Greenie inanity

[TAB]

So I got a set of plans 2 weeks ago for a car port rated for solar panels.  The main reason for the car port is for place too put the panels.  So I worked up a bid for the structure.  During that I was trying too figure out how much power the panels  would actually produce.   So after doing all the math on the panels+ the structure,  the roi  for the panels+ the structure is 34 years.   That is assuming   static 3% increase a year.  The kicker is, the panels have  20 year life span.  So the time frame f9r the panels pay off is greater, then the life span of the panels.   After bringing this up with the company, they still want too do it as they " want too save the enviroment"    I highly doubt the energy they will produce will even come close too the energy needed too produce the steel too build the structure.

[Pathfinder]

You hit the nail on the head, tab - the state of solar energy in a nutshell right there.

[alfsauve]

Local national park got a grant for a total solar system for the visitors center.  Big splash in the paper about all the "savings".   I wrote a letter to the editor explaining, that had they invested the money in AAA bonds, they could pay the old electric bill and had a equal amount of income, in perpetuity.   Not to mention, of course, the maintenance and replacement cost after 20 years.

[MikeBjerum]

Alf also hit the nail on the head - Grant.  Many of our "green" efforts do not work out without government grants or force.  Look at the hybrid automobile.  How many would be on the road if not for the large tax credits you get for buying it.  Tax credit = Cold hard cash to pay your taxes aka bribe to do what the government wants.

[Big Frank]

Several years ago I read about someone in the U.S. who bought a bunch of solar panels that were made in Australia. They followed the instructions to the letter, including the part that said your solar panels should face north. That's okay in the Southern Hemisphere, but they were facing as far away from the sun as possible here in the U.S.

It turns out almost all solar panels in the U.S. are facing the wrong way anyway. They should face west instead of south to get the afternoon sun. The reason is they'll make about 50% more energy during peak power demand hours when the vast majority of power is used. You can face them south if you want the most energy at noon but practically nothing in the evening, or west if you if you want the most energy in the afternoon and evening when you need it the most.

[Sponsor]

[billt]

This whole wind and solar thing is nothing but a big ruse that will NEVER pan out to provide us with the amount of power we require. It's much the same with all of these electric cars. They will never replace fuel efficient gasoline models. They just won't, because they can't.

The problem with electricity is it has to be transmitted and used the instant it is made. Storage is a serious problem. Bill Gates calculated that all of the batteries on planet Earth fully charged to 100% capacity, would only hold 10 minutes of the total power required in the world today. It will be decades before that improves to a level that will make electric cars compatible with high mileage gasoline vehicles.

Right now you can put 16 gallons of gas into a gas tank of a fuel efficient car, and it will take you 550 miles or more. And when it's empty it can be refilled in a couple of minutes and you're off again. Electric cars are decades away from competing with that.... If they ever will.

And as far as the world "running out" of gas. They were saying that in the 70's during the Carter Administration. We're no closer to that now, than we were then. And we're currently finding new oil reserves faster than we can deplete the old one's.

But if the supply were to to seriously diminish, the price will begin to increase dramatically. This added cost will then help drive new ways of powering vehicles. And squeeze even more mileage out of the fuel that remains. As always it will be money and profitability within the private sector that will drive this. Not some professor at Berkeley gluing solar panels on a wooden car that weighs 120 pounds, that you have to lay down in to drive.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXHTmEUGR7c

[PegLeg45]

The best use of solar panels is for tending stored batteries, like a trickle charger. Even then I had to modify the one I have (keeping up the battery in my older truck) for it to put out full voltage in varying light conditions.

[jaybet]

After all of this you still have to think of the cost of making the electricity. It's generated by a plant, or it's collected through solar, wind, or other. The machinery and circuitry that does that is costly and uses a lot of resources. AND batteries are a big component...the toxicity and cost of batteries, disposal problems, heavy metals...  the "green" energy isn't green at all.

[PegLeg45]

After all of this you still have to think of the cost of making the electricity. It's generated by a plant, or it's collected through solar, wind, or other. The machinery and circuitry that does that is costly and uses a lot of resources. AND batteries are a big component...the toxicity and cost of batteries, disposal problems, heavy metals...  the "green" energy isn't green at all.

Yep.
And a lot of folks have made a bundle of loot because they convinced people these things are a viable option.

[Solus]

You guys just don't understand.   

They need to do Something!.  It doesn't matter that it doesn't help at all and, most often, makes things worse.  Doing that Something! makes them feel so good about themselves and gets them off the hook for something more difficult that might do some actuall good.