Ask for Solar Thermal Power

[Joanne98]

Run time: 02:22 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHHrfsyMpHI   Posted on YouTube: July 05, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: July 07, 2009 By DU Member: Joanne98 Views on DU: 993

 
http://buildingcsp.ning.com/

[Celtic Merlin]

1. Wow. Just fukken wow.

No lecture. No complicated concepts. No technical schematics. Hell, not even one scientist's face.

Short, to the point, and jaw-droppingly simple. My cat could get this one - if I could get her to watch it. But, you know how cats are - no attention span.

Thank you, Joanne98!

Watch this one to the end, folks. It's worth the time.

Celtic Merlin
Carlinist

[1monster]

3. Okay, I have an old birdseye satellite dish (big one). Could that be converted into a solar power

collector?

Where do I find plans and materials?

[caraher]

4. The shape would be good

The hard parts are tracking the sun and what you put at the focus of the mirror.

But any parabolic dish has the right shape to concentrate the energy into a small area. You just need to reflect a different wavelength.

The thermal power obtainable is on the order of 1 kW per square meter of collection area. (This is a peak power; you'll get less if you're not pointing in the right direction, it's cloudy, etc.)

I think the "power the world" areas in the video were optimistic, especially since we use energy in so many different ways. But it is true that the fraction of the Earth we would need to carpet with solar collectors, assuming high efficiencies and placement in areas with a lot of sun, is surprisingly small.

[Turborama]

14. I've got a spare one of these...

Is it maybe a bit too flat?

[Celtic Merlin]

5. Check in with the folks at the link provided under the vid.

While conversion efficiencies aren't yet where we'd like them to be, you can (depending on your latitude) likely see plenty of benefit from one of these, and fairly cheaply - especially since you already have the basic dish foundation available.

Celtic Merlin
Carlinist

[1monster]

11. Thanks. I'll look into it.

[fascisthunter]

2. awesome

[midnight]

6. What prevents us from using this instead of oil?

[winyanstaz]

7. So lets do this already!

I have always wondered why we didn't focus more on using the sun's power.
Nuclear power plants have always scared the hell out of me and they poison the earth with the waste from them. The sun is a safe distance to have an energy source and there is no waste.

[The Doctor.]

9. That would mean someone giving up control of nations.

Can't have that.

[JohnDoe_America]

8. There is a comapny on Long Island doing this

Check out http://www.youtube.com/user/rhythminlight The technology is here today!!! Lets do this NOW

[Ernest Partridge]

10. What are we waiting for?

A year ago, I was visited by a salesman who was selling rooftop photovoltaic panels. He claimed that my southern California rooftop could supply my household electricity. Cost? About fifty thousand. That amounts to amortization in about fifteen years at constant rates, and much less on the certain assumption that in the cost of electricity will rise. Furthermore, SoCal Edison will not pay back for power added to the grid from a customer's rooftop. (I understand that there is a bill before the CA legislature to change that).

Reflecting on the cost of my computer and cell phone, I declined the offer.

Twenty-nine years ago I bought my first computer for $2000 ($5130 in 2009 dollars). It had only one program, a word processor, two floppy disk drives, and 75k memory. Also, of course, it was pre-internet. Five years ago, a cell phone cost about $400. Now the phone companies are effectively giving them away with a subscription.

As often noted, if the cost of a Rolls Royce had declined as much as the cost of computer capacity, a 1980 Rolls Royce would cost about a dollar today. And, of course, a 2009 computer was unavailable in 1980 at any price.

So I figure that it is best to wait for the technology to improve and for economies of scale to cut the costs.

The government (gasp!) has an essential role to play, as it doing today in Europe (particularly in Germany). But first we must overcome the anti-government, free market absolutism that has captivated US politics. Research, tax incentives, legislation, etc. could all speed the process, and it could do so working in tandem with private enterprise.

It is technologically possible. But politically? Given the control of Big Oil and Big Coal on the Congress, not likely.

The rest of the industrialized world will not wait to see if we change to solar.

"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."

The Online Gadfly
www.igc.org/gadfly
www.crisispapers.org

[Sirveri]

12. While I love thermal solar, we need a diversified energy infrastructure.

Just having thermal solar isn't enough. And we don't have a deployed manufacturing base or mass deployable design to start pumping these plants out. Even if we did we would still need to produce enough generating capacity to account for both our demand growth and retirement of our aging generation fleet. Conservation can help, but it will take an across the board attempt to phase out and transition to a more green based generation system. This doesn't have to be painful unless we ignore it and put it off until the last second.

[Pool Hall Ace]

13. Kick

Great video and comments here. :kick:

[Turborama]

15. Thanks, Joanne

:kick: & R

BTW solar thermal evacuated tubes give a very quick ROI.