Only 100 square miles of solar panels are required to power the entire United States

a reply to: nOraKat

One sobering point: a nuclear winter....

Even volcanic action....both would put dirt in the Earth's atmosphere for years and years to come...zero if any sunlight, crops then animals finally people die....

Solar is great if you have sunlight, and got enough stored energy for years to come...until the panel and batt/generators runnout

a reply to: conspiracytheoristIAM

Why not just build an island? put em up there, I talked to the orcas they don't mind

I stopped reading when I saw it was that shyster Musk.

Or we convert our nuclear power plants to run on Thorium, and divert all this money towards fusion power r&d.

Why Texas? I say right over Manhattan would be ideal, let those hippies enjoy the fallout. And what a way to clump together our energy grid. A water ballon launcher filled with paint balloons could shut down entire states, or a jackass with cleates takes a jog on top.
Why not in LE orbit? Is that space elevator going yet? Let’s start there.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Have to admit I cringed a bit when I read Musk.

originally posted by: MarlbBlack
a reply to: conspiracytheoristIAM

Why not just build an island? put em up there, I talked to the orcas they don't mind

IMO, It's not about where, or is there room.

It's simply not feasible from a return vs investment standpoint.

Many people cite the European model for solar power usage.

The flaw in that line of thought is that, because of taxation, they are paying triple, or more, what we are for energy to begin with.

You want to see an economy crash, with huge inflation? Raise the cost to the US consumer just 50%.

a reply to: MarlbBlack


If this scam doesn't work maybe he can power the United States with his pedophile submarine.

Friggin clown ass clown that he is.

a reply to: Mach2

In my opinion with wages going up to 15 dollars an hour, inflation will go up just with it.

a reply to: nOraKat

What is the carbon "footprint" for the mining to manufactured cost of 100 sq miles of solar panels every 10 years. I would almost bet it is roughly the same as oil use. Also, where do you store the energy when it's dark, in 100 cubic miles of batteries? I don't think a lot of critical thinking went into this plan lol

Cheers - Dave

One of the main materials used in solar panels is silver. 10,000 square miles is a lot of silver. World silver reserves are far short of what it would take for the whole project. It would be the biggest boon the silver miners have ever had in history. Not so good for the environment though.

Not to mention would also become the most coveted target for terrorists. The whole idea is not practical in the real world with today's current tech.

originally posted by: MarlbBlack
a reply to: Mach2

In my opinion with wages going up to 15 dollars an hour, inflation will go up just with it.

I'm not sure how that relates to the subject at hand, unless you think you are taking the position that inflation exists, so what difference does a little more make, but carry on.

a reply to: LABTECH767

I’ve never understood why sterling engines aren’t commonly used all over the place. They run off temperature differentials between the parts and that should be fairly easy to achieve with minimal effort. Possibly the most environmentally friendly method of generating energy there is if say they were connected to a geothermal source. What are your thoughts on these?

I run two solar systems on 2 separate parts of our property. They power security cameras and 900mhz links to our main house. I was a novice at solar when I started, and have had to increase my battery storage now 4 times to finally get enough battery power to run the remote gear when you have days of snow/rain/no sun conditions. These are basically 12vdc systems. Total load is a continuous 2.5 amps for everything running at the remote end. Total investment for each remote end was $520 per location. This is to run a small switch, 2 cameras, and a 900mhz link. That's all.

I had to install a 960CCA marine battery (deep cycle) that weighs in at like 90 pounds. That battery will power that 2.5 amps for 3 days straight with no sun. That's it.

In order to store enough power to supply the entire united states, you are going to need MILLIONS of deep cycle batteries, and I can't even fathom how you would calculate how many are required.

Besides, these batteries will have a 3-5 year life span, and then there is the entire recycling part for each of them.

I seriously doubt that coulld ever happen.

Fusion. That's the future of power generation.

Fred..

Solar panels should be white for purposes of reflectivity.

Clearly something that isn't often discussed with solar energy is the color of the panels. Manufactured in the common black causes an increase in Earth's surface area temperatures, which actually contributes to global warming.

Once we switch the solar panels to white, or blanket the paneling set ups with a reflective blanket system that will still allow for energy transmission humans will be able to both collect the needed energy while contributing to global cooling at the same time.

It's not all about the size of the prize... it's more about the the color of the cover that's important to factor in here.

a reply to: surfer_soul

That is a great point, the easiest way to tap into geothermal energy is to create just such a closed loop system, perhaps bore down and somehow make the bore impermeable so as to prevent loss of fluid and keep it a closed system, then pump fluid down were it would turn to steam, allow the steam to rise up through a one way valve system to drive a turbine, cool the steam and then using it's own weight allow it to pour back down using another one way valve system so as to keep it cycling in and out in the correct direction.

Thermocouples also deserve a mention though you have to get past the old inductive capacitance problem so thermocouples are not that efficient and have a maximum length you can create them - but make an array of them at that optimal length, convert the energy produced to AC and then send it were you need it, you could layer multiple thermocouples this way as well.
In the past thermocouples were seen as merely an oddity since they are not very efficient BUT they are silent, produce no emission's other than the EMF in the thermocouple itself - though you would have to convert that to AC and that does produce EM disturbances and they do not produce chemical pollution so are actually a great passive power source for harvesting areas were the temperature over there short (optimal) length is great enough to use them to produce a fair amount of electrical current.
Due to there length having to be optimal it is easy also to see that while thermocouple's based generating plant's would still be intriguing there use would remain niche at best, so actually your sterling point remain's the best overall.

originally posted by: fredrodgers1960
I run two solar systems on 2 separate parts of our property. They power security cameras and 900mhz links to our main house. I was a novice at solar when I started, and have had to increase my battery storage now 4 times to finally get enough battery power to run the remote gear when you have days of snow/rain/no sun conditions. These are basically 12vdc systems. Total load is a continuous 2.5 amps for everything running at the remote end. Total investment for each remote end was $520 per location. This is to run a small switch, 2 cameras, and a 900mhz link. That's all.

I had to install a 960CCA marine battery (deep cycle) that weighs in at like 90 pounds. That battery will power that 2.5 amps for 3 days straight with no sun. That's it.

In order to store enough power to supply the entire united states, you are going to need MILLIONS of deep cycle batteries, and I can't even fathom how you would calculate how many are required.

Besides, these batteries will have a 3-5 year life span, and then there is the entire recycling part for each of them.

I seriously doubt that coulld ever happen.

Fusion. That's the future of power generation.

Fred..

Next time you need batteries, check out the Trojan 6v. There are specifically designed for solar use, and with maintenance, will last easily in excess of 10 years.

originally posted by: ttobban
Solar panels should be white for purposes of reflectivity.

Clearly something that isn't often discussed with solar energy is the color of the panels. Manufactured in the common black causes an increase in Earth's surface area temperatures, which actually contributes to global warming.

Once we switch the solar panels to white, or blanket the paneling set ups with a reflective blanket system that will still allow for energy transmission humans will be able to both collect the needed energy while contributing to global cooling at the same time.

It's not all about the size of the prize... it's more about the the color of the cover that's important to factor in here.

That is nonsense, when you are talking about a global system.

The energy coming from the sun is what heats the global system depends on. That energy is what it is. Aside from cloud cover, which is relatively high above the earths surface, reflecting energy away, or trapping heat in, there is nothing to affect the total energy earth receives. What color your panels, or roof for that matter, is merely a very local effect.

There is a reason it isn't often discussed. The reason is it's irrelevant.

Edit to add link on why panels are blue.

news.energysage.com...
editby]edit on 3312019 by Mach2 because: Add