Very cheap solar power
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From: jimp on 5 Feb 2010 21:19 In sci.physics habshi(a)anony.net wrote: > If the govt sticks to its words then within five years solar panels > will cover every british roof and save billions of liters of oil and > gas each year How's that going to happen when: 1) Oil and gas have little to do with electricity. 2) England has jack for sunshine. You are still an idiot. -- Jim Pennino Remove .spam.sux to reply.
From: habshi on 6 Feb 2010 11:08 excerpts Last year, 10 billion barrels of oil were added to global oil reserves, the highest rate since 2000. However, the world is consuming around 83 million barrels a day, which equates to 31 billion barrels a year. So, even in a good year, we barely replaced one third of the oil we consumed. Globally, governments invested $25 billion in renewable power and energy efficiency projects in 2009. This is going to mushroom to $60 billion in 2010 and another $60 billion in 2011, as nations around the world race to lower their greenhouse-gas emissions, according to Bloomberg. If anything, this is an under-estimate. According to the New York Times, the Chinese government poured an estimated $440 billion into clean energy last year alone! Worldwide, 40% of Exxon's 2007 and 2008 exploration wells were failures, up from 36% in the prior two years, recent company filings showed. And it's not for lack of trying! Exxon is searching the ends of the Earth for oil and coming up empty. Heck, just look at BP. Last year, BP announced the discovery of a "giant" oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. To find it, BP had to drill as DEEP as Mt. Everest is TALL. If BP could find oil at shallower depths, it would. It can't! Because the oil is so deep underwater and so difficult to extract, the price of oil will need to be above $70 a barrel to make drilling profitable. That may not signal the end of oil, but it signals the end of cheap oil. And this "giant" oil field contains potentially 3 billion barrels of oil � enough to feed America's thirst for oil for just 153 days. After that, then what? This week, the American Wind Energy Association published a report showing that China installed more wind capacity than the U.S. last year for the first time. Through an aggressive government spending program, China is projected to outspend other countries by investing $7.3 billion this year to upgrade its electricity grid with smart meters and other equipment. "Things are happening in China at a speed that is making our heads spin," said Virginia Sonntag-O'Brien, executive secretary of policy group REN-21, said during a session on Thursday, according to the RETECH conference organizers. Entrepreneurs' perspective Picking up the pace of clean-energy project development means that the prices for electricity or fuel from renewable sources will go down faster, green-tech entrepreneurs said. For technology suppliers, stronger demand translates into higher manufacturing volume and more cost-competitive products in a global market. "While continual innovation in technology can move the needle in terms of costs and acceptance, really it's deployments that drive you down the cost curve. This is what happened in wind, in solar PV (photovoltaics), and we're entering that phase with our solar thermal technology," said Robert Rogan, senior vice president at eSolar, which makes utility-scale solar systems. "You have to build to scale to recognize the full potential. You can't just look at research." Though the U.S. still has highest total capacity for wind power globally, China took the top spot for new installations in 2009 with 13 gigawatts, according to data released this week. Worldwide, wind power capacity grew 31%, up 37.5 gigawatts to 157.9 gigawatts in 2009, according to the Global Wind Energy Council. A third of the increase came from China, which doubled its capacity from 12.1 gigawatts to 25.1 gigawatts.
From: habshi on 7 Feb 2010 17:56 What is to stop a family buying electricity from the grid and selling it back at four times the price? excerpt Clean Energy Cash Back scheme � which will start on April 1 and apply to systems completed between July 15, 2009, and March 31, 2012 � introduces a series of so-called �feed-in tariffs� (FITs). These give homeowners up to 41.3p per kWh (kilowatt�hour) of electricity they generate from renewable sources, even if they use it themselves. That is about four times the market cost of electricity � and there�s a bonus 3p for each unit they export back to the grid. It is all part of the government�s effort to provide 15% of the UK�s energy through renewable means by 2020. �The guarantee of getting an income, on top of saving on energy bills, will be an incentive to householders and communities wanting to make the move to low-carbon living,� said Ed Miliband, the energy and climate-change secretary. To make the scheme even more attractive, any income received will be tax-free. The Colquhouns spent �12,348 on installing their system, of which �2,500 was covered by a government grant. The 1,600kWh of energy it is expected to generate each year should earn them �736 and save another �112 on bills � an annual return on their investment of more than 8%. According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, a typical three-bedroom home uses 3,300kWh of energy a year. A system producing peak power of 2.5kW on an optimum south- or southwest-facing site should generate an annual 2,125kWh, earning the homeowner �900 a year and saving a further �140 off their electricity bill. Nor are payments confined to solar energy. Those with wind turbines, or even their own biomass plants, are also eligible � albeit at a lower rate. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7017238.ece
From: habshi on 7 Feb 2010 18:04 What a great idea , use the indoor trapped heat for solar thermal and solar panels , and they cant be stolen excerpt The idea of indoor solar panels may sound a little like the concept of deck chairs on submarines, but U.S. based Solaroad Technologies may be onto something with their "CubeTube" cylindrical solar panels. The company says CubeTube can power computer workstations by harvesting wasted energy from office lighting. The device can be clipped to cubicle walls, or placed on desktops or windowsills. Given the shape of the device, CubeTube can utilise ambient light for the production of energy from all directions. Computers can be plugged directly into the CubeTube and the device also contains battery banks within the unit, so it can be used as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with enough on tap when fully charged to run a work station for a few hours. http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=757
From: habshi on 10 Feb 2010 20:16
excerpt http://www.theecologist.org/ The �Ravi�, named after an Indian Sun God, comes in a box similar to that of a mobile phone. It contains a 1.8 watt solar photovoltaic panel to convert daylight into electricity; a similar sized battery with a hangable light and mobile phone charge converter. Once charged the light will last six hours. It has been designed by locals to ensure needs are being met, but how it�s being sold is perhaps most promising Breaking the tie with kerosene is leading to more cash all round. The introduction of the �Ravi� has led to up to 70 percent more disposable income for many, as well as healthier families and more time to study and socialise. It�s no surprise that demand is high. .... Wind and solar technology made up over half of Europe�s new electricity generating capacity in 2009, as the number of new coal and nuclear facilities fell More wind capacity was installed in Europe during 2009 than any other electricity-generating technology, according to statistics released today by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). Wind accounted for 39 per cent of increased European energy capacity, ahead of gas (26 per cent) and solar (16 per cent). In contrast, the nuclear and coal power sectors decommissioned more megawatts of capacity than they installed in 2009, with a total of 1,393 MW of nuclear and 3,200 MW of coal decommissioned. ...... India is set to embark on the country's largest solar endeavour - increasing solar capacity from 3 megawatts to 20 gigawatts by 2020 India's National Solar Mission was approved 'in principal' last week by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change. The solar mega-project, aimed at expanding India's solar capacity from the current 3 megawatts (MW) to a reported 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2020 and 200 GW by 2050, will form the centerpiece of a National Climate Change Strategy and cost an estimated US$20 billion to implement. With worldwide installed solar-generation capacity totalling just 16.5 GW, and India's power generation capacity at 150 GW, the plan is notable for its scale and ambition. Looking to the future, Nicholas Parker believes that the solar plan could be just the beginning. 'If current calculations are right, solar will be cost competitive with fossil fuels in the next 5-10 years,' he said. 'Hopefully by then, we will look back and say that this plan was not audacious, but a tentative first step. |