Peru's poorest will soon have solar power

reply to post by Druscilla


It's great but do they have the Technology to make use of the Solar Power??

I can see the conversation:

'Ah.... we have Solar Power'

'yes, but we have nothing to use it for....... '

Looks great but i can never help myself from thinking...

that behind this kindly nice looking action there are

these people rubbing their hands thinking with power they can power their products?

the phone companies

TV

white goods

computers

Internet providers

i know realistically some things will greatly improve peoples lives like powertools an lights,

Originally posted by AlienView
Big oil [OPEC, etc.] are still some of the most powerful controllers of the world's economies. If the whole world was
to go to alternative energy such as solar and wind, overnight big oil would lose maybe 50-75% of their revenues - do you think they are going to let this happen? NO they will stop progress for profits - this is the way of the world. A few
peasants in Peru have cheap power doesn't bother them but come up with big solar generating plants [there are a few now] and they will pull the strings to kill the projects - they just killed one in California that was scheduled to
be built. Look what they did to the famous scientist Nikolai Tesla way back in the 1800s when he suggested free
electricity could be transmitted through the ground - he was a genius of an inventor who invented the AC electric
motor and way of transmitting electricity and guess what? -- he died poor!

well actually by using solar to power steam pumps, oil companies can use solar to help pump oil from the heavy oil sites more easily, so don't count solar as something oil companies need to suppress and besides that oil is used in almost every product we use today, electronics, clothing, food products, medical supplies and medicine so i doubt they have anything to worry about profit wise.

i don't doubt that by the time oil runs out the oil companies will figure out how to manufacture oil artificially, recycle used oil, have control of bio-fuel production and/or have refineries on other planets extracting oil.
i don't see oil companies going anywhere or suppressing other power sources since regardless whether oil is used for power or not, other corporations will still make everything we use from oil, effectively giving oil companies control over other corporations who manufacture various products.

i think solar, hydrogen and fusion will be the next wave of energy production and oil companies won't stop it from coming because i think the profits will still come to them in other ways, maybe it would've been suppressed at one point but technology is far enough that they will maintain profits in many other ways with oil for a very long time.

as for the rio mesa solar facility being cancelled, that wasn't because oil companies did anything, it was because the fear of damaging the ice age fossils found at the site, the potential effect on animals, particularly birds and conflicts with natives over the land. here is more about it if you want to know.

glad you posted this news. it's refreshing to see that mankind's heart has not totally turned to stone.

reply to post by namehere

Oil companies worry? When you control a good part of the world's economy in probably the most profitable business in the world you don't have to worry too much. But some billionaire who likes to gamble and create a new company he might call 'Alien Energy, Inc." and who then proceeds to create a multi-national corporation dedicated to 'state of the art' alternative energy production could give them a run for the money. Say you create a world wide grid of interconnected solar steam generators so that sun power is being used 24/7, combine it with other sources such as wind then power all transportation by electric as there will now be plenty of it and you may be able to power the world by natural resources and the sun. Could be done now BUT would be very, very, expensive to set up the system. Brings us back to big oil - their cartel is one of the few groups in the world who could afford to do it. So if my hypothetical billionaire starts such an endeavor and it shows signs of possible success - the oil companies will buy him out and still maintain their world wide control of energy; Probably this is the main reason why they are already getting into the alternative energy field now. But even though the economic energy power elite will still rule and make the typical outlandish profits they always manage to make, at least without hydrocarbon fuels fouling the atmosphere - the air will be fresher!.

South America has some forward thinking countries, Brazil for one.

Originally posted by Druscilla



It's nice to see some altruism taking place in the world.
Free electricity for the poor!

I'd love to see this take off as a trend in other places around the globe. Pick the poorest places around the world and turn them into free electricity havens.
It'd be better to see free housing and food as well, but, electricity is a start.

grist.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

I'd like to see it being done here as well. Just think of the help it would provide for lower income families who have a hard enough time keeping food on the table let alone keeping the electric bill paid. It would also help cut down on our carbon footprint in the states..

Originally posted by BMorris
A friend and I were discussing solar power recently and he linked me some pages deomonstrating that with current technology, solar power is actually a negative economy.

That is, currently, it takes more power to grow the crystals, and build the panel, than it will ever generate in its average working life. While admittedly the technology is improving, at present, it is still a negative economy.

Take this as you will,because I didn't bookmark the pages he linked me to, I never expected to need them again.

This is probably true (I'm no technology whiz) but when TPTB want better technology to happen, it has a funny way of happening. My guess is current technology could be advanced significantly if anyone who matters really wanted it to be.

I'm guessing they don't want to sell you a generator that costs nothing to run and lasts indefinitely. They would still have a healthy business for as long as it takes to sell one to pretty much everyone who needs one but what do they do after that? Smart business. If you're selling something, you want to keep on selling it for as long as you possibly can and you want to make sure your industry remains viable for as long as possible.