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| Home Front: Politix |
| Solyndra, the gift that just keeps on giving. |
| 2011-09-13 |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #11 Centralized power systems are also targets and some tech doesn't scale well. I've driven past the windfarm on the way to Tahoe and seen two turbines turning out of dozens. If it was one turbine powering Apples campus (or intel) you could be sure it would be running. |
| Posted by: Rjschwarz 2011-09-13 18:27 |
| #10 The thing about alternative power is we need to stop thinking about centralized power and one solution fits all pie-in-the-sky ideas. Centralized power systems are more efficient (even w/ distribution losses)and cheaper. Think how much it costs to wire a house for solar, even w/o the cells themselves. Then multiply by 100 million. Centralized power systems also have maintenance crews to keep it working at peak efficiency and maintained for a long life, not to mention the logistical burden of 100 million power generation points. |
| Posted by: Eohippus Phater7165 2011-09-13 16:07 |
| #9 airandee, while I don't disagree at all that would still be preferable to having big targets out there for our enemies to aim at and the issues with blackouts and the looting that occasionally occurs with them would go away (yeah, so would looser gun control laws but that's another issue). |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2011-09-13 15:17 |
| #8 http://www.transcanada.com/keystone.html Keystone XL Pipeline for our needs. Canada is or will be able to supply our oil needs at around 44%. What they didn't tell you is about another pipeline to the west for the Asian markets. So if the states little green people get upset they can go to Asia with it. |
| Posted by: Dale 2011-09-13 13:53 |
| #7 I don't see why the surprise---"green" was always a ripoff. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-09-13 12:32 |
| #6 Do you suppose we'll have a few key members of the Solyndra management team committ suicide? I mean there has to be at least one of them shoot himself five times with a single shot .22 to make it a true Democratic scandal. |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2011-09-13 11:24 |
| #5 @rjschwarz - you are making an assumption about the GIvernment wanting to be efficient and effective. They do not want a distributive system because it will relinquish control to regulate and tax. Mark my words: if every home was self sufficient and producing more energy than needed and pushing electricity down the power grid then the GIvernment will tax $/kilowatt produced, instead of consumed. |
| Posted by: airandee 2011-09-13 10:49 |
| #4 "risk of jumping on the wrong tech with both feet" Bingo- rjschwarz that's just what they are about to do HR 1380. |
| Posted by: Dale 2011-09-13 10:38 |
| #3 Cheap solar panels would have been nice in San Diego last week. Make them look like red roof tiles and keep them cheap and somewhat easy to install and you'd have a chance. The thing about alternative power is we need to stop thinking about centralized power and one solution fits all pie-in-the-sky ideas. Wind farms are a joke, but a wind generator or two could easily power a tech campus in silicon valley, taking them off the grid. Could easily power smaller windy cities the way they do in Germany. Solar farms in the desert are stupid but selling solar panels to go on rooftops slowly lessons the strain on the grid. You don't need big government plans and subsidies to do it incrementally and you remove the risk of jumping on the wrong tech with both feet. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2011-09-13 10:21 |
| #2 Looking more like a front day by day. The Chinese now are flooding the markets of the world with solar panels. Cheap, so they would have gone down sooner or later. I'm glad they didn't get more money. They missed the handout. |
| Posted by: Dale 2011-09-13 09:05 |
| #1 He offered a weak, glancing one line reassurance to Congress that the White House could be trusted to be good stewards of the money; "And to make sure the money is properly spent, we're building on reforms we've already put in place. No more earmarks. No more boondoggles." Bush earmarks and Bush boondoggles, right? He wasn't leaving the door open to the possibility there may have been one or more boondoggles in his administration, was he? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2011-09-13 06:23 |