RE: Interesting article on proposed energy policies.
July 6, 2011 at 4:28 am
(This post was last modified: July 6, 2011 at 4:30 am by Anomalocaris.)
(July 6, 2011 at 12:15 am)Minimalist Wrote: I live in the desert where entire counties could be covered in solar panels and it would only annoy the scorpions. Why they don't do it is beyond me.
Because where the sun is is where the people are not. The efficient delivery of power over long distances from where the sun is to where the people are requires high voltage transmission lines, the higher the voltage, the more efficient the delivery, and that economically competitive the green power they deliver. Unfortunately where the sun is is also where the high voltage transmission lines are mostly not. Because new high voltage transmission lines are very long things that must necessarily go through many people's backyards and which fit poorly with most people's idea of attractive landscaping, to say nothing of the pseudoscience surrounding rumors of their harmful effects, proposals to build new power lines usually generate the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) reaction in magnitudes unparalleled even by nuclear power plants, and as a result they are fiendishly difficult to get permitted. It also doesn't help that they cost several million dollars a mile to build. This is why solar plants don't sprout up more often in boonies where cactus grow.
(July 5, 2011 at 11:45 pm)Shell B Wrote:(July 5, 2011 at 11:21 am)Napoleon Wrote: I've always thought "wind power" was a big waste of time.
Where I live, it has proven to work well. However, the equipment makes our harbor and certain beaches look like shit. They aren't exactly ugly, but you can't see through them.
The problem with wind power in many parts of the world is wind tends to blow the hardest when people turn out their lights to go to sleep. And there is no really good way to store the energy generated for use when people wake up and start using the power.
