These systems are called "pump storage". They usually pump the water at night when there is very little load and then run them during the day. So yeah that is a possible solution. But again there are always trade offs. One of the advantages they were talking about in the article was that it would not have to rely on water. So yeah there are always trade-offs. And yeah that solar plant looks kinda cool. Oh and as far as the energy cost for the solar he wasn't able to share that with me because it was proprietary information. But those were additional costs of bringing unscheduled generators online and things like that. So that cost was on top of the/MWh cost of the wind. I would provide the number if I could. Sorry =(
I did read the article. I maybe did not stress enough that my main point was that there are always hidden costs that they don't tell you about in the article. So yes I realize that the disadvantage I mentioned is not applicable to the solution in the article, but there are always hidden costs. So it is a little premature to say that this will "save our species" without having taken these kinds of things into account. I apologize for not making my point clear enough.
Ok so here is the difficulty that the world is having. We want cheap renewable energy so bad that we jump on the band wagon with anything we think might work. Well here's a news flash: NOTHING IS FREE!!
I am an Electrical Engineer and I work in the field of Power Systems. In Colorado we have enough wind banks to take care of over 30% of our power consumption if they are all running. Well there is a problem with that...wind DIES occasionally. So unless you want your lights to flicker all day and your computer to constantly shut down because it can't stay on with the power fluctuations, we have to put in other sources of power. Coal and Nuclear can't be turned on and off that fast, so really the only solution is natural gas turbines. These are far more expensive than coal running around $55/MWh. So yeah wind and this new solar thermal are down as low as 6 cents. But guess what happens when a cloud comes over. Either your lights flicker or another generator has to come on to compensate.
I was discussing this problem with a dispatcher in the local power company. He said that while wind power was running about $6/MWh, it cost them a total of 1.2 Million dollars in JANUARY to compensate for wind lost. That is 1 month worth of cost.
So here is the deal, if you want to go around proclaiming that you have solved all the world's problems with a $0.06/MWh generator, you have to include the $1.2M/month cost that comes along with it. If you don't understand the complexity of the power generation industry then don't pretend like you do.
I hate my label as I'd never tell a non-Christian to stop swearing or stop drinking or stop screwing around or stop watching porn. I'd never use government or a nanny group to further a Christian agenda.
Dude!! I totally agree. I picture a parent and a child. Child needs to clean their room. Right when child is about to start cleaning their room the parent walks in and says "you need to clean your room!". What is the child going to do? Especially if the child knows that the parent's room is dirty? NOT clean the room obviously. Basic reverse psychology, but it is fundamental to the Christian walk as well.
I get sooo tired of Christians that think they can change the world by telling people that they are wrong and need to change!! We are not called as Christians to rule it over people like that. We are called to be "in the world but not of it". That doesn't mean we need to go around telling people to stop doing what they are doing. It means that we need to be hanging out with the people who are drinking and watching porn, but to live our own lives fundamentally different. Ten times more people will respond to that than to us trying to tell them what to do.
We Christians are far from perfect, so we need to stop pretending like we are and live as the redeemed instead of the perfect.
All I have to say is that if other people can't handle the utter awesomeness that is me in being a geek, then they don't get to know how cool I am. They are the ones missing out so it's their problem.
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These systems are called "pump storage". They usually pump the water at night when there is very little load and then run them during the day. So yeah that is a possible solution. But again there are always trade offs. One of the advantages they were talking about in the article was that it would not have to rely on water. So yeah there are always trade-offs. And yeah that solar plant looks kinda cool. Oh and as far as the energy cost for the solar he wasn't able to share that with me because it was proprietary information. But those were additional costs of bringing unscheduled generators online and things like that. So that cost was on top of the /MWh cost of the wind. I would provide the number if I could. Sorry =(
I did read the article. I maybe did not stress enough that my main point was that there are always hidden costs that they don't tell you about in the article. So yes I realize that the disadvantage I mentioned is not applicable to the solution in the article, but there are always hidden costs. So it is a little premature to say that this will "save our species" without having taken these kinds of things into account. I apologize for not making my point clear enough.
Ok so here is the difficulty that the world is having. We want cheap renewable energy so bad that we jump on the band wagon with anything we think might work. Well here's a news flash: NOTHING IS FREE!! I am an Electrical Engineer and I work in the field of Power Systems. In Colorado we have enough wind banks to take care of over 30% of our power consumption if they are all running. Well there is a problem with that...wind DIES occasionally. So unless you want your lights to flicker all day and your computer to constantly shut down because it can't stay on with the power fluctuations, we have to put in other sources of power. Coal and Nuclear can't be turned on and off that fast, so really the only solution is natural gas turbines. These are far more expensive than coal running around $55/MWh. So yeah wind and this new solar thermal are down as low as 6 cents. But guess what happens when a cloud comes over. Either your lights flicker or another generator has to come on to compensate. I was discussing this problem with a dispatcher in the local power company. He said that while wind power was running about $6/MWh, it cost them a total of 1.2 Million dollars in JANUARY to compensate for wind lost. That is 1 month worth of cost. So here is the deal, if you want to go around proclaiming that you have solved all the world's problems with a $0.06/MWh generator, you have to include the $1.2M/month cost that comes along with it. If you don't understand the complexity of the power generation industry then don't pretend like you do.
I hate my label as I'd never tell a non-Christian to stop swearing or stop drinking or stop screwing around or stop watching porn. I'd never use government or a nanny group to further a Christian agenda.
Dude!! I totally agree. I picture a parent and a child. Child needs to clean their room. Right when child is about to start cleaning their room the parent walks in and says "you need to clean your room!". What is the child going to do? Especially if the child knows that the parent's room is dirty? NOT clean the room obviously. Basic reverse psychology, but it is fundamental to the Christian walk as well.
I get sooo tired of Christians that think they can change the world by telling people that they are wrong and need to change!! We are not called as Christians to rule it over people like that. We are called to be "in the world but not of it". That doesn't mean we need to go around telling people to stop doing what they are doing. It means that we need to be hanging out with the people who are drinking and watching porn, but to live our own lives fundamentally different. Ten times more people will respond to that than to us trying to tell them what to do.
We Christians are far from perfect, so we need to stop pretending like we are and live as the redeemed instead of the perfect.
All I have to say is that if other people can't handle the utter awesomeness that is me in being a geek, then they don't get to know how cool I am. They are the ones missing out so it's their problem.