What is Digg?83 Comments
- AFelsinger, on 11/04/2008, -0/+39Nice! Now we just need a few of these in every Southern state in the US...
- inactive, on 11/04/2008, -3/+26While America spreads its "democracy" in iraq for oil, Spain will lead by example by creating energy MAKERs not TAKERs.
Harness free energy. Go solar. Buy electric cars. No more trips to the gas station. No more power bills. Make the investment. I can't figure out how to put that all in one sentence nor do I care to. - mhamill, on 11/04/2008, -0/+21wow. great news!
- naturalpapa, on 11/04/2008, -0/+1740,000 homes, 10 MW - that's a lotta juice... Right on...
- mattsilv, on 11/04/2008, -0/+16count me in.
- Maurik, on 11/04/2008, -0/+13That's only $2575 per house!! That's really great value, and I guess the maintenance wouldn't be nearly as costly as for traditional power plants.
- hello3u, on 11/04/2008, -0/+8"I can't figure out how to put that all in one sentence nor do I care to."
Go Green. - TheCooler72, on 11/04/2008, -0/+8Page loading...
"Please be in the US. Please be in the US."
"Spain? Mother---!!!" - jboitnott, on 11/04/2008, -0/+6Every "little" bit adds up.
- NJank, on 11/04/2008, -1/+6that's about 4-5x the cost per kW of a nuclear plant (~2to3 $/W, using A LOT more land.) Also, let's not ignore the upfront carbon footprint. Operating costs will not include supply, but will not be zero. Maintenance costs would be an interesting thing to know.
I'm not saying this isn't good or it won't work or it isn't viable. Just saying this is a press release. It is not a good scientific or economic analysis of impact or payback. There's a lot more information to complete the picture. Historical perspective would really show how much headway has been made, but also show how big the hurdle is. Right now everyone could switch to wonderful green energy if they're willing to pay 5-10x what they currently pay for energy (total end-to-end costs included). Knowledge of the whole picture is necessary to shorten the "long poles in the tent" and make these things widely viable. - JazminMillion, on 11/04/2008, -0/+4Now that there is a new Coating that helps solar panels soak up more of the sun we could all have a SOLAR panel about the size of a freebie on the roof of our houses and forget the word ENERGY CRISIS once and for all right???
I wonder how long this will take?
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idU ... - Lionhart, on 11/04/2008, -0/+4Still too expensive.
I'm currently a graduate research student in solar energy at UCF and we're working on a cool technique to gather all the energy of a large solar panel into a single 4cm square photovoltaic.
The cost of silicon is the limiter in terms of price so if we're successful we could revolutionize solar power as we know it. - EricAnderton, on 11/04/2008, -0/+4103M / 40K = about $2700 a house. That's a *huge* savings over one solar system per house. We should be building these everywhere.
- bigbangbuddha, on 11/04/2008, -0/+4It is obviously a much higher investment cost for just 40,000 homes, but here is a few simple points of what solar provides over nuclear:
a) No radioactive or toxic hazardous waste
b) Completely renewable
c) More easily expandable ( without building a new plant. )
d) Lower tech upkeep (no danger of meltdowns)
But, cloudy days means less power available, although on the bright side there would be less need for AC. In Spain more people would be outdoors on overcast days and thus using less power. Remember summer in Spain can top 45c easily, no one goes outside (except stupid tourists like me). I think this solution makes a lot of sense for countries in this climate, maybe Italy and Morocco will be next. - gerrylazlo, on 11/04/2008, -0/+3First off, my calculations are this would take roughly 25-30 years to break even, not counting any maintenance expenses, which I'm sure would be something. Secondly, 40,000 houses? That's only 250 Watts per house. That's not much.
- Murraym33, on 11/04/2008, -0/+3Its about time more of these solar sites popped up.
We have enough re-newable energy to survive for thousands of years, there is enough Geothermal energy alone to run the world for 4000 years. If they converted 2 of the States in the US into wind farms they could power the entire Country.
http://www.thevenusproject.com/ - Rockkybox, on 11/04/2008, -0/+3Its a bit like upgrading your computer, i would be worried about investing in solar just because the next breakthrough may render all existing panels obsolete
- gerrylazlo, on 11/04/2008, -0/+2Your average nuclear plant costs 3 times as much and generates roughly 100 times as much energy. I'd love to go all solar, but it's not terribly great financially yet.
- priegog, on 11/04/2008, -0/+2Go Spain! (currently in Bilbao)
- DavidG85, on 11/04/2008, -0/+2I've been living in Spain for 23 years and can't remember a single day reaching 45ºC... For some accurate information, go to www.weatherbase.com, for example ;) Anyway, there are several different climates in Spain... Putting a solar plant in Galicia would be as stupid as installing an outdoor ice skating park in Seville.
- fantasticjon, on 11/04/2008, -0/+2Good points, but nuclear power is a finite resource, just like coal, oil, and natural gas. We need to push the envelope on all sources of power.
- Eyaluth, on 11/04/2008, -0/+2CPV do not work like normal solar panels and can not be used on the top of your house.
- benologist, on 11/04/2008, -0/+2I'm pretty sure you'll still get power bills if your electric co goes green....
- fuzzlepop, on 11/04/2008, -0/+2Go Spain! (currently in Murcia)
- Murraym33, on 11/04/2008, -0/+2Money shouldn't matter. We're at a stage where we are technologically advanced enough to no longer need money and be able to sustain life. Money is just debt, and the fact that we cant have as many renewable power plants around the world because of money is a joke. Life was never supposed to involve monetarism.
- wtfhaxorx, on 11/04/2008, -0/+2So that is why sun rays aren't coming here, sun rays thieves lol
- inactive, on 11/04/2008, -0/+2How long will all these solar panels take to pay for themselves though?
- MazdaEric, on 11/04/2008, -0/+2this, in combination with the large hadron collider, will destroy the universe!!!!
- WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1Funny! Thanks
But...http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/03/ ...
And it is already built! - WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1Not a very progressive graduate program...
http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/03/ ...
There are many ways to skin a cat... - WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1I think that's funny, but someone dinged you... Sarah?
- WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/03/ ...
Don't forget about Nevada. - WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1So many naysayers, no wonder we are lagging technologically.
Why such negativity when we are all aware of the power of life coming from our sun. Hell, we've worshiped the thing since the 'Stone Age', or at least the gods it's embodied since antiquity -- many still do.
Without it we would all quickly perish, with it we should be able to continue to thrive indefinitely, unless of course we try and burn every ***** thing on the planet to get to Seven Eleven for a lottery ticket and a pack of cigarettes.
Realistically, in the not too distant future, solar produced power of various types will run our systems and we will all be better off for it.
It will be affordable and plentiful and it will be cleaner than the alternatives -- face these facts.
Now is the time for discovery and development and this period is crucial to a successful transition from carbon based energy.
Pissing and moaning over all the small details won't help anything, only reinforce the negativity and resistance.
Remember, there are some very intelligent and extremely qualified scientific minds out there, far out in front of you -- don't pretend you can out think them. - WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1If they produce electricity, why would they be obsolete?
Not stylish enough or fast enough -- if they work, they work!
My present computer is now faster than I am, and I cproduce some pretty heavily rendered graphics -- use to take days, now my Adobe screams.
I am at my acme, and I don't have to upgrade anymore (don't own a Mac so it won't quit when the clock ticks obsolescence).
Get on board, because the solar scene is here -- stay on top of the technology and support the development or buy yourself a gas-powered generator to run your digitizer. - WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1WTF?
SteelChicken, you is one goony people. - WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1So, what are you saying -- without going to either resource -- what do you mean?
- WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1TBP is a gas man, still a fossil fuel giant.
The wind farm was a no-brainer -- give him that -- but sucking up the precious waters from the Ogallala Aquifer for domestic water for Texans, at a time when this resource is already depleted (the Ogallala Aquifer supplies the entirety of the Midwest's water for both domestic and agricultural needs) is another one Texas doesn't need to exploit.
No environmentalist this guy.
He's in it for himself, just found new resources to rape -- won't touch solar cause there ain't no profit in it and his time is limited on the planet he continues to suck dry.
Go ahead and defend the dude, but do more research, cut through the BS and find out who Pickens really is -- a true American profiteer. - WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/03/ ...
- WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1And... the future is nearer than you think!
http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/03/ ... - WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1When is the 'right' time?
The sooner you begin the faster present technology leap frogs towards perfection.
"Future tech", as you call it is just that, it's the result we get from developing 'now' tech.
Advances in technology are simply improvements of outdated and stalled technology.
A good idea slowly evolves into a brilliant new strategy and so on and so on and so on...
You get nowhere by waiting, you simply push "future tech" further down the road, and the road just gets longer. - heffeque, on 11/05/2008, -0/+1But are not produced from renewable energy.
- mstrebe, on 11/05/2008, -0/+1Make the investment to harness free energy, go solar, and buy electric cars to stop making trips to the gas station and paying power bills.
Google "The Elements of Style" and "Grammar for complete idiots". Actually just the last one--it uses large type and easy words. - WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1Nevada! Nevada! Nevada!
http://www.solarliving.org/
http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/03/ ...
Weather and solar days are next to ideal and nobody lives there -- our next electricity farm -- just take s the right mindset and holding back those oil boys! - Nudar, on 11/05/2008, -0/+1Tell me you aren't serious please.
- bigbangbuddha, on 11/05/2008, -0/+1Either way, freaking hot! But, btw, best city in Southern Europe as far as I'm concerned! Would love to live there some day.
- DavidG85, on 11/05/2008, -0/+1I bet your thermometer was broken, or in contact with an object being heated by the Sun (the interior of your car, for example), and that's cheating :P. You probably mean that the temperature was above 30ºC (86ºF) during the day, and that's already an extremely hot temperature, even for Madrid, the city where I live. If you go to Weatherbase, you'll see that 40ºC (104ºF) is the highest temperature EVER recorded in Madrid, so I don't think you had the oportunity to "enjoy" a higher one during your trip.
I understand what you mean, mine was just a meteorological clarification ;) - WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1Well, it easy to see that you ain't no visionary and your math fails to reflect the critical issue of renewable, green resourcing. Do the research and see how effectively this nuclear nation stores its waste and just how fail safe nuclear energy truly is, for the long term -- present day reactors are unstable, unreliable, pollute the waters they require for cooling and are a major storage and storage delivery problem.
Solar energy does not have a half life, is absolutely renewable, available and reliable.
The systems that will eventually collect the energy and convert it into usable electricity will shrink in scale and cost as soon as we divest from oil and invest in reality.
http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/03/ ... - Nudar, on 11/05/2008, -0/+1Are you kidding me? California has a 7 billion dollar budget shortfall and Arnold wants to borrow another 15 billion and we're supposed to afford prop 10 which essentially just puts money in the pocket of T Boone Pickens. Let the market decide for itself what the future of energy is.
- bigbangbuddha, on 11/05/2008, -0/+1I was in Spain and Italy two summers ago for just 3 weeks, but most of the time it was above 40 during the day ( mostly in Madrid). But no, I don't claim to be an expert on Iberian climatology, Ill give that to you and the Spanish power ministries. My point was that Spain like other southern climates make much more sense for a system like this than say in the north, like Canada, where I am now. Here we get about a month of summer and 6 months of rain,snow, and general overcast. For us its all about hydro and coal (unfortunately).
- WalkAroundMe, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1A caveat... he is only into wind power because the technology is currently at a stage where it is profitable -- there are wind farms in nearly every state and construction is booming. Investment, yes, risky, hell no -- everybody is doing it, he's just making money.
http://www.awea.org/projects/ -
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