[snopercod]

Any freshman engineering student knows that photovoltaic energy is a good economic choice where there is no other alternative. Even in space, nuclear is better.

All this program has done is to populate Sacramento with zillions of lead-acid batteries that need to be replaced every 5 years.

I am still a believer in solar hot water systems where the climate is right. It's the only alternative energy system out there that will - under the right circumstances - pay for itself in ten or twenty years.

[Dog Gone]

All this comes right after the California Legislature of Kooks voted to require California to produce 20% of its electricity needs from renewable energy sources like this.

[balrog666]

Any freshman engineering student knows that photovoltaic energy is a good economic choice where there is no other alternative.

Did you mean NOT? Otherwise:

Any freshman engineering student knows that (any source of) energy is a good economic choice where there is no other alternative.

[Robert357]

..I am still a believer in solar hot water systems where the climate is right. It's the only alternative energy system out there that will - under the right circumstances - pay for itself in ten or twenty years.

I too beleive in solar hot water heating (almost everywhere as a suplemental hot water source). I have had the interesting experience of being the engineering project manager on a 25 MW wind farm project that environmentalist fought. I also was the lead licensing engineer on a project in Hawaii, where the Sierra club objected to wind, solar photo-voltaic, ocean thermal, ocean tidal, diesel generators, diesel combined cycle combustion turbines, bio-mass steam boiler generators, geothermal, coal and of course nuclear.

It was so interesting to go to meetings where the utility explained that they were now having rolling brownouts due to lack of generation and then hear the Sierra Club explain that they had a conservation plan that would provide the equivalent amount of power at the end of ten years of implementation (all the while brownouts would be happeneing and load would be growing so that brownouts would be forever).

NREL in Colorado has hyped a lot of technology well beyond the point of ever being able to deliver on their promises.

At SMUD, the people have Mr. Freeman to thank, as well, as their "green conservation program wizard," Lon Topaz. Lon is now at an un-named eastern Washington Public Utility District. Mr. Freeman is set to take over the Califronia Power Authority (God help the people of California!)