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Posted on 10/02/2022 12:56:24 PM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
— Anthony Grande moved away from Fort Myers three years ago in large part because of the hurricane risk. He has lived in southwest Florida for nearly 19 years, had experienced Hurricanes Charley in 2004 and Irma in 2017 and saw what stronger storms could do to the coast.
Grande told CNN he wanted to find a new home where developers prioritized climate resiliency in a state that is increasingly vulnerable to record-breaking storm surge, catastrophic wind and historic rainfall.
What he found was Babcock Ranch — only 12 miles northeast of Fort Myers, yet seemingly light years away.
Babcock Ranch calls itself “America’s first solar-powered town.” Its nearby solar array — made up of 700,000 individual panels — generates more electricity than the 2,000-home neighborhood uses, in a state where most electricity is generated by burning natural gas, a planet-warming fossil fuel.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
“Battery Storage can store the charge, for days”
https://www.energysage.com/local-data/electricity-cost/fl/
In Florida, the average monthly electric bill for residential consumers is $261/month, which is calculated by multiplying the average monthly consumption by the average electric rate: 1,835 kWh * 14 ¢/kWh.
The average house uses 1,835 Kwh per month which is 61kwh per day. Telsa Powerwall battery has 14.5 kwh so you would need 5 of them to last one day. They cost about 8,000 each. So $40,000 to last one day, $280,000 to last a week. And then there is the problem that if the house is using 60kwh per day, and you ALSO want to charge the 35 powerwall batteries, you need to double the number of solar panels on your house, or put them on your neighbor’s house and hope they don’t notice.
Or you can get a gas generator - ideally natural gas from an underground pipeline with no possibility of damage from a hurricane. Runs forever, costs about 10k. Whoever wrote this is probably a Russian agent in charge of deceiving Americans into giving up our energy independence so Russia can screw us like they’re screwing Europe right now. Let’s fight the Russians and Chinese with our electric tanks and planes and transgender Admiral Rachel Levine.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=tesla+powerwall+battery
I have 64 panels for my two-story all-electric home in Alabama (less sun than Florida, but still good sun). It produces 90% of all the power we need, including charging the EV. And that includes powering my house at night, even running the electric heat (what I need more of than folks in FL, but obviously not as much as people in states north of AL).
Wonder what a big hail storm would do to that solar panel field. They do have them in Florida, just ask the farmers.
The solar panel farm looks about 5x bigger than the main cluster of houses.
Or what happens when there is hail?
Besides smash, bang, boom, splinters....
The article is bs
But you are wrong
Ian eyewall made landfall at Cayo Costa.
It is propaganda. Some of the earliest storm damage reports talked about how there were smashed solar panels scattered all over the country side that had blown off during the storm. Anywhere they are using solar power is a location where there was not intense wind damage from the hurricane. Remember that they don’t even a have way to recycle most of those panels. Most will end up in a landfill.
I am with you up to the point of the number of PowerWalls you need. How many days is Florida in “dark conditions”. You may not have 100% sunshine all year, but a vast majorly of the year, it’s sunny. Planning a week without sunshine is a bit extreme. Also, power consumption is high for AC and heating is not a big deal in a bulk of Florida. How much AC do you need during darkness
Your point on Natural gas is very different, but in the areas I have looked at in Florida (outside KSC and Key West) for reasons unknown gas wasn’t ran underground. I have no idea why.
Is Solar perfect? Nope. Is it getting better, cheaper and is storage getting better? Yes, vastly. Battery technology has improved more in the last 20
years than in the previous 150 years
Will Solar be the champion? I don’t know. Thorium looks good, based on the little information I have seen. Fuel Cells may become viable. Natural Gas is fine. As an engineer I would think a modular approach as a strategy of risk mitigation against catastrophic grid failure. As we are now, I worry about cascading failure and collapse, either from direct or indirect attacks
Neither.
Bookmarked.
House prices at 430 460 480 thousand at a quick glance. They are listed as being in Punta Gorda. Not Ft Meyrs —— They are about 13 miles East of the water. So less chance of a hurricane wrecking their homes, and no storm surge flooding
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Babcock-Ranch_Punta-Gorda_FL
Very good points on solar panels and lack of recycling. The option I am investigating is the Tesla roof, where the shingles are the panels. Rated foe 166 mph (Class F).
Recycling of the solar panels is just now being contemplated for commercial applications. Until you have feedstock it’s a big investment without any supply. But it’s being considered now; a company I work with is doing precisely that.
Here is a guy who vlogged through the storm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af7cPfCI8ck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkTs4R_wAMo
Another thing that will take out solar panels is the stuff flying around and smashing into them. They are very breakable. Solar panels have their uses, but being a major power contributor for the grid is not one of them IMO.
FWIF -— Sunrise Florida in Broward County has natural gas infrastructure for its homes and businesses. But this is rare. For the most part Floridians must use electric stoves, which are awful. Though depending on where you buy.....You might be allowed to install a modest size propane submarine tank outside yr house. I have seen this.
By the way, once you get away from the immediate oceanfront at the landfall point, you don’t see houses just wiped away as in the aftermath of a tornado.
The Florida building code made a huge difference.
I understand that the trailer park crowd thinks Ian leveled everything, but it didn’t.
https://storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/ian/index.html#11/26.4767/-81.9127
Bing maps are accurate for Babcock Ranch -— https://www.bing.com/maps?q=Babcock-Ranch&FORM=HDRSC4
No. Look again. That’s where the solar field is. The development is further south.
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