Wind and Solar vs Coal, Gasoline, Nuclear

Always maintained the best thing you can do by the environment is walk places.
 
jonescg said:
Always maintained the best thing you can do by the environment is walk places.
I believe most people do exactly that for most practical journeys, but once the journey time becomes impractical, then some form of mechanised transport is necessary.
We need a complete rethink on the home vs workplace location to minimise the "commuter" factor.
 
I have a feeling (but cannot check right now) that cycling is more efficient/lower lifetime impact over walking... Walking burns around 100kcal/mile and food production is a big deal for climate change. Of course, that's further complicated by what food you eat :wink:

Either form of locomotion is far better than driving though (EV or ICE), so if that was what you meant then I wholeheartedly agree :thumb:
 
Punx0r said:
I have a feeling (but cannot check right now) that cycling is more efficient/lower lifetime impact over walking... Walking burns around 100kcal/mile and food production is a big deal for climate change. Of course, that's further complicated by what food you eat :wink:

You're correct. Walking is some 80MPGe, light cycling is over 200. There was a paper on that somewhere, I will link it if I find it.

Found it :

https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/11/mpg-of-a-human/
 
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal Could Cost $93 Trillion, Group Says
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-25/group-sees-ocasio-cortez-s-green-new-deal-costing-93-trillion

^This makes sense, if you ever take existing Tesla grid battery installation cost like the Tesla South Australia battery and then extrapolate it to power a large city for a few days its remarkable how the digits break into the trillions.

Then on top if you look at the REAL-WORLD DATA on wind/solar renewables you don't on any notable level actually cut co2 emissions.
This is the amazing reality mainstream media and politics ignore.. Because its all about the politics and financial gains pushing this crap, not science or logic.

Look at the emissions right now of Nuclear based France vs Germany or South Australia.
France is 10 times LESS co2 emissions most of the time, if we are comparing it as like with cars these differences would be considered a COMPLETE JOKE played on people.
France 44g co2 per KWh
Germany 409g
South Australia 415g
https://www.electricitymap.org/?wind=false&solar=false&page=country&countryCode=FR&remote=true
D0ofSqnUwAERVvk.jpg

Nuclear based France is literally the only green low CO2 emitting country in the world right now.

South Australia should be winning because its a TINY population of just 1.6million vs France 67million people!
South Australia has the PERFECT coastline for wind known as the "Great Australian Bight" which draws in large winds naturally from the Antarctica cold and was one of the big reasons why SA jumped into wind-farms so early.
Plus they have the biggest lithium-ion battery in the world. If you can't make it work on a rather tiny population like SA you can't really make it work anywhere compared to just going nuclear and beating South Australia by 10 times less co2 emissions.

Here is the data on an annual average basis for France vs Germany, so much CO2 from Germany despite 100% capacity of wind/solar just the problem of there NEVER being enough wind blowing or land/sun for solar to make a difference.
https://twitter.com/energybants/status/806969631797714944
C4As3EaUEAAWuAl.jpg


One of the most CO2 causing materials on the planet, concrete!
In fact it's easy to calculate that if you migrate in people from the 3rd world into the western world that gives them concrete infrastructure/place to live in with electricity and plastics etc than its easy to calculate 1 million new immigrants causes x60million times more co2 to be emitted for that country!
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/feb/25/concrete-the-most-destructive-material-on-earth?CMP=share_btn_tw
I thought the world was doomed if we keep increasing our CO2 emissions, it seems that if it stands in the way of making more money by putting more pressure via "Supply/Demand law on low wage pressure on jobs" or gaining extra political power the real-world data is completely ignored.

All these socialist ideas from the likes of AOC are just pure bat-sht crazy!
Fact is, the word "Socialism" should just be changed to "VirtueSignalism" because it really is just all the same level of madness.
And the word "Socialists" with the words "SJW VirtueSignalist".
Every part of alt-energy is nasty and twisted VirtueSignalism, even African kids digging up cobalt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwutXVTWkrw

Then there's all the radioactive sludge lakes from wind-turbine magnet manufacturing that as big as 10km2 in size.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6378498,109.6785017,5851m/data=!3m1!1e3
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1350811/In-China-true-cost-Britains-clean-green-wind-power-experiment-Pollution-disastrous-scale.html
And then super warming GHG emissions from solar cell manufacturing.
Countless tons of radioactive sludge created per single wind-turbine, the average wind-turbine is 3MW.
[youtube]GcCQzynid0Y[/youtube]
https://www.epa.gov/f-gas-partnership-programs/semiconductor-industry
EPA quote "Semiconductor manufacturers use a variety of high GWP gases to create intricate circuitry patterns upon silicon wafers and to rapidly clean chemical vapor deposition (CVD) tool chambers. Semiconductor manufacturing processes use high GWP fluorinated compounds including perfluorocarbons (e.g., CF4, C2F6 and C3F8), hydrofluorocarbons (CHF3, CH3F and CH2F2), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). "

Dz7kv2WWoAAxIvG.jpg


https://www.afr.com/news/economy/the-costly-renewables-reality-gap-20190303-h1bxhm
 
"How will we ever pay for all this?"

From taxes. The same way we pay for everything of public significance. Like the military.

In fact if you took money out of military spending and put it towards securing low emission, import-free energy (solar, wind, hydro, nuclear) you won't have as many enemies, and therefore wont need the bomb budget anyway.
 
jonescg said:
"How will we ever pay for all this?"

From taxes. The same way we pay for everything of public significance. Like the military.

In fact if you took money out of military spending and put it towards securing low emission, import-free energy (solar, wind, hydro, nuclear) you won't have as many enemies, and therefore wont need the bomb budget anyway.

+100

To add, I'd rather die poor (because I spent all the money on RE) after living a long healthy life, than die early (pollution-caused health issues) with all that money in the bank account.
 
cricketo said:
TheBeastie said:
even kids digging up cobalt
Think of the children! And puppies! Suffering because of all those wind turbines and solar panels!
And don't forget the birds! Solar is a MAGNET DEATHRAY for BARBEQUING THE CRAP out of the poor, poor birds! Why do you want MAGNET DEATHRAY BARBECUED BIRDS, you commie green socialist liberal loonie? (Unless you get them from Chick-Fil-A or Koo Koo Roo, then it's OK.)
 
"Nuclear based France is literally the only green low CO2 emitting country in the world right now."

Bullshit. Iceland, and a half dozen other countries produce more of their power "green" than France (ignoring the fact that nuclear isn't green by any sane definition) https://makewealthhistory.org/2012/07/09/countries-with-100-renewable-energy/

Saying wind/ solar/ hydro is" dirty" compared to coal,NG, or gasoline is stupid. Look up tar sand or fracking. Note that it takes about 50 gallons of even the best grade crude oil to make 25 gallons of gasoline(tar sand is has a much lower yield when processing is factored in) Subtract the energy needed to extract, refine, and transport that gasoline. Then notice that about 80% of the energy in that 25 gallons of gas, when fed through an internal combustion engine, leaves as heat. Only about 20%(under ideal conditions, real world efficiency is even less ) is available at the flywheel.

Now look at an electric car. According to the US Department of Energy, an electric car converts about 60% of the electricity it gets from the grid into movement (that's factoring in losses in charging, battery heat and motor losses) Those "dirty " batteries will last for thousands of charges (some first model Prius's are past a million miles on their original packs) and remain valuable even if the car is crashed, as sources of batteries for home built power walls or smaller EV battery packs.They wont go in a landfill, even if dead... Tesla will reclaim the materials, they are cheaper to reclaim than manufacture new.

The claim of wind turbines creating more radioactive waste than the nuclear power industry is also bullshit. It's the usual disinformation, outright lies, and invalid comparisons.
https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/38386/did-the-wind-power-industry-produce-more-radioactive-waste-than-nuclear-power-pl

From that debunk on skeptics.stackexchange.com..."A single spent fuel rod is several orders of magnitude more radioactive than the radioactive waste produced by the manufacture of Wind Turbines for an entire year." That's completely ignoring the tons of radioactive waste made in manufacturing those fuel rods, and the energy expended in doing so.

On the cobalt issue. There are currently lithium batteries that use no cobalt at all...they just don't have the power/weight ratio of cathodes containing cobalt . With cobalt demand and costs rising sharply in the last few years, there's lots of research going into alternative chemistries with no cobalt.

So, when someone claims electric cars, or wind turbines, are dirty...you know they are either too lazy to check the facts, or they have an agenda, and they are willing to lie to make their case. Just ask..."Compared to what? "
 
Iceland is blessed with vast hydro and is unique with shallow high temp geothermal. Costa Rica shares one of the worlds largest dams. Quebec has 90% hydro. Ontario is 90% nuclear. France nuclear. New Zealand, Norway, Washington State, Brazil. All of the world leaders in low carbon electricity are blessed with exceptional hydro. Or have built out vast nuclear.
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Germany has nearly 200% installed capacity of wind and solar and is ranked 23rd on electricity map. Denmark 32nd. California 48th. Denmark 49.
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If your area does not have vast hydro resources, and you care about carbon emissions, you should be pushing for nuclear.
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Why is a rich tropical area like Hawaii still 70% diesel fuel?
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https://www.electricitymap.org/?page=map&solar=false&remote=true&wind=false
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sendler2112 said:
Why is a rich tropical area like Hawaii still 70% diesel fuel?
Agreed. Of all places, Hawaii could use a few SMR's, say in Hawaii, Honolulu and Maui. With each generating around 100MW, that would cover most of their baseline usage. Build them in the US (or South Korea, or Japan) ship them to Hawaii by sea, put them in the containment building, and then when their fuel is used up, haul them out and ship them back for refurbishing. No fuel handling in Hawaii and no waste to figure out what to do with.

That takes care of your baseline usage, and the waste heat is usable for things like desalination. Then solar/wind for peaking and sheddable loads. (And geothermal, of course.)
 
billvon said:
That takes care of your baseline usage, and the waste heat is usable for things like desalination. Then solar/wind for peaking and sheddable loads. (And geothermal, of course.)

Multi-use is key baby!
Single-use is so 1900s.

M
 
Fukoshima kinda made nuclear unattractive to anyplace with a big tourist industry...like Hawaii. It doesn't take too many people picking another tropical vacation destination (where there aren't nuclear plants within hundred miles) to hurt your tourism bottom line.
 
So joe tourist is concerned about the minor risk of a Nuclear accident, rather than the continous eruption of one of the biggest active volcanoes on the planet which has 1000 times the destructive potential ?
Most tourists dont know what generation systems are used in their chosen holiday area, and i doubt many woud care anyway !. They would rather have Nuke power than no power at all.
They should worry more about where the drinking water comes from or where their waste goes
 
cricketo said:
Hillhater said:
They should worry more about where the drinking water comes from or where their waste goes

Meanwhile... how is your solar system doing ? :)

You tell me...
12 panels, facing north (Southern hemiphere) 25/30 deg angle.
Nominal (nameplate) capacity 3.1 kW
Output 6.5-7.0 kWh per day max,..mid summer, clear bright 100% sun exposure.
Max power at noon, 1.4 kW
:( 8)
 
Moltex is still posting news. I hope they can really get their salt developed and get their reactor built.
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https://youtu.be/R4GSDRqah-0
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https://www.moltexenergy.com/stablesaltreactors/
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Hillhater said:
You tell me...
12 panels, facing north (Southern hemiphere) 25/30 deg angle.
Nominal (nameplate) capacity 3.1 kW
Output 6.5-7.0 kWh per day max,..mid summer, clear bright 100% sun exposure.
Max power at noon, 1.4 kW
:( 8)

Sounds about right - the 25/30 degree angle is ideal for winter production. I have 12 panels of 195 Wp each - so a theoretical nameplate power of 2340 W. At midday they put out about 1900 W on a hot day, 2100 W on a cool day. And in October when light rain clears to reveal a bright midday sun, it cracks 2900 W :bolt:

7 kWh sounds about right for this time of year. I can get as high as 13 kWh in December.
 
jonescg said:
Hillhater said:
You tell me...
12 panels, facing north (Southern hemiphere) 25/30 deg angle.
Nominal (nameplate) capacity 3.1 kW
Output 6.5-7.0 kWh per day max,..mid summer, clear bright 100% sun exposure.
Max power at noon, 1.4 kW
:( 8)

Sounds about right - the 25/30 degree angle is ideal for winter production. I have 12 panels of 195 Wp each - so a theoretical nameplate power of 2340 W. At midday they put out about 1900 W on a hot day, 2100 W on a cool day. And in October when light rain clears to reveal a bright midday sun, it cracks 2900 W :bolt:

7 kWh sounds about right for this time of year. I can get as high as 13 kWh in December.

I think 1.4kW from a 3.1kW at noon on a sunny day is low. Yesterday my 6kW system was putting out a bit over 5kW, mid summer it's usually around 4900W. That's a free standing system. My roof mounted 2.16kW system had something like 1600-1700W on sunny Summer days when I kept track of it. That's Northwestern Oregon too, installers use 0.8 multiplier when planning the systems. I'd expect better for Sydney given lower latitude.

So with that in mind, I'd check first if perhaps panels are excessively dusty. Then start looking into mechanical damage and electrical issues.
 
Hillhater said:
12 panels, facing north (Southern hemiphere) 25/30 deg angle.
Nominal (nameplate) capacity 3.1 kW
Output 6.5-7.0 kWh per day max,..mid summer, clear bright 100% sun exposure.
Max power at noon, 1.4 kW
Get your system fixed - or get your money back from the shyster who sold you a cruddy system and took you to the cleaners.
 
I'd say most of that is due to the angle of the panels - 30 degrees is steep for that latitude. It will probably produce better power in winter (which is when you need it anyway).
 
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