by Patrick ➕follow (60) 💰tip ignore
« First « Previous Comments 104,470 - 104,509 of 117,730 Next » Last » Search these comments
I am not downvoting you - even though I disagree with you, we are having a reasonable conversation without any insults.
is that bio-diesel?
No, right?
Anyway because of the positive impact on the infrastructure and all, we should throw bio-diesel into the trade-off studies.
The solutions must come from the same top systems integrators that design all the other complicated systems we enjoy as a society.
So there is no need to consume organic material that can be otherwise useful as food or something.
Solar works in desert climates and covers up too much land
Sooooo..... 4e12 / 250 = 16 billion square meters = 16 thousand square kilometers . (remember, 1 square kilometer is 1000*1000 = 1 million square meters) . = 6150 square miles. It's about the area of Hawaii. It's a square 78 miles on each side.
SunnyvaleCA saysSooooo..... 4e12 / 250 = 16 billion square meters = 16 thousand square kilometers . (remember, 1 square kilometer is 1000*1000 = 1 million square meters) . = 6150 square miles. It's about the area of Hawaii. It's a square 78 miles on each side.
I've seen several times larger numbers
https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/calculating-ivanpahs-solar-sprawl
http://rameznaam.com/2015/04/08/how-much-land-would-it-take-to-power-the-us-via-solar/
Of course, we wouldn't run 100% on photovoltaics because of storage issues, distribution, cost, load balancing, etc.
plant system uses less than 50kWh per ton
SunnyvaleCA saysSooooo..... 4e12 / 250 = 16 billion square meters = 16 thousand square kilometers . (remember, 1 square kilometer is 1000*1000 = 1 million square meters) . = 6150 square miles. It's about the area of Hawaii. It's a square 78 miles on each side.
I've seen several times larger numbers
https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/calculating-ivanpahs-solar-sprawl
http://rameznaam.com/2015/04/08/how-much-land-would-it-take-to-power-the-us-via-solar/
Another issue with solar panels is that they are by no means carbon-neutral. And they emit much more of some heavy metals than nuclear. See Fig 3 in the paper.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es071763q
Solar is 50% worse than nuclear for lifetime CO2 emissions per kilowatt-hour. Nuclear and wind tie for the best.
The study finds each kilowatt-hour of electricity generated over the lifetime of a nuclear plant has an emissions footprint of 4 grams of CO2 equivalent (gCO2e/kWh). The footprint of solar comes in at 6gCO2e/kWh and wind is also 4gCO2e/kWh. The best solar technology in the sunniest location has a footprint of 3gCO2/kWh, some seven times lower than the worst solar technology in the worst location (21gCO2/kWh). If we were running a civilization on ground based solar we would use a lot more bad locations.
In contrast, coal CCS (109g), gas CCS (78g), hydro (97g) and bioenergy (98g) have rela...
"not enough land" is certainly not one of them.
SunnyvaleCA says"not enough land" is certainly not one of them.
Prob true for US - we have enough sunny land for solar.
Where does the energy come from at night?
Batteries are helluva polluting. Batteries to cover night across the USA would be pollution crazy; and they don't last forever.
it does not make sense in N. Dakota where most energy is consumed in winter with short days and cloudiness, or Sweden, Germany, Canada. For those countries much more area would need to be covered.
Of course there is no need to forgo all solar panel technology because it's not viable everywhere. If the panels are effective in some areas when all "costs" are taken into account, then there may be good reason to deploy panels in those areas.
But another issues arises as well: Even if panels are good enough to improve energy generation in some areas, waiting a few years might result in better technology that vastly improves over what we could roll out today. Maybe it's better to suffer along with fossil fuels until really good technology can be rolled out.
SunnyvaleCA saysOf course there is no need to forgo all solar panel technology because it's not viable everywhere. If the panels are effective in some areas when all "costs" are taken into account, then there may be good reason to deploy panels in those areas.
But another issues arises as well: Even if panels are good enough to improve energy generation in some areas, waiting a few years might result in better technology that vastly improves over what we could roll out today. Maybe it's better to suffer along with fossil fuels until really good technology can be rolled out.
I would gladly cover my house with solar panels, even though it would cost more than just getting electricity from power company since power companies are screwing all of us over. Unfortunately it is impractical here with hurricanes and bipolar weather of SE TX with freak hailstorms.
I suspect that price of elect...
Maybe if we stop bombing these nine countries we are currently bombing. 5 in middle east and 4 in Africa. --Wouldn't that be something? Will the economic burdon of war ever be lifted from our shoulders to the extent that our taxes are used to DIRECTLY increase the quality of life in America without that being seen as some horrible kind of "-ism."
Paul Craig Roberts
I've lost respect for gun loving mass shooters.
doesn't make it writings necessarily wrong either.
Completely different experience from the surrendering forces that gave themselves up and were held in open fields near the end of the war - under a different designation that magically exempted them from conventions of war.
I have no doubt Eisenhower regretted agreeing to the establishment of these camps eventually.
« First « Previous Comments 104,470 - 104,509 of 117,730 Next » Last » Search these comments
patrick.net
An Antidote to Corporate Media
1,260,208 comments by 15,050 users - AmericanKulak, GNL, HeadSet, Patrick online now