TheBeastie wrote: ↑Feb 18 2018 7:04am
Just checking out some of the ultra-potent green house gases emitted from solar-panel manufacturer and they are still rocketing higher, just grabbed this live from NOAA. And its not hard to calculate that these single handedly out do most countries entire co2 emissions and of course can't be absorbed by trees and will be in the atmosphere for 100s to 1,000s of years.
Looks like the fake news of the day. Most SF6 emissions come from the manufacture of electrical equipment and from magnesium casting.
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The most significant sources of SF6 emissions are from the manufacture, operation and disposal of electrical equipment (27 million tons of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2000, and magnesium die casting (9 MtCO2e in 2000). In addition, smaller amounts of SF6 are used in semiconductor production, as a tracer gas, for sound proofing in windows, in aluminum production and as an alternative to air in filling car tires. An inert gas, SF6 is used as an insulator for electrical equipment, to protect it from overloads and short circuit currents, as well as to connect and disconnect networks. In this context, SF6 is emitted primarily through leaks over the lifetime of the equipment (approximately one third of emissions); during maintenance, when the equipment must be opened for repairs and SF6 escapes; or when the equipment is decommissioned (maintenance and decommissioning together represent approximately two thirds of emissions). Although SF6 emissions from electrical equipment decreased significantly between 1990 and 2000 due to the high price of SF6 and technical improvements, emissions increased by 55% between2000 and 2003 due to increased sales and higher rates
of retirement for electrical equipment.
Magnesium production, an energy intensive process, has increased worldwide due to high demand for the lightweight metal, especially in the transportation industry. In magnesium die casting, SF6 is used as a cover gas to protect the molten metal from oxidation or ignition. It is emitted due to its function as a cover gas - SF6 emissions in the magnesium industry are therefore roughly equal to the industry’s consumption of the gas.
http://climate.columbia.edu/files/2012/ ... tsheet.pdf
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Until they do away with subsidies to an even level across all energy these claims that renewables is cheaper thus better than conventional energy will continue to be a bunch of baloney to me, because if it's that great then it doesn't need taxpayer help.
Sure. Eliminate all subsidies for all forms of power, and treat everything the same. No more tax breaks for solar. No more Price-Anderson for nuclear power plants. No more free services from the NRC. Eliminate the coal and nuclear subsidy in the new DOE guidelines. Look at the cleanest fossil fuel plant out there, and set maximum allowable emissions to that.
Then let the market decide.
The other thing I been thinking about is how we keep going down a more slippery slope with renewables and their environmental destructiveness while still calling them renewables.
Compared to coal they are incredibly clean. Google what comes out of a coal power plant every year.
With South Australia and their taxpayer helped Tesla solar+battery system I was thinking about how much Cobalt has gone up, apparently, its like $4,000 worth goes into a Tesla car at the $80,000 a ton mark for Cobalt.
And if cobalt goes up enough, they will switch to another formulation (like LMO) that doesn't use cobalt. Easy. The market makes such decisions all the time.
So the question I ask, if its all so "renewable" then why is the price to make this stuff going up on price so much?
Supply and demand.
Because its not renewable.
Right. The materials to make them are not; the energy that comes out of them is.
Unlike Hydro-electricty which is very abundant constantly being recycled water
The materials to make dams and generators are not renewable. The energy is. Very much like other renewable energy sources.
cobalt gets locked up into batteries and before Tesla has really even begun making a difference the price is starting to kill it, so it highlights just how lacking it is in renewables.
??? Food is renewable. Are you claiming that therefore food prices never skyrocket due to droughts, blights and transportation problems? "Renewable" does not equal "immune to market forces."