For those of you unsure who to vote for...

[Rex Kickass]

Except in some other countries, there is energy independence. Fully half of the car fuel sold in Brazil is refined Sugar Cane. Which is not only much cheaper than regular gas, but much less polluting than corn based ethanol as well.

[mr_genius]

For solar, the big use won't be giant fields of panels - it will be distributed use. People will put them on their homes, which will give them some, most or all their energy needs.

 

Thats a good option. Solar panels are still fairly expensive, but if they were made a tax deduction that could help things along. Hopefully solar panels could be shown to be an economically sound investment and environmentally responsible.

[NorthSideSox72]

Thats a good option. Solar panels are still fairly expensive, but if they were made a tax deduction that could help things along. Hopefully solar panels could be shown to be an economically sound investment and environmentally responsible.

Even without the tax break, they work pretty well now. I get a magazine devoted to, essentially, living more environmentally friendly. I can't tell you how many articles in there talk about people who just put a handful of solar panels on their roof, and that was enough for them to be off the grid 80%+ of the time. And in places where they do a net-plus energy system (where the extra energy your panels generate can go back into the grid for a credit), people can easily break even in some climates.

 

Now, your home, climate, tree cover, how many cells, types of cells, power use levels, size of home, etc. will all dictate variable results. But the point is, even at current levels of technology, solar panels can be very effective. The only open issue is, are the prices of the cells down far enough, and electricity prices high enough, to create a reasonable payback period for the cost. I haven't done the math on that one yet (I live in a condo), but when I buy a house, you can bet your ass I will be looking into it.

 

[kapkomet]

My father-in-law has a chemical engineeing background and has picked up a wealth of information over the years. We sat down when looking into a radiant barrier roof, and he calced what that would save me in electricity costs and basically figured out that it wasn't worth the foil it takes to make that stuff.

 

Having said this, we ought to sit down sometime and go over the solar stuff. I wonder what all that costs? I'll have to do some searching.

[Balta1701]

The other question in terms of solar panels, etc., to consider is going to be whether or not at any point we actually in this country start dealing with CO2 the way we deal with other wastes; as a commodity and not something that can be freely emitted to the atmosphere. As long as we can consider that we're absorbing 0 cost by heating our homes with fossil fuels and letting the CO2 out, then fossil fuels should stay cheaper than alternative options. If you start factoring in a cost/ton of CO2 released, then you rapidly get a different answer.

[mr_genius]

Even without the tax break, they work pretty well now.

 

I don't see very many solar panels. I'm sure there people are using them and they work, but to make a big dent there needs to be massive amounts of people using them. Giving some more incentives could rapidly increase the number of people generating energy with solar power. So what else should we spend those tax dollars on? Energy independence and decreases in harmful emissions are important IMO, would be well worth the money.

[NorthSideSox72]

I don't see very many solar panels. I'm sure there people are using them and they work, but to make a big dent there needs to be massive amounts of people using them. Giving some more incentives could rapidly increase the number of people generating energy with solar power. So what else should we spend those tax dollars on? Energy independence and decreases in harmful emissions are important IMO, would be well worth the money.

Absolutely right. Use is still low, and incentives are a good idea. But what is low? I don't have the articles in front of me, but the increase in use of solar panels for homes is quite large as a percentage. Its just that its starting from almost nothing.

 

[kapkomet]

Has anyone here seriously looked into this as an option for energy use?

[Balta1701]

Has anyone here seriously looked into this as an option for energy use?

In terms of supplying the world's current energy needs, there is actually well more than enough sunlight hitting the earth at any given time, and in fact more than enough sunlight bouncing back out to satisfy every scrap of energy we want, and probably 2-3 orders of magnitude worth of room for growth in consumption before we start genuinely running out of sunlight. There are people out there trying to develop systems using solar that could literally power the earth on the space that the deserts in Nevada take up.

 

The issue is always how to get that sunlight and turn it into a form of energy that we can make use of, and that's a materials question or a monetary question or an engineering question. The energy to power this race is out there, from the sun and from the winds and other renewables...we just have to figure out how to convert it.

[NorthSideSox72]

In terms of supplying the world's current energy needs, there is actually well more than enough sunlight hitting the earth at any given time, and in fact more than enough sunlight bouncing back out to satisfy every scrap of energy we want, and probably 2-3 orders of magnitude worth of room for growth in consumption before we start genuinely running out of sunlight. There are people out there trying to develop systems using solar that could literally power the earth on the space that the deserts in Nevada take up.

 

The issue is always how to get that sunlight and turn it into a form of energy that we can make use of, and that's a materials question or a monetary question or an engineering question. The energy to power this race is out there, from the sun and from the winds and other renewables...we just have to figure out how to convert it.

And the conversion rates of panels get better as time goes on. Its better now than it was. And I'd bet it will be better in 5 years than it is now.