Without Government Backing, Solar Power Canâ€™t Compete

The government is going to pull the plug on the solar industryâ€™s key tax credit as evidence mounts that the often touted renewable source cannot compete with traditional energy.

â€œSolar powerâ€™s value as a grid resource is limited because we simply canâ€™t count on it to meet peak demand in the evenings,â€ Travis Fischer, economist at the Institute for Energy Research, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. â€œIn fact, solar power could cause major problems if implemented on a wide scale due to its daytime-only production profile.â€

Solar power has been on the rise in the U.S. and is often touted as the technology of the future, but the industry relies heavily on government incentives due to the costly installation of panels. Solar power also faces criticism due to its unreliability during the power gridâ€™s peak demand hours.

At best solar power is a niche industry, applicable only to sites where other power sources cannot be extended, due to isolation or difficult access for power generated elsewhere.

Maybe a form of beamed wireless energy can be introduced that allows these inaccessible sites to connect to the larger grid.

For cheap, sustainable electrical power, not much can maintain a steady base supply, day and night, better than nuclear-generated electrical power.

Atomic power plants can only run in two modes, flat out producing full power, or offline and producing no power.

The no-power would come when necessary plant maintenance must be done. It is not feasible to idle only part of the capacity of a single unit, it is all or nothing.

But nuclear-generated power need not be just light-water uranium fission plants. There is another design, Thorium-powered Molten-Salt plants, which are VASTLY more flexible, the working versions have been tested, and they do not have many of the long-term handicaps that limit the application of Uranium-fueled plants.

For one thing, there is no way a “China syndrome” could ever occur, and Thorium-fueled plants do not have a “runaway” scenario, The molten salt would spill into a containment structure, and the reaction would simply stop.

Thorium, by itself, is not “fissile”, but it is considered “fertile”. In the presence of small quantities of fissile material, the thorium is converted to a different isotope, then into a different element, protactinium-233, which has a very short half-life, becoming uranium-233, the same stuff that is the power generation substance in the uranium-powered reactor, and itself is the “fissile” material.

Suspended in the molten-salt solution, the uranium-233 then produces the heat necessary to make the atomic pile into a power-generation source. And with virtually NO long-lived radioactive isotopes, that make the atomic “waste” of uranium-powered plants such a long-term danger to the environment.

And the best part? The existing stock of “depleted” uranium fuel rods may be utilized to provide the fissile “sparkplug” to start the reaction in the thorium-fueled plant.

We have a much more extensive and relatively easily extracted supply of thorium throughout the world than there is of uranium-238 and its various isotopes.

We have the technology. We have the demand. We even have the capital that could be committed, if all these other fool’s errands were not constantly being thrust up there as an “alternative”.

With widespread adoption of this thorium-fueled molten-salt nuclear technology, most countries could become energy-independent within just a few decades, as this becomes the primary source of electrical generation for residential and industry, and the use of hydrogen fuel cells for vehicular power becomes economically feasible.

“Like ethanol, a huge waste of money.”

Also, the damage to our car engines can be severe.

My wife had a 67 Camaro V8 for decades that got about 20 miles per gallon and was a great vehicle.

When we got ethanol shoved on us, a friend who owned a private car repair/tune up shop informed us that her engine would be lucky to last 4-6 months with the ethanol bs.

4 months later the engine basically caved in on itself.

We replaced it with a Californicator approved V8, which got about 12 miles per gallon with the gasohol bs.

We were lucky it didn’t catch on fire and set our carport and house on fire like many older vehicles did with gasohol in the first few weeks.

Ethanol is murdersome on small engines carburetors too. We have too many to mention from lawn mowers to log splinter.

I finally figured out how to beat it: Add a additive that’s designed to reduce ethanol damage, add gasoline preservative.

And, the big one, mix the gas with 2 cycle motor oil, just like you would for a 2 cycle engine. Do this for all engines, regardless if they are 2 or 4 cycle.

We have two diesel tractors. With the new fuels they became very hard starting. Then one ruined an injector, which was hundreds of dollars to fix. The mechanic said newer fuels do not have the lubrication quality of older. He said mix 2 cycle oil. I did, now they start easier and seem to have more power.

What I’m doing in both cases is providing more lubrication for the fuel system and valves.

It’s a pain to do all this mixing, it costs money to do it. But in the long run it saves engine damage.

It’s an example of a government with too much power mandating things on the population so some group can get rich and/or have more power.

We have the government our founding fathers warned us about.

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