E=MC^2. Another ridiculous hypothetical...

What's better?

The SGES systems worked just fine through the Mt. Pinatubo releases in 1991. It did show up as a dip, not a shutdown.

The Thermal system worked quite well for what it was designed to do, shift plant output to the peak evening hours, and this is with 1985 technology.

 

2) Result in clearcutting and leveling sensitive areas to make it fit (parabolic trough farms need very flat land).

Any reason you can't put them up on poles, vary the length of the pole? At Mt. Aricebo they grow stuff under the big dish, it just has to be shade loving. No clear cutting required.

3) Poor engineering or operation can result in solar areas totally damaged by high winds or fire of the mineral oil.

If it blows over or catches fire a lot, you're doing it wrong.

 

Based on what we can do now, using something other than fosil fuels.
1. Hydro
2. Nuclear
3. Geothermal

In the mean time we can work on those out of our reach.

 

Trucks need to run between the rows of mirrors for periodic cleaning and repairs. These mirrors are big. The center mirrors are 4mm thick and the end mirrors are often 5mm thick with epoxy backing. The center heat receiving elements have a glass covering tube. If this gets broken, then a split glass cover is put in place. These are heavy parts and the repairs need to be within easy access of the repair equipment used.

Yes.

 

What hydro is left to develop?
Where does the waste go? (I know where it goes right now)
What about those of us east of the Mississippi?

(This is meant to be interestingly engaging, not insulting in any possible way)

 

I've been lead to believe there are a number of pending Hydro projects in various stages of approval and some have already been denied for wildlife concerns.

I was under the impression NRC was seeking approval for storage in Nevada Mt. somewhere near old A-bomb test grounds.

People east of Mississippi are on the national grid like the rest of the country. They have ability to build damns and use their abundant coal reserves.

Right now I'm more interested in energy independence rather than climate control. After all a rock the size California could hit earth tomorrow and wipe out all but a hand full of people.

 

I've been lead to believe there are a number of pending Hydro projects in various stages of approval and some have already been denied for wildlife concerns.

I had thought we'd already taken most of the low hanging fruit, but I suppose there's always a few more opportunities.

I was under the impression NRC was seeking approval for storage in Nevada Mt. somewhere near old A-bomb test grounds.

Sounds like Yucca Mountain:
OCRWM - Yucca Mountain Repository
It's a great answer so long as you don't plan to live there.

People east of Mississippi are on the national grid like the rest of the country. They have ability to build damns and use their abundant coal reserves.

All the folks on the coast and the Appalachians are also well positioned for wind. The birds will learn to deal with it.

Right now I'm more interested in energy independence rather than climate control.

If the climate gets too far out of whack we are going to have trouble with the peace/order/independence thing in general. I believe it was Napoleon who said that no city was more than three days from revolution (that being the amount of food they had on hand.) The french revolution was brought on in part by a doubling of the price of food and fuel.

After all a rock the size California could hit earth tomorrow and wipe out all but a hand full of people.

Another Chicxulub type impact would do that, and it was no bigger than Santa Catalina Island

 

1. The cause of war, give or take a jihad or crusade or two, is want. Unlimited energy would assuage that.
2. Affluent societies, for whatever reason, exhibit decreasing birth rates.
3. You conserve if there is scarcity. It was hypothesized that the unlimited energy had no down side other than the disappearance of some rocks.
3. What starving people? See 1, 2, & 3.

 

Heat is energy. The hypothesis was direct conversion of matter to energy, but the poster didn't specify the form of the energy. Presumably whatever form the released energy took it could be converted to electricity including heat.

 

Anytime you do work you generate heat.

 

Maybe we're on to something.. we should buy up all the land near and around the storage site. As people learn of the its mysterious glow they'll want to live there.

Who would of thought 100 years ago, that people would pay handsomely to live on an active fault.:der:

 

I'm OK with burying it in the ground, but think that ground should be the National Mall in Washington, DC. If it's as safe as they say then there will be no bad side effects. If it's less safe then the people responsible for the problem will be well situated to notice it.

 

Given the Congress/Senate work schedule, I doubt they would notice for awhile. :car: