Comments on: A Great Green Rip-Off

By: Thomas Fischbacher

Thomas Fischbacher — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 13:15:47 +0000

Vivian,

London is about the same latitude as Berlin, so the UK actually isn’t as far north as many would think. What is a problem, however, is that the sky is overcast quite often.

Take Nigel Lowthrop as an example (Hill Holt Wood). He showed that having a battery-backed 0.7 kWp amorphous Silicon PV system for domestic use is quite feasible for a family. He’s not connected to the grid.

I don’t think an approach focusing mostly on PV would make much sense for the UK, but if we at least could see to get enough PV up to separate vital radio communication services from the electic grid, that would be a good thing – and could be achieved in fairly short time.

By: Vivian

Vivian — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 08:27:15 +0000

The UK is at about the same latitude north as Tasmania is south, so having solar installed in the UK might well be very inefficient due to the very high latitude – but in Australia, and especially in my part, Queensland, it makes perfect sense. It costs lots of money to build a new power station, let alone the environmental issues. We use most of our power during the day, and having a decent fraction of produced on peoples roofs also means less land that has to be tied up building power stations, that no-one wants in their back yard anyway.
The biggest waste is how subsidies tend to just allow contractors to push their prices up. Solar panels are way too expensive in Aaustralia, (typically $7 / watt) compared to the US where they can be as little as $2 or $3 / watt – thats where the real rip off is.

By: Bob

Bob — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:20:54 +0000

read wonder and learn

By: Thomas Fischbacher

Thomas Fischbacher — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:32:26 +0000

Glen,

a friend of mine who works in the Electric power sector (mostly dealing with wind power) in Germany tells me they expect Grid Parity sometime around 2015. And actually, prices did come down quite impressively during the last years.

By: Glen Novello

Glen Novello — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:17:20 +0000

Spot on with the comment “The solar panel is the ideal modern status symbol, which signifies both wealth and moral superiority, even if it’s perfectly useless.” Compared to other renewable sources of electricity, PV is just not economically viable in most situations. Many would argue that all the rebate systems around the world are helping speed up the technological advancement of PV cells but we just aren’t seeing much improvement in the economics of them even with the rebates.

By: Joey

Joey — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:19:42 +0000

I’m glad you cant erase. I enjoyed your comment immensely. I’m suprised you didnt notice all the pence sprinkled through it all though, and the bit about how the UK isnt really an approprate place for solar panels unlike California. I’m Australian but as far as I can see most of what you wrote aplies to the UK and to some extent Aus as well. In defence of our (please dont tell me you dont get duped)actions I’d just like to point out the armies of psychology PHDs plotting, analysing our actions and replotting their tactics while we just shit fight our way through each day trying to make it all mean something. I enjoyed your comment because it was a great summary of some of the frustrating forces and it was refreshing to see it all there. The article is also a good take on the problems we face with democracy and the politicians (we deserve) who pander to whatever will make them win the popularity contest, even if it means squandering billions to make people feel smug with one hand while plundering the planet with the other. I’m feeling pretty negative about the west these days, and it doesnt help that the Chinese are brutally efficient at everything and I just cant see how we can ever maintain our control for much longer. Every time I read something like this I see us slipping further and further behind..

By: Pamela

Pamela — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:50:49 +0000

Well, I am an idiot, I do freely admit, but I dearly wish there were a way to erase. Well, hope it gives some of you a laugh, then, good for something. Cheers.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:48:42 +0000

terribly sorry, just noticed you were uk again. sorry got carried away and don’t see how to erase comment. well, that’s funny on me then, ha ha.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:43:04 +0000

ha ha ha, are we a nation of dupes ah ha ha. That was riveting but the last line ha ha ha. Have you looked around lately? OMG Ha ha ha. Let me think. GMO food that is subsidized. Nafta. The bailout. The torture. THe lying and using taxpayer money to spread it as news. The spying on us and the retroactive immunity via the patriot act. The institutionalization of everything and the criminalization of everybody. The increased spending on ha ha ‘defense’ while cutting everything else. Requiring soon that we get x-rayed at the airport (and no one says anything about the effect on our health) , the proliferation of dangerous and useless pharmaceuticals and procedures, the pretense at giving us health care (I wasn’t fooled for a second) while using it as another cash cow for corporate buddies while running the dregs of this country into the ground, the LBAM spray in California about to commence despite the people the doctors and the bees, poor bees, ha ha ha and i haven’t even gotten to Afghanistan, losing ground with rent control, Katrina and Haiti. Pleease. Are we a nation of dupes? When hadn’t you noticed?

By: JBob

JBob — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:40:48 +0000

Government meddles in economy, introduces completely irrational incentives, horrible unintended consequences ensue. Sadly, this is not news.