#energy #green #solar #power
This is great news on cost reductions in solar technology Solar - Cheaper than you think.
I hope the trend continues.
I'd be curious about the ecological footprint of manufacturing, delivering, and installing solar panels vs the environmental impacts of mining, shipping, and burning coal as well.
I'm pro the idea of solar, wind, and tidal generating capabilities. I think ecologically they make the most sense although financially they aren't there yet and it is that usual chicken and egg situation. The cost needs to come down to increase demand and the demand needs to increase before we can get the cost down. It sucks that so many great ideas and technologies don't make it because of the financial barriers to entry and the strong market position of the less efficient, less environmentally friendly current market leaders.
After the Japan incident I'm even less of an advocate for nuclear. It is pretty obvious that dollars and not safety rule most of the decisions in where to place and implement nuclear power plants and anything that screws up the environment that significantly when it goes wrong is just not worth the risk. No one will be living in Chernobyl any time soon. Chernobyl 25 years on
In the case of nuclear there isn't a way to really clean up from an epic fail. The disaster at Chernobyl destroyed the lives of many of the people in the immediate impact area and it affected all of us in some way. For example the worlds background radiation levels allegedly increased three times. That doesn't seem to be a huge deal because the background radiation levels aren't at a point where we are going to start mutating or dropping like flies but still it is worrying to me. I couldn't find a simple graph of background radiation levels over time so if anyone has one I'd be curious to see it. How much did we increase them with our nuclear testing programs? How many times did they increase after the ongoing disaster in Japan? How many of these types of incidents can we as a species sustain before things start to get really ugly for us and the rest of the life on the planet? Not to mention the headache with dealing with spent fuel disposal.
I think clean coal is an oxymoron and a great marketing opportunity for the coal mining companies but a dumb idea for the rest of us. Pumping crap down into the earths crust and hoping it stays there, doesn't leach into the water table or supply, and doesn't cause any kind of earth stability issues also seems like it really isn't worth the risk. Because at the end of the day the companies that implement these technologies aren't held fully accountable for the subsequent clean up. We have less environmentally dangerous options!
From what I have seen battery technology is not quite there yet on both life expectancy and on the impact to environment with disposal to make buying a hybrid or electric vehicle, and dumping my old gas guzzler, a net gain for the environment worth what it would cost me financially. Honestly I've never owned a new car because I'd rather recycle a second hand one and save myself a ton in depreciation. But I might have to figure out how we can afford to buy one at some point to get the newest most efficient technology. Really I'd just prefer someone made cost effective conversion kits for older cars.
This article indicates that the tipping point is getting closer with Solar. That point where it is worth it financially. I got a quote a few years back and it was almost 20k for the installation I wanted. Despite the considerable power company and government subsidies it still would have been more than 7k or so out of my pocket.
With the rate that improvements are being made in the technology it also feels smart to wait to get a much more efficient product in the future.
But I'm committed to doing it because there are a ton of intangible benefits as well. If I splurge on a battery backup in my garage I can set the system up to continue to function in a blackout situation making us less dependent and vulnerable to a power outage. I can also add a generator into that setup as well to provide an additional backup. When we finally get a hybrid or an electric vehicle our transportation and our home power consumption will be much more independent of the infrastructure that is in place.
Also the act of implementing a personal system for my house is also taking a small step that I can personally make to promoting America's energy independence from foreign oil and coal.
Then their is the feeling that I've done as much as I can to reduce my impact on the environment and that any power I am using, or even a percentage of the power I am using, is sustainable for the long term and helps preserve elements of the world I love for my boys and future descendant's to enjoy.
If we have options like Solar, Wind, and Tide to generate electricity why would we want to continue with those tech options that aren't good for the planet? For the sake of money? Money is a human concept that we have total control over. We can make plenty more of that. Hell the Fed has been making a ton of it over the last few years!
But we can't undo the radiation damage to areas in Japan and Russia. We can't seem to figure out how to reduce Carbon Dioxide emissions despite a ton of interest globally doing so. Therefore it seems to me to be a no brainer to push hard for sustainable energy solutions that have low or no environmental impact.
But maybe I'm missing something?
What do you think?
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