Solar Thermal is Dead

jumper

suspicious

I suspect that Duke financed this with ratepayer money to help meet renewable mandates.

Bob is correct that solar water heating is difficult anytime freezing is possible.



The video is also suspicious in that panels were ground level. Was that elevated tank for storage?

kcopp

Here is another HUGE project.....

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/15/world-largest-solar-plant-burning-up-birds-in-nevada-desert/?intcmp=latestnews

140,000 home w/ electric power.

Eastman

solar is more dead

"dozens of birds" really isn't that unusual. Artificial night illumination causes the same problem.



Nevertheless, advanced nuclear is the way forward for baseload.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

DEAD??

This new Solar plant is the largest in the world, meanwhile there hasn't been a new nuclear plant built here in the states in decades, have you already forgotten about all that nuclear material being released in Japan?



Thanks, Bob Gagnon

Eastman

yes, dead

Radiation is natural, you are being bombarded with it continuously. Solar is radiation too. The issue is quantity. Japan's environment will benefit in the long haul dual to the exclusion zone. People cause much more harm to the environment than radiation.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Nuclear Exclusion Zone

In Chernybol there are still 1,000 sq miles of land that cannot be inhabited, an in Japan 156,000 people are not allowed to go back to their homes, it's hard to imagine Solar causing damage like this. And if Solar Thermal is dead why did they just build the biggest solar thermal plant in the world?



Thanks, Bob Gagnon

Eastman

However...

Let me temper my optimism. Current nuclear is tremendously wasteful and moderately dangerous. But, it's wrong to brand all nuclear technology in this light. Just like chemistry, biology, mechanics, etc, there are areas of nuclear that are essential, safe, and promote the wishes of mankind.

Eastman

what do you mean by "cannot be inhabited"

People are all over the area, they just don't live there 24/7. These areas are quickly becoming recognized as natural parks.



Grid level solar thermal is an excellent power source. Residential typically does not warrant the investment necessary for conversion to electric, and this dramatically reduces it's potential.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Uninhabitable

Means you cannot live there, maybe you can put on a radiation proof suit and go through the area temporarily, but people who lived there are not allowed to return to their homes. Wikipedia says "The exclusion zones purpose is to restrict access to hazardous areas, reduce the spread of radiological contamination, and to conduct radiological and ecological monitoring activities. Today the exclusion zone is one of the most radioactively contaminated areas in the world" that doesn't sound like a park to me, and I don't see how this area will be better off in the long run, how did you come to those conclusions?



Thanks, Bob Gagnon

jumper

different animal

World of difference between common solar collectors and machinery that concentrates sunshine to produce high temperatures like those big solar thermal electric projects. You can buy parabolic trough type. Now you have to decide what to do with that high grade energy. Seems to me that conventional energy is so inexpensive in North America is why we don't see solar thermal being widely installed.



I would suppose that concentrated solar thermal would be most practical in remote places where diesel and heating fuel are expensive.

SWEI

CST

makes sense with a year-round load that requires higher temperatures.  Frito-Lay uses it to fry Sun Chips http://tonyseba.com/industrial-scale-solar/sunchips-are-now-made-with-the-sun/

Dragline

" don't do diddly in the winter"...???

Horse-s**t.

when I got to that sentence I stopped reading. Ive got a 2 panel system w/ 2nd hand inefficient panels made in the 70's & I make 80 gallons of 130-135 degree water in the dead-**** of a 0 degree January day.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Solar Hot Water

Couldn't agree more Dragline, I have similar performance with my solar domestic hot water system, but have even much better collection at the lower temperatures, with my solar space heating collectors.The industry has been stuck too long "Solar Domestic Water Heating" for too long, we have to collect lower temperature hot water during the heating season, to make solar hot water more efficient.



Thanks, Bob Gagnon

jumper

how big is yours?

Dragline, how large are your solar collectors? How much money do you figure you're saving with your solar thermal collectors?

Jack

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating said:

Upstate New York

I don't see shy it wouldn't work where you are, here in Massachusetts on the New Hampshire border we get temps down to below zero and Solar Thermal works great here. I get 100% of my domestic hot water and about 30% - 40% of my heating from my solar hot water panels.



Thanks, Bob Gagnon

Bob, I grew up in the Elmira/Ithaca area of NY. I didn't get out of that area much when I was young. Once I got out of there I was stunned by the amount of sunshine in other parts of the world. It is called "Lake affect" and living between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic you have an amazing amount to gray days. I guess that is why I was so enthusiastic when I had a solar business in the Napa Valley. What a change.