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Ariz. Team Seeks Fossil-Fuel Cost Parity, Using Solar Energy Concentrators
autospa writes "A University of Arizona engineering team led by Roger Angel has designed a new type of solar concentrator that uses half the area of solar (PV) cells used by other optical devices and delivers a light output/concentration that is over 1000 times more concentrated before it even hits the cells. This comes as a result of a broader goal to make solar energy cost competitive with fossil fuels (target = 1$/W) without the 'need for government subsidization.'"
A watt is a unit of power, a watt hour is a unit of work. The goal is $1/W which means that a 1000 W system, which produces ~8KWh per day (more further south), only costs $1000, and would pay for itself in about three years, making it economically viable for most people.
Yeah, those subsidies clearly don't exist. That's why at one point Obama claimed he was going to cut $36.5 billion in them.
The sun does not shine 24hours/day... at least not on our planet.
"We in the West are pretty clean for the most part - it's getting India, China and other developing countries to clean up..."
What the hell are you smoking? Or more aptly, what planet are you living on?
A person living in China is responsible for 17% as much greenhouse-gas emissions as is a person living in the United States.
A person living in India is responsible for 8% as much greenhouse-gas emissions as a person living in the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_greenhouse_gas_emissions_per_capita
and that's not even accounting for the fact that much of the most polluting parts of the Chinese and Indian economies are devoted to supplying the West with goods.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Wow, umm no.\\
Go back and check your history. Edison LOST that argument with Tesla. Tesla wanted AC because it was better for running motors and was more efficient for long distance transmission. Edision wanted DC because its arguably safer.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Sorry, but of course their numbers look good. Take away all their outer areas and the populations who basically are barely powered by anything and you get more reasonable. Look at their air quality in their major cities. Check their rivers and the like.
Per capita and they are broke too, but I don't think its a fair number to evaluate the earning power of those with modern jobs.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
With the technology of the time, sure. Modern semiconductors have made high voltage DC-DC conversion pretty darn efficient though:
"For long-distance transmission, HVDC systems may be less expensive and suffer lower electrical losses" -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hvdc
Also, brushless DC motors have also made AC pointless (to an extent).
DRM 'manages access' in the same way that a prison 'manages freedom'