Solar Energy

student loans that they actually think they will be able to pay back in a reasonable amount of time. With the economy in shambles with no reasonable time table for recovery, how can they even find a job to pay back the loans? The U.S. economy hasn’t got a iota of a chance for recovery unless we produce jobs that actually make something, or grow something that we can sell to other countries. The agriculture sector is in dire straits as the cost of fuel , fertilizer, and pesticides increase exponentially every year, wholly because of our dependence on petroleum products to produce and transport our food. That time is fast approaching an end. We need to start thinking locally about our businesses and farming. Globalization is dead since it depends on the availability of petrofuels, especially aviation fuels. It seems that everyone is clamoring to avoid the slower, agrarian lifestyle at all costs, which depends on slower railroads and boats. Don’t we need to revamp our education system so that we produce more farmers, craftsman, and tradesman, rather than people who don’t produce anything tangible? The exception to this question would be the medical community which would require a good education. But, like in Russia, a doctor only has to go to 5 years of medical school without having to attend pre-med which is usually a bachelors degree in some field related or not related to medicine here in the U.S. I feel that we will need to submit to a change in our lifestyle voluntarily, or it will be forced upon us by the reality of our energy situation. Most of the alternative energy projects produce electricity, and at a much lower amount than our coal fired generators. Also, solar power is not a steady source of power since the sun doesn’t shine 24/7/365 in most places and will depend on batteries to back them up. I haven’t seen a battery that could make up for the variations in electricity production caused by the sun not being there all the time. At least not at the rate the U.S. uses electricity. Oil and Gas are a lost cause due to the decline in the availability and pollution factors. Transporting these commodities will be a problem as the cost of fuel increases, along with the potential of spot shortages. Wouldn’t we be better off committing ourselves to the type of education that will help us live the life that we will ultimately end up having to live anyways? The Amish community only requires that their children only attend school for 8 years. I am sure that we will require a little more than that like maybe 12 years of High School with the emphasis on trades, farming, home economics. and physicians assistants which would be what most agrarian communities would require.

Whilst I agree with some of what you say I don’t agree with some of your assumptions.

There are a lot of people already changing the way they live (Browse Permaculture and Transition Towns) they are planning for energy decent. The oil crisis is a crisis of consumption. As oil prices increase, as tar sands become more difficult to process, the price of oil will increase, but so will the incentive for people to work and live in different ways. It will not happen overnight, but if it does then there is still a lot of hope (browse How Cuba Survived Peak Oil) as Cuba showed us in the Special Period.

We will not lose the technology nor skills we already have, products will be redesigned and advances will be made quickly so that less materials and energy are used. Skills are transferable and the problems will be world wide so the world markets will be very competitive in finding solutions.

We won’t be going back to the Stone Age, we will be going forward, with a new way of thinking, a recognition of how foolish we have been in the past and a much greater need for a well educated population. When there are shortages, the price mechanism ensures that people train to fit those gaps and take advantages of higher wages. The rise in green jobs and technologies is rapid. The gap between the richest and poorest societies is shocking. I agree that there will be some adjustments, lets hope our shift in thinking helps to close that rich/poor gap in the process.

Help!!!

Wind power companies like to claim ~35% efficiency with their systems but the best recorded in operation is a maximum of 20%
Solar panels are incredibly inefficient with efficiency ratings of less than 2% of energy emitted adsorbed into energy.
Ambient /Reflective solar energy systems believe it or not are more efficient around 10% in adsorbing energy but the turbines used to turn the energy into electricity are only around 20% efficient so the number is only 2%

The trick with solar is to use the energy collected by the reflectors for heating something to get the efficiency of the heat created. that’s why they make good water heaters.

By the way gas and diesel piston engines are only 20 to 30 % efficiency, Gas turbine engines are around 50% but if used as a co-gen unit where both the engine created energy and heat are utilized their efficiencies go into the 90% level.
It’s part of the reason gas turbine power plants are so comon.

I’m looking for something besides the usual fuel cells, solar collectors, photovoltaic cells, waste-to-energy, hydro-electric, etc. I think I read somewhere about harnessing body heat for energy. Anyone know anything about that or can give me some links on that or on other developing technologies for alternative sources of energy away from gasoline and natural gas?
Wind mills is included in the "etc.".

The ground temperature several feet beneath your home is fairly constant at around 60 degrees Fahrenheit, give or take a few degrees. Circulating water or some other liquid through this region and returning it to your house, delivers to you a source to heat or cool your home to 60 degrees, even if the outside temperature is -10 degrees, or +120 degrees. Now you have solved most of your heating/cooling problems, and all you need is to let the outside air raise the inside temperature from 60 to 74 degrees in the summer, and install a simple secondary heating system (enough to only raise the temperature about 14 degrees) in the winter. Added insulation will even reduce further the need for the winter heat supplement.

I see that Oil stock is not so good, and the oil-petrol is limited. I don’t see anythink to anticipate this…

Solar cars are not currently a practical form of transportation. Although they can operate for limited distances without the sun, the solar cells are generally very fragile and there is only enough room for one or two passengers.

So if an average home roof in North America is covered with solar panels, how much does the shade from the panels reduce the demand for cooling via other methods, i.e. air conditioning? I’m not looking for how much power they generate, but how much power they save strictly from the shade they provide.

Found the site listed in the source. It compares different roofing material and the temperature rise resulting. One could imagine that the solar panels would be smooth. The other source goes on to say cooler roofing material can reduce air conditioning costs 10-20%.

a. heat energy
b.solar energy
c.thermal energy
d. chemical energy
e. nuclear energy

Solar energy.

Without the sun, all life dies.

I am buying a solar system for my house but want to buy the best solar energy equipment for the price. I also want to hire a company that uses state of the art technology and knows what they are doing. I also don’t want to pay double what it may cost. This is why I need an expert.

Sorry, I don’t know your area, and wouldn’t qualify as an expert. I can comment on the area I live in, though. The quality of the work I’ve seen from multiple installers has been uniformly high. I haven’t seen a bad one, yet. I have seen some that are overkill, using higher quality or rating parts than necessary. The only difference seems to be price. The lowest price I’ve seen is $20k for a 4 kW system, BEFORE all rebates and incentives. $25-30k is more typical.

Quotes are usually free, so what you can do is invite everyone you can find to come over to your house and bid. Also, see if they have any references locally – a system they installed that you can go look at. Then go, and ask the homeowner whether that company had any problems. If you end up with bids for all different sizes and kinds of systems, then choose what you want, and ask everyone to bid again, to what you specify.

There are no environmental issues using solar power is there? None at all?

There are some issues, but it is by far the cleanest possible solution. There are potential pollution issues with some of the chemicals used in the manufacturing process for both the solar cells and batteries. Mining for raw materials almost always adversely affects the environment.

There will be less sunlight hitting the plants and animals in the areas that solar cells are deployed. Although if done properly this shouldn’t be an issue.

Solar Energy is the wave of the future and growing.. I’m also looking overseas perhaps Germany? Any advice would be helpful!

Its gotta be Suntech Power! (NYSE:STP) This is a Chinese company that is on track to produce 1GW of solar panels by 2010.

Key strengths:

Low cost of production using Chinese labor
Secured long term polysilicon supply
High tech R&D with collaboration with UNSW solar research
High levels of insider ownership (CEO owned about 30% of company)
Motley Fool Rule Breaker selection

Company expects polysilicon prices to come down after new production come online probably in 2009, especially in China.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/26/tennessee.sludge/index.html

This story says it all.
Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Hydroelectric, Natural Gas, Switchgrass Bio-Fuel, Tidal, Solar Thermal and yes even Oil. None of those are a danger to society like coal is. It IS a disaster to install a coal refinery.
In the future avoid making value judgements in such a rash manner.
Of course every power source no matter what source initially has a waste production.
Wind power and Solar PVC power plants after they are operational have no direct waste production. Coal has a tremendous amount of permanent direct everyday waste production for the entire life of the coal power plant not to mention a tremendous amount of initial waste in building the coal power plant. The amount of waste that comes from building wind and solar PVC plants is not even worth mentioning in comparison with the waste produced from building a coal power plant.
The infrastructure for transporting coal by rail or vehicle is massive. Wind and Solar has very little of that infrastructure need if any
A coal plant is unsightly along with its ash and settling ponds. Its invasive to the land when mountain tops are blown off or ground water is contaminated by waste water. A coal plant uses a tremendous amount of water to produce energy. Wind and Solar PVC uses none. Coal is a failure and needs to end.
Wow
It is like Exxon Valdez
Disgusting
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081230/ap_on_re_us/flooded_neighborhood

It depends on how you define "a danger to society."

While coal is the highest pollutant on the list, oil has the greatest possibility of causing a nuclear conflagration that could cause the annihilation of every living thing on the planet.