News from Mother: Why Solar Power is Our Best Solution

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/2007-12-01/Solar-Power-Best-Solution.aspx

News from Mother: Why Solar Power is Our Best Solution

By the Mother Earth News editors

The more we study America’s energy options, the more convinced we are that the fastest and best way to shift our energy economy from fossil fuels to clean renewable sources is to support solar power in all its forms (including wind). As Mother’s contributing editor Steve Heckeroth explains in Solar is the Solution, several powerful solar options are already up and running:

...

Photovoltaics, together with super-insulation and energy-efficient windows, are making it possible to build homes that generate all the energy they need from the solar panels on their roofs.

Concentrating solar power (CSP, which uses parabolic mirrors to focus solar heat and generate steam to drive electric generators) is already producing utility-scale power. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that installing CSP plants on 9 percent of the Southwestern deserts could produce enough electricity to meet the needs of the entire United States!

Do-it-yourselfers can easily tap the huge potential of solar energy with projects such as Gary Reysa’s innovative Solar Heating Plan for Any Home.

...

[fenriswolf]

1. we need a freakin dyson sphere

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Let's hold off on that for a while, okay?

Right now, we've got plenty of generating capacity on the surface of our planet.

[fenriswolf]

4. i know just love exagerated hyperbole

plus wanted to know who would pick up on what a dyson sphere was.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. I've coined the word "ultrabole"

(For when hyperbole just isn't enough.)

[amborin]

2. good post

[Warpy]

6. Prototype closed systems combining PVCs and

fuel cells are already up and running. A ground level battery of solar panels power the house during the day, with excess energy going to electrolysis in a shed in back of the house. During the night, hydrogen and oxygen from the day's electrolysis power the fuel cell, and that provides juice at night, returning water to the system for the next day's electrolysis. The problem with solar electricity has always been battery storage for night. This system completely gets around it.

The "solar for anybody" system described in the article is a little less practical as it's very hard to retrofit most houses here in the southwest for radiant floor heat. Most of them are slab built, with only the older houses like mine having a crawl space underneath. A radiator system would make much more sense in slab houses.