Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off
Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off
NICE! Get off the middle eastern muzzie oil teat...
First Solar hopes to offer retail energy buyers competitive power prices of 8 to 11 cents per kwh as early as 2010
They seem to be expecting pretty enormous cost savings in the next couple of years. I hope they make it, but I won’t hold my breath.
How “clean” is solar energy? I’m talking about producing the solar cells and then replacing old ones and disposing of them? How long do they last? [I know my solar-powered calculators won’t die. Those cells work for years and years.]
When you have a problem with a public utility, you call and they fix it at no charge.
When your megabuck solar panel acts up, you call a high priced technical company to come clean the bug or bird doo, repair the frozen pipe, clean off the tree sap, or whatever.
I had a friend that tried wind generated electricity. It was
the most expensive and unreliable electricity in his life.
When in Romania back in 2004, I saw many large apartment buildings that had been heated with massive solar collectors that were mounted on the roofs during the commie era.
All of them are now just rusting scrap iron, not worth the cost of removing.
If memory serves me correctly I believe Israel (or maybe it’s China) mandates that new construction install solar water heaters. (I’m not for mandates, but I do think solar water heaters should be given a lot more attention.) I know both countries have put a lot of effort into making those units more efficient. I think it’s one easy (and can be inexpensive) way that we in America could be saving a lot of energy (especially in the sunny regions) since hot water heaters are one of our main residential uses of electricity.
Solar power relies too heavily on the weather, IMHO. A few cloudy days, or one good thunderstorm, will pretty well sink an array.
Does that mean that we don't use it? Or that it should never be used as an addition? Nope. I especially think that it's good for water heating (the water serves as a convenient long-term heat sink, and is nice, but not absolutely necessary). But I think that these pie-in-the-sky articles hurt more than they help, becuase it gives people that don't know the first thing about electricity or power generation the ammo to say "See I told you so...". Like the fool on FR that told me the US could convert 100% to wind power because "Denmark did it."
That's just my 2c.
“The outlook for solar energy is bright”? Every time I look out the window I see that solar energy is bright.
I don’t know why more isn’t done with passive solar. My understanding is that the Mall of America is heated entirely by passive solar technology. Basically, the glass roof functions like a greenhouse.
$5 a watt until we hear otherwise.
Solar will reach cost effectiveness for most people within the next 10 to 20 years or less based on current trends.
If I lived out west in a desert state its a no brainer... here, in the temperate rain forest, its a more dubious proposition.
~ Why aren't using nearly 100% solar power in places like Florida, California, and Hawaii?
~ Why aren't we putting EZ Turf (or another such real-looking grass product) in all public areas? (i.e. islands in intersections, neighborhood parks, parkways along roadsides, etc.) --no water, no maintenance!
We could ALWAYS be/act "smarter" toward conservation.
Bump
When there’s a problem, we humans, especially Americans, solve it! All the moaning and wailing about the high cost of gas will stop! All the socialist nonsense that’s pushing the “global warming” myth will end.
If solar power becomes cost-effective, the dependency on middle east oil will end, and the billions of dollars that are wasted on the middle east will stay in the USA, and the USA won’t have to waste the billions of dollars that it pours into the middle east to keep the oil flowing, and the jihadis won’t be receiving trillions of dollars of our money that they use to kill Christians and Jews.
I’m thinking about going solar a little bit at a time, along with a wind generator or two. I’m tired of high electric bills and power outages, but most of all, I hate relying on someone else.
Thanks for the ping.
Works for me! The more research, the better!