CA Solar legislation

Bamboo

Bamboo

Joined
Dec 16, 2004
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"Each day, more energy falls to the earth from the sun's rays than the total amount of energy the planet's 5.9 billion inhabitants would consume in 27 years."

http://votesolar.com/
 
Does anybody know how much power a solar cell produces in a day in relation to it's cost, and more importantly, the average life cycle? I imagine that these cells break down and have to be replaced every once in a while.
 
I've no numbers, but I've heard some perty convincing stuff about the economic and physical practicality of putting a huge array out in, say, the mojave or something.

More power to them. Every effort to break our dependence on petroleum is good in my book.

Nam
 
munk said:
And if any group of humans could achieve photosyntheisis, I think Californians could.

munk
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Munk, this has been a pretty good day so far, but that remark made me laugh out loud. Thanks!

Steve :D
 
I have friends who have solar panels that I know got to be ten 15 years old and still running fine. I think the weaker point in the system is the batteries.

I am not getting political here actually, but during the energy crisis Carter and congress passed a lot of tax breaks for solar and home insulation. Carter went as far as to put some panels on top of the White House. After OPEC lost their grip on the world oil supply and prices fell Reagan took the solar panels OFF the White House and did away with the solar tax credit.

I am not sure what they status of solar is in the new energy bill, I do know it contains many tax breaks for oil, gas and coal companies.

I don't believe solar will solve our problems. The thing is there is not going to be any one or 2 sources that will solve our problems. It is gonna be a combination of multiple sources combined with conservation and our lifestyle WILL change. Unfortunately for many opponents I feel nuclear energy will be part of the mix too.

Solar has it's limits on the individual level. My friends almost totally rely on it and they can run some lights, a computer and stuff like that, but they can only run like a DC RV refrigerator during the summer. A regular fridge uses too much energy so they have to for instance can or jerk all their deer and goats they kill. Also several folks I know have a small hydro setup, but it only supplements because their water flow slows down in the dry.

I know for sure if I didn't have my own gas well I'd go for a passive solar water heater. I have thought about a few panels on my house. I want to retire early, which would mean less pension, so as that time comes up I want to look at Solar to cut my electric bill and I have thought about even buying an old Jetta deisel and converting it to run on french fry grease. ;)
 
I had a friend in jr. high that made a solar powered flashlight for an 8th grade science project. He got a C on it because the dummy didn't rig up any battery system to the flashlight. Thus, the flashlight worked perfectly...at high noon.
I think as a country we will figure out how to make the sun tan us faster than use it to power much. Giant solar panels out in the desert might be a good idea. Of course then Josh's people would come down and destroy our planet because the reflection off the solar panel would start causing a glare on their TV screens.

jake
 
Steely_Gunz said:
Giant solar panels out in the desert might be a good idea. Of course then Josh's people would come down and destroy our planet because the reflection off the solar panel would start causing a glare on their TV screens.

jake
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LMA0! Good one.
 
Have you priced solar? Looked at it as an option for a cabin and was not economically viable. Too bad, would be great.
 
Solar is expensive but my friends put together systems on the cheap. Still not super inexpensive but better than top dollar.
 
Solar energy is great, but can you light your bong with it?

I had a college professor last semester that talked about this kind of thing. The chemicals and energy needed to create a solar panel cancel out a lot of their benefits. The same goes for seperating hydrogen from oxygen to power cars, It would be more efficient to just use the energy you used to seperate the hydrogen to power the car. Cut out the middleman.

He seemed to think that our best immediate bet for fuel consumption was to convert to diesel engines. Diesel engines are 52% fuel efficient, and gasoline engines are only 25% fuel efficient. Unfortunately, people dont want diesel because they think its too smelly, and diesel engines are loud.
 
That's kind of what I've been hearing. It's like the hybrid cars -- does the extra cost of the car cover the gas? The good thing is that since they seem to be popular, perhaps the car makers will figure out how to make them cheaper. Let's hope advances can be made with solar cells, too.

Just about all energy is solar, eventually. It's just a matter of how it's captured (in prehistoric leaves that dinosaurs eat), stored (in fossil beds, then in tanks), transported (pipeline, truck, your tank) and then consumed.

Probably the key thing in choosing between hydrogen and electric would if it's easier to store the energy in a battery in your car or in a hydrogen tank. And I don't know.
 
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