Saw this on Ace's headlines space (on the left-hand side). It's an essay which explains energy production in terms of the physics, and using fairly small words. It's a technical explaination of things that are intuitive to thinking adults.
I've toyed with the idea of renewable energy, mainly for self-sufficiency reasons, and I can tell you right now that even with government subsidies, it's not anywhere close to being ready for prime time (let alone serving any large-scale power needs).
For example, I live on top of a mountain, and the wind blows fairly strong up here (though not at all 'all the time') when it blows, so you'd think that a wind turbine would be ideal. I looked at my power bill, figured out what my average monthly usage was, and priced a turbine to meet that need. The result?
$80,000 just for the turbine! That doesn't include the monster pole to put it on, nor the installation. How long do you think the warranty is on such a high dollar piece of gear?
5 years .......... 5 years!
At my current electric rate, I won't live long enough to recover the cost of the turbine, that's if it never fails and if the wind blows 24/7!
Yeah, I like the idea of renewable energy ........ for my money, give me a personal nuclear reactor any day!
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Sunday, October 25, 2009
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