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Solar again needs some significant technology jumps. At the moment with solar when you compare the costs of panels and maintenance, it takes decades to get your money back and break even and that outlasts how long the panels will actually survive. Solar in our lifetimes will only ever been a supplement and in places like where I live, pretty useless for much of the year.
Wind isn't reliable either as Denmark has found out, with coal fired plants still running the same they did before. Wind again is a supplement but not a savior.
People say well I'll rig up a bunch of solar panels and wind turbines at my house and I'll run my electric car off of that. Well go ahead, but to me spending a $100K at a minimum on all that junk doesn't make much sense.
If you actually want to learn something of the topic . . . . Solar THERMAL (not PV / Photovoltaic) is the long-term trend leader for renewable electrical generation.
If you actually want to learn something of the topic . . . . Solar THERMAL (not PV / Photovoltaic) is the long-term trend leader for renewable electrical generation.
Yes I have seen something similar in Spain and it has turned out to be a boondoggle with tons of costs and maintenance. We are not going to have millions of these things that will power the energy needs for cars everyday. And like up north where the sun might shine for a few hours a day, pretty useless, especially with these expensive mirrors getting hammered by snow and ice all the time.
So great if people can do that but we need to think about rational, realistic stuff that is going to power cars for 305 million people. Things that work already. Natural gas and ethanol are two that are already out there around the world working and quite well. The technology doesn't require any drastic changes, it's usable and readily available.
And despite all the panic, the world isn't running out of oil anytime soon.
Electric cars have been around since the car was "invented" in 1885. There was some significant production of electric cars in the early 20th century. They never caught on for these practical reasons and still haven't.
And besides where does all this electricity come from? The electrical grid is out of date, the neoconfusionists lead by barack obama are opposed to building new power plants, so where does it come from?
Moot point. Electric cars, like many technologies, have been a while, but it just so happens throughout much of that time ICE engines and oil have been an easier technology to use. We just go withever's cheapest at the time. When oil becomes cost-prohibitive, we move onto something else and the paradigm shifts. Solar power has been around I believe since 1954, but there hasn't been much economic incentive to research/use solar PV until very recently.
Where does all this electricity come from? I told you.
It is running out of the "easy-to-find" oil. BP wasn't out drilling 5000 ft below sea level in the gulf because it was fun.
Completely agree. Anadarko Petroleum recently drilled a well very close to my ranch property in West Texas. The depth according to the drilling permit is 16000 feet. That's 3 miles.
It will not effect oil much because we are not the growing market demand for oil. Its the emerging economies where the great demand is in growth.We are becoming a refining oil business country more and more. Doing so cheaper is what is happening. Looking at refining what we see is single refineries being expanded to double output with only 20% more employees. Any refinery not being expanded for better effciency is in danger of being torndown.Those are likely ones that are not on the coast because of future supplies coming from imports. The other factor si the new pipelines to carry sand tars from canada to texas coast where the new expanded refieries are designed to porcesss it. Then we see more terminals for off loading ships form places like Saudi.More of teh profit has to come from refining and not the crude in teh future and that means cutting cost.
It will not effect oil much because we are not the growing market demand for oil. Its the emerging economies where the great demand is in growth.
True, but we are still a large net importer of oil
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More of teh profit has to come from refining and not the crude in teh future and that means cutting cost.
Refining can be a tough business if oil prices are volatile. Refiners got killed when oil prices escalated back in 2008. If the economy gets back on track, oil prices will increase again and could hurt refiners' margins.
Yes I have seen something similar in Spain and it has turned out to be a boondoggle with tons of costs and maintenance. We are not going to have millions of these things that will power the energy needs for cars everyday.
Never heard me claim Spain was exactly a model of engineering and economics genius.
Really does not take some million of "power tower" models. But the real math is that a relatively small chunk of S. California, Arizona, New Mexico or West Texas can produce enough Solar Thermal Electric power to run the whole country. Houses, Business, Cars and all. We will share.
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And like up north where the sun might shine for a few hours a day, pretty useless, especially with these expensive mirrors getting hammered by snow and ice all the time.
Never heard me recommend staying up North for the Winter, either. But Summer sun time in the North is even longer than the South.
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So great if people can do that but we need to think about rational, realistic stuff that is going to power cars for 305 million people. Things that work already. Natural gas and ethanol are two that are already out there around the world working and quite well. The technology doesn't require any drastic changes, it's usable and readily available.
Just swap out 3% a year, and we could be completely past Oil in 30 to 40 years. Probably faster, as we tend to adopt changes faster than in the past.
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And despite all the panic, the world isn't running out of oil anytime soon.
Yesterday I saw some projections on TV that by 2015 we will have 500,000 electric cars on the road. If this happens, how will it affect the price of oil?
Don't know about oil...but watch your electricity rates skyrocket....unfortunately that lunch is not free
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