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Actually the growth in solar is explosive, but as in many high growth businesses there are a lot of firms that can't keep up and fail. Who would call the personal computer industry a failure, but there are scores of firms that have dropped out along the way -- IBM, Compaq, Digital, etc.
Actually the growth in solar is explosive, but as in many high growth businesses there are a lot of firms that can't keep up and fail. Who would call the personal computer industry a failure, but there are scores of firms that have dropped out along the way -- IBM, Compaq, Digital, etc.
Who are the PV solar companies experiencing explosive growth. I Googled but didn't find them, though my search terms may have been faulty.
I still haven't seen anyone address the problem with the economics of solar at high adoption rates...
You highlighted that HVAC electrical demand correlates with PV solar generation, after I mentioned HVAC. But there are lots of other demand sources other than HVAC.
You mentioned the sun shines somewhere, so the grid approach will help, and I am sure that's true. But that doesn't really help at night unless it's a global energy grid. I don't know if that's possible, but it would have to be relatively costly.
You also mentioned the excess capacity that power plant already have, that they can adapt to varying demand. I'm not sure that applies, but I'm probably missing something.
The fundamental question again, if all homeowners install solar (that on average can provide all their electrical needs when optimal conditions exist) at significant equipment costs, the intermittent nature of solar will mean we still have to have the same power plants/distribution systems and the personnel to run it all - all solar does is reduce power plant fuel needs. So homeowners save some power plant fuel, offset by the solar equipment a costs, and still have to pay full cost for the power plant/distributon equipment and labor even though they use same sporadically.
Believe me I want to believe alternative energy sources can help, but the economics don't seem to scale up well unless batteries improve very dramatically or homeowners accept brown/black outs as needed.
how much land space would be required for the panels if a decent sized, say 50,000 person city, went entirely solar?
On the roofs of buildings, not much.
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