Jul -- General Chat: Stupid power companies

Arisu
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Posted on 05-06-10 06:55:01 PM

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Energy distribution is just as big a problem as the oil shortage, especially in the US, because of its geography and population distribution. The energy dissipation to heat is proportionate to the distance from the power plant, and in the US that can mean hundreds (perhaps even thousands?) of miles.

Originally posted by Terra
I thought of something a while back. Why not have solar cells on the roofs of houses and other buildings? As Xkeeper said, it would be expensive to begin with, but it'd use up almost no space relative to having huge solar farms. Of course, it wouldn't work all year in very snowy places like Michigan, but even reducing fossil fuel dependence is a great thing to do. Other power sources could serve as backups.

I get rather annoyed when people say windmills are ugly and try to use that to block their construction. I'd say a coal-belching power plant is much uglier than a bunch of windmills.

And yes, I agree that solar is the energy source of the future. The sun produces so much energy and will shine for billions of years to come. How long do you think those dead buried decomposed organisms we call fossil fuels will last?

Thankfully your first idea isn't the most groundbreaking one and the US has allocated a bunch of monies towards green technologies (the second one is completely impractical since coal produces a lot more power at a much more stable rate than a similarly-sized solar array/windmill farm, which only work in specific areas). Anyways, check out the federal website which gives information on subsidies in your state/county, including sponsorship if you're advocating green energy (caution: may take a bit of digging).

Some places like Palm Desert have insane stuff like an up to $100000 federal loan with no down payment and controlled interest or 60k without any questions asked. I looked up stuff in Michigan and you could get up to 750$ tax deduction for energy efficient home improvements (which stacks with the rebates for efficient appliances and water heaters/furnaces), $0.65/kWh for solar energy sold back (uncapped so far), plus a ton from utility companies (DTE gives rebates which stack with the aforementioned ones, along with subsidizing the up-front cost of solar panels, not to mention the rebates they offer stack with the state rebates). Utility companies are pretty keen on people adopting solar/wind and getting energy efficient stuff, and a lot of the incentives are through them.

My thoughts are that densely populated areas would benefit from a nuclear/renewable energy paradigm where nuclear energy provides liquidity to the less stable solar/wind sources, and more remote and less populated areas could stand to benefit from augmenting their grid-provided energy with decentralized energy sources like biopower, natural gas as well as renewable energy sources wherever applicable--therefore reducing the load on the grid, and saving losses from power transmission over long distances and over time, rural areas might become self-sufficient.

Rena
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Posted on 05-06-10 06:58:31 PM

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05-06-10 01:58:31 PM
Post #3206

Speaking of windmills... how heavy are solar panels? Could they be put on the windmills, or have the blades made from them?

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Sukasa

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Posted on 05-06-10 07:01:16 PM

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	Too heavy to work in that scenario. Wind power is where it's at here, because at least one place on the Island gets Katrina-level winds and it;s no big deal. Now imagine a wind plant there Solar wouldn't work though, since it's overcast more than it's sunny here, and we all use hydroelectric power anyways ____________________ <@Bitmap> Be completely humble and gentle; <@Bitmap> And tell them to shut the fuck up

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Posted on 05-07-10 05:31:56 AM

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Originally posted by Xkeeper

Nobody seems to listen when I tell them that solar power really is the next big thing for residential power.

It's sad that more research/development isn't being put towards putting this in every new home. Expensive up front? Yes. Lowers our reliance on power companies, power plants, and other things? Yes.

This also raises the residental value. Which is also an investment to home buyers.

You have no clue on how much this house is worth.

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