What's Wrong With Wind and Solar? (Page 2): What kind of climate are you in? My ex and I used solar panels for our hot water when we lived in PR, but it was hot and sunny there year...

Seth

Dom wrote:

I have solar panels for 30 years and still producing power. How to they were out ?

What kind of climate are you in? My ex and I used solar panels for our hot water when we lived in PR, but it was hot and sunny there year round, and we still got our electricity off the grid.

I wouldn't bank on solar if I lived up north or anyplace that wasn't a tropical climate. Only a small fraction of the US is desert climate or subtropical. Maybe in a few decades we might have the technology to offset that "small problem," but at the moment, as my grandfather was fond of saying, "Don't throw out the dirty water until you have some clean water to replace it."

BigMike Loc: yerington nv

ImLogicallyRight wrote:

As usual, this is irrefutable and the left will never get it

They don't teach anything but social posturing in schools anymore.

Forget HS science!🤐

BigMike Loc: yerington nv

ImLogicallyRight wrote:

Imagine if California cleared out that undergrowth... (show quote)

Solar and wind are fine for individual residences or businesses or office buildings.

All those things...

...already occupy space...

...and have wiring.

That is the most efficient way solar and wind can be used. Solar panels on the roof, a little whirlybird windmill in the back yard and batteries in the garage.

I have a friend who got his from some outfit in Norway. More than $800 apiece and he has 24 of them. He's old and decrepit so he calls me when they need to be topped off with distilled water.

Most batteries aren't as nice as the ones he has and they don't last as long.

BigMike Loc: yerington nv

Seth wrote:

What kind of climate are you in? My ex and I used ... (show quote)

I live in a great place to be off the grid. It's sunny and windy but if you wanna be off grid you still have to have a generator...

...which is EXACTLY the same as using green power municipally...

...except a generator can be flipped on like a light...

...but a coal or natural gas generating station can't. They can't be shut down, in fact, but need to be kept spinning which burns f****l f**l.

FallenOak Loc: St George Utah

I got all excited about generating my own power at one time. Looked into methane gas powered electric generation. Did you know there is a law in the US that you cannot use the methane from your septic tank to power an engine to run a generator. I found that somewhere, I forget where, in South Africa I think there is a hog farm that produces enough methane gas to power a small town with free electricity. You can run your car from methane also. I believe that was done in Europe a bit during WWII. So my take is let’s change the rules and use human waste to power our cars and generators and truly become independent.

BigMike Loc: yerington nv

FallenOak wrote:

I got all excited about generating my own power at... (show quote)

Hmmm...I bet septic tank methane could power a boiler....

They are closer to fusion than they let on and hydrogen can be obtained from seawater.

They have hydrogen powered cars in Iceland.

Forrest Gump II...no kidding, the continuing story of Forrest Gump.

He invests in a pig farm, then a pig sht generating station, then someone forgets to close a valve or something, then the town is buried under pis sht fallout, then...they get mad at Gump.

Seth

BigMike wrote:

I live in a great place to be off the grid. It's sunny and windy but if you wanna be off grid you still have to have a generator...

...which is EXACTLY the same as using green power municipally...

...except a generator can be flipped on like a light...

...but a coal or natural gas generating station can't. They can't be shut down, in fact, but need to be kept spinning which burns f****l f**l.

In a city like NY, where most of the population lives vertically (imagine a 40 storey building containing over 200 apartments, for example), renewable energy wouldn't work, though. A solar panel (or several) on the roof would need to be humongous, and subject to the vagaries of high winds, visiting hurricanes and winter weather.

I've never really given thought to how a generator might be used in such a high energy use environment, given also how it would be powered -- there's no well ventilated space or outside area in which to run it when one dwells on, say, the 31st floor.

I suppose that is one great reason not to live in a metropolis.

FallenOak Loc: St George Utah

BigMike wrote:

Hmmm...I bet septic tank methane could power a boi... (show quote)

Don't need to power a boiler. A carburetor can be adjusted to run an internal combustion engine. Those old Fairbanks one lungers or hit and miss engines will run on just about anything with little tinkering. That is the power source for a generator.

BigMike Loc: yerington nv

Seth wrote:

In a city like NY, where most of the population li... (show quote)

The suburbs could contribute to NYCs power continuity and their own at the same time. Doesn't the power mostly come from the same place?

AC Power is like water in that respect.

But a lot of municipalities like LA are spread over all creation, following freeways. Lots of potential for energy contribution to the overall grid along such corridors...square miles of rooftops...everything from houses to roofs that occupy tens of acres.

The Eastern Seaboard and Left Coast could do the same if they got rid of their spoiled, entitled career politicians and Dynasties that siphon off all the dough and never get $ht done.

They already have the grids. It's a LOT of wasted potential.

BigMike Loc: yerington nv

FallenOak wrote:

Don't need to power a boiler. A carburetor can be adjusted to run an internal combustion engine. Those old Fairbanks one lungers or hit and miss engines will run on just about anything with little tinkering. That is the power source for a generator.

"Every problem is a big, red, blinking neon arrow pointing to a solution" is my motto.

BigMike Loc: yerington nv

FallenOak wrote:

Don't need to power a boiler. A carburetor can be adjusted to run an internal combustion engine. Those old Fairbanks one lungers or hit and miss engines will run on just about anything with little tinkering. That is the power source for a generator.

I have a running John Deere model D in the front yard. It's been yard art for 10 years but it was winterized and never fails to crank...gotta open the little poppets on either side and turn the flywheel.

That thing runs on wh**ever is available.

FallenOak Loc: St George Utah

BigMike wrote:

I have a running John Deere model D in the front yard. It's been yard art for 10 years but it was winterized and never fails to crank...gotta open the little poppets on either side and turn the flywheel.

That thing runs on wh**ever is available.

Sometimes I wonder where we lost our way from that of our parents and grandparents. I know of one of those hit and miss Fairbanks that ran 24 hours a day and 365 days a year for several years. One cylinder with water jack around cylinder and grease cups that could be filled while running as could the oiler for the piston. The RPM was 475. Of course our parents and grandparents didn't want to go faster and faster. When I ask people today who rush along on the freeways what are they doing with the time they save none have answered and usually just look at me.

Seth

BigMike wrote:

The suburbs could contribute to NYCs i power cont... (show quote)

That's what comes of a lack of term limits. Most career politicians are too busy singing for their supper elsewhere, the "elsewheres" being sources of bigger campaign bucks, to want to commit funds and efforts that support their sponsors' interests to other projects.

woodguru

BigMike wrote:

b Energy density /b is the term everyone should ... (show quote)

Come on...Prager U????

BigMike Loc: yerington nv

FallenOak wrote:

Sometimes I wonder where we lost our way from that... (show quote)

Does it blow cool little smoke rings?