Tag Archives: power

Solar Power: Let Me Decide or Buy Me Off?

by Harriet34F Posted on April 11, 2014

Solar Power: Let Me Decide or Buy Me Off?

Throughout the energy conversation we’ve been having with the Nuclear and Coal articles, several readers have commented about the inclusion of solar energy. Solar energy is sold to us as the end-all-be-all solution to our energy needs, and I find it hard not to argue against very specific aspects of that sales pitch. It’s clean, it’s renewable, it’s somewhat readily available, and it has little to no long-term impact. The Department of Energy claims that a 100 square mile solar panel field in Nevada can generate 800 gigawatts of power. That’s enough to power the entire United States.

Now, let’s collectively pull our head out of the clouds and talk about the ugly side of the situation …
The national average for electricity runs at about 12.6 cents per kilowatt hour, and the average house uses about 1,000 kilowatt hours per month. Before taxes, regulatory, and administrative fees that makes for a $126.00 per month electric bill. You wake up, and decide that you are going green. You hop in your Prius and buzz down to “Solar Panels R US”, and buy your run-of-of-the-mill solar panel kit. After 10 panels, 10 brackets to mount them, and a power inverter, you’ve officially got everything you need to create a whopping 345kwh of energy. Price tag? A mere $8,300 for the BASIC hardware, which is on the low end; installation not included. Now you’ve got a roof full of solar panels that produce 345kwh of energy, or an average energy savings of $43.47 dollars a month …

At that rate, assuming you get 100% potential from your solar panel array, it will take you 15 years to break even on your investment, at the very minimum, based on national averages. Imagine what the break-even on the 100 square mile theoretical “Panel Land” would be.

“Okay, it’s pricey … but what about the ‘Large Scale’ solar industry?” Solar energy is twice as expensive as natural gas energy. It’s 67% more expensive than wind produced power, for that matter. The national average for solar energy is over 80 cents per kilowatt hour after factoring in all the associated costs. Now that doesn’t sound so bright …

Expenses aside, the solar power contribution to the current power grid tripled from 2012 to 2013. A staggering 29% of all new energy installations in 2013 were solar power related. So if it’s more expensive, and still grew, who footed that bill?
You did.The government provides extensive solar energy subsidies, as high as 96 cents per kilowatt hour. Those subsidies come directly from our tax dollars. For every single tax dollar spent on natural gas subsidies, $1,200 dollars were spent on solar subsidies. In 2010 solar energy subsides were $775.64 dollars per megawatt of solar energy added to the power grid. That adds up to about 37 billion dollars a year. To put it in perspective, that’s enough money to build six modern nuclear power plants.

So we just cut the subsidy right?

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Solar Power: Let Me Decide or Buy Me Off?

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What Has Become of the American Spirit of Rebellion?

by SterlingCoffill Posted on March 17, 2014

Mother Jones

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This essay will appear in “Revolution,” the Spring 2014 issue of Lapham’s Quarterly. This slightly adapted version is posted at TomDispatch.com with the kind permission of that magazine.

In case of rain, the revolution will take place in the hall.
— Erwin Chargaff

For the last several years, the word “revolution” has been hanging around backstage on the national television talk-show circuit waiting for somebody, anybody—visionary poet, unemployed automobile worker, late-night comedian—to cue its appearance on camera. I picture the word sitting alone in the green room with the bottled water and a banana, armed with press clippings of its once-upon-a-time star turns in America’s political theater (tie-dyed and brassiere-less on the barricades of the 1960s countercultural insurrection, short-haired and seersucker smug behind the desks of the 1980s Reagan Risorgimento), asking itself why it’s not being brought into the segment between the German and the Japanese car commercials.

Surely even the teleprompter must know that it is the beast in the belly of the news reports, more of them every day in print and en blog, about income inequality, class conflict, the American police state. Why then does nobody have any use for it except in the form of the adjective, revolutionary, unveiling a new cellphone app or a new shade of lipstick?

I can think of several reasons, among them the cautionary tale told by the round-the-clock media footage of dead revolutionaries in Syria, Egypt, and Tunisia, also the certain knowledge that anything anybody says (on camera or off, to a hotel clerk, a Facebook friend, or an ATM) will be monitored for security purposes. Even so, the stockpiling of so much careful silence among people who like to imagine themselves on the same page with Patrick Henry—”Give me liberty, or give me death”— raises the question as to what has become of the American spirit of rebellion. Where have all the flowers gone, and what, if anything, is anybody willing to risk in the struggle for “Freedom Now,” “Power to the People,” “Change We Can Believe In”?

My guess is next to nothing that can’t be written off as a business expense or qualified as a tax deduction. Not in America at least, but maybe, with a better publicist and 50 percent of the foreign rights, somewhere east of the sun or west of the moon.

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What Has Become of the American Spirit of Rebellion?

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Monster wind farm planned in South Dakota

by Lou Bovee Posted on February 12, 2014

Monster wind farm planned in South Dakota

By

Travis S.

Well blow us over, Mount Rushmore State! Scores of landowners in South Dakota are banding together in an attempt to build a one-gigawatt wind farm, which would be spread over thousands of acres of farmland.

South Dakota is already a leader when it comes to harnessing wind energy. Nearly 500 large turbines spin over the state’s windswept landscapes, with a collective capacity of 784 megawatts of power. The Watertown Public Opinion reports on an attempt to more than double that capacity:

With over 80 landowners ready to dedicate nearly 20,000 acres to one of South Dakota’s largest wind projects, Dakota Power Community Wind is ready to begin the research phase of the operation.

“Our board has approved the purchase of [a meteorological] tower to kick off the research collection phase,” said Paul Shubeck, Dakota Power Community Wind board chairman. “We need to collect two to three years of data before construction can begin.” …

The 20,000 acres of farmland currently signed up for the project are sufficient to support a 300-megawatt windfarm, according to company officials. That would still be the largest single windfarm in South Dakota and would add nearly 50% to the state’s wind production.

Project leaders are now working to get more landowners on board. If built as envisioned, the sprawling wind farm would produce more than three times as much electricity as the natural gas–burning Deer Creek Station, which became the state’s most powerful fossil-fuel power plant when it began operating in 2012.


Source
Research phase to begin for Dakota Power Community Wind, Watertown Public Opinion

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Come for the Crooning, Stay for the Wordplay on Lambchop’s "Nixon" Reissue

by HalleyR55yl Posted on February 3, 2014

Mother Jones

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Lambchop
Nixon
Merge

If you know this Nashville collective mainly for recent albums like Mr. M and OH (Ohio), the most striking thing about the reissue of 2000’s lush Nixon is how different leader Kurt Wagner sounds. Currently a woozy basso crooner, he was a woozy, much-higher crooner back then, with a intriguingly scruffy falsetto suggesting Curtis Mayfield’s degenerate down-home cousin. In any case, Nixon is a fascinating listen that tempers Wagner’s penchant for updating and warping the smooth country-politan sounds of the ’70s with mellow soul influences, all the better to make his sly, tartly dark observations on human nature more appetizing.

Taking its title from the wonderful Wayne White painting of the same name—which is also the cover—Nixon has little or nothing to say about the late, disgraced former president (unless utterly oblique references count), but it does include “The Petrified Florist,” underscoring Wagner’s knack for offbeat wordplay. This two-disc set also includes White Sessions 1998: How I Met Cat Power, a five-song Wagner solo set with its own sleepy charms.

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Come for the Crooning, Stay for the Wordplay on Lambchop’s "Nixon" Reissue

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Seashore solar comes to Japan

by zB7bB4yB6a Posted on January 25, 2014

Seashore solar comes to Japan

By

SMA

Japan has been thinking creatively about electricity since the Fukushima meltdown nearly three years ago.

Dozens of nuclear power plants remain in the “off” mode while leaders and citizens tussle over whether nuclear power can ever be safe. That has left the gas-and-oil-poor country heavily dependent on expensive fossil fuel imports. So it has been turning to cleaner alternatives, using subsidies to help get tens of thousands of renewable energy projects off the ground. We told you recently that offshore wind turbines are being built near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, part of an effort to turn the contaminated region into a hub for clean energy.

And now, for another Japanese endeavor into safe, low-carbon energy, look again to the sea. Smithsonian Magazine reports:

[In November,] Japan flipped the switch on its largest solar power plant to date, built offshore on reclaimed land jutting into the cerulean waters of Kagoshima Bay. The Kyocera Corporation’s Kagoshima Nanatsujima Mega Solar Power Plant is as potent as it is picturesque, generating enough electricity to power roughly 22,000 homes.

Other densely populated countries, notably in Asia, are also beginning to look seaward. In Singapore, the Norwegian energy consultancy firm DNV recently debuted a solar island concept called SUNdy, which links 4,200 solar panels into a stadium-size hexagonal array that floats on the ocean’s surface.

Projects like these could help crowded coastal countries and metropolises install expansive solar arrays. Not much good for boating or wildlife, though.


Source
Is Japan’s Offshore Solar Power Plant the Future of Renewable Energy?, Smithsonian Magazine

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Nuclear plant leak patched up near Lake Erie

by ColemanPermewan Posted on January 23, 2014

Nuclear plant leak patched up near Lake Erie

By

NRC

A valve leak was discovered Monday at Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Ohio, causing the release of radioactive tritium into groundwater near Lake Erie. Fortunately, it was patched up by Wednesday, according to plant owner FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. It’s not known when the leak sprung nor how much tritium it released.

Here’s more from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Engineering crews have repaired the reactor coolant leak at the Perry nuclear power plant that deposited an unknown amount of radioactive tritium in groundwater near the leak. …

Samples of water taken from a monitoring point in the under-drain system outside of the building revealed tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen with a half-life of a little over 12 years. No heavier and more dangerous nuclear isotopes were found.

Other groundwater monitoring stations throughout the plant property showed no tritium, [FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer] Young said.

The valve was repaired using a clamp and some sealant, and company officials say they are confident it will hold until next year, when a replacement is scheduled.

Tritium atoms are nothing like heavy uranium or plutonium atoms — they are among the tiniest and lightest molecules in the universe. But they can still be absorbed into animal tissue easily and cause cancer.


Source
Perry nuclear power plant tritium leak fixed, The Plain Dealer
Perry nuclear plant leak fixed, WKSU

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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When It Comes to Process, We Are All Hypocrites

by Theodot7v8 Posted on January 14, 2014

Mother Jones

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Just before lunch I wrote a post suggesting that if conservatives win their fight against Obama’s recess appointments, they’re probably just shooting themselves in the feet since the most likely victims will be fellow conservatives. Over at The Corner, Charles C. W. Cooke takes exception:

As a matter of practical politics, this may be true. Nevertheless, the “nice work, conservatives” line only makes sense if one presumes that all that matters in a system of government is raw political power, and that the role of the citizenry is to try to bend the rules for the short-term favor of their chosen party. I can only speak for myself and for the many conservatives who, like me, have kicked up a fuss over this, but I can assure you that the checks and balances contained within the Constitution really do matter to us.

….Republicans and Democrats alike ignore the Constitution when it suits them. Indeed, that politicians are self-interested and that they will subjugate principle to personal political profit is precisely why we have a codified charter of power. This notwithstanding, there is no reason for unaffiliated writers to look at these questions with such a cynical, will-to-power eye — especially when they write for an outlet that sees itself as continuing the traditions of a woman whose raison d’être was, she said, to “abide where there is a fight against wrong.”

Let’s stipulate that I’m pretty cynical when it comes to this kind of stuff. But am I wrong? My take is that liberals and conservatives tend to be tolerably consistent and principled on matters of policy. Working politicians obviously tailor their messages depending on when, where, and to whom they’re speaking, but generally speaking, liberals aren’t going to suddenly oppose national healthcare just because Obamacare is having some growing pains and conservatives aren’t going to suddenly favor high capital gains rates just because bankers have become a wee bit unpopular.

However, when it comes to matters of process, neither liberals nor conservatives tend to be very principled. Both sides have switched their view on filibuster reform based on who happens to be in power, for example. Likewise, they’ve traded places on their tolerance for broad claims of executive power between the Bush and Obama administrations.

Both sides will claim that there are subtle differences that justify these switches. Spare me. It happens too often to be anything other than picking whichever rule happens to favor your side. So here’s my question:

How many examples can we come up with in which either liberals or conservatives have consistently supported a matter of process that works against their own interests?

I’m not interested in individuals here. I’m not interested in policy issues. I’m not interested in positions that are being taken right this moment. I’m looking for things in which a significant majority of one side or the other has consistently supported a procedural matter that works against their own policy interests. Help me out here.

Link:  

When It Comes to Process, We Are All Hypocrites

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Wind power boom could see British factories operating at night

by BerndHugg Posted on January 8, 2014

Wind power boom could see British factories operating at night

By

Shutterstock

Factory workers in the U.K. might be put onto graveyard shifts in a bid to make the most of the country’s wind energy supplies.

The National Grid, the power transmission network in the U.K., is considering paying factories and other big customers to operate through the night and during other quiet times. That would shift some commercial electricity demand from peak times to periods when demand is normally lowest but wind continues to blow. Here’s The Telegraph with an explanation:

The Grid said this could be “cheaper than constraining the generation” through so-called ‘constraint payments’, which compensate wind farm owners for switching them off when National Grid’s electricity transmission cables are unable to cope with the level of power the turbines are producing, such as when it is unusually windy.

Wind farm operators were paid [$12.5 million] in 2012-13 in constraint payments, but that total has already risen to [$45.9 million] so far for 2013-14, as more wind farms are built.

It’s an interesting idea — as long as some of the savings are passed on to the workers to compensate them for adopting onerous nocturnal lifestyles.


Source
Factories could be paid to operate at night to cut wind farm compensation, The Telegraph

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Wind power boom could see British factories operating at night

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Which Way Should Solar Panels Point?

by BobMoowattin Posted on January 8, 2014

Solar panels are becoming more affordable and therefore more popular for homeowners. Photo: morgueFile/Seemann

For years, experts have believed that south-facing solar panels are most effective in gathering sun in the northern hemisphere. But a new study based on homes in Austin, Texas, has raised questions about which way our solar panels need to be facing.

The Pecan Street Research Institute released results of a study that indicated homeowners could find significant benefits by pointing their solar panels to the west. The study concluded that the west-facing panels were better at reducing peak loads in areas such as Austin, where air-conditioning use is a strong driving factor in energy use during peak times, typically 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The study showed south-facing panels provided a 54 percent peak-reduction in usage, while the panels facing west produced a more impressive 65 percent reduction.

But that doesn’t mean it’s time to tear down those south-oriented solar panels and put them on west-facing roofs just yet. While the study results immediately led to reports that homeowners could get greater results by pointing their solar panels to the west, there was more to the story than many reported.

While the study found that west-facing configurations did have their benefits, they produced less total energy over the course of the year than their south-facing counterparts. The value, it appears, is that they are able to help reduce the electricity load during peak times, which of course puts less stress on electricity distribution systems. That means the power they produce may be more valuable, particularly in hot climates where air-conditioning use can cause problems such as rolling blackouts during peak hours.

The new study raises the question of whether using west-facing solar panels may help offset some of the power usage during peak hours and provide some relief for the energy grid. More research is planned that will include broadening the region being studied and examining how the pitch of the roof affects solar collection.

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Which Way Should Solar Panels Point?

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Year-End Whining Gets Results!

by Oliab719z Posted on January 3, 2014

Mother Jones

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Normally, my blog whining produces no results worth mentioning. But last month was different: two, count ’em, two of my whines got results. This is easily a new personal best.

First up: I complained bitterly that Charlie Stross’s newly revised Merchant Princes series was available in Britain but not in the US. I understand why the publishing schedule for the physical books might be off in the future, but why not release the e-versions? Well, the estimable Patrick Nielsen Hayden of Tor Books heard my lament and sprung into action. As a result, digital versions of these books will be available in the United States next Tuesday, January 7. Details and links here.

Second: I expressed surprise that no one was talking yet about Thomas Piketty’s new book, Capital in the 21st Century. Sure, it’s only available in French at the moment, but there must be at least a few economists who read French and have something to say about it. Right? Well, Brad DeLong, who (a) reads French, (b) also happens to have on hand a manuscript of the English translation, and (c) has read the PowerPoint notes for a lecture Piketty gave based on his book, provides us with a synopsis of Piketty’s findings:

  1. As growth rates decline in the Old World (Europe and Japan), we will once again see the dominance of capital: a greater proportion of the wealth of society will be held in the form of physical and other non-human-skill assets, and inheritance and position will matter more and individual effort and luck less.
  2. In fact, given relatively high average rates of return on capital and thus a large gap vis-a-vis the growth rate, wealth concentration is likely to reach and then surpass peak levels seen in previous history as the superrich become those who started wealthy and benefitted from compound interest and luck.
  3. America remains an exceptional puzzle: it looks, however, like it is headed for an even more extreme distribution of wealth than is the Old World.
  4. Remember, however: the evolution of income and wealth distributions is always political, chaotic, unpredictable–and nation-specific: not global market conditions but national identities rule wealth distributions.
  5. High wealth inequality is not due to any “market failure”: this is a market success: the more frictionless and distortion-free are capital markets, the higher will wealth inequality become.
  6. The ideal solution? Progressive global-scale wealth taxes.

There’s much more at the link, including the complete set of slides from Piketty’s talk. Or you can wait until March when the English translation comes out and everyone dives in.

I am excited that my end-of-year whining has produced such stunning results. All that’s left is to figure out if this is just a coincidence, or if my whining has somehow become more effective lately. Perhaps I should whine more to find out?

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Year-End Whining Gets Results!

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