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As the title states...conservatives, what's your opinion on solar and wind energy? Are you ok with it? are you against is? Is it hippie hog-wash? Are you against the tax incentives? Are nuclear energy, coal and oil working so why fix it if it's not broke?
Wind turbines are a ghastly sight and harmful to the environment, but I have no issues with solar.
Quote:
Originally Posted by neko_mimi
I'm fine with them as long as I'm not forced to subsidize them through taxes. If those technologies prevail through the free market, I see no reason to stop them.
All these electricity generating wind turbines are a huge boondoggle. A massive waste of taxpayer money. All of these generators require to be backed up by other regular power generating facilities, because, if the wind isn't blowing you would have no power. It is an utter money making Obama era ripoff of the American people.
As the title states...conservatives, what's your opinion on solar and wind energy? Are you ok with it? are you against is? Is it hippie hog-wash? Are you against the tax incentives? Are nuclear energy, coal and oil working so why fix it if it's not broke?
Some conservatives seem to be for renewables while others are against. What's your opinion on renewables and why?
As a strong right wing Trump supporter I like the idea of renewable energy and I especially like the idea of electric cars and solar power.
I would love to see electric cars with a 400 mile range and full charge time of <30 minutes.
In 2015, 0.6% of utility generation in the U.S. came from solar. To increase that number to 100%, we would need to produce 4 million gigawatt-hours (GWh) of solar energy annually. To produce 1 GWh of solar power, you need approximately 2.8 acres of land—or roughly 11.2 million acres (17,500 square miles) to generate 4 million GWh of clean energy. By these calculations, it would only take 0.6% of the total surface area of the continental United States to power the entire country with renewable solar power. That’s right, less than 1%.
Have twenty solar farms spread equally along our southern states and each would cover 8.75 sq miles or an area roughly 3 miles square.
When I was younger I did a lot of flying and leaving Odessa to El Paso there's millions of acres of old capped oil wells that can be used for solar farms. In my mind it having 100 sq miles of solar powers in this area would be on land nobody would ever miss.
Contrary to what the left thinks everyone is for cleaner air and I would love completely divorce our country from being reliant on any middle east third world s***hole.
I do not like the idea of nuclear power.. just one bad accident and we could end up losing 17,500 sq miles (132 miles square) in far more valuable land than between Odessa and El Paso. Someday an accident will happen because anything human will eventually go wrong.
Electric cars. Get me a an electric car with a price <$35k and a range of at least 400 miles and I will buy it. No, I do not want a $150k Tesla.
We are getting closer but not there right yet. 400 miles and price <$35k and we will get there. Honestly, I am ready to purchase a new car, would love electric, and when something comes along that fits an electric is what I will buy.
Recharge stations? I don't worry about that because with more electric cars means there will be more recharge stations and we can all watch gas stations go extinct.
In the early 1970's I was a flight instructor and I remember how dirty the air was even over fly over country. It was filthy with so much pollution you couldn't see the horizon. We had the clean air act and the air now is cleaner than it has ever been in my 70 years on the planet.
I wonder how many square foot of solar panel would it take to recharge my car over a six hour period? Drive free? Now we're talking!
Of course we will still need diesel to power large trucks, airplanes and trains but just getting cars to go electric would solve a lot of our energy needs.
Oh, and I don't believe in globull warming to me it's all hogwash. I've seen to many outright lies and failed predictions without a single one ever coming true. That said it doesn't mean I am for dirty air either. I like a clean environment.
How do we get there is what separates me from leftists. I feel economics should drive the change and not government mandates. Look, get an electric car that seats 5 that is capable of traveling 400 miles on a charge that costs $15 and you're going to see electric cars being bought.
From what I have read lately I should be able to purchase my 400 mile range car in about three years.
MAGA!
Not what OP was expecting, was it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by chronic65
All these electricity generating wind turbines are a huge boondoggle. A massive waste of taxpayer money. All of these generators require to be backed up by other regular power generating facilities, because, if the wind isn't blowing you would have no power. It is an utter money making Obama era ripoff of the American people.
I agree. Not only that they're a bird killing eyesore on top of mountains that you can not escape.
I love renewables, solar is going to be huge and on windy days wind can power over half of our grid. The problem with wind is it blows at night when it's not needed. We need battery technology to store the power.
and that is the biggest issue of solar and wind power, storing the electricity generated but not needed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pilot1
We aren't going to run out of fossil fuels for centuries considering all the oil, and natural gas we have just domestically. Therefore, the only reason for "alternative" fuels is an environmental one. The premise of this is that CO2 is "bad". There is no conclusive evidence that is true. However, as others have noted, let the markets, and not government move us to other energy sources. Higher taxes, fees and surcharges on fossil fuels, and their use only hurts the economy, and makes everything more expensive for those that can least afford it.
So yes, let's keep developing other sources of energy while maximizing our extraction, and use of fossil fuels simultaneously.
true, we wont run out of fossil fuels anytime in the next 500 or so years, we have enough coal in this country alone to power the US at current rates of consumption increases to handle all our energy needs for that period of time. as for oil, again true we wont run out of oil for at least a couple of centuries, BUT cheap and easy to get oil is going to run out far sooner than that, perhaps in the next 150 years or so.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chronic65
All these electricity generating wind turbines are a huge boondoggle. A massive waste of taxpayer money. All of these generators require to be backed up by other regular power generating facilities, because, if the wind isn't blowing you would have no power. It is an utter money making Obama era ripoff of the American people.
not to mention that when the wind speeds rise above a certain point, the wind turbines need to be shut down to prevent damage from excessive speeds.
popular mechanics had a blurb once many years ago though on an interesting idea, piezoelectric rods that were designed to be flexible and generate electricity in the wind, regardless of wind speed, and they would look like tall grass, about 4-6ft tall. a patch of these rods would generate enough electricity to power the same number of homes as a single wind turbine, and be much more pleasing to look at.
Have twenty solar farms spread equally along our southern states and each would cover 8.75 sq miles or an area roughly 3 miles square.
When I was younger I did a lot of flying and leaving Odessa to El Paso there's millions of acres of old capped oil wells that can be used for solar farms. In my mind it having 100 sq miles of solar powers in this area would be on land nobody would ever miss.
Contrary to what the left thinks everyone is for cleaner air and I would love completely divorce our country from being reliant on any middle east third world s***hole.
I do not like the idea of nuclear power.. just one bad accident and we could end up losing 17,500 sq miles (132 miles square) in far more valuable land than between Odessa and El Paso. Someday an accident will happen because anything human will eventually go wrong.
Electric cars. Get me a an electric car with a price <$35k and a range of at least 400 miles and I will buy it. No, I do not want a $150k Tesla.
We are getting closer but not there right yet. 400 miles and price <$35k and we will get there. Honestly, I am ready to purchase a new car, would love electric, and when something comes along that fits an electric is what I will buy.
Recharge stations? I don't worry about that because with more electric cars means there will be more recharge stations and we can all watch gas stations go extinct.
In the early 1970's I was a flight instructor and I remember how dirty the air was even over fly over country. It was filthy with so much pollution you couldn't see the horizon. We had the clean air act and the air now is cleaner than it has ever been in my 70 years on the planet.
I wonder how many square foot of solar panel would it take to recharge my car over a six hour period? Drive free? Now we're talking!
Of course we will still need diesel to power large trucks, airplanes and trains but just getting cars to go electric would solve a lot of our energy needs.
Oh, and I don't believe in globull warming to me it's all hogwash. I've seen to many outright lies and failed predictions without a single one ever coming true. That said it doesn't mean I am for dirty air either. I like a clean environment.
How do we get there is what separates me from leftists. I feel economics should drive the change and not government mandates. Look, get an electric car that seats 5 that is capable of traveling 400 miles on a charge that costs $15 and you're going to see electric cars being bought.
From what I have read lately I should be able to purchase my 400 mile range car in about three years.
MAGA!
Not what OP was expecting, was it?
I agree. Not only that they're a bird killing eyesore on top of mountains that you can not escape.
Best response so far, thank you for taking the time.
Solar and wind vary too much to be a reliable source, especially based upon geography. Used as a supplement to existing services is fine. Ethanol from food based products I’m against.
Individual buildings (homes and businesses) are free (depending upon geography and local regulations) to install solar panels and or wind generators to help offset the cost of utilities especially during peak usage hours. Larger buildings may benefit by using geothermal system. It’s expensive to set up but offers long term cost savings. Other home technologies are available to help reduce energy cost but they depend on local climate and if you can afford the initial cost compared to the cost of traditional units (like central air or water heaters for example). A heat pump system works well in hot climates with mild winters but are virtually useless in areas with very cold winters. There are heat pump water heaters that work well in warm climates but can be useless in cold climate or with high hot water usage.
Since all of these "renewable" energies are inconsistantrather than constant, there needs to be massive battery banks to store the energy. The batteries are about the worst environmental aspect of almost all sources of energy. There is the problem number one.
The second problem is that most have to be massively subsidized to even begin to be attractive...which means they aren't really viable at this point.
Third, most of these sources do not pay off before they need replacing...again, the subsidies make that happen, not their efficiency.
As for electric cars...they leave a larger carbon footprint from manufacture to disposal that just about every POV that uses gas/deisel.
I am conservative and was very much for renewables. Then I moved to Boulevard CA, lived there from 2009-2016 and I watched the growing liberal outcry and protests against solar and wind farms it began to change my mind. My area was rated by the DoE as one of the best areas for wind renewables, the Obama administration pushed for fast tracking many projects.
I remember the press conference that the Sierra Club held at Golden Acorn casino where they stuck a voltage tester in the ground and got a 60 cycle reading out of the dirt, I remember all the articles on how sub sonic buzzing from wind towers caused developmental issues and decreased fertility.
I even recall the public meeting at the Boulevard fire station where a liberal organization, BACK Country Against Dumps, chaired by a member of the Democrat Party of San Diego, sponsored a kids coloring contest where they handed out a photocopy of a coming book wind tower, whatever is colored it to look the most evil got a $50 us saving bond.
At that same meeting, two officials of the state Sierra Club were cornered by state Democratic officials and read the riot act about having to "Suck it up" when it came to the negative commentary about wind towers, lest the be branded Republican sympathisers.
When I moved to Boulevard, I remember the awesome night sky and how you could experience the vastness of the milky way, until they systematically built 900 towers just across the border in Mexico with loan guarentees from the Obama administration. Now I got to sit on the front porch and watch 900 little red dots blink on and off over a 10 mile stretch of horizon. Oh, and it was built in Mexico because they did not need the special permits that CA required over aquifer depletion for making concrete on all the foundations.
So I guess I really don't know how to answer your question, I am conservative, and was for renewables until I saw the vast damage to the environment left in their wake. Most Democrats in my community agreed until the party told them to shut up.
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