Posted on 03/18/2018 9:10:42 AM PDT by rktman
A new book, Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet, is available from MIT Press. The book touts the wonders of solar energy and tells us that there is an urgent need to invest trillions in more solar energy. The book is filled with outright errors. The author, Varun Sivaram, has a boundless faith in technical progress that he thinks will make solar cheaper and more practical
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Thorium. Problem solved. We could solve this issue in 10 years or less. America should take the lead in this. We know how to harness Nuclear and Molten Salt Reactors are so much more safe and meltdown proof. \
Oops! Sorry.
Hydro power is fantastic and I am a big fan of it - wish we had more as well as more manmade lakes for recreation and wildlife. I have often asked when (or if) we could utilize our large aquifers to generate electricity and I have seen one set-up for a house in the mountains that utilized part of a small stream that was year round on the side of a mountain. The pipe run downhill was a couple of hundred feet and it generated enough electricity to power the home under most conditions with off the shelf components. Will be interesting to follow how the government regulates (and taxes) this.
I would love to be energy independent on the farm, but I am too far North to get a good return on solar (especially in winter) and winds are generally not strong enough to make that viable.
I agree wholeheartedly about thorium and believe it will eventually provide much of our electricity, but I am stunned at how slow the progress has been. There must be some powerful lobbies shutting it down or there are technical difficulties of which we are not aware because I honestly expected the transition to thorium for nuclear power to begin a decade ago and it does appear any closer today than it did 5 years ago.
Still wondering why the Navy has not pushed this more to power ships.
Ah...I was responding to a comment about the amount of sun shine available for certain venues and which sunny venues work better for solar.
Again, the southwest is ideal for solar power regardless of the other issues.
Gotcha.
Technology by fiat is a suckers bet.
Prove the technology first.
I live in Fort Worth. There’s a house near me that was covered with solar panels that went up for sale about 18 months ago. This is a very strong sellers market. It ain’t selling. A few weeks ago I noticed that all but 2 of the panels are gone. Maybe it will sell now.
They were probably stolen.
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