Green Tech Plus Red Tape Yields No Hope

One position on energy that should be popular would be to

a) uncap and dramatically expand energy production from all US sources

b) Create a low, flat, and broad carbon-based BTU tax on energy usage. Make it high enough to spur conservation and investment in non-CO2 alternative energy sources.

c) abolish/zero out ALL other energy subsidies.

Why liberals who believe the government ought to have a major role in solving a vast array of problems–which is to say, most of the people I know–have not adopted the repair of governmental dysfunction as a top priority is astonishing to me. It’s not only a massive intellectual failure, it’s political stupidity on an epic scale.

WRM last sentence ends, “what chance is there that these same bureaucracies will redesign the American energy grid and take us to the low carbon utopia that always seems just out of reach?”

I hope WRM was being sarcastic when he said ‘”just” out of reach’! Solar provides less than 0.1% of our electric power today. Windmills provide less than 2% today. If that’s “just” out of reach, I wonder what really of out reach might be?!

A recent U.K. study claims that the backup natural gas powered electric power plants actually generate more CO2 than they would if they turned off the windmills and just used the gas-fired power generation plants! I wondered how that could be, and the answer (they claimed) was that it was inefficient to turn them off and on, or even vary their output to compensate for the variations in power coming from the windmill farms.

Those are the two primary alternative power sources on which many leftists focus. Nuclear power is a practical alternative, but many on the left refuse to embrace nukes.

For some reason I’m reminded of a bumper-sticker I saw some years ago: “If you like the postal-service then you’ll just *love* socialized medicine.” (Actually, I think that the postal-service does a pretty good job and has for many years).

How about “If you like the federal government’s forays into alternative energy then you’ll just *love* Obamacare.”

Jim: My understanding, which may be faulty, is that while Hoover Dam was authorized by federal legislation, it was planned and built by private contractors with minimal to no federal oversight or intervention. Which would explain a lot.

Ok, OK, that’s what I get for using excel and not watching how it rounds off. Actually that would be 12 little Generacs (not 11.4), so total capital cost = 12*$899= $10,788. Still not rocket science, though. And still not $800,000, apparently already spent and sitting idle for 2 1/2 years.
Sheesh.

All they need is a big switch. When the sun is shining during the day, disconnect from the grid and use their solar panels. When the sun goes down at night, switch off the solar panels and switch over to the commercial electricity.

And in defense of SCE, any electric company has to be grouchy about what I connect to their grid. If they have a crew out working all night to repair a transformer down the street they make sure that part of the grid is de-energized. But when the sun comes up and I switch on my big solar array, and start dumping power back onto the dead part of the grid, I just killed somebody.

“Yosemite officials estimate the system will save $50,000 per year on electricity bills and generate an energy rebate of $700,000 from PG&E over the next five years.””

I just love liberal/green math. The system will generate $50K dollars per year in electricity and cost rate payers $140K per year. Also, how many salaries must be paid in order to keep the plant functioning?

Funny how the $50K in “savings” vanishes when you look just a little deeper.

@DontPlayRockyTop
Apparently that generator isn’t supposed to run over 6.5 kW for extended periods. So 91 kW would take 14 units — $13k.
And it burns 6.6 gallons of gas to generate 3.3 kW for 10 hours. So 5 kW-h/gal.
800,000 kW-h takes 160 kgal, at $3.5/gal, costs $560k.

So each panel seems to be about 6×5, costs about $280 (to install) and produces .8 kwh per day on average. This story actually represents a Great Leap Forward in honest reporting on the subject. Usually the talk is about “installed base” meaning the maximum generating capacity. Usually this is compared to gas/oil/nuke plants against solar/wind indifferently which is what has yielded the inflated predictions about our ability to count on so-called “renewables”. The fueled plants can achieve (and maintain) their capacity as long as fuel comes in. “Renewables” not so much. Solar relies on the sun, meaning night is forgotten in most assessments of solar’s viability. Not here but we have the tracking issue. The gadgetry that turns the panels towards the sun ALSO draws power which we have to subtract from that .8 kwh. Next comes issues of rectification (even worse with wind) that takes the somewhat variable inputs from 2800 panels and turns it into a continuous current configured for transmission. I guess it isn’t long distance transmission since this is an institutional vanity project but still it must be done, and then undone by transformers to run your Mr Coffee. And that is if you want coffee in the afternoon. Otherwise you are drawing from the grid or whatever the REAL power source for your ranger’s hut is. Don’t forget the panels must track the light, subtracting from that .8 kwh and then re-orient over night back to the east, drawing grid power again. Battery or other power storage is as of now not practical, I presume everyone knows. Now we contend with dust, the only sub-optimal aspect of the Death Valley location. Every speck eclipses the panels, reducing the input, and the dust is cumulative. Usually there is a crew that dusts the panels in the night and they, too, like their coffee. Then we have maintenance and replacement of these glass rectangles, of which expense there is no reckoning. Given the givens, which are obvious and inarguable as far as I can tell, I don’t see how this state-of-the-art installation is anything other than a rather uninspired sculpture placed in an inconvenient venue. At continuing public expense, needless to add. Down twinkles on solar. Down, down twinkles.

I shaved my beard for that devil woman.

Too many con artists in conflict over the one bag of gold.

The solution is to recognize that any new installation, adjustments to old installations, or changes in policy of any kind, based on co2 output is a criminal act, whether it is currently legal or not, perpetrated by crooks, whether they are elected or not.

Photvoltaic cells are more effecient at cooler temperatures. 110f is cool in DV. Also, do they take into account the water used to keep the panels clean to maintain efficiency? Water is scarce in the desert. The wind blows alot of dust around out here. It also seems that only the Govt can use any land out here, a desert tortise or wild flower might live there. Did they do their environmental impact study?

“b) Create a low, flat, and broad carbon-based BTU tax on energy usage. Make it high enough to spur conservation and investment in non-CO2 alternative energy sources.”

I would only consider this if it was revenue neutral, so the carbon tax was offset with other tax cuts. Otherwise it is just a good excuse for the leftist to being in more taxes to prop up their excessive spending. Perhaps use this carbon tax to offset a premanent extension of the Bush tax cuts.

does anyone know the current status of this project?? I am currently at battle with SCE to issue proper credit to me for the 33 solar panels I installed at my residence in AUGUST 2011 ….SCE needs to be held accountable for these RIDICULOUS DELAYS