Solar energy is dead

[Big Fitz]

E7....



Behave.

 

[Toro]

Famous last words.

Betting against green technologies is a bet against human and American ingenuity. Silicon Valley is pouring billions of dollars into green technologies. Don't know when they will become economically viable but economically viable they will become.

That not exactly how ROI works.

we deal a lot with Silicon Valley and their ROI

 

[rdean]

The ultimate step in utilizing solar power is to convert maximum energy from sun into electricity. This will make solar power highly cost-advantageous compared to other traditional power sources. Capturing energy wasted as heat from the sun can increase solar conversion efficiency greatly. Research funded by the U.S. Department of Energy is on-going to make this happen.

Energy Inventions - Innovative energy production concepts

This kind of research will take money. Republicans call that "pork". If they support paved roads being turned into gravel roads, will they really put money into education and research? Let's all give education a "Sarah Palin" eye roll.

 

[Revere]

Famous last words.

Betting against green technologies is a bet against human and American ingenuity. Silicon Valley is pouring billions of dollars into green technologies. Don't know when they will become economically viable but economically viable they will become.

That not exactly how ROI works.

we deal a lot with Silicon Valley and their ROI

Really? Do you ask them, "When will this make money?" And then do they say, "Beats me!"

 

[Revere]

Entrepreneurs, not the US Department of Energy, will make viable solar solutions, if they exist.

The Federal government should not be picking winners and losers in techology.

 

[uscitizen]

Green energy works, just replace a bulldozer with 100 men with shovels!

Luddites RULE!

 

[rdean]

Entrepreneurs, not the US Department of Energy, will make viable solar solutions, if they exist.

The Federal government should not be picking winners and losers in techology.

Entrepreneurs take research and turn it into money. But seriously, how much research is actually done by Entrepreneurs? Do you know what it takes to do research? The time? The resources? The expense?

How much of our technology came from NASA? They are hardly "Entrepreneurs".

 

[JiggsCasey]

Now be honest and tell the forum how much water is used for oil shale and tar sands. It dwarfs the amount alleged in your faux concern above, OP.

Just what IS with the boner you guys have for ever-dirtier hydro-carbon energy? You'll learn soon enough just what's at play here.

Shhhh

ASPO-USA: Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas

 

[JiggsCasey]

Famous last words.

Betting against green technologies is a bet against human and American ingenuity. Silicon Valley is pouring billions of dollars into green technologies. Don't know when they will become economically viable but economically viable they will become.

That not exactly how ROI works.

This from the camp that never factors in the full costs of fossil fuel extraction, including environmental damage, when figuring out honest EROEI for oil, gas and coal.

 

[uscitizen]

I guess it will be a real long cold night?

 

[Revere]

Entrepreneurs, not the US Department of Energy, will make viable solar solutions, if they exist.

The Federal government should not be picking winners and losers in techology.

Entrepreneurs take research and turn it into money. But seriously, how much research is actually done by Entrepreneurs? Do you know what it takes to do research? The time? The resources? The expense?

How much of our technology came from NASA? They are hardly "Entrepreneurs".

NASA is being tossed aside by the Obama regime. They're not going to be doing anything but watching the weather before long.

All consumer electronics and most pharmeceuticals are privately researched, for one.

 

[Flopper]

All large scale power generating plants require huge amounts of water. I would say any power generating plants except for hydro would face this problem in the southwest. This of course is one the advantages of wind power.

Water used in power plants for cooling is not actually consumed. True some of the water is lost to evaporation but much of the water can be returned to it's source for other uses. I think there is a lot more to this story than what's reported in this thread.

 

[rdean]

Entrepreneurs, not the US Department of Energy, will make viable solar solutions, if they exist.

The Federal government should not be picking winners and losers in techology.

Entrepreneurs take research and turn it into money. But seriously, how much research is actually done by Entrepreneurs? Do you know what it takes to do research? The time? The resources? The expense?

How much of our technology came from NASA? They are hardly "Entrepreneurs".

NASA is being tossed aside by the Obama regime. They're not going to be doing anything but watching the weather before long.

All consumer electronics and most pharmeceuticals are privately researched, for one.

NASA's Administrator Charles Bolden told reporters: "Our nation's leaders have come together and endorsed a blueprint for Nasa, one that requires us to think and act boldly as we move our agency into the future. This legislation supports the president's ambitious plan for Nasa to pioneer new frontiers of innovation and discovery."
The act will mark a sea change in the way Nasa does some of its business, particularly in the realm of human spaceflight.
The legislation calls for $1.3bn to be allocated to the development of commercial crew services over the next three years.
The money will seed private companies to design and build rockets and capsules capable of delivering astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

Tell-It-Like-It-Is: Obama signs Nasa up to new future

You see, the Bush plan was to return to the moon using existing technology. From there we could. Well, what was it we could do? That was the problem. Bush's plan, incomplete and poorly thought out seemed more like a "stunt" than a "plan".

Bush and the Republicans aren't very much into science, but they do like bravado.

I get tired of you guys making charges with no evidence. Why do you guys do that? And then get mad at me? I don't get it.

 

[Revere]

NASA isn't going to be throwing off any technology anymore that it hasn't had for 20 years, or wasn't co-developed for the military.

Press releases from government aren't research.

 

[Flopper]

Thats right, Solar is dead, non sustainable.

Seems someone forgot about the lack of water in the Arizona and California desert

http://ndep.nv.gov/news/temp_news/water093009.pdf

September 30, 2009
Alternative Energy Projects Stumble on a
Need for Water
By TODD WOODY

AMARGOSA VALLEY, Nev. — In a rural corner of Nevada reeling from the recession,
a bit of salvation seemed to arrive last year. A German developer, Solar Millennium,
announced plans to build two large solar farms here that would harness the sun to
generate electricity, creating hundreds of jobs.
But then things got messy. The company revealed that its preferred method of cooling the
power plants would consume 1.3 billion gallons of water a year, about 20 percent of this
desert valley’s available water.

In California, solar developers have already been forced to switch to less water-intensive
technologies when local officials have refused to turn on the tap. Other big solar projects
are mired in disputes with state regulators over water consumption.
To date, the flashpoint for such conflicts has been the Southwest, where dozens of
multibillion-dollar solar power plants are planned for thousands of acres of desert.

I think that is sufficient to begin. All solar power plants consume water, at the very least each plant must keep the mirrors or collectors clean of dust, there is a lot of dust in the desert. The water required to clean one solar power plant is millions of gallons of water.

Add the drought in California, the over use of the Colorado river, depleting the aquifers, the better use of water in agricultural food production.

Solar energy is dead.

Oh Really. Today over eight thousand megawatts of power in Germany is supplied by solar power. At the current rate of expansion, solar power will provide 25% of the power needs of the country by 2050. By the end of the century most of the electric power in the country will be provide by the sun. If technological breakthroughs occur, which are most probably Germany could be completely energy independent by the middle of this century.

Unless policies in the US change, it seem likely that United States in 2050 will be even more dependent on fossil fuels and foreign oil than are now.

Solar power in Germany - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oil Dependence Is a Dangerous Habit
Germany Gets Creative with Renewables : TreeHugger

 

[Revere]

Thats right, Solar is dead, non sustainable.

Seems someone forgot about the lack of water in the Arizona and California desert

http://ndep.nv.gov/news/temp_news/water093009.pdf

September 30, 2009
Alternative Energy Projects Stumble on a
Need for Water
By TODD WOODY

In California, solar developers have already been forced to switch to less water-intensive
technologies when local officials have refused to turn on the tap. Other big solar projects
are mired in disputes with state regulators over water consumption.
To date, the flashpoint for such conflicts has been the Southwest, where dozens of
multibillion-dollar solar power plants are planned for thousands of acres of desert.

I think that is sufficient to begin. All solar power plants consume water, at the very least each plant must keep the mirrors or collectors clean of dust, there is a lot of dust in the desert. The water required to clean one solar power plant is millions of gallons of water.

Add the drought in California, the over use of the Colorado river, depleting the aquifers, the better use of water in agricultural food production.

Solar energy is dead.

Oh Really. Today over eight thousand megawatts of power in Germany is supplied by solar power. At the current rate of expansion, solar power will provide 25% of the power needs of the country by 2050. By the end of the century most of the electric power in the country will be provide by the sun. If technological breakthroughs occur, which are most probably Germany could be completely energy independent by the middle of this century.

Unless policies in the US change, it seem likely that United States in 2050 will be even more dependent on fossil fuels and foreign oil than are now.

Solar power in Germany - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oil Dependence Is a Dangerous Habit
Germany Gets Creative with Renewables : TreeHugger

Change = gaming the fossil fuels market with taxes to make solar cost effective?

 

[Toro]

That not exactly how ROI works.

we deal a lot with Silicon Valley and their ROI

Really? Do you ask them, "When will this make money?" And then do they say, "Beats me!"

No that's not what they say.

 

[rdean]

NASA isn't going to be throwing off any technology anymore that it hasn't had for 20 years, or wasn't co-developed for the military.

Press releases from government aren't research.

I don't know. I went to White Sands for two weeks. The company I worked for signed a contract with NASO to work on a Cone Calorimeter which is used to verify that materials in an O2 enriched environment aren't flammable. They had astronauts die because of a fire that occurred with O2 enrichment. There are two problems with a fire in such an environment. Once it gets started, it's difficult to put out and second are the toxic gases found in the effluence.

Everyone that goes there has to sign an agreement that they won't talk about what they've been shown. But I can tell you this, put a lot a brilliant scientists out in the desert and they are thrilled to show anyone that shows up what they are working on, even a lowly engineer like me. I spent a week working and a week touring. They would just come and get you. It's not like you would want to say no and not everything is "secret".

Funny, there are two rovers on Mars that have been operating for years. Not bad for people who aren't developing any "technology", wouldn't you say?

NASA - Budget Documents, Strategic Plans and Performance Reports

 

[mdn2000]

The ultimate step in utilizing solar power is to convert maximum energy from sun into electricity. This will make solar power highly cost-advantageous compared to other traditional power sources. Capturing energy wasted as heat from the sun can increase solar conversion efficiency greatly. Research funded by the U.S. Department of Energy is on-going to make this happen.

Energy Inventions - Innovative energy production concepts

This kind of research will take money. Republicans call that "pork". If they support paved roads being turned into gravel roads, will they really put money into education and research? Let's all give education a "Sarah Palin" eye roll.

You linked an advertisement, my money stolen to give to others to research the solar solution that does not exist.

So far the lowest amount of time thus far posted is this will take at least 40 years, so we spend billions of dollars, force the people to give billions of dollars on ideas that we dont have water for.

 

[Revere]

NASA isn't going to be throwing off any technology anymore that it hasn't had for 20 years, or wasn't co-developed for the military.

Press releases from government aren't research.

I don't know. I went to White Sands for two weeks. The company I worked for signed a contract with NASO to work on a Cone Calorimeter which is used to verify that materials in an O2 enriched environment aren't flammable. They had astronauts die because of a fire that occurred with O2 enrichment. There are two problems with a fire in such an environment. Once it gets started, it's difficult to put out and second are the toxic gases found in the effluence.

Everyone that goes there has to sign an agreement that they won't talk about what they've been shown. But I can tell you this, put a lot a brilliant scientists out in the desert and they are thrilled to show anyone that shows up what they are working on, even a lowly engineer like me. I spent a week working and a week touring. They would just come and get you. It's not like you would want to say no and not everything is "secret".

Funny, there are two rovers on Mars that have been operating for years. Not bad for people who aren't developing any "technology", wouldn't you say?

NASA - Budget Documents, Strategic Plans and Performance Reports

I like guns and rockets and extraterrestrial rovers, but that's not technology with any consumer throwoff.

Google stands a better chance of delivering energy and technology solutions consumers will accept.