TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Coal, was From our Archives: History of Standard Oil and Bell

Re: Coal, was From our Archives: History of Standard Oil and Bell

Thor Lancelot Simon (tls@panix.com)
Wed, 8 Jun 2005 06:41:51 UTC

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'd personally like to see more wide-
> spread research/development/use of solar power, especially for things
> like heating our homes in the winter. Oops, I forgot to include the
> mantra from the petroleum industry on this: "Solar power is not
> practical nor efficient." PAT]

For what it's worth, many estimates are that it takes more energy to
fuse silica to make solar panels than will be output by those panels
as electricity over their expected service lifetimes, at sea level in
most temperate climes.

However, what that analysis does ignore is that you cannot get more
local -- that is, less transmission loss -- than the energy generation
and consumption from the panels in the typical intertie solar setup.

So, if the energy to make the panels is generated in, at least, a not
terribly dirty way, and the panels aren't made far from where that
power is generated, due to transmission losses solar panels in many
locations are a serious net win.

Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com

"The inconsistency is startling, though admittedly, if consistency is
to be abandoned or transcended, there is no problem." - Noam Chomsky

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