits, as witness the production of raisins from grapes, and as a means of storing heat energy for various residential and industrial purposes. A well-designed heat collection pond, which is built on an impermeable base (lined with high-density plastic), then carefully filled first partially with highly saline water, then a layer of fresh water (which is much less dense) is flooded over the saline layer, carefully avoiding mixing at the interface. So long as the water is NOT agitated, the saline layer will be always on the bottom, and the sunlight penetrating the fresh water passes through to the saline layer, which traps the heat, growing warmer and warmer, but without the action of evaporation (prevented by the top layer of fresh water), most if not all the heat is retained in the saline layer.
By using heat-exchanging coils that extend from the site where the heat energy is to be used, some sort of heat pump may be set up to extract this heat energy, resulting in net cooling of the saline layer, but for purposes of space heating, the heat retained in the saline layer is enough to carry through most of the cooler times of the year to maintain a decent indoor temperature in home or industrial locales, and recharges over the following summer.
Electrical generation from solar and wind sources is absolutely a niche solution, applicable only where the grid is too far away or it is impractical to run external power supply lines because of terrain or low population density
Less than 1% and it costs probably 10x as much. Solar is not the answer on a large scale; its ok for gate openers and off the grid lighting. The problem is solar energy is not dense enough for routine use and then there’s the storage problem. Geothermal has real possibilities I think.
I totally agree with Trump, environmentalism is a conspiracy crafted to destroy the West industry, and give China and other third world countries an chance to replace America
Those are great ideas!
We’re not off the grid and probably never will be completely, but we are turning back time and doing as much as we can toward self-sufficiency on our farm.
Now, if Beau would only relent and get me my milk cow, LOL!
In all fairness, solar panels don't bother birds any than tar roofs. In this case we have a field of mirrors (not solar panels) which reflect the sunlight to converge on a focal point in order to heat a fluid to drive turbines. Any object that enters the flux at the focal point is burned to a crisp. This solar power plant is pretty much an economic failure as massive quantities of natural gas are burned at night to keep the system going in darkness.
We lived in Kansas so our Monday night dinner was ham hocks and navy beans which my mom made in a pressure cooker on Sunday evening after the beans soaked all day Sunday. Cornbread baked in a wood fired oven in a cast iron skillet completed the meal. Leftover beans were used for sandwiches on Tuesday for my dad who took his lunch every day and for my school lunch. Am sure we all contributed our fair share to global warming. LOL.
Never had or knew red beans and rice existed until we went to Louisiana years and years later. Wonderful stuff! We have this dish for dinner with sausage at least once every two weeks.
LOL! And hildabama derisively said Donald claims climate BS is a hoax. Uh, yeah, he’s right again.
Back then you didn’t need to pass a universal background check to buy a pressure cooker. :-)
Birds love to poop on clothes hanging out on clothes lines.
Don’t ask me how I know. :-)
Return vs tiatal cost? Estimated payback time. Operating costs? Estimated life of photo voltaic systems? Depreciation schedule?
Despite more than $200 billion in subsidies over the last 8 years.?///////
Solendra?
$200 billion in subsidies AKA money laundering into donors pockets as well as special interests and the war on freedom in the world
Solyndra received a $535 million U.S. Energy Department loan guarantee, the first recipient of a loan guarantee under President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus program, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.[22] By 2014 the loan program had wiped out its losses, including a $528 million loss from Solyndra, and was operating in the black.[23] Additionally, Solyndra received a $25.1 million tax break from California’s Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority.[24]
Following the bankruptcy, the government was expected to recoup $27 million under the Solyndra restructuring plan, or up to 100% of loaned funds from a $1.5 billion lawsuit filed against Chinese solar-panel makers for alleged price fixing.[2] The outcome of the lawsuits were that: In November 2015 Yingli Green Energy Holding Co Ltd. settled a claim filed by Solyndra for $7.5 million; in April 2016 Trina Solar Ltd. settled a claim filed by Solyndra for $45 million; as of April 2016, Solyndra’s suit against Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd. has not yet settled.[25]
Back then you didn’t need to pass a universal background check to buy a pressure cooker. :-)”
Funny and true. Still have and use my mom’s pressure cooker pot. Gave the skillet to my son and he uses it frequently. Sure hope we don’t need the seals or anything else replaced now that they are considered a lethal weapon. My mom must be turning over in her grave.
Where have all the birdies gone?
When will they ever return?
Fried crispy midair, they was..
Icarus revisited?
I’m winging it on this one. ;-)
Sunlight is a diffuse energy source, requiring much panel collection surface for the resultant electrical output. Using a combination of a concentrating mirror or lens with a light-to-electricity device which can operate at hundreds to thousands of times normal sunlight is more effective. Such concentrated PV devices are an off-the-shelf technology; and, thrive at 2,000 suns, delivering a module light-to-electricity efficiency of 40%.
Further, create a light producing technology which mimics concentrated sunlight, then surround the source of light with collectors spaced at a distance suitable for the PV conversion device’s thermal tolerance. Such a technology could operate whenever needed for on-demand electricity.
Place this technology at the point of use; and, co-generation provides that the other 60% of energy produced is available as low grade heat (80-90 °C). The electrical output in DC volts could be the equivalent of a single solar string, amenable to current electrical equipment standards for a solar grid tie. Equipment is readily available to invert this output to AC line voltages.
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