Originally Posted by Geof  Okay what are your energy sources? Hydro, Wind, Tidal, Solar, Nuclear Fission and possibly Nuclear fusion if you are being very pie in the sky. Worldwide about 75% of the energy consumed comes from fossil fuels so at the present time 25% comes from the sources I list. You can remove Tidal because it is truly negligible. Solar is minuscule and it is debatable whether it is truly a net source because of the limited lifetime of solar panels and the energy used for their manufacturer. Wind in some countries is approaching 10%, maybe more, but the problem with Wind is that it is intermittent so it needs to be combined with a steady source and cannot comprise more than somewhere between 15 to 20% of the total.
The only practical large scale alternate energy sources are Hydro and Nuclear Fission and if they are to fill the hole left by not using fossil fuels it will be necessary to build three times as many dams and three times as many Nuclear facilities as currently exist.
But perhaps you are thinking of a different type of science? Perhaps you can point out the flaws in my analysis. |
Hi Goef,
No you can't negate solar. Let me quote from a website I perused:
Two German scientists, Dr Gerhard Knies and Dr Franz Trieb, calculate that covering just 0.5% of the world's hot deserts with a technology called concentrated solar power (CSP) would provide the world's entire electricity needs, with the technology also providing desalinated water to desert regions as a valuable byproduct, as well as air conditioning for nearby cities.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...gy.environment
I agree with you that solar panels aren't the way to go with current technology but mirrors that track the sun and heat water, that works now. Again let me quote from the website above:
CSP technology is not new. There has been a plant in the Mojave desert in California for the past 15 years. Others are being built in Nevada, southern Spain and Australia. There are different forms of CSP but all share in common the use of mirrors to concentrate the sun's rays on a pipe or vessel containing some sort of gas or liquid that heats up to around 400C (752F) and is used to power conventional steam turbines.
There is of course the problem of nighttime when there is no sun light. Here in Tennessee where I live, TVA has a lake that they built high up in a mountain called Raccoon Mountain. During off peak hours they pump water into it with excess electrical generating capacity. They use it to store water for peak periods of electrical usage. When they need more power, they just let water out though a turbine and generate it. Probably not real efficient but cheaper than building a whole new electrical plant for peak demand periods. The technology is there, it just takes a commitment to implement it.
Donna