[mdlug] Router - now power.

[Allen Majorovic]

--- On Sun, 11/8/09, Garry Stahl <tesral at wowway.com> wrote:

From: Garry Stahl <tesral at wowway.com>
Subject: Re: [mdlug] Router - now power.
To: "MDLUG's Main discussion list" <mdlug at mdlug.org>
Date: Sunday, November 8, 2009, 11:40 AM

The number I've heard is about the area of Arizona,  Usually because
said location has lots of sun.

Whatever the area actually might be it's pretty stupendous and it's treated with airy indifference by the proponents of solar power. 

Also, when that sort of information is included in some puff piece about the wonders of solar power there's never anything about the considerations that go into the number. 

My calculation was based on simply equaling the instantaneous base load capacity of the U.S. using the rated capacity of commercially available solar cells, i.e. if there's a bazillion watts of base load capacity what's the area of solar cells, at their rated capacity, necessary to generate a bazillion watts, not watt/hours?

Solar isn't dense enough and has that only useful in daylight problem. 
Wind isn't dense enough is is only useful when the wind blows.

Environmental systems if you will, I like the look of river power. 
Putting turbines in the water, not the air.  The main advantages being
that water being denser than air carries more recoverable power in its
movement, and rivers flow 24/7, unlike the wind.  It is never going to
produce all the power required, but it could take some of the load off
the fossil fuel grid.

For example, the Detroit River.  Heavy current, high flow and most of
the river is not "in the channel" used by ships.  How much hydro power
could be recovered?

Dunno. But I do know there's a pretty effective method to discriminate between good ideas and bad and that's whether the proponents are willing to put their money where their mouth is and convince enough people of the soundness of their idea to get those people to put their money on the line as well. The proponents of solar power don't so much eschew that course as it simply isn't open to them the technology being both immature and, even when it matures, of dubious utility. 

Maybe covering Arizona, or North and South Carolina, with a solar-cell drop-ceiling seems like a perfectly reasonable idea when you live in Michigan but I'd be willing to give odds that the good citizens of Arizona, or North and South Carolina, would view the idea with little enthusiasm.

Allen