tapnagol wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2018 9:34 am
Solar panels on individual roofs is laudable. It will not however solve the problem. Pussyfooting around the issue will never succeed. To produce adequate power to generate sufficient energy for the future we will have to rethink the case for nuclear stations, whether we like it or not.
Hi Tapnagol.
I did some research a couple of years ago for an article I wrote about renewable energy. I won't reproduce it here, but the statistics and projections (- believable), were very interesting.
I checked some current publications and came up with the following.
Elon Musk, him of the Tesla, is currently investing billions in renewable energy and has made the following statement:- 'using existing technology, it would only take an area of 100 x 100 miles of solar panels to provide all the energy needed by the whole of the USA.' This technology is advancing at an incredible rate.
Musk's Solar Roof and Powerwall system are designed to provide the energy for individual premises, be they a dwelling house or large factory complex. The Powerwall is the storage batteries which will store the energy when there is no sunlight. Admittedly there are problems to be overcome with this storage element, but if anybody can solve a technical problem it is Elon Musk. This storage capacity is key to the whole project. Collecting the solar energy is not difficult and is getting steadily more efficient. Once the storage glitches are sorted out, the sky's the limit. And bear in mind that storage efficiency is like memory capacity was a few years ago; it is doubling every couple of years.
This is expected to be a viable scenario within 30 years, meaning that the national grid will become redundant.
A few facts to reinforce this scenario; in the first half of 2017, Germany's energy needs were met by renewable energy to the tune of 35%. They expect to completely phase out their nuclear generating capacity by 2022.
Believe it or not, but fossil fuel is in its death throes, at least for electricity generation. The multinational oil corporations have been busy for quite a few years already to diversify out of oil. Do not underestimate the incredible rate of technological change.
As I signed off a few days go,
An unusually optimistic JD.