"RickH" wrote in message
...
On Apr 3, 3:43 pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
Smitty Two wrote:

A friend of mine had a system put on his roof a year ago. He has no
batteries, so the meter runs backwards during the day and forwards at
night. He spent $18,000, and he's saving $60 a month. Hardly a
respectable return, financially.

Within six months, we're planning to have a system of equivalent
output that's 1/3 the size at 1/3 the cost. That should be approaching
viability from an investment standpoint, particularly with the gov't
incentives now in effect.

The sun delivers 740 watts/sq meter of energy to the earth. At the
equator.
At noon. With no clouds.

Assuming 70% conversion and adjusting for latitude, hours of sunlight, and
weather, it would take a solar collector farm the size of the Los Angeles
basin (1200 sq miles) to provide the peak demand of 50GWatts just for
California. 1200 square miles is larger than the entire U.S. Interstate
Highway system. On the plus side, it would leave Los Angeles in the dark.

The only way to improve on this situation is to move the orbit of the
earth
closer to the sun.

This country cannot be run on sunbeams. Period. End of story.

Necessity may dictate some solar power applications, but pervasive solar
power cannot be justified solely on the basis of economics. It's
inconceivable it ever will be.


Wind and Solar are both 1% solutions to a 100% problem. I think CNG
for transport and Nuclear for electric are the way to go, the US has
massive reserves of clean NG. I heard the compression technology to
fill an automobile gas tank is down to about 3 minutes for a 300 mile
ride. Gas stations in the US can be re-equipped (with govt tax
breaks) to handle CNG considering most already handle propane. Modern
gasoline engines are easily adapted to use CNG and many can be re-
engineered to handle both gasoline and CNG, making the transition
easier (maybe GM and Chrysler can do something useful with those
bailout bucks). The business case for Nuclear is getting better too
as coal is not very popular with the green block. The govt could have
led the way this year by declaring all their fleet vehicles use CNG.

Solar may have some use some day in charging idle hybrid cars, where
parking lots can offer free trickle charge plug-ins while you are in
work for 8 hours not using the car. When the Kennedys agree to put a
windmill in plain view of their Camelot then maybe I'll think
windmills are ok to see raping the midwest landscape too, but they
have to come half way.

I agree completely with Rick...Well said...