Interesting articles on EV, utilities, renewables and their impacts

[inetdog]

... your individual contribution is meaningless.

But when one and one and fifty make a million....

---Folk Song

[kwilcox]

So is anyones' yet individual contributions collectively change civilization. How do you reconcile that?

I'd also like to suggest that the indian and chinese PMs are speaking against, not for those children. it is their parents' responsibility to change that.

[russ]

I believe that parents have the right to speak for their own children. I also believe my children are exposed to far less environmentally unfriendly byproducts from the construction and lifetime output of our array than they are from the construction and lifetime output of the equivalent KW from traditional generation sources. Along those lines, who speaks for the children of Dehli or Beijing?

Belief - A form of insanity?

Who speaks for the kids in New Delhi? Modi the Indian PM and for China the Chinese PM.

Concerning the unfriendly by products you worry about - your individual contribution is meaningless.

[kwilcox]

lol...

[inetdog]

Along those lines, wo speaks for the children of Dehli or Beijing?

I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees.

---Theodor Seuss Geisel

[kwilcox]

On another point, what about someone else's children who are also not constrained (or protected) by the wisdom of (all) elders (yourself included), and are exposed to the tangible detriment of living in an environment that must for example, deal with exposure to the perhaps not so beneficial effects of the environmentally unfriendly byproducts and waste from alternate energy products, the output of which your children enjoy ? Who speaks for them ? Do you ?

I believe that parents have the right to speak for their own children. I also believe my children are exposed to far less environmentally unfriendly byproducts from the construction and lifetime output of our array than they are from the construction and lifetime output of the equivalent KW from traditional generation sources. Along those lines, who speaks for the children of Dehli or Beijing?

[russ]

In any event, the number of bird deaths pales in comparison to the billions killed by the nation's cat population.

Isn't that the truth! When we completed this house 3 cats adopted us as soon as we moved in. I kept trying to run them away with no real success. Next problem came in the form of mice - the little beggars were good sized too.

I started to put out poison for the mice but soon decided not to as I generally don't like random killing as a pest solution.

The cats happily took care of the mouse problem and were very happy not to get run off all the time. A trip to the vet took care of potential kitty problems.

Now we have no mice but fewer birds, snakes, butterflys etc unfortunately. I used to see ground owls - very cute but not very cat resistant.

[Rdjntx]

Considering that article is written by the very company that owns and operates the facility in quesiton, it's conclusions and SOME of its statistics are certainly questionable. I would rather see an analysis by some independant third party with no dog in the hunt.

The article may exaggerate the problem. See here for more. In any event, the number of bird deaths pales in comparison to the billions killed by the nation's cat population.

[Ian S]

On the subject of solar farms, they just found out that the new one at Ivanpah is smoking birds out of the sky at a pretty impressive rate. No technology is perfect...

http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...n-kay-melchior

The article may exaggerate the problem. See here for more. In any event, the number of bird deaths pales in comparison to the billions killed by the nation's cat population.

[kwilcox]

Mea culpa; it was not my intention to come off as parochial. It just seems to me that the same old strategies are being rehashed here. Call me a greenie if you want but I firmly believe that these same strategies are having a near-term caststrophic impact on our planet's climate. I also believe that PWR nukes are a waste of time, effort & money because they scare people to death. That won't ever change because they melt down with spectacular impact on a regular basis.

Please excuse those who are therefore trying to think outside the box to solve this. the explosion of grid tie PV and other RE generation sources and the impact it is having on the traditional power delivery model is what I believe to be an example of this effort in action. Thanks goes to Fukishima for driving most of it too. The next PWR meltdown event will further accelerate the effort. I firmly believe that this is also a fact.

Finally, Science Fiction has a reliable track record of becoming Science Fact in increasingly shorter timeframes. My hat is off to those who play an active role here and I hope to see them in action as Germany faces its power delivery dilemma. I myself will be working on a practical way to locally store the excess energy that my array produces during peak sunlight hours then meter it back during my home's high demand times when the array is not producing. Net metering policies are going to go away when our government swings back to the traditionalists you see.

[J.P.M.]

congratulations on not only using two dollar words .. but using two two dollar words appropriately in the same sentence[/QUOTE]

Here's two more: Thank You.

[Rdjntx]

the birds that can avoid being fried will survive to pass on their genes... geosynchronous satellite systems beaming down microwave energy will increase the carnage..

This takes centuries to accomplish assuming it ever does. by that time the birds will be extinct, man will likely be extinct and solar farms will be a moot point.

I'd suggest talking to a few of the more thoughtful of them whose primary focus is something other than incendiary invective.

congratulations on not only using two dollar words .. but using two two dollar words appropriately in the same sentence

[J.P.M.]

Dang. Again you make me have to go to the dictionary to figure out what you are saying.

Happy to be the spark for your curiosity. Another bennie brought to you free of charge by the S.P.T. hardasses. Glad to be of service.

[SunEagle]

I'd suggest talking to a few of the more thoughtful of them whose primary focus is something other than incendiary invective.

Dang. Again you make me have to go to the dictionary to figure out what you are saying.

[russ]

Its clear that no viewpoints are being changed here.

You mean that people don't agree with you? That is true but mainly due to there being a bunch of engineers around.

Wishful thinking iis of no help. Reading some science fiction novel is no help. Reading some green site is usually negative.

Progress will be made though as normal, it is too slow for those that have no idea what has to happen.

As I said before, many, many billions have been spent on all aspects of RE and improving the use of traditional fuels. That will continue on.