Comments on: 8 Cool Things About Solar Power That Just Might Change the World http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/8-cool-things-about-solar-power-that-just-might-change-the-world/ A blog about residential solar power, brought to you by CalFinder. Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:36:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: How to Save on Residential Solar in San Diego | | EU Solar Systems http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/8-cool-things-about-solar-power-that-just-might-change-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-227884 How to Save on Residential Solar in San Diego | | EU Solar Systems Fri, 12 Aug 2011 20:07:21 +0000 http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/?p=5143#comment-227884 [...] not be concerns about the environment that lead consumers to residential solar, but price. Due to advances in solar technology, more flexible financing solutions, and extensive solar rebate and incentive programs, the price of [...] [...] not be concerns about the environment that lead consumers to residential solar, but price. Due to advances in solar technology, more flexible financing solutions, and extensive solar rebate and incentive programs, the price of [...]

]]> By: Home Solar Expected to Take Off in New York City | | EU Solar Systems http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/8-cool-things-about-solar-power-that-just-might-change-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-223923 Home Solar Expected to Take Off in New York City | | EU Solar Systems Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:00:21 +0000 http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/?p=5143#comment-223923 [...] U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is also pushing hard for alternative power sources. There are obvious advantages to using the sun’s abundantly reliable and clean [...] [...] U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is also pushing hard for alternative power sources. There are obvious advantages to using the sun’s abundantly reliable and clean [...]

]]> By: Links To Energy Conservation Sites | A Cool Link http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/8-cool-things-about-solar-power-that-just-might-change-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-63480 Links To Energy Conservation Sites | A Cool Link Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:08:37 +0000 http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/?p=5143#comment-63480 [...] http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/8-cool-things-about-solar-power-that-just-might-chang... [...] [...] http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/8-cool-things-about-solar-power-that-just-might-chang... [...]

]]> By: Uncle B http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/8-cool-things-about-solar-power-that-just-might-change-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-42923 Uncle B Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:06:44 +0000 http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/?p=5143#comment-42923 South Western U.S.A. is Solar rich, but Alaska for example is not! Solar, Wind, Wave, Hydro, Tidal, Geothermal, and Nuclear fuels - all translatable to electric energies not liquid energies will have to replace the energy loss as oil dwindles and prices itself off the American market. First the hybrid cars, like the Volt, then on to fully rechargeable cars and shorter hauls in them, with long hauls by nuclear/electric sourced electric bullet train networks that will supplant even oil intensive domestic jet flights, this is the future for America. The interim years will be cushioned by biomass fuels , bio-diesel, natural gas, and such but the larger burden as oil dwindles will be on Mother Natures perpetual energy sources and Nuclear.The world has been raped of its resources such as oil for a long time and we are really running lower and lower each day! America will have to face the fact that the "Cheap Oil Era" the era she depends so deeply on, is running to its end, and it is time to move on, much as China has, with her complete, up and running, Nuclear/electric sourced, electric bullet train network and ensuing infrastructure - now up and producing, on veggies and rice, products for the American marketplace. South Western U.S.A. is Solar rich, but Alaska for example is not! Solar, Wind, Wave, Hydro, Tidal, Geothermal, and Nuclear fuels – all translatable to electric energies not liquid energies will have to replace the energy loss as oil dwindles and prices itself off the American market. First the hybrid cars, like the Volt, then on to fully rechargeable cars and shorter hauls in them, with long hauls by nuclear/electric sourced electric bullet train networks that will supplant even oil intensive domestic jet flights, this is the future for America. The interim years will be cushioned by biomass fuels , bio-diesel, natural gas, and such but the larger burden as oil dwindles will be on Mother Natures perpetual energy sources and Nuclear.The world has been raped of its resources such as oil for a long time and we are really running lower and lower each day! America will have to face the fact that the “Cheap Oil Era” the era she depends so deeply on, is running to its end, and it is time to move on, much as China has, with her complete, up and running, Nuclear/electric sourced, electric bullet train network and ensuing infrastructure – now up and producing, on veggies and rice, products for the American marketplace.

]]> By: Ray http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/8-cool-things-about-solar-power-that-just-might-change-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-41058 Ray Sat, 19 Jun 2010 05:56:17 +0000 http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/?p=5143#comment-41058 Kris, the are more solutions than just solar. Enclosed is one of my recent articles on another source of incredible enrgy: Biomass. It doesn't get as much press, but is being used a lot more than solar at this point. You also touch on the lobbyists, but the story doesn't really go there because the lobbyists are just trying to sell something to somebody. The real perpetrator there is the Senator that spends $40,000,000 to get elected for a six-year term totalling 2190 days. The only way that can happen is to raise $16,000 per day in office, Saturdays, Sundays, and federal holidays included. I digress. What this atricle is about is easy. If I told you that Denver could burn it's garbage, thereby producing 58,000,000 gallons of ethanol a year, with a 4 year ROI after which the cty would make 40 million dollars a year for burning it, would that be something you could wrap your head around ? Read ON! We the people cannot afford to keep relying on oil, mostly foreign, to power our country. The oil spill in the Gulf demonstrates how much we are at a point that we have to become active in pushing for Renewable and Alternative Energy sources. Biomass is one of those sources. Biomass comes in many forms such as trees, plants and garbabe. By burning biomass, we can capture ethanol, which can be mixed with gasoline as fuel for cars and trucks, reducing the amount of gasoline that we cunsume. There are almost 200 cities in the US with populations of a quarter of a million or more. Every one of them has a landfill full of garbage. That means that ¾ of our total garbage is in about 200 spots. Estimates say there are about a million tons of garbage in each spot, or 200 million tons of garbage in landfills, landfills that are always a problem for the cities where they are located. If you burn the garbage (BIOMASS) you can get 50 gallons of ethanol per ton. This is called Waste-To-Ethanol. That means, if you set up to burn garbage and capture the ethanol, you could generate 10 Billion gallons of ethanol from the existing supply. You can put up a plant to do this burning for around $320 million dollars and that would get you about 3200 tons of garbage (biomass) burned every day resulting in 58,000,000 gallons of ethanol every year, per plant. That would be a ROI of 4 years in today’s market. If oil goes up when BP tries to recover their expenses, it will take less time. The ethanol production in this method should run about $1.00 per gallon, which is a whole lot less than gasoline, so there would be an additional savings to the consumer. If the cities were to float a municipal bond issue for the cost and built their own biomass refinery, then after the ROI, they could realistically be looking at eliminating over 40 million dollars a year from their budget shortfall. As consumers, we generate about five pound of biomass (garbage) a week, so the plants would never run out of product to burn. What can you do? Go to a City Council meeting with this idea. Can you imagine your City Council turning down $40,000,000 a year for burning the garbage? Have them contact BlueFire Ethanol or Agresti Biofuels, or the Department of Energy. Prod them. Get this started. It’s our planet, we the people. Kris, the are more solutions than just solar. Enclosed is one of my recent articles on another source of incredible enrgy: Biomass. It doesn’t get as much press, but is being used a lot more than solar at this point. You also touch on the lobbyists, but the story doesn’t really go there because the lobbyists are just trying to sell something to somebody. The real perpetrator there is the Senator that spends $40,000,000 to get elected for a six-year term totalling 2190 days. The only way that can happen is to raise $16,000 per day in office, Saturdays, Sundays, and federal holidays included. I digress.
What this atricle is about is easy. If I told you that Denver could burn it’s garbage, thereby producing 58,000,000 gallons of ethanol a year, with a 4 year ROI after which the cty would make 40 million dollars a year for burning it, would that be something you could wrap your head around ? Read ON!
We the people cannot afford to keep relying on oil, mostly foreign, to power our country. The oil spill in the Gulf demonstrates how much we are at a point that we have to become active in pushing for Renewable and Alternative Energy sources.

Biomass is one of those sources. Biomass comes in many forms such as trees, plants and garbabe. By burning biomass, we can capture ethanol, which can be mixed with gasoline as fuel for cars and trucks, reducing the amount of gasoline that we cunsume.
There are almost 200 cities in the US with populations of a quarter of a million or more. Every one of them has a landfill full of garbage. That means that ¾ of our total garbage is in about 200 spots. Estimates say there are about a million tons of garbage in each spot, or 200 million tons of garbage in landfills, landfills that are always a problem for the cities where they are located.
If you burn the garbage (BIOMASS) you can get 50 gallons of ethanol per ton. This is called Waste-To-Ethanol. That means, if you set up to burn garbage and capture the ethanol, you could generate 10 Billion gallons of ethanol from the existing supply. You can put up a plant to do this burning for around $320 million dollars and that would get you about 3200 tons of garbage (biomass) burned every day resulting in 58,000,000 gallons of ethanol every year, per plant.
That would be a ROI of 4 years in today’s market. If oil goes up when BP tries to recover their expenses, it will take less time. The ethanol production in this method should run about $1.00 per gallon, which is a whole lot less than gasoline, so there would be an additional savings to the consumer.
If the cities were to float a municipal bond issue for the cost and built their own biomass refinery, then after the ROI, they could realistically be looking at eliminating over 40 million dollars a year from their budget shortfall. As consumers, we generate about five pound of biomass (garbage) a week, so the plants would never run out of product to burn.
What can you do? Go to a City Council meeting with this idea. Can you imagine your City Council turning down $40,000,000 a year for burning the garbage? Have them contact BlueFire Ethanol or Agresti Biofuels, or the Department of Energy. Prod them. Get this started. It’s our planet, we the people.

]]> By: Jetgraphics http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/8-cool-things-about-solar-power-that-just-might-change-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-40980 Jetgraphics Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:56:01 +0000 http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/?p=5143#comment-40980 The "true environmental cost" fails to account for the opposite condition - lack of cheap and plentiful fuel. Without fuel, modern civilization would not have supplanted the need for human and animal slave labor. Subsidies and government intervention will not resolve the problem. More likely, it will make it worse. Partisan politicians are NOT problem solvers - see the 1970's oil embargo and their 'enlightened' response. Frankly, efficiency and conservation are far superior to escalating consumption of fuel - from whatever source. In the near term, our civilization will not only have to find fuel replacements, but transition to less power consuming modes of living. To illustrate: Shelter => Construct superinsulated dwellings, that utilize passive climate controls (ex: seasonal shade via plants). Utilize materials that are disaster resistant to fire, water, wind, earthquake, vermin, mold, and mildew (ex: concrete sandwich wall, fiber reinforced cement, space frame). Transportation => Construct / rebuild electric traction rail mass transit (i.e., trolleys, streetcars, funiculars, trams, interurbans, etc.). Engineer navigable waterways. Develop compound gyrocopter / gyroplane airliners for city center to city center high speed transportation (ex: Fairey Rotodyne, Carter copter). Food production => Local, high production, labor intensive farming. Manufacturing => Decentralized distributed production of necessities - microfactories. Urban Design => High population density development, in parallel with rail based mass transit corridors. Rural Development => Consolidation of suburban sprawl into more compact villages, with reclamation of arable land. The “true environmental cost” fails to account for the opposite condition – lack of cheap and plentiful fuel. Without fuel, modern civilization would not have supplanted the need for human and animal slave labor.
Subsidies and government intervention will not resolve the problem. More likely, it will make it worse. Partisan politicians are NOT problem solvers – see the 1970′s oil embargo and their ‘enlightened’ response.

Frankly, efficiency and conservation are far superior to escalating consumption of fuel – from whatever source.
In the near term, our civilization will not only have to find fuel replacements, but transition to less power consuming modes of living.

To illustrate:
Shelter => Construct superinsulated dwellings, that utilize passive climate controls (ex: seasonal shade via plants). Utilize materials that are disaster resistant to fire, water, wind, earthquake, vermin, mold, and mildew (ex: concrete sandwich wall, fiber reinforced cement, space frame).
Transportation => Construct / rebuild electric traction rail mass transit (i.e., trolleys, streetcars, funiculars, trams, interurbans, etc.). Engineer navigable waterways. Develop compound gyrocopter / gyroplane airliners for city center to city center high speed transportation (ex: Fairey Rotodyne, Carter copter).
Food production => Local, high production, labor intensive farming.
Manufacturing => Decentralized distributed production of necessities – microfactories.
Urban Design => High population density development, in parallel with rail based mass transit corridors.
Rural Development => Consolidation of suburban sprawl into more compact villages, with reclamation of arable land.

]]> By: Taylen http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/8-cool-things-about-solar-power-that-just-might-change-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-40930 Taylen Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:09:43 +0000 http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/?p=5143#comment-40930 You're absolutely right, Jennifer. We need government to really step up and provide those same subsidies and TRULY make it an even playing field for all forms of energy. Unfortunately 'conventional' energy is already paying for lobbyists so much that it makes it difficult for any politician to leave that money on the table. Just wish it wasn't so... You’re absolutely right, Jennifer. We need government to really step up and provide those same subsidies and TRULY make it an even playing field for all forms of energy. Unfortunately ‘conventional’ energy is already paying for lobbyists so much that it makes it difficult for any politician to leave that money on the table. Just wish it wasn’t so…

]]> By: Jennifer http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/8-cool-things-about-solar-power-that-just-might-change-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-40929 Jennifer Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:04:49 +0000 http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/?p=5143#comment-40929 I completely agree that the cost of conventional power doesn't begin to cover its true environmental costs. (Government subsidies for coal definitely don't help, either.) I would love to see the government end its support for conventional power production while throwing the extra money behind renewable energy and incentives for consumers -- then we'd really see change! I completely agree that the cost of conventional power doesn’t begin to cover its true environmental costs. (Government subsidies for coal definitely don’t help, either.) I would love to see the government end its support for conventional power production while throwing the extra money behind renewable energy and incentives for consumers — then we’d really see change!

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