europe starting to build solar thermal power stations

[Outlaw Yogi]

Like I said, you know nothing about this topic, as illustrated by confusion between photo voltaics and poly vinyl chrloride, two completely unrelated products. Some of your comments demonstrate a complete lack of comprehension of the mateial you googled.
What I know about the costs and capacities/limitations comes from personal experience.
My own crude 12 volt set up cost less than $1000. Its good for running LED lights, charging mobile phone, powering a 12 volt telly and running a small compressor. No regulator or inverter.
The most expensive item was swapping an unregistered 250cc $800 bike for a S/H 3 way fridge, which I can't run for more than 3 hours currently. Need more panels and batteries.

A former friend/associate paid $4,000 for a S/H system, she'd been told it was worth $12,000 and believed it was.
She let a parasite use it on her 2nd property, he tried to sell the panels, we took them to prevent them vanishing, he forced his way into her house for stand over purposes, I put him in Gin Gin hospital and spent 10 months on trial.
When I priced the parts to reproduce her system, I came up with a figure of $4,000, for new parts.
Back then $12,000 was the typical minimum required to run an average home.
Within last couple of years hear figures of $17,000.

An anecdote I can use, because I know the details, is probably the best example I know of. A friend/neighbor quoted $25,000 to hook upto mains power, but reduced if several other neighbors including myself hook up beforehand through a rebate scheme, said bugger that, bought 6 X 20 volt PV panels @ $350 each [$2,100], inverter for $2,500 [$4,600] and a mini wind turbine for $1,200 [$5,800]. Run drills ect no problem.
With this he powers lights, sat TV, sat serviced computer, and 12 volt fidge + 12 volt freezer (cost over $2,000 to build).
Hot water uses solar thermal panels or the wood fired donkey, washing machine runs off diesel generator.

So the outlay for this household of 2 was $7,800.

Seriously, this $80,000 figure you use seems quite ridiculous to someone who's tinkered and checked prices from the solar shops. Quite a few solar shops around here.

[mellie]

Look Yogi, go buy yourself some thermal underwear and shit yourself some organic fuel... face it, Teletubbie solar power has it's limitations, we need something affordable, practical and reliable.

I like the sound of a multifaceted approach, hydro, wind, solar, and nuclear, so long as the nuclear- plant is maintained and safely regulated unlike Japan's neglected reactors which for some strange reason they decided to build right next to an active volcano.

I think fat-boy fried their brains... why else did they fail to comply with international nuclear standards and recommendations when first alerted to their impending doom?

Was it deliberate?

Their way of sabotaging public perception concerning a nuclear alternative?

Lets face it, they ignored numerous warnings from the worlds very best authorities, well before tragedy struck.

Human error -vrs- human negligence, intentional or otherwise.

Their government should be fined for dismissing warnings from our International nuclear watchdogs.

Of course, you will get some neurotics who will attempt to use Japan's own negligence to justify our not considering a nuclear alternative, but really, if say someone had a car accident because they refused to repair their car after being alerted to numerous mechanical faults by a qualified mechanic, would we be so willing to blame/rule-out the car, not the idiot who refused to have it repaired despite their being warned?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -show.html

How ridiculous, but that's the irrational left for you.



_______________

Ps, I think coals fine for now, what's the rush, is the sky warming or falling again?

[Outlaw Yogi]

Nuke industry has always been slap happy she'll be right, everywhere they've gone. And nuke sychophants have spruiked the imaginary virtues and sanctioned the dodgey practices this industry routinely employs.


NIRS Calls for Permanent Shutdown of 23 US General Electric Mark-I Reactors - Same Design as Fukushima
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/03/22-20

“For nearly 40 years, top U.S. safety officials at the Atomic Energy Commission and later the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have warned about the safety shortcomings of the GE Mark I design,” said Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS. “A 1972 recommendation that the U.S. stop licensing the design was accepted on technical grounds but denied by the AEC’s top safety official, Joseph Hendrie, because it ‘could very well be the end of nuclear power.’ In 1986 Harold Denton, then the top safety official at the NRC, warned that Mark I containments have a 90% probability of failing under accident conditions.”

Despite these warnings, the NRC has not only allowed these reactors to continue operating, 21 of the 23 already have received license renewals to operate an additional 20 years, including the highly controversial Vermont Yankee reactor yesterday. There was no examination of the fundamental design flaws during the renewal application process for any of these 21 reactors, as the issue is considered generic and only site-specific issues are allowed to be heard in the license renewal process.