[SEL] For Arnie and any energy and/or tax buffs

STRAIGHT from SanFran enginepaul at gmail.com
Wed Nov 21 18:51:53 PST 2012


Forgot about the solar stuff that was discussed by another informal group there.

More than one physicist says solar power generation is limited and
will never drop enough in price to be worthwhile.

The SanFran Bay Area may be the roof mounted solar capital of the
world and some items brought up are:

Most owners that can afford solar, even with subsidies, will never
live long enough for the pay back, They usually find this out well
after they buy. It seems that "pays for itself" means that the buyer
pays and waits.

Solar is heavy and roofs usually need reinforcement to support the weight.

An architect pointed out - here in earthquake country - that a heavier
roof would require stronger framing and anchors and bracing for
seismic reinforcing. Nobody there knew if they did that.

Paul - still buying electricity.



On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 2:39 PM, Arnie Fero <fero_ah at city-net.com> wrote:
> Whew.  You had me worried for a minute there Paul.
> I was afraid you were going to tell me that I'd flip that
> light switch and all my hair would fall out.  8-))
>
> BTW, the ol' transmission line NIMBY issue isn't unique
> to Kalifornia.  Germany probably has the most ambitious
> wind power program in Europe.  Heavily government
> subsidized.
>
> The problem is that the wind power is in the north.
> The heavy industrial demand for electricity is in the south.
> The region in the middle are all the touristy bits where
> NO ONE dares to put transmission lines.
>
> Anyone see a problem there?
>
> See ya,  Arnie
>
> On Wed, November 21, 2012 5:02 pm, STRAIGHT from SanFran wrote:
>> Arnie:
>>
>> I went to hear a speaker talk about the Lawrence Livermore fusion
>> program. He told us how we were months away from the big breakthrough.
>> A guy in the audience said we were always just near the end - for the
>> last 50 years.
>>
>> These future generating plants will have to be very large; they can't
>> be made small like some of the nuke plants. That seems to me that we
>> will need more and longer power lines that are forbidden here in
>> California. I forgot to ask if the electricity will be laser delivered
>> too, so we can solve that problem.
>>
>> They just finished a 3+ $Billion building and things are all ready to
>> go. They couldn't give us any idea about how much was already spent to
>> get to this stage; but they only need money for a while longer. (I'm
>> guessing the money will last until they need some more; but I'm not a
>> scientist, just a tax-payer.)
>>
>> A guy pointed out how Government dollars are well spent because we
>> wouldn't have gotten this far without those tax dollars being plowed
>> in. But the speaker said private industry was where they got the
>> needed laser developments to be this far along. One of the industries
>> was the hair removal industry.
>>
>> So someday you will hit the light switch and the fusion generated
>> light will allow you to see your hairless mate without getting grossed
>> out. Worth several $Billion. I guess.
>>
>> Paul - Generating a headache
>> _______________________________________________
>> SEL mailing list
>> SEL at lists.stationary-engine.com
>> http://www.stationary-engine.com/mailman/listinfo/sel
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> SEL mailing list
> SEL at lists.stationary-engine.com
> http://www.stationary-engine.com/mailman/listinfo/sel



More information about the sel mailing list