Energy Independence in 92 Square Miles

[Synthaholic]

I've posted this on other boards, and the story is a few years old, but I recently saw some other news about this project, so it's still going strong.

Energy Independence in 92 Square Miles


Give Ausra CEO Bob Fishman a 92-by-92-mile expanse of desert land -- an area less than one-tenth the size of Nevada -- and he could power the entire United States. Fishman doesn’t control that much land, of course, and transporting electricity all over the country would get tricky. But that doesn’t make the power of Ausra’s solar technology any less mind-boggling.

While most older solar setups depend on pricey photovoltaic panels, Ausra’s installations boast mass-produced mirror clusters that focus the sun’s rays onto water-filled tubes. When the water begins to boil, it produces enough steam to turn an array of turbines. Fishman estimates electricity generated this way will cost 10 to 12 cents per kilowatt-hour -- on par with power from polluting sources such as coal, and 50% less than photovoltaic power. “Photovoltaic is constrained because it uses high-grade silicon,” he says. “We’re using everyday materials -- just steel, glass, and water.”

VC extraordinaire Vinod Khosla invested $25 million in Ausra last year, and Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield, & Byers kicked in another $15 million, a colossal vote of confidence that has proven contagious. In November 2007, Pacific Gas & Electric signed a 20-year power purchasing agreement with the company that will generate more than $1 billion in revenue (Ausra’s first California plant is slated to be up and running by 2010), and Ausra officials are in talks with utilities in Florida and Nevada to cement similar deals. “I don’t think it’s out of the question for us to get 30% of the national grid within 20 years,” Fishman says.
​

 

[mdn2000]

I've posted this on other boards, and the story is a few years old, but I recently saw some other news about this project, so it's still going strong.

Energy Independence in 92 Square Miles


Give Ausra CEO Bob Fishman a 92-by-92-mile expanse of desert land -- an area less than one-tenth the size of Nevada -- and he could power the entire United States. Fishman doesn’t control that much land, of course, and transporting electricity all over the country would get tricky. But that doesn’t make the power of Ausra’s solar technology any less mind-boggling.

While most older solar setups depend on pricey photovoltaic panels, Ausra’s installations boast mass-produced mirror clusters that focus the sun’s rays onto water-filled tubes. When the water begins to boil, it produces enough steam to turn an array of turbines. Fishman estimates electricity generated this way will cost 10 to 12 cents per kilowatt-hour -- on par with power from polluting sources such as coal, and 50% less than photovoltaic power. “Photovoltaic is constrained because it uses high-grade silicon,” he says. “We’re using everyday materials -- just steel, glass, and water.”

VC extraordinaire Vinod Khosla invested $25 million in Ausra last year, and Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield, & Byers kicked in another $15 million, a colossal vote of confidence that has proven contagious. In November 2007, Pacific Gas & Electric signed a 20-year power purchasing agreement with the company that will generate more than $1 billion in revenue (Ausra’s first California plant is slated to be up and running by 2010), and Ausra officials are in talks with utilities in Florida and Nevada to cement similar deals. “I don’t think it’s out of the question for us to get 30% of the national grid within 20 years,” Fishman says.
​

More stupidity, press releases of dreams passes for proof in your mind, you beleive everything you read in a press release? This is why we have our problems, the gulliable and naive beleive all they read.

I actually worked for the company or I should say a smaller company bought by the Giant French Company that owns this company. The Saleman for the Solar side of the business is a convicted drug dealer, caught selling Cocaine to a minor, he spent over a year in prison. He will say anything to anyone, he does not care, I watched him sell a contract for nuclear work over the phone, regardless of if we could do the work in the time he said, he under cut the competition with a pure lie. Which is what you need to sell Solar.

Your article is very old, three years. where is the 92 square miles of Solar, if the claim was true why was it not built? Further they will use natural gas to produce the energy to boil the medium to power the turbines that turn the generators. Why use Solar at all, simple, they have convinced the public Solar is clean and worth the very expensive price.

Of course you have to shove it down the throats of Californians first, which is easy, having a very large illegal mexican voting block that is under educated makes that easy to pass. Having the rest of the population that uses three year old press releases as a source of their knowledge guarantees the measures pass.

Of course you must give the electricity to the poor at a cheap rate, so they have no idea of the true cost, and of course the other rate payers end up paying the bill of the poor.

The date of the press release from your "article".

March 1, 2008

More recent news is of a company that failed, failed to show that their idea works. That does not matter, just let Obama dump billions and billions of our money into the solar money pit and it will work, just read the press release, it says it works. Yet after three years it was not built.

Financing woes shrink Ausra's big solar plans | Green Tech - CNET News

Ausra President and CEO Bob Fishman told different news outlets this week that the company has been forced to change its business strategy in response to the credit crisis. The company is also laying off staff as part of the reorganization, according to reports.

The change is a clear sign of how the credit crisis and the current structure of government incentives are hurting the business for large-scale renewable-energy projects

Of course now this company has been bought by Areva, a giant corporation is France, by owning this company they meet the EU's laws to trade carbon credits, another huge scam.

 

[xsited1]

Ooops:

Feinstein seeks block solar power from desert land | Go Solar Power For Homes

 

[mdn2000]

Ausra, this must be a great Solar Company, Al Gore and Bill Clinton passed laws and authorized and financed the studies promoting the global warming fraud, as well as gave grants, tax subsidies, and free research to these Solar Companies.

And now we find out its because Al Gore is invested in Green Technology, I thought Dick Cheney used his position to advance Halliburton, it seems when Democrats accuse Republicans, its only because they are guilty of the crime themselves.

Al Gore invested in the fraud, AUSRA

Gore Admits Financial 'Stake' In Advancing Global Warming Hysteria

For years, NewsBusters has reported on Al Gore's financial interests in advancing global warming hysteria around the world.

On March 1, while speaking at the TED Conference in Monterey, California, the Nobel Laureate admitted to having "a stake" in a number of green "investments" that he recommended attendees put money in rather than "sub-prime carbon assets" like "tar sands" and "shale oil."

This occurred as pictures of such products appeared on the screen with names of the companies involved (video available here, relevant section begins at minute 15:00, h/t NBer Sick-and-Tired):

Story Continues Below Ad ↓ There are a lot of great investments you can make. If you are investing in tar sands, or shale oil, then you have a portfolio that is crammed with sub-prime carbon assets. And it is based on an old model. Junkies find veins in their toes when the ones in their arms and their legs collapse. Developing tar sands and coal shale is the equivalent. Here are just a few of the investments I personally think make sense. I have a stake in these so I’ll have a disclaimer there. But geo-thermal concentrating solar, advanced photovoltaics, efficiency, and conservation.

As Gore spoke these words, pictures of electric cars, windmills and solar panels appeared in multiple slides on the screen with company names at the bottom such as Amyris (biofuels), Altra (biofuels), Bloom Energy (solid oxide fuel cells), Mascoma (cellulosic biofuels), GreatPoint Energy (catalytic gasification), Miasole (solar cells), Ausra (utility scale solar panels), GEM (battery operated cars), Smart (electric cars), and AltaRock Energy (geothermal power).

As such, like an investment advisor or stock broker giving a seminar to prospects and clients, Al Gore was actively recommending people put money in companies he already has a financial stake in.

And, as he tours the world demanding nations stop burning fossil fuels, he will financially benefit if they follow his advice and move to technologies that he has already invested in.

 

[Synthaholic]

I've posted this on other boards, and the story is a few years old, but I recently saw some other news about this project, so it's still going strong.

Energy Independence in 92 Square Miles


Give Ausra CEO Bob Fishman a 92-by-92-mile expanse of desert land -- an area less than one-tenth the size of Nevada -- and he could power the entire United States. Fishman doesn’t control that much land, of course, and transporting electricity all over the country would get tricky. But that doesn’t make the power of Ausra’s solar technology any less mind-boggling.

While most older solar setups depend on pricey photovoltaic panels, Ausra’s installations boast mass-produced mirror clusters that focus the sun’s rays onto water-filled tubes. When the water begins to boil, it produces enough steam to turn an array of turbines. Fishman estimates electricity generated this way will cost 10 to 12 cents per kilowatt-hour -- on par with power from polluting sources such as coal, and 50% less than photovoltaic power. “Photovoltaic is constrained because it uses high-grade silicon,” he says. “We’re using everyday materials -- just steel, glass, and water.”

VC extraordinaire Vinod Khosla invested $25 million in Ausra last year, and Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield, & Byers kicked in another $15 million, a colossal vote of confidence that has proven contagious. In November 2007, Pacific Gas & Electric signed a 20-year power purchasing agreement with the company that will generate more than $1 billion in revenue (Ausra’s first California plant is slated to be up and running by 2010), and Ausra officials are in talks with utilities in Florida and Nevada to cement similar deals. “I don’t think it’s out of the question for us to get 30% of the national grid within 20 years,” Fishman says.
​

More stupidity, press releases of dreams passes for proof in your mind, you beleive everything you read in a press release? This is why we have our problems, the gulliable and naive beleive all they read.

I actually worked for the company or I should say a smaller company bought by the Giant French Company that owns this company. The Saleman for the Solar side of the business is a convicted drug dealer, caught selling Cocaine to a minor, he spent over a year in prison. He will say anything to anyone, he does not care, I watched him sell a contract for nuclear work over the phone, regardless of if we could do the work in the time he said, he under cut the competition with a pure lie. Which is what you need to sell Solar.

Your article is very old, three years. where is the 92 square miles of Solar, if the claim was true why was it not built? Further they will use natural gas to produce the energy to boil the medium to power the turbines that turn the generators. Why use Solar at all, simple, they have convinced the public Solar is clean and worth the very expensive price.

Of course you have to shove it down the throats of Californians first, which is easy, having a very large illegal mexican voting block that is under educated makes that easy to pass. Having the rest of the population that uses three year old press releases as a source of their knowledge guarantees the measures pass.

Of course you must give the electricity to the poor at a cheap rate, so they have no idea of the true cost, and of course the other rate payers end up paying the bill of the poor.

The date of the press release from your "article".

March 1, 2008

More recent news is of a company that failed, failed to show that their idea works. That does not matter, just let Obama dump billions and billions of our money into the solar money pit and it will work, just read the press release, it says it works. Yet after three years it was not built.

Financing woes shrink Ausra's big solar plans | Green Tech - CNET News

Ausra President and CEO Bob Fishman told different news outlets this week that the company has been forced to change its business strategy in response to the credit crisis. The company is also laying off staff as part of the reorganization, according to reports.

The change is a clear sign of how the credit crisis and the current structure of government incentives are hurting the business for large-scale renewable-energy projects

Of course now this company has been bought by Areva, a giant corporation is France, by owning this company they meet the EU's laws to trade carbon credits, another huge scam.

Other than a few people like T. Boone Pickens and Ted Turner, state and federal land is the only options for large areas of land. That takes time.

Why would they need natural gas to boil when they have lenses and mirrors and the sun?

Illegals cannot vote.

You talk a lot of shit.

 

[Synthaholic]

More recent news is of a company that failed, failed to show that their idea works. That does not matter, just let Obama dump billions and billions of our money into the solar money pit and it will work, just read the press release, it says it works. Yet after three years it was not built.

Financing woes shrink Ausra's big solar plans | Green Tech - CNET News

Ausra President and CEO Bob Fishman told different news outlets this week that the company has been forced to change its business strategy in response to the credit crisis. The company is also laying off staff as part of the reorganization, according to reports.

The change is a clear sign of how the credit crisis and the current structure of government incentives are hurting the business for large-scale renewable-energy projects

How does a lack of financing have anything to do with whether the technology works?

 

[mdn2000]

More recent news is of a company that failed, failed to show that their idea works. That does not matter, just let Obama dump billions and billions of our money into the solar money pit and it will work, just read the press release, it says it works. Yet after three years it was not built.

Financing woes shrink Ausra's big solar plans | Green Tech - CNET News

Ausra President and CEO Bob Fishman told different news outlets this week that the company has been forced to change its business strategy in response to the credit crisis. The company is also laying off staff as part of the reorganization, according to reports.

The change is a clear sign of how the credit crisis and the current structure of government incentives are hurting the business for large-scale renewable-energy projects

How does a lack of financing have anything to do with whether the technology works?

It is just one indication. You can make electricity with potatoes yet banks do not finance Potatoe Power Plants, why?

Of course we can dump a Trillion dollars into the banks, which we did, we dumped over a Trillion dollars into foreign banks, as we know Obama demands green energy, somehow Areva just found the funds to buy Altura, which failed in past, is it possible that a condition on bailing out European banks is they give loans to buy failed Green Energy Companies, is that possible at all?

Yes, this is all the housing crisis, every bank in Europe was destroyed by just a portion of our housing market, yet we see that these European banks have invested billions in Green Energy.

I say it here and now, the U.S. Housing market is the scapegoat, our energy policy has caused us to go bankrupt, our energy policy has destroyed the USA. We are bleeding, the GOP pinky in the Deficit will not help, Trillions of dollars is being given to the European Union, and everywhere we look we see the single largest government investment in a single, proven failed, industry, the Green Energy Industry.

California has not balanced its budget in years, this year alone we owe an extra 24 billion dollars, last year it 20 billion dollars, the year before it was 20 billion dollars, etc., etc..

California was not investing in housing, they did invest in Green Energy, direct grants, loans, subsidies, tariffs, laws, rules, regulations, fines, enforcement, new agencies to address global warming and energy.

Instead of concentrating on the industry that is proven, the entire World has pursued something that has failed repeatedly, Green Energy. We are told its housing, pure bullshit. It is Energy, so I can not prove it. Big deal, which is worth more on Wall Street. Housing or Energy.

Housing or Energy, which is the more important commodity thus more likely to destroy the World's economy. Its houses of course, that is all anyone speaks of, just wait until Peak Housing Theory is revealed, watch the price of houses skyrocket.

Oh wait, we had Peak House Theory, it was in Southern California's newspapers all through the housing boom, let me paraphrase, "No more land to build houses". I saw the articles all the time, look what happened.

Energy is causing the financial collapse, not houses.

 

[The Infidel]

How does a lack of financing have anything to do with whether the technology works?

If the technology was as good as it sounds, the investors would beat a path to their door.

Its not, so they have'nt.

 

[mdn2000]

How does a lack of financing have anything to do with whether the technology works?

If the technology was as good as it sounds, the investors would beat a path to their door.

Its not, so they have'nt.

In this case, its the other way around, the failed businesses are demanding the doors be beaten open through the force of government.

 

[Mr. H.]

Why would the U.S. dedicate 92 square miles of land when they won't allow a single drilling rig with a 5 acre footprint?

 

[mdn2000]

Why would the U.S. dedicate 92 square miles of land when they won't allow a single drilling rig with a 5 acre footprint?

Where would we get the water in the desert to wash 92 sq. miles of mirror. Sounds like they are creating a hot spot, imagine all that radiation reflected back into the atmosphere instead of absorbed my the ground.

Solar, not powered by technology, powered by lots of taxpayer cash, enough to make many people millionaires. I bet Obama will be the richest X-President in history.

 

[Johnst1001a]

I am sure others have written in, but 92 miles by 92 miles is 8,464 square miles. Nonetheless a very small speck of land when comparing to the total land mass of the US which is 6+ million square miles, not even counting Alaska.

No, we don't have to put all that in the desert either. In many places it is better done on roof tops.

 

[mdn2000]

I am sure others have written in, but 92 miles by 92 miles is 8,464 square miles. Nonetheless a very small speck of land when comparing to the total land mass of the US which is 6+ million square miles, not even counting Alaska.

No, we don't have to put all that in the desert either. In many places it is better done on roof tops.

Better on roof tops, because all roofs are designed for the weight of Solar Panels, who pays to retrofit the roofs?

Why do you think its okay to empower the Electric Utilities to start a new business while they are a monopoly in their, "territory".

The Government regulates the electric industry for this reason specifically, that they are a monopoly, so your stating I should pay more for electricity and a private corporation should make a rich profit from me, as mandated by government.

Are you a liberal or conservative, it seems pretty rotten that you are telling me I have to pay more for electricity, why do you think I can afford to pay more, why do you think the government should force me to pay more to corporations ran by millionaires.

Solar on roofs, another bullshit idea, the water to wash the Solar Panels, that is a direct subsidy. Water in the west is always a subsidy to industry.

 

[Old Rocks]

Far less, by orders of magnitude, than it takes for a fossil fueled plant.

And the new thin film panels weigh next to nothing, and can be glued to the present steel roofs of most industrial and commercial buildings.

 

[mdn2000]

Far less, by orders of magnitude, than it takes for a fossil fueled plant.

And the new thin film panels weigh next to nothing, and can be glued to the present steel roofs of most industrial and commercial buildings.

Steel Roofs, you are an idiot, no industrial or commercial building has a Steel Roof.

Do you mean the supporting beams underneath the roof.

It is a stupid idea, you know nothing about roofs, how are you going to repair a water leak when you have Solar Panels glued to a roof.

Further, what will glueing a Solar Panel to roof do to the Warranty of the roof, void it?

Who pays for that. Are you a complete idiot Old Crock. Ever been on a roof, you do know many use tar, can we glue Solar Panels to hot tar and rock, what about a Comp roof, can you glue Solar panels to shingles, or rolled shingles, or what about the new lifetime warrantied rubber material roofs, can we glue Solar to these roofs.

Are roofs designed to be nailed into, bolted into.

The fantasy of the idiots, we get to pay for this idea, its happening, without a thought about roof leaks.

And the roof leaks are real and not imaginery. Solar causes roof leaks. Idiots. Just glue the panel on.

Old Crock, "you can just glue the panels to the roof".

How many people have shingle roofs, how many people think its a good idea to glue solar to shingles, how many people have thought of the damage that is done to the roof.

 

[whitehall]

92 square miles of mirrored panels? Are you nuts? Think about what it would do the environment.

 

[mdn2000]

Funny how all these Green Energy projects require free land, thats right, not only do we do the research in our universities with our tax money, we also take tax money and literally give the land to Solar, they could not build Solar without free land, property, free real estate, bought for by you and me, let me correct that, the money to pay for all of this is borrowed by us, paid for by someone else, in the future, fuck them, right, who are they, they can pay my fair share.

 

[Synthaholic]

How does a lack of financing have anything to do with whether the technology works?

It is just one indication. You can make electricity with potatoes yet banks do not finance Potatoe Power Plants, why?

The banks are not financing anything - they are sitting on all their taxpayer-bailout money. Bush/Paulson did not require them to lend one cent, as a condition of the TARP funds.

Thanks again, George!

If the technology was as good as it sounds, the investors would beat a path to their door.

Its not, so they have'nt.

Again, from the OP:

VC extraordinaire Vinod Khosla invested $25 million in Ausra last year, and Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield, & Byers kicked in another $15 million, a colossal vote of confidence that has proven contagious. In November 2007, Pacific Gas & Electric signed a 20-year power purchasing agreement with the company that will generate more than $1 billion in revenue (Ausra’s first California plant is slated to be up and running by 2010), and Ausra officials are in talks with utilities in Florida and Nevada to cement similar deals.

​

They did invest. Then the economy tanked. Now there is no one stepping up to invest for the rest of the project.

 

[Synthaholic]

Of course we can dump a Trillion dollars into the banks, which we did, we dumped over a Trillion dollars into foreign banks,

OK - prove that with some links.

as we know Obama demands green energy, somehow Areva just found the funds to buy Altura, which failed in past, is it possible that a condition on bailing out European banks is they give loans to buy failed Green Energy Companies, is that possible at all?

Prove that we bailed out European banks.

Yes, this is all the housing crisis, every bank in Europe was destroyed by just a portion of our housing market, yet we see that these European banks have invested billions in Green Energy.

I say it here and now, the U.S. Housing market is the scapegoat, our energy policy has caused us to go bankrupt, our energy policy has destroyed the USA. We are bleeding, the GOP pinky in the Deficit will not help, Trillions of dollars is being given to the European Union, and everywhere we look we see the single largest government investment in a single, proven failed, industry, the Green Energy Industry.

If you mean our dependency on oil, then I agree that it has hurt us financially. But I suspect you mean alt energy.

So show where and how our penny-ante spending on alt energy has 'destroyed' this country. Links, please!

After that, please show where we gave trillions of dollars to the EU (which is different that European banks, btw).

California has not balanced its budget in years, this year alone we owe an extra 24 billion dollars, last year it 20 billion dollars, the year before it was 20 billion dollars, etc., etc..

That's what happens when you elect a Republican governator.

California was not investing in housing, they did invest in Green Energy, direct grants, loans, subsidies, tariffs, laws, rules, regulations, fines, enforcement, new agencies to address global warming and energy.

Just how does a state invest in housing?

Instead of concentrating on the industry that is proven, the entire World has pursued something that has failed repeatedly, Green Energy.

I'm beginning to think you are a shill for the oil companies. A shill with no links.

 

[Synthaholic]

Why would the U.S. dedicate 92 square miles of land when they won't allow a single drilling rig with a 5 acre footprint?

Would a single drilling rig produce enough energy to power the entire United States?