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Post by nautonnier on Nov 25, 2013 21:08:54 GMT
I see two main problems with windfarms and solar panels apart from their output never matching the plated capability:
* They were built mainly by people wanting to take advantage of 'locked in guaranteed returns' from less than technical 'want-to-be-green' politicians.
* The 'investors' do not appear to have looked at useful life, whole life costs including maintenance and replacement costs.
To some extent these are related issues. Governments make the rules, so if subsequent politicians decide that they don't like the price of the contract they change the rules and the guaranteed returns disappear overnight. This is the ONLY reason many of these subsidy farms were built, not for power generation but as a safe investment in today's crazy world. Well they are not a safe investment so all of a sudden the 'investors' leave.
In seven to ten years after installation the turbines need maintenance - they are miles out to sea and 400ft high at ten years old they may actually need replacement submerged base and uprights as well. This maintenance will not come cheap and it may be required more often than expected - if it was factored in at all. The costs of maintaining the windfarms will probably get close to the returns even if the governments keep their side of the bargain. But these are run by 'investors' that will walk away from losses. So what happens then? Is there any way that these companies can be made to maintain the windmills or remove the rotting stumps? Well no - the companies will declare bankruptcy and nobody will be there for the government to tell. I have an idea that these corroding follies will be left littering the seas and the landscapes for generations. Monuments to the stupidity of the politicians and greens.
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Post by karlox on Nov 26, 2013 8:33:45 GMT
But solar panels on people´s roofs and small communities or bussiness -being fully paid by their owners-users- should not be penalized by unnafordable inflated grid-connection fares that Gov is going to impose for the sake of Power Companies. Germany in central Europe getting much less sun is full of small solar units while Spain is moving opposite direction... they don´t like either "small is beautiful" neither people independence from Power Co. to be achieved whenever people could afford it. Survival instict tells me to keep distance from anything much larger than a human being... I´m talking about Big Government and Big Companies and Crony Capitalism. Don´t ever trust them.
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Post by trbixler on Dec 3, 2013 13:42:17 GMT
Just hook it up and see what happens. Whats a trillion or so $ anyway to save the planet from CO2 induced AGW. "Power struggle: Green energy versus a grid that's not ready" "But as states, led by California, race to bring more wind, solar and geothermal power online, those and other forms of alternative energy have become a new source of anxiety. The problem is that renewable energy adds unprecedented levels of stress to a grid designed for the previous century. Green energy is the least predictable kind. Nobody can say for certain when the wind will blow or the sun will shine. A field of solar panels might be cranking out huge amounts of energy one minute and a tiny amount the next if a thick cloud arrives. In many cases, renewable resources exist where transmission lines don't. "The grid was not built for renewables," said Trieu Mai, senior analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory." link
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Post by trbixler on Dec 18, 2013 15:19:06 GMT
Well it was so green that they turned it off. This is exactly what skyrocket wanted! Change is happening one little chip at a time back to the stone age. Maybe they will "replace" this reliable power source with a few hundred bird choppers. "Wolverine makes it official ‘project will cease’" "This time the word is final. The plug has officially been pulled on the Wolverine Clean Energy project. “It is with a great deal of sadness I need to tell this community that we are ceasing our development on the clean energy venture,” said Wolverine’s CEO Eric Baker to an invited group of community leaders this morning (Tuesday, Dec. 17)." link
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Post by trbixler on Dec 24, 2013 2:40:51 GMT
Skyrocket at work! Factor in health care and unemployment and WoW watch skyrocket go! "Christmas Lights? Electricity Price Index at All-Time High in U.S." "(CNSNews.com) - Turning on the Christmas lights on a house or a Christmas tree this November cost Americans more on average than it has before, as the seasonally adjusted electricity price index hit an all-time high in the United States in November, according to data released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average price for a kilowatt hour of electricity also set a record for the month of November, according to BLS. During the year, electricity prices tend to bottom out in the late fall, winter and early spring and hit a peak in the summer. Electricity prices followed that pattern this year, but in each month of the year they set a record for that particular month—n.b. electricity was more expensive in January 2013 than in any previous January, etc." link
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Post by karlox on Dec 31, 2013 9:46:58 GMT
Sigur, What do you think of this?
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Post by sigurdur on Dec 31, 2013 14:45:33 GMT
That is a normal happening in Western ND.
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Post by karlox on Dec 31, 2013 15:52:17 GMT
That is a normal happening in Western ND. Thanks for info, but how long and why western ND´s got inflamable tab water? is it drinkable at all?
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Post by magellan on Dec 31, 2013 18:59:18 GMT
That is a normal happening in Western ND. Thanks for info, but how long and why western ND´s got inflamable tab water? is it drinkable at all? fracknation.com/
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Post by sigurdur on Dec 31, 2013 22:02:02 GMT
That is a normal happening in Western ND. Thanks for info, but how long and why western ND´s got inflamable tab water? is it drinkable at all? Karlox: A little methane in the water doesn't make it non-potable. There are several ranches out west that capture the methane from wells and run generators with it. I am talking water wells.
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Post by sigurdur on Dec 31, 2013 22:02:43 GMT
As far as how long has this been happening? Ever since someone poked a hole in the ground looking for water in Western ND.
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Post by nautonnier on Jan 4, 2014 12:12:48 GMT
Methane is a naturally occurring 'ground gas' that has been known for generations. It does not need fracking to make it come to the surface in the same way that oil does not need drilling for it to come to the surface. As with many things the ignorant tree huggers are being given half the information to get them to form antidrilling protests. We seem to be entering a new dark age of science due probably to poor education and political use of 'scientists' in academia who will sell their ethics for funding.
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Post by trbixler on Mar 3, 2014 14:00:35 GMT
The green revolution of stupid. "Report: DC’s green-approved buildings using more energy" " Washington, D.C.’s Department of Environment made the capital the first city in the nation to mandate LEED certifications in the construction of public buildings. The standards are now being phased in.
The results are measured in EUI’s, a unit that relates a building’s energy consumption to its size; the higher the number, the more energy is expended by a smaller building. Take the Green Building Council’s Washington headquarters. Replete with the group’s top green-energy accolade, the platinum LEED certification, the USGBC’s main base comes in at 236 EUI. The average EUI for uncertified buildings in the capital? Just 199." link
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Post by douglavers on Mar 3, 2014 19:33:50 GMT
A friend of mine lives just South of Morwell in the Latrobe Valley. He is in the hills, so he has a good view of the out-of-control [possibly] brown coal fire which is burning.
He installed a completely independent house power system - solar panels, batteries, backup generator, costing about $50,000.
The batteries alone were [from memory] about $20,000. They have, if he is lucky, a ten year life. the rest of the system is probably depreciable over 20 years. In other words, there is a depreciation cost of $3,500 pa for his home power. Presumably there will be some maintenance costs and fuel for the backup generator.
In other words, his electrical power supply from "free" sunlight is going to cost upwards of $4,000 pa. Not wonderful.
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Post by sigurdur on Mar 3, 2014 19:58:56 GMT
If that is just for a home.......that would be realllllllly high.
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