Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Trying to remember what this thread was about. Oh yeah, big energy companies wanting to control Solar...
So DC, your take is what on this? Yes big companies do, or no they don't?
509 - Your take is that for the masses solar will never work at its current state of development?
After reading all of this, I am sorta torn - except that if big energy is starting to notice then they feel threatened by it and what that really means is beyond my current knowledge base. I can only assume what it means.
Note that I am not going into whether going solar is the right or wrong thing to do vs. any other current form of energy we use (fuel oil, CNG/LNG, Coal, Nuclear, Hydro, Wind, etc...).
Trying to remember what this thread was about. Oh yeah, big energy companies wanting to control Solar...
So DC, your take is what on this? Yes big companies do, or no they don't?
509 - Your take is that for the masses solar will never work at its current state of development?
After reading all of this, I am sorta torn - except that if big energy is starting to notice then they feel threatened by it and what that really means is beyond my current knowledge base. I can only assume what it means.
Note that I am not going into whether going solar is the right or wrong thing to do vs. any other current form of energy we use (fuel oil, CNG/LNG, Coal, Nuclear, Hydro, Wind, etc...).
I'm not sure what Boogie Man constituted "Big Energy", but Exxon Mobil doesn't pay much attention to what happens in the electrical sector. Maybe people are paranoid. who is "Big Energy"?
I would ask the OP what he or she meant by Big Energy. To me Big Energy in this case meant large scale power companies.
I bet oil extraction companies pay close attention to anything that could seriously disrupt the demand for oil . Since I don't know how much demand electric companies as a whole need compared to other products, I can't comment on it. Just like if all of a sudden the world banned carpet, how many barrels of oil would that affect? I don't have that answer either, only that oil is needed to make carpet. (and other plastics)
Yes, my take is that solar will not work on a mass scale. It will always be a niche product. It is a fine niche product, but not given our current energy consumption levels.
Big Oil invested heavily in solar a couple of decades ago. I believe the ONLY oil company that did not go down that road was Exxon-Mobil. They are pretty much hydro-carbon driven.
All the other oil companies divested their solar holdings just after the turn of the century.
The electrical companies really have major issues with solar. Actually all entities that generate electricity have issues with solar and wind impacts on their operations.
Here in the Northwest we have lots of wind projects and lots of hydro projects owned by the counties and Federal government. The wind blows mostly in the spring, when the salmon fry are on their downstream migration and the Columbia is running high from spring run-off. During this time the dams MUST generate power to move the endangered Salmon fry downstream. So BPA (Federal owned power agency) MUST buy wind power generated by windmills and then dump that energy since there is no market for it at this time due to the required releases by dams for salmon.
So the taxpayers paid for construction of wind turbines, the destruction of endangered public lands, and then BUY the electricity generated by the industrial wind areas and dump it since they are required to buy it by law.
Does this make sense?? Only as a mechanism to transfer taxpayer money to corporate owned Industrial Wind Areas!!!
Warren Buffett is the second richest man in the world. T. Boone Pickens is a wealthy oil barron. Both are into wind in a big way. Buffett actually said in an interview that wind did not make economic sense, but it was nice to collect the Federal subsidies. Buffett owns oil and coal in Montana and utilities on the west coast. He ships coal to China and oil to refineries on the west coast using his railroad. Which is so busy shipping oil and coal that they have informed farmers in eastern Washington that the railroad will no longer be shipping food to the east coast!! He also owns the windmills as an alternative energy source. He can't lose!!!
But to say Big Energy is opposed to Wind and Solar indicates a very poor understanding of the economy. Big Energy is wind and solar as well as coal and oil.
The big money is in everything. Particularly wind. There are no small businesses running wind turbines.
I am sorta torn - except that if big energy is starting to notice then they feel threatened by it ...
They are starting to notice because it's costing them money and subsequently ratepayers. You can't expect the utility to pay 10 cents a kWh if they can get it elsewhere for less than half that. Those costs are passed onto other consumers.
If you want to your own electric company so be it, you can't expect others to be shouldering the costs.
Big energy what I call the largest companies and concerns now controlling the already ubiquitous fossil fuels, their refinement and distribution.
It has been said on this forum more than a few times that these large companies won't control renewable sources of energy because somehow things will change. That follows the premise right or wrong that as individuals install more roof top solar, that control of those resources will remain under the control of the individual or that new companies will be created and those companies will be independent of the current crop of big energy.
I think that as more and more roof top solar gets installed, that very little will change as off-grid roof top solar will remain a niche and almost all installations will be grid connected. Since they connect to the grid, those players aren't going to give up anything and in fact will simply find a way to capitalize on the new source to insure that their profits increase and in the end, roof top solar will essentially be the resource of the exiting big energy rather than some solution for consumers to become independent of them.
Big energy what I call the largest companies and concerns now controlling the already ubiquitous fossil fuels, their refinement and distribution.
It has been said on this forum more than a few times that these large companies won't control renewable sources of energy because somehow things will change. That follows the premise right or wrong that as individuals install more roof top solar, that control of those resources will remain under the control of the individual or that new companies will be created and those companies will be independent of the current crop of big energy.
I think that as more and more roof top solar gets installed, that very little will change as off-grid roof top solar will remain a niche and almost all installations will be grid connected. Since they connect to the grid, those players aren't going to give up anything and in fact will simply find a way to capitalize on the new source to insure that their profits increase and in the end, roof top solar will essentially be the resource of the exiting big energy rather than some solution for consumers to become independent of them.
Like "Big Iron" continues to control the computer business. LOL,
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the men come and take you away
Oh how silly. Computers and Big Iron are two completely different industries. Big Iron never controlled IT in the first place.
"The first part of being able to speak involves being able to understand."
The mainframes have traditionally been called "Big Iron".
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
