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There is not a damn thing you can do to stop CO2 emissions. It is just a waste of money and effort. Climate has been changing since the big bang, we are still coming out of the ice age. The earth has been much warmer than it is now. A warmer earth is greener, wetter, and can support more life. Get over it.
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MSEE, PE -
Of course nobody is proposing that we actually pave Maricopa County with PV and try to transmit the energy to the rest of the country. This is just a back-of-the-envelope calculation to show that there's plenty of land for all the solar we need. To counter statements like this:
But since you asked....The U.S. has a total of 1,164,022 MW of total generating capacity, or 1.16e+12W. That's less than half of the PV capacity we would need to actually generate all the power we need in a year (remember, we need about 3.7e+12W of PV to generate our annual consumption). So a PV array sized to meet the peak electric demand in the U.S. would fit in Maricopa County with quite a bit of room to spare.I don't think you have the correct math concerning the amount of square miles needed to duplicate the GigaWatts of power generation in the US. I doubt it would fit into even one state let alone a county.
The reason we need less than half as much PV to meet the peak demand vs. generating all our power is because the sun doesn't shine all the time. So to generate all our power from PV we need to generate excess power during the daytime and store it somehow for later.
So once again we come back to the fact that the problem is finding a way to store all the power, not finding places to put the solar panels.16x TenK 410W modules + 14x TenK 500W invertersComment
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That sounds like the wrong question to me.
The right question would be, "what price are willing to pay for fossil fuel, both economic and environmental, and how long are willing to pay it?"
It should be fairly obvious that fossil fuel is a finite resource so of course it is running out. But it should also be fairly obvious that we have centuries of supply left if we don't care how much it costs to extract or how much damage we do in the process. And it should also be obvious that there is a fairly substantial price to be paid, both economic and environmental, for our current level of fossil fuel usage.16x TenK 410W modules + 14x TenK 500W invertersComment
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No. But I think we should leave it in the ground to avoid making the oceans so acidic that shellfish can't grow,
and to avoid the otherwise inevitable climate changes.
Since this thread is in "Solar industry trends", and this thread has morphed into a rehash
of whether carbon dioxide emissions are harmful to the environment,
I think it's now wandered off topic. If Sunking wants to debate the topic,
he should open a new thread in the appropriate forum.
(edit) I've gone and opened a new thread, folks who want to debate whether
anthropogenic climate change is real and/or whether carbon dioxide harms the environment
can take it to
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I fully support renewable energy generation. I also know we need more than RE to provide the electricity we use.
What I do not support is the actions taken by the controlling party to raise the cost of fossil fuel generation (which we still need) though fear tactics just to satisfy their foolish beliefs.
We can't get other countries to stop killing each other, how can we get them to stop using the cheapest fuel available to them.
As for getting others to follow the reduction of fossil fuel burning, I think there is a better chance of me winning the mega-million lottery.Comment
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Canada and the US have the highest average electricity use, and by quite a wide margin, even over other developed countries. We certainly aren't setting a good example for developing countries, that are adopting our lifestyles.
You can see how we stack up here: http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/avera...ty-consumption
I think it would be a great idea to to have a variable rate for electricity consumption, where the cost progressively rises higher, dependent on usage. This in turn could fund clean sources of power. Therefore, those that are wasteful, don't care, or are just plain rich, would be contributing to a cleaner power supply.
I think we are just delaying the inevitable. Eventually supplies will become more costly to extract, and fossil fuels will become more and more expensive. The real cost of fossil fuel burning is the damage we are doing to the planet, but that is a whole other topic. And not just limited to that action.We can't get other countries to stop killing each other, how can we get them to stop using the cheapest fuel available to them.
As for getting others to follow the reduction of fossil fuel burning, I think there is a better chance of me winning the mega-million lottery.Comment
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A 50% reduction would go a long way, and would still allow e.g. natural gas plants to fill in on still or cloudy days.
The fact that these countries are undeveloped is an opportunity, not a problem. They
can greatly reduce their energy needs by setting the proper incentives and by
setting efficiency and pollution standards. And to some extent they're starting to do that;
the Chinese are getting really nervous about pollution.
Each country can help. Saying "But the other countries have to move first" is a good way to discourage the other countries from moving.Comment
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Dan you are just wasting your time and can talk until you are Blue in the Face. Once the electric Genie is let out of the bottle there is no putting it back.
Canada is well known to be Eco-Friendly Country, one of the first to sign the UNFCC (You know the UN group who cooked up the Global Warming scam) Kyoto Protocol Treaty. Canada was the first to withdraw in 2012. The goal was to reduce CO2 emissions by 6% from 2002 when they entered the treaty to 2012 10 years later. After spending billions to reduce CO2, emissions rose some 50%. Once they realized it is impossible to control and facing a $14 Billion dollar fine payed to the UN they withdrew.
China GHG emissions has risen 400% since 1990 and only getting started. India is only just now beginning to develop. There is nothing you or anyone can do to stop them short of War which we would loose. Are you willing to die for your cause? Have at it.
The Genie is out of the bottle and there is not a damn thing you can do about it.MSEE, PEComment
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Indeed. But they're also putting huge resources behind solar power, have pledged to start reducing CO2 emissions by 2030, and now it looks like they're actually reducing their use of coal:
And if they can do it, surely we can do it.Comment
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