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Solar power has some, but very few, places of real benefit, mostly in Hawaii where energy costs much more and sunshine is abundant, and in micro-situations, such as a swimming pool heater, where heat is collected to heat a pool, and the "need" is not immediate, and round-the-clock (as is the need for elec., which you need when you need it, and in some cases, refrigerators, for example, all the time).
I live in a rural region, in a state that is over 92% forest. The best wisdom of our public utilities has been to keep our power lines up in the air on poles 20 foot shorter than the surrounding forest. Every time the wind blows, somewhere a tree falls over. Sometimes the daily tree blow down takes out a power line, which provides power to 20 towns down stream.
It is a very common occurrence for me to see fallen trees hanging on the power lines, I have the electric company's trouble line on speed dial on my cellphone.
Having lived here for 11 years, we have not seen a continuous 30-day month without at least one power outage in our town. We normally have at least one week-long power outage every year.
After living here for about 5 years, the decision to go to Solar Power was an easy decision for us.
We have many hundreds of years of fossil fuels at our disposal, which is plenty of time to work out alternatives that can be available when actually needed. Right now, inefficiencies, and costs/benefit rations are much on the side of fossil fuels, and will be for some time.
Agreed. I was responding to a post asking why I favored earlier breakthroughs such as internal combustion engines.
I guess a man can walk on the sun, they said it would be impossible to fly, but we did it so it must be possible to walk on the sun.
Yah, it's possible to go to the sun. @ our current level of technology, we couldn't bring you back - we don't have the lift for it. & of course, there would hardly be anything of you left to retrieve & return to Earth. That's for now.
If we can dispense with matter, or @ least the notion of returning from the sun, we can probably manage some kind of telepresence sensor package. Not actually to the sun, but maybe in a fairly close orbit. As our technology gets better, we may someday actually get a probe to survive for a brief time on the sun.
I'm not sure what it would take to actually land on the sun - very heavy & near-perfect thermal/radiation shielding, some way around the sun's gravity. & someway of bringing the explorer back from the surface. All in due time, I suppose - but it'll likely be quite a while.
I built my own solar array and have my own wind mill ,
Still tied to the grid, my electric bill is about $30.-$80. depending on the weather and needing to use the swamp cooler or running heavy electric equipment like big air compressors or welders .
I am on a battery system that is charged with both conventional and alternative source energy.
Photovoltaic solar is technology over 100 years old and wind mills go back even further 2000 years at least.
I have never been rich nor do I expect to ever be rich , and I built my system a little at a time ,as an investment into the future that even my children can take advantage of, if they wish.
I have owned a few homes and rented a few as well ,and with that in mind, my solar and wind mill are built on my shop trailer, so that when I move I take my solar/wind investment with me .
All too often people buy a home with more the idea of an investment and selling it in the future . that's not me. Even so I know the odds of moving exist so that's how I plan.
I own this present home, but the solar remains on the shop trailer, in the event I must move again .
Solar does not have to be on a house , it can be also on a car port or back porch or gazebo for that matter, even a tool shed .
Every single panel is a contribution large or small size is not critical ( they all do not need to match).
Of course the more you have and the better they are the more contributions your getting . But doing nothing or making excuses really doesn't produce a thing.
My brother bought panels and never put them up hence they are not paying off at all .
How much do you invest in things that have no honest return ? Or actually a negative return in the future, like a boat you never use.
I still have solar panels that are over 40 years old and still producing for me . some were old when I got them .
Learn something about solar from the inside using it , developing it and learning something.
Lazy people make excuses . and I am way ahead having dome something in stead of listing to nay sayers.
I built my own solar array and have my own wind mill ,
Still tied to the grid, my electric bill is about $30.-$80. depending on the weather and needing to use the swamp cooler or running heavy electric equipment like big air compressors or welders .*********
Lazy people make excuses . and I am way ahead having dome something in stead of listing to nay sayers.
Thank you very much. I am paying for your "backup" power when the solar isn't producing for you.
... my solar and wind mill are built on my shop trailer, so that when I move I take my solar/wind investment with me
How big is your trailer?
Quote:
... I own this present home, but the solar remains on the shop trailer, in the event I must move again . Solar does not have to be on a house , it can be also on a car port or back porch or gazebo for that matter, even a tool shed.
How many watts of photovoltaic panels do you have?
We have 4400 watts of panels, an array that is 70' long alongside our driveway.
I constructed one array to hold these panels, I finished mounting them one week before Hurricane Sandy came to town. That totally destroyed our mounting array. Then came winter. I had to wait a year before constructing the second mounting array.
I would think that doing it all on a trailer, would require a lot of anchoring.
Thank you very much. I am paying for your "backup" power when the solar isn't producing for you.
People who have their own solar arrays and wind generators pay just as much for electricity they get from the grid as those who depend exclusively on the grid. I don't get how you think you are paying for someone elses electricty.
Better yet, get the government totally out of the energy business. Let the market determine when solar and wind energy are ready.
Tax payers should NEVER subsidize businesses. The government should NEVER pick winners and losers.
Yah, because US gov doesn't want to be accused being of Socialist, we don't have a formal trade policy. Nor do we prioritize key industries, key scientific areas, key resources. & because we don't do any of that stuff, we've shuffled all of that off to DARPA, essentially. DARPA was key to what became the Internet, electronics, IC, lasers, masers, computers, radar improvements, sonar improvements, software architecture, microwaves, cruise missiles, stealth tech, recon satellites, comms tech, & on & on.
I think it would make more sense to address these areas directly, in civilian mode, & thrash out priorities @ the national level, rather than letting the armed services hash out these issues through their proxies, the various Defense committees in Congress & the defense industries & contractors.
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Buckets o' sunshine
