The Solar Energy Racket
American Thinker,
by
Norman Rogers
Original Article
Posted By: DVC,
5/5/2019 3:04:44 PM
If solar energy were not propped up by various government policies and subsidies, no utility would buy it. Not only does solar not work at night, but it does not work if it is cloudy or if a cloud passes in front of the sun. Utility-scale solar requires a large solar farm consisting of photovoltaic panels. For $100 million, one can buy a solar farm capable of generating about 80 megawatts of electric power when the sun is squarely shining on the panels. Depending on the geographical location and the climate, the average power generated will be about 18 megawatts,
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Ida Lou Pino 5/5/2019 3:16:37 PM (No. 78302)
The problem is that half the time - - in any given place - - it´s night.
Well - - ummm - - if we could make the solar panels mobile - - so that they could always be in the sun - - then they´d be very efficient.
But - - how to do that - - how to do that?
Hmmm - - wait - - I´ve got it! Put them on the backs of pickup trucks - - and drive them along I-80 from the east coast to the west coast - - at the same rate as the Earth´s rotation - - and then when they get to the ocean - - put them on a really fast ship - - and - - and - - then do the same thing across Asia and Europe - - and then across the Atlantic.
Rinse the salt water off - - and repeat.
There - - there - - that does it!
45 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
IdahoJoe 5/5/2019 3:27:45 PM (No. 78299)
We could mount the mobile electricity monstrosity on top of the Ocasio-Cortez train!
28 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Shadow722 5/5/2019 3:52:23 PM (No. 78303)
I get a error message when trying to read the article.
Here is a "better" link:
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/05/the_solar_energy_racket.html
41 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
DVC 5/5/2019 4:58:42 PM (No. 78292)
Thank you, #3.
#1, it is way worse than just being off half the time, but that is a huge problem.
19 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 5/5/2019 5:04:57 PM (No. 78289)
How much energy does it take to create ONE solar cell? Until the factories making solar cells can be powered themselves by solar energy, there is no hope.
22 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
mythman 5/5/2019 5:56:04 PM (No. 78301)
One vandal or terrorist could easily disable a big solar farm.
19 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Strike3 5/5/2019 6:01:30 PM (No. 78280)
That´s a beautiful solution, #1. All they have to do is change the speed limit from 70 to a thousand miles per hour on I-80. It would also settle the argument of which brand of pickup truck is best.
If solar energy was destined to work it would have taken off in the 1970s when scientists first discovered that the sun contained energy.
24 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
KTWO 5/5/2019 6:02:22 PM (No. 78282)
#1. my proposal to cover the wings of the Concordes with solar panels never was tried either. It flew fast enough to follow the sun.
After 30 years I can´t remember the objections but they seemed to be technical.
21 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Axeman 5/5/2019 6:54:05 PM (No. 78284)
I remember a figure of about seven years of operation for a PV module to produce the amount of energy it took to manufacture it. There are many ways to store energy on the grid that are not being used anywhere that I know of. Batteries are inefficient. Producing hydrogen may have some promise. Kinetic devices like flywheels are being studied. Solar is still relatively new, like ´40s automobiles compared to today´s. The solar PV farms are monstrosities. Nobody could sanely say they are good for the environment.
16 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
DVC 5/5/2019 7:03:17 PM (No. 78285)
Uh, #1, those pickups will need to be traveling a bit over 1000 mph to match the rotation speed of the earth at the equator. At 40-ish latitude, it would be a bit less, say 850-900 mph, but the fuel costs, and accidents would be a big problem.
Grin. Big grin.
I know you were kidding, and the whole issue is insane.
19 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
John C 5/5/2019 9:54:48 PM (No. 78293)
My public school educated relatives still contend solar is the wave if the future.
Home school the kids!
19 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 5/5/2019 10:35:50 PM (No. 78286)
#11, sure, unless you want lights at NIGHT.
15 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Trigger2 5/6/2019 4:38:29 AM (No. 78295)
It´s the commie way of getting rich off the taxpayer. Cuomo is really good at it. He even subsidized a solar farm in the foothills of the Adirondacks where a clear day is rare and in the winter 14 feet of snow drops.
16 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
udanja99 5/6/2019 8:11:30 AM (No. 78298)
Here’s an example of how efficient solar farms are...
Last year I spent a few days at one of the resorts near Ayers Rock in the desert at the center of Australia. It almost never rains there and the sky was a deep cloudless blue every day with temps around 105. This was in the early spring there - October.
There are huge solar farms there which help to provide power for the resorts. How much power? About 15%. That’s it. In the desert. What a joke.
17 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Wilko 5/6/2019 9:33:07 AM (No. 78279)
I lived off the grid in CA awhile back. A 4x6 solar panel charged the batteries that powered my swamp cooler, satellite tv and internet, washer and dryer and kitchen appliances.
I´m in FL now and thinking about it again....
12 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Franz 5/6/2019 9:34:05 AM (No. 78294)
Now everybody say, "Solyndra."
33 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
fayebeck 5/6/2019 10:04:26 AM (No. 78283)
I´m here to tell all who have or are studying solar energy that any high school drop out could have told you that it is all a scam and hoax. I´d be ashamed to admit believing this crud.
9 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
qr4j 5/6/2019 10:41:03 AM (No. 78296)
I lived in a developing nation only a few degrees off the Equator. We used solar energy to heat water. That worked okay, but our daylight hours were consistent at ~12 hours/day every day of the year. And the use was limited (hot water only). It didn´t do us any good in the middle of the night when the power went off as a result of a nasty Pacific thunderstorm. We didn´t need hot water. We needed ceiling fans that were powered. It was so bloody hot, even in the night.
12 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
gone2pot 5/6/2019 11:11:52 AM (No. 78281)
Well the solution to the man made global warming crisis is to take two gallons of fossil fuel to make one gallon of ethanol and make the taxpayers pay for the inefficiency so that local and federal politicians can get the farm vote. Yeah, you see when it takes 133,000 BTU´s worth of fossil fuels, paid for mostly by you and me, in the manufacturing process to get 77,000 BTU´s of ethanol, that´s a sure environmental boon for both Republicans and Democrats. If we could only subsidize solar to save the planet even more. Oh no wait, we already do that.
4 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
HotRod 5/6/2019 11:19:57 AM (No. 78300)
In most places the vegetation would have to be eliminated and the soil treated to prevent regrowth. Otherwise, continuous maintenance would add significantly to cost. No trees, no shrubs, and no tall grass. About the only wildlife that would exist would be birds and lizards. Cleaning the solar panels would also be a continuous job, to have any kind of efficiency. More expense. Environmentalists that support solar farms are hypocrites!
8 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
bythegates 5/6/2019 11:36:26 AM (No. 78297)
I´ve got new solar panels and sold $250 back to the electric utility over the past 40 days. I´ll probably be buying a little from the utility in August to keep the house nice and cool, but other than that, shaping up pretty nicely.
3 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
fairplay 5/6/2019 1:06:15 PM (No. 78288)
When I was selling my house, somebody came through the neighborhood trying to install solar paneling on roofs and I thought that idea would limit the number of people interesting in buying my house.
4 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
web 5/6/2019 2:05:04 PM (No. 78287)
The Department of Energy was created by the Feds way back in 1979 or so, and they were supposed to develop all this new technology to solve our energy problems. That´s nearly 40 years now, and as usual with Federal programs, they haven´t created any new energy sources. All they can do is supply subsidies for uneconomic energy sources, such as ethanol and solar.
3 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
garyhope 5/6/2019 3:00:14 PM (No. 78291)
Hey,....wait just a second here. What about Moonlight solar? If there are no clouds you´re gold!
And there´s always Flashlight Solar. Get enough neighbors with flashlights together and you´re also gold.
If you´re really stuck and the winds not blowing there´s always candle light solar. Watch out for the hot wax.
Get enough mirrors on the West coast and just shine em East to the solar panels there and you´ve got all day and some night time solar. And then there´s lots of space in Hawaii to install panels and mirrors to shine to the east. Pretty soon, you´ve got 24/7 solar. And it´s real cheap and functional. No problem.
3 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
Trapper 5/6/2019 3:44:59 PM (No. 78290)
Our family has been doing solar forever. In the morning we open the blinds to let the sun shine in and warm the rooms. When the sun goes over the top of the house we close the blinds to provide an insulating layer at the windows to keep the warmth in. We should get a multi-million dollar federal education and environment grant for doing this and sharing it with you.
4 people like this.
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Comments:
I studied solar engineering in graduate school in engineering in the 70s. I was fooled by the 1973/75 "oil shocks" and somewhat believed the "peak oil" lies. I studied all the technology very intensely, seriously considered making a career in the field.
Finally, I realized that it worked, but was hideously uneconomic and always would be. Only viable where no mains power is available. I have a remote cabin with limited solar electricity, otherwise SE is a bad, political joke.