4 Jul
Is “Green” energy all hype?
Look how many solar panels are required just to heat a pool. Imagine providing heat and electricity to run ALL household appliances for ALL Americans nationwide?
It takes a 70 foot Ginormous wind turbine just to provide enough power for 1 house.
How much would it cost for all this "green" energy Machinery to be built to provide for the ENTIRE nation!?!?
My solution: let each family provide their own "green" energy, and not tax me to death to provide for my neighbors; olympic swimming pool.
http://www.luxuryhousingtrends.com/solar-swimming-pool-heater.jpg
http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/WCEE/keep/Resources/Photos/Lake%20DuBay/home%20wind%20turbine%20on%20Lake%20DuBay%20(windjue).JPG
"Reality" scientists are still debating weather c02 emissions have anything to do with temperature, so quit with the talking points.
"Quirk" green energy is going backwards. You cant even power a toaster with some of this stuff!
"Mysterious" I work with both combustion and electric motors. Anyone will tell you, combustion is far more efficient in raw power and cost.
An electric engine cannot power a car the same way, and is far more expensive to repair due to the complexity of the internal coiling and bearings.
g, if you read the question, I added my solution in there. And like they say "a picture says a thousand words.."
Willie" NATURAL GAS BACKUP" LOL
Why the backup willie, maybe because GREENIE energy FAILED to power the building!!!
And they "had the panels removed" Lol
You fail
"mnbvc" finally, a good answer. I too thought about deep current turbines, they make sense because of the constant flow. Also, nuclear would be the best viable option.
"g" there is NO oil crisis. It is made up by OPEC to drive up price. OPEC is having tankers dump excess oil into the oceans, because they cant fit all their tankers into the ports!!!
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/12469
"g" if you care so much, why dont YOU pay for a big turbine installation on my lawn, I’ll get you the local permit fee schedule..
Posted by mnbvcxz52773 on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
I would not call it hype, but it won’t be anything serious without development.
Wind is pretty reliable in only parts of the country. Where I am from, one small wind-turbine will power a house through the spring and cut an electric bill by +50% the rest of the year.
You are right on solar, it costs more to have the system then the payoff you get in savings.
What is really looking promising is using ocean currents. Basically an oil rig with a turbine deep in the ocean. These could power the entire country. Here come the hypocrisy though…. windmills kill birds and turbines could kill fish.
The funny thing about the green movement is how current energy is bad about everything, but "green energy" is still just as bad.
Nuclear is still the best and is green, but the greenies don’t like that either.
Basically, green energy can take an edge off fossil fuels (such as wind in my area) but some type of generated energy is still needed. Nuclear would be the best.
Posted by Hannah on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
yes
Posted by Phil McCracken on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
no, the technology has just been suppressed by the oil industry for so long….it will take decades for it to be feasable
Posted by jordan1223334 on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
it also means developing fuel efficient cars…i think thats the most important part
Posted by Reality has a Liberal Bias on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
When we properly price coal-fired power for all the greenhouse gases it creates, green energy will be more than competitive.
Posted by Rebecca1023 on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
Especially when China and India have both said that they will do nothing to slow down greenhouse gasses.They want growth. Obama is about to put the U.S back into the stone age.
Posted by Bobbi on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
There is ALOT of hype and hoaxes out there. CFLs light bulbs are made in China, in a plant mainly employing woman of child-bearing age with little to no training on handling mercury. The plant is powered by *OMG* a coal-fired plant. Then it is shipped on leaky polluting tankers across the ocean. Add to the fact that Wal-Mart and GE packs them in plastic eggshells that will fill landfillls. How green is that !! You can go green, and solve some energy problems with creative use. Popular Science has a ton of green ideas throughout their magazine. Some you will never hear of anywhere else, since it is ususally some small mom-n-pop- operation that wil get stepped on by a big corporate giant (such as GE, who stand to benefit by millions by cap and trade).
Posted by Mysterious Racer P on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
No. It’s a new set of technologies. A hundred-something years ago a lot of people didn’t think that newfangled steam engines would be any match for horses. Then, they thought that the newfangled internal combustion engines would be no match for steam power. And so on, and so forth…
I don’t think that the technologies are ready for mass use at this point but that’s how things work: research leads to new research. I think it’s a shame that there are so many people out there who seem to think that working on new technologies are a waste.
EDIT: oh, no, I agree with you. There’s a reason that I am not considering trading in my combustion-engined sports car for a Tesla or some other electric vehicle. You just completely and totally evaded the point that I was making, which is that these are NEW technologies. Early versions of any new technology are inefficient and clunky from the onset. That is what research and development is all about, and that’s one of the things that America has excelled at for quite some time… now we’re slipping, though, thanks to GOP emphasis on the status quo and rejection of the new.
Posted by Rhinestone Cowboy on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
Sure it is… It’s just a way for Al Gore to make money.
Posted by ☼ⓩⓐⓘ☼ on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
i wouldn’t call it hype
i just think think it needs to be worked with more in order for it to become less expensive, etc.
Posted by g on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
do you have anything besides pretty pictures to back up your point?
but beyond all that… what’s your big idea to solve the problem?
EDIT: I will also bet you (basically whatever amount of money you want to bet) that about 5 years after we start running out of global oil reserves… there will be a "technology explosion" by EXXON and other oil companies in green energy… as they release all the patents for efficient green energy they’ve bought up over the past 50 years…
EDIT2: if that’s a "solution" then you clearly don’t care about anyone but yourself… I hope people treat your kids the way you want to treat everyone else’s kids…
Posted by old_quilt on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
Yes it is, and the people that will make millions off of us are mostly sitting in Washington DC, many of the congress are heavily invested in these companies ! It is all about making them rich ! along with controlling the rest of us !
Posted by dude. on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
No it isn’t, with proper design you can build an average size American home that will provide not only all it’s own power but a little extra to put into the grid, and a little cash for the homeowner. This can be done without any sacrifice to a 21st century techno world lifestyle.
And the panel for the pool is not a solar panel for electricity, it’s one for heating water, like a solar water heater.
Posted by mikey on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
As soon as the Greenies learn and then admit that nuclear energy is the greenest of the green energies we will be able to make progress.
Posted by Willie Nelson on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
Wrong Cowboy.
In the 1970’s, obviously with 1970’s technology, the feds converted a story office building in Kansas to solar with natural gas backup.
The building is appox. 3000 sq. feet and the average utility bill was $30.00 per month. And with 1970’s technology which is primitive by today’s standards.
Raygun had the panels removed and the building put back to natural gas and electricity.
You obviously have not done your homework on solar power or you have some axe to grind. You might consider not letting your politics blind you to the truth.
Better still. Why don’t you provide us with your motives for the deception you at temp. Are you a large stock holder in conventional power plants? Are you a republican operative? Was your mother frightened by a windmill while you were in the womb? Do you make stuff up for the fun of it?
Please Dear Sir, do share this with us.
Posted by Matt D on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
Yes.
Its just a way to sieze more taxes, revenues, create new bureaus and offices, and empower and employ government. It would stimulate government and environmentalists more than it ever would the electric grid.
Its also worth noting that even environmentalists oppose many green energies. They dont like wind turbins because they kill wildlife and clutter the landscape. They dont like hydroelectric because they claim it hurts fish. So the whole notion of "green" energy is self-refuting. If it were a great idea, businesses wouldve cranked them out string cheese and there would be one on every roof but the facts are it just isnt viable technology considering our energy needs.
Posted by The Professor on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
Pools that are solar heated don’t use solar panels, they are naturally heated by the sun, which means they are cold when it is cold out and warm up when the sun is out. They are mainly for summer use, depending on the climate of your state. Any money we put into green energy is to benefit everyone, not just an individual solar panel on your neighbor’s house, and as I mentioned before, it would not be used to heat the pool. And solar panels are not the only way to do this. Just having lighter colored roofs makes homes more energy efficient. The US uses natural resources as if they are unlimited. They aren’t. My town recently had a water shortage, now we have to harvest rain water and be very careful how we use what we have. Any investment we put into green energy is an investment in the future, and frankly I don’t care about the costs, I want to know that when I die there is enough water and fuel for the next generation.
Posted by TREMBLE IN FEAR CONS on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
I HAVE SOLAR PANELS ON MY ROOF
I PAY NOTHING FOR MY PG&E IN FACT I GET A CHECK FROM THEM FOR THE ENERGY I DONT USE
Posted by James Birch on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
Yes. It is slowly being developed into being more efficient, but until then I am fine with our energy now (except foreign oil). They are making much more powerful solar panels.
Posted by Levon the Man on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
If we kept the politics out of it and had a long term plan we could use some alternative energy but putting the nation on some insane crash course in the middle of a depression is just plain stupid!
One idea I do like is Picken’s plan to convert most of the nations tractor trailer rigs over to natural gas (which we have plenty of and it burns a lot cleaner). I don’t like the idea of government control though. Maybe a tax break would help to push this along. Like I said though you can’t do any of this over night.
Green energy doesn’t have to be all hype but it sure has been lately. Slow down and think. Do what makes sense and don’t do what doesn’t make sense right?
Posted by TomT on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
Mostly, yes. I looked into making my own home "green." It would cost approx. $90.000. for installation of a sufficient number of solar panels to provide my home with "green energy." At my present rate of energy consumption a solar system would pay for itself in about thirty years. Oh, and did I mention the expense of maintenance and upkeep? Add another approx. $1,500 per year avg. and that adds an additional $45,000 and several more years over that initial thirty year period. …and God forbid that we have a major hailstorm because all bets are off. Green energy may be fun for some to consider, but it’s really a plan for drastically higher taxes and more government programs.
Posted by Gerald on 04.07.09 at 12:14 pm
Absolutely. A report from the Bilderberg conference last month indicates that since the H1N1 flu didn’t cause enough panic for the WHO to set up massive controls worldwide, they were going back to ‘climate change’ in order to implement global restrictions and controls. All part of the NWO plan with absolutely no scientific proof.