On 4/3/2009 12:43 PM HeyBub spake thus:

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.

Like most detractors of solar energy/proponents of nuclear power, the
argument you make is a total straw man.

Nobody is proposing that we should try to build a solar infrastructure
that could supply the entire *peak demand* for electrical energy. That's
absurd.

The whole idea is to use solar-generated electricity in a *mix* of
environmentally-friendly sources, including wind, geothermal, perhaps
tidal, and good old standbys like cogeneration and the best of all,
conservation (i.e., not using energy unnecessarily). Applying each
technology where it's appropriate and economic. (F'rinstance, how about
covering the thousands of acres of flat, unobstructed rooftops in any
major urban area with photovoltaic panels? That's called "picking the
low-hanging fruit".)

Think of it as a sort of energy multiculturalism, a concept that I'm
sure you'll be quite comfortable with.

(Note lack of smiley faces.)


--
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