Topic: sucking energy from the sun

[vfourfreak]

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/offbeat/us-town-rejects-solar-panels-saying-they-suck-energy-from-sun-1.2465968

Down with that sort of thing I say.

Kev

[Gene]

I can't even say what I was going to say because it may be deemed hate speech. All I can do is weep.

[Duke McDukiedook]

This is a joke, right? The Irish Times is like an Onion paper, right?

[Gene]

Please let it be so.  I need to not believe that this can happen.

[vfourfreak]

This is a joke, right? The Irish Times is like an Onion paper, right?

How I would like to call them out on something, but  I do regret to say the Irish Times are normally un-impeachable.

So unless anyone can discount this nonsense, it must for the moment stand.

Desolé.

Kev

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

   Banjos playing in the background .  . .

[vfourfreak]

Apparently I-95 was a bad idea also.

http://www.roanoke-chowannewsherald.com/2015/12/08/woodland-rejects-solar-farm/


It's that time of year.

Kev

[Duke McDukiedook]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/11/robert_lewis_dear_is_one_of_many_religious_extremists_bred_in_north_carolina.html

Hmmm. This is starting to make sense now.

[vfourfreak]

The consequence of 35 years of destroying our public education system...

Yup. Drongos can only vote for Drongos.

Plan an escape route while there is time.

I have.

Kev

[calj737]

Hmmm. This is starting to make sense now.

Only if you're as dimwitted as the author and dispel all other official records (like say, San Bernadino to name a recent one). He is himself a hate-monger to identify a few people from tens of millions who have been responsible for murders over 20 years? Liars figure, and figures lie. 20 people killed across numerous states by a select few morons who happen to have spent some time in NC as the tie that binds? Really? Each week in Chicago more people die from gang related violence and no pious journalist calls that out?

Objective journalism... yeah, right.

[vfourfreak]

It was getting a bit cold here, being almost midnight.

Cal, good man for sticking the poker in the fire (in a figurative sense) and warming things up.

Sometimes though, you just got to laugh. I try to a bit more often.

Kev

[Bailgang]

There's a small town about 8 miles from here that for a while came up with the novel idea of pulling the itself off the "grid" and powering itself from the methane gas released from manure using that methane to run generators and light up the town. This is an agricultural community so there's plenty of livestock manure to go around. It at first seemed very plausible and drew quite a bit of attention and many were excited that maybe just maybe it could be accomplished, they even poured the foundation for the would be manure powered power plant. Right when things looked promising 2 unforeseen factors arose, the first was at about that time the economy is the US took a nose dive and potential investors ran and hid, also the one little detail no one had considered was that by taking the town off the existing power grid meant they had to make their own grid and that meant millions of $ even for a pip squeak sized town not to mention the cost to maintain that grid. If you were to take the time to read the article in the link it would give you the impression that it's been a success, uhmm no. Other than pouring the foundation for the power plant the idea fizzled out and died never making it past the planning stage and a few years ago that would be power plant foundation got torn up and iron ore plant has taken its place.


Ooops forgot the link. Here it is. http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/indianas-biotown-usa-living-29762/

[Gene]

Hmmm. This is starting to make sense now.

Objective journalism... yeah, right.

Cal - everyone knows we don't do objective anymore.  "Objective" doesn't get clicks, likes, or sell papers. And it's sadly nothing new.

[grcamna2]

I like the idea of solar power and will do whatever I can to promote it.

[calj737]

Sometimes though, you just got to laugh. I try to a bit more often.

Oh, I laughed at the IrishTimes article too. Just not at the link provided Duke.

Dead right, Gene. She really, journalism used to be about reporting the news, not making it up.

[Retro Rocket]

I like the idea of solar power and will do whatever I can to promote it.

Yep, me too, millions of homes use solar panels and solar hot water heaters in Australia, Virtually every house around me has solar panels on the roof supplementing their power, the fossil fuel industry and the religious right wing fossils in Government are fighting hard for coal but its inevitable, renewables here will win out easily, we have more sun per square meter than anywhere else in the world.  I will be going totally off the grid when the opportunity arises...

[OldSchool_IsCool]

Silly town folk, thinking that solar panels will deplete the sun's power, when the real danger is that sunlight glinting off the arrays will draw unwanted attention from hostile extra terrestrials!

[Retro Rocket]

Silly town folk, thinking that solar panels will deplete the sun's power, when the real danger is that sunlight glinting off the arrays will draw unwanted attention from hostile extra terrestrials!

 

You think that bad, we had a referendum on daylight saving in the state i live in, the old redneck country folk were full on against it, reasons given were that , the "extra" hour of sunlight would fade the curtains, kill the roses and confuse the cows, how would the cows know they had to get up earlier....    ...  Yes folks, stupid is universal, like it or not....

[OldSchool_IsCool]

Duct tape won't fix stupid, but it will muffle the sound!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

[Gene]

Sometimes though, you just got to laugh. I try to a bit more often.

journalism used to be about reporting the news, not making it up.

in a 24-hour news cycle networks no longer have the luxury of verification.  Who knew "Max Headroom" had it right?

[calj737]

...fighting hard for coal but its inevitable, renewables here will win out easily, we have more sun per square meter than anywhere else in the world.

Ah, the luxury of "free, green energy". I like it too. Shame about the economy when all the poor miners, drivers, equipment operators, delivery guys, fuel station owners, power plant tenders, electrical engineers, custodians and so on suddenly go unemployed. I guess they can all get jobs making solar panels? Just poking a harsh reality into the notion of "free". While solar is an excellent technology, production of panels and storage batteries is very, very bad for the environment. Cradle to grave, electric vehicles have a much worse footprint than internal combustion engines.

But I too use solar at the house and believe that much more efficient housing is a boon, not a bad thing. But going "off the grid" is a much more difficult task than some panels. Storage of that energy is critical. Inverters, wiring, hot water storage, etc. the tech is here today, Retro, just hard to do unless the house's envelope is up to snuff. And it's bloody expensive to boot.

[Retro Rocket]

...fighting hard for coal but its inevitable, renewables here will win out easily, we have more sun per square meter than anywhere else in the world.

Ah, the luxury of "free, green energy". I like it too. Shame about the economy when all the poor miners, drivers, equipment operators, delivery guys, fuel station owners, power plant tenders, electrical engineers, custodians and so on suddenly go unemployed. I guess they can all get jobs making solar panels? Just poking a harsh reality into the notion of "free". While solar is an excellent technology, production of panels and storage batteries is very, very bad for the environment. Cradle to grave, electric vehicles have a much worse footprint than internal combustion engines.

But I too use solar at the house and believe that much more efficient housing is a boon, not a bad thing. But going "off the grid" is a much more difficult task than some panels. Storage of that energy is critical. Inverters, wiring, hot water storage, etc. the tech is here today, Retro, just hard to do unless the house's envelope is up to snuff. And it's bloody expensive to boot.

The mines "jobs" thing is a furphy here Cal, most of our mines are almost completely automated  now {like a hell of a lot of other industries that have killed massive amounts of jobs}, we could possibly have the biggest coal mine here in QLD at present, during start up it would employ around 4000 people once established that drops dramatically, the Indian owners will use a lot of their own workers as well, its all in the contract. Its been already established that renewables here would employ far more than the coal mines, and like it or not, coal is running out and is a dying technology, change is inevitable mate. Its transitional anyway, so coal won't disappear over night, it will happen at a steady pace, but it will happen.  Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are now being manufactured for release in the next couple of years by most auto manufacturers in Europe, Japan and Korea, electric vehicles aren't the way forward. Stand alone solar is easier than you think too, I know people that have lived off the grid for over 20 years, and it was expensive back then but not at all now, Building thermally efficient homes is part of the building code here. Australia is a world leader in solar technology, always has been, its also only time before the newer breed of solar voltaic panels take over, similar to the ones used in space, they are 10 times or more efficient than the ones in use now and they are only one way of producing solar power, they are expensive at present but as it becomes more mainstream, the price will come down, besides there are dozens of different ways to harness the sun. We also have wave generators, wind generation and a massive thermal capability, NZ uses thermal for most of its electricity. We have the dearest power prices in the world, solar by comparison is cheap, I could build a stand alone system for around $20 grand that would last me a lifetime, I have friends across the street that haven't had a power bill for years now although they are still connected to the grid, they get paid for their excess power their solar systems produce. The price for 20 panels and a 5 KW inverter is under 4 grand here {our wages are a lot higher generally }, very cheap, that pays for itself in under 2 years at our current power prices. I am not just talking through rose colored glasses though Cal, I've been interested in solar since I led a solar display at high school in the mid 70's, its relatively easy to do when you know what you are doing, plus, where i live, you need no heating or cooling if your house is well designed, I don't use either now as it is,  and my own house will be far better designed and even more efficient, and a lot cheaper to build.   

[Bailgang]

A nephew of mine looked into the article a bit more and it turns out only 2 people in the town were claiming the panels were sucking energy from the sun and the town has already approved the building of 3 solar farms so it's not like they're outright afraid of the solar farms or that the entire town is idiots. The biggest concern with the other citizens was  the depreciation of their property values. I'm all for alternative energy sources but this "free" energy stuff isn't entirely true, there are many wind turbines in my area taking advantage of the so called free energy in the wind however last I heard it costs a million dollars per turbine to put one up and the investors putting the money into them want a return for their $ which means they're not giving that energy they produce away to us consumers for free.

[Retro Rocket]

There needs to be some educating if anyone think its free..? Thats a massive misconception. Nothings free. Once set up and running, the energy source is  Free {wind, water, solar}, but thats it, its still a power plant and like any other  power set up, its going to cost something substantial to set up, of course you pay for the power. Maintenance pales in comparison to a coal fired power stations, and all the costs involved from mining, to the pole in front of your house, including the cost of the coal.  Most coal mines are heavily subsides by Governments as well, the subsides given to the fossil fuel industry world wide would easily cover the whole worlds combined health budgets and still have billions left. There are some small countries using almost 100% renewables  , they still pay for their power, it just comes from renewable sources,  the percentage of countries getting in on it is rising rapidly. Getting back to the jobs side of it, We recently stopped subsidizing the motor industry in Australia, we no longer make cars, the effect that has on jobs absolutely blows the "mining jobs" claim out of the water by a long way, this is going to reverberate through the states that had these industries, for years, hundreds of thousands of jobs right throughout the industry, so the mines "jobs" argument pales in comparison and just doesn't stand up, not to mention the massive subsidies and rebates the mines get also..  I'm no greenie but i'm stuffed if i'm going to be forced to use an expensive energy source, {up until now you've really had no choice}, just to pay for some overpaid company executives retirement, I'm sick of being gouged, if I can do it myself, I will,  current technology allows me too, and at a reasonable price,  and the technology is improving rapidly. I can have the system paid for from savings in power costs, in a couple of years , then my costs are purely maintenance.We have to live with the fact the we now use a selection of ways to deliver energy, I read somewhere recently that they reckon we have 50 years of coal left, starting the transition now,  rather than later even makes more sense, even for the power companies, they need to get onboard or someone else will, thats what the power companies are doing here. There's  coal mines for sale everywhere here, the world banks are refusing to fund any large scale coal mines, even the church has got out of coal stocks , its the future, jump on board or get left behind........