What's the opposite of Progress? Republicans.

[urbpan]

Just now listening to a BBC story about a massive solar power plant in East Germany (made possible by government mandate) something profound occurred to me. With the new American administration and Congress, there's a real possibility that sustainable energy plants could actually be built in the United States. Think of the solar power potential of the American West--why hasn't anyone built solar power plants there yet? Because fossil fuel based power has been protected by the previous administration. In a very real way (and not just on this issue) the Republicans have been literally opposing and preventing progress.

Comments

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

oh hai, a serious post from ME:

what is the impact of collecting the solar energy and preventing it from reaching the ground, even in the barren, lifeless desert? mmm?

yes. that. :( there is impact. the question is: what? we currently don't use a lot of the thermal content, though we will later i expect with full-spectrum cells (new!). we do otherwise block it. critters, plants, and the very weather patterns will be affected. what will go extinct or suffer?

nothing is free. tricky.

also: how green are solar cells? currently: not very. they cost a lot of energy to make, and they use exotic, expensive materials (mining). in the future, near i hope if my reading is uptodate, less costly and more efficient. currently, the only way we can do it is by massive coverage.

instead of the desert per se, i was thinking we cover every building in the stuff. there's a lot of buildings, and we save by having the power generated where we need it typically... on site.

funny thing: solar cell panel thefts are on the rise. it's become an art form.

i will respect obama for one thing especially if he can pull it off (other than not dying during his term(s)): get these thermo-grease generation plants off the ground... promote conversion of waste to fuel, and throw anyone in prison that blocks progress (there's a lot of claimed legal and physical sabotage going on). the process seems to work on paper and in moderate sized demos. imagine a world where our current waste dumps are considered valuable enough to strip mine :)

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[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it wouldn't make sense to put the power plants in the wilderness; they should be in or near the cities, where they actually need the power, and where there is a population to work on them and maintain them.

It should be built into zoning laws or something. Every building in Phoenix could have solar panels to probably produce enough electricity to at least run their own lights.

[bicoastal.livejournal.com]

Except that there are currently big fights about putting them in the unspoiled deserts near the Mexico border, including transmission lines through wild refuges.

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

perhaps some of the money spent on "defense" could be redirected to "sense".

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

Where I live, we get an awful lot of sunshine and few cloudy days, but there's also a lot of dust blowing around, especially in the early spring when it's more windy. Solar panels would need to be dusted off regularly.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

There's a new job for the green economy! Solar panel duster. I'm sure there are similarly mundane jobs at coal powered power plants.

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

We're working on it.

Eldorado Valley in Boulder City Nevada.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

And that's just for the light at the top of the Luxor!

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

i often think, when it would be so easy for people to be kind and considerate why do we make so much trouble for ourselves? when you multiply all the reasons we fuck things up you get the situation we have now with the world. Each person needs to commit to considerate behaviour so that every action of thoughtlessness is so glaringly obvious and rude that it is corrected simply and without fuss.

this is how i raised my children...this is how I practice...this is how I endeavour to live.

Homade solar power

[(Anonymous)]

A couple of months ago I built my own solar panel for about 300.00 dollars, It saving me a fortune. I cant believe everyone is not doing this. I highly recommend this to anyone thinking of living off the grid or just trying to save money!
Also the new solar film or plastic that has been developed which is about the thickness of a credit card I think is going to be big in developing urban solar power grids in the near future.Implementing it by installing it on the windows or structure of high rise buildings and creating a solar grid in areas where space is a factor.