Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Broken_Clock who wrote (94566)	5/26/2008 1:41:52 AM
From: The Vet	Respond to of 110194

They may last 25 years but they only produce power for 50% of the time even in the best locations and usually much less than that. It has been my experience that batteries for back-up at night and for those cold cloudy days degrade in performance from the very first day of use and generally are useless after about 8 years. That means 3 sets of batteries are required to be added to the costs of the solar cells. Until there are better ways to store and recover electric power solar and wind will only be of marginal utility in most countries. Feeding solar or wind power into the grid to get credits doesn't really solve any capacity problems. You are simply placing the burden for peak power and base load onto someone else who is not using solar or wind and can pick up the slack when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. While solar and wind have a place, they can't replace more than 20% of the total load without the risk of failure of supply on those cold dark windless nights that occur rather too frequently. For those times, fossil fuels and or nuclear are the only options and nobody is going to spend billions keeping expensive power stations idle just to run them a few weeks a year. Besides, apart from hydro and natural gas the big base load stations take weeks to get them on and off line. It's not just a matter of flicking a switch when you need more power which most "renewable" advocates seem to believe.

To: Broken_Clock who wrote (94566)	5/26/2008 5:15:03 AM
From: dybdahl	Respond to of 110194

One of the main reasons that oil so is perfect, is that you can store, transport and ignite it easily. - Solar cell electricity, which is more hard to store than oil, which you can put into a barrel - Solar cell electricity require cables or batteries for easy transport, oil is much easier - Solar cell electricity is available when the sun is there. Oil can be used when everything else fails. I think we will always use liquid chemical energy like oil. If it's not pulled out from the ground, we'll produce it, simply because it's so convenient.

To: Broken_Clock who wrote (94566)	5/26/2008 10:11:00 AM
From: RJA_	Respond to of 110194

>>You're missing the point. Energy prices are rising, not falling. Solar panels last 25 years minimum. They are an energy annuity. Good point. I guess its a question of: 1. What you are willing to pay for the annuity. 2. Will new technologies (AVA Solar, Nanosolar) dramatically bring down the costs... leaving you with an expensive and possibly obsolete investment. I would like to do it when the numbers are right. Re the batteries, I intend to use the local utility as my battery, turning the meter backwards during the day, and using them at night or for peak loads.