From the June 6, 2005 edition of the National Post:
Work will start this year on Britain's first major power station fuelled by elephant grass, pictured, as prime Minister Tony Blair tries to make his country more environmentally friendly. the $14,800,000 power station in Straffordshire, central England, will supply 2000 homes with electricity. Burning elephant grass would only release as much carbon dioxide as the plants had soaked up while they were growing. The plant will operate for 8,000 hours a year on a 24 hour basis and save one tonne per hour of carbon dioxide compared with using fossil fuel to generate electricity. About 170 farmers will grow the grass needed to feed the plant.
Back of the envelope analysis gives me $7,400. per house hold to build the plant. 170 farmers per year would probably be charging at least $140,000 each per year in labour and operating costs which works out to annual costs of $11,100 for the electricity. Those 170 farmers are using 170*100 acres or 170*200 acres 34,000 acres. Then there are the transmission costs from the station to the individual homes.
If Stan's solar idea with no ongoing carbon dioxide emissions doesn't look a whole lot better than this please write and tell me what I am missing
Oh did I mention that with Stan's energy generators a free roof comes with every installation. There is no ongoing pollution, there needn't be any unsightly wires overhead. Even if I am wrong about the cost of $140,000 per farmer, even if the cost is only half that amount that is still $5,500 per household per year. All the extra farm acres could grow something else or be returned to nature. (b)Solar just shines(b |
