When solar energy is available in abundance why we rely on oil and other alternative?
Why can solar energy be not used everywhere? Is it very expensive to tap it?
Builder and Remodeler Blog
Why can solar energy be not used everywhere? Is it very expensive to tap it?
Builder and Remodeler Blog
It’s very expensive to install, and the oil companies want to get richer. It’s horrible that we aren’t doing more for the earth. We could do a few small things, and try bigger projects such as this one when we can, and it would make a huge difference.
First off up north solar is to expensive to be a viable alternative…especially compared to geothermal technology, however, further south lets say from about Virginia on down its an affordable alternative…We also do not want to put all our eggs into one basket so do speak when it comes to alternative energy… one more thing don’t believe the CLEAN COAL SCAM the coal propaganda is trying to put forth
Solar energy is (or was) very expensive, yes. That is changing. current costs versus long term power production are falling, however. At present, the cost is borderline.
However, solar energy alone is not a complete answer. First of all, for the production of electricity, it has some problems. The main one, of course, is tha tit doesn’t work at night. You either need a storage system (batteries) or an alternative source when it’s dark or cloudy.
There are alternatives which, combined with solar energy, can replace coal. Wind, existing hydroelectric systems, nuclear energy, and tidal power are some of them.
Myy point is, don’t fall into thhe trap of fixating on a single all-encompassing cure-all technology. We need a mix of technologies. That’s true today–we use coal, oil, nuclear, hydroelectric, and other sources–a mix of technologies to provide our energy needs. We need to change themix–eliminating fossil fuels and incorporating new technologies to replace those fossil fuels. There is no simple solution.
Now-as to oil–it is used primarily for transportation. In some ways it is ideal: its easy to store and the fuel stores the energy, whichis released when it’s burned.
There are alternatives. The one I think the most practical is to use electric cars. Current technology makes electric cars with performance and adequate range possible at prices comparable to gas-powered cars (once they are produced in large numbers as gas-powered cars are). That’s acutally a solved problem. What we do not have is a way of producing the electricity to power all those cars (without buring oil or coal, which defeats the purpose) at present. For that–go back to the first part of this post.
But we also do not have a practical infrastructure to deliver that electricity to a fleet of 150 millioncars (in the US). That is not a trivial problem. Think of what it takes to deliver a gallon of gas from an oil well to your car. Here’s the sequence. Oil well to pipeline (hundreds of miles) to refinery to another pipeline to atanker truck to an gas storage tank under a gas station and then a pump to take the gas out o fthe tank and deliver it to your car.
And remember, you need tha tinfrastructure so comprehensive that it blankets an entire CONTINENT.
You will need the samme for electric cars (or any other alternative).
I don’t mean to discourage you–this is doable. We DID do jsut that in the early 20th century to make our current system of gs-driven cars possible. But that took decades–and a hellava lot of engineering and research.
But–as to your question–we wil get solar power on a large scale in the foreseeable future. But we will need a lot more. It’s a complex problem–and a big one.
Anything that is a change for the better takes money. Just like with food you can buy the cheaper stuff that is bad for you or you can pay a little more for the healthy stuff.
In the end the healthy stuff doesnt cost as much after all. And with alternative energy if you are doing it yourself it will eventually pay for itself by you not having to buy electricity from someone else, or at least not as much of it.
Many homeowners and ever renters have cut out the middlemen electric companies by taking advantage of solar. Unfortunately the old image of hippies sitting in the dark because they ran out of juice still have misinformed people scared of alternative energies. Just the way the electric companies like it.
Solar is an abundant source. Technology to harvest it has improved dramatically. But solar is not the only great alternative energy available for the home owner. Another great one that can be easily taken advantage of is blowing in the wind. it is the wind actually, Of course I live where there is pretty much a constant breeze. but wind power along with solar is a great way to boost your supply.
If people just shop around and do a bit of research they can find just how far these technologies have come. They can be found at fairly reasonably prices also. Its not like it use to be. The technology is better, demand is rising, selections are growing, prices are reasonable, and availability is abundant.
Solar power has still not managed to provide the high outputs of energy required to power whole cities and industries,it is also very expensive to install and as yet not a ‘proven’ technology…but it’s getting there..i even heard of a ‘paint’ that can be used to collect energy from the sun, another solar panel manufacturer has a technology that continues to collect energy during the night, from diffused solar radiation… but at huge cost.
So basically it’s about cost. We already have oil pipelines and oil wells and wars to keep those industries going strong, and keep the prices low, we are conditioned not to accept alternative energy, by those powerful industries which are also heavily political, in global terms, protecting jobs and maintaining the use of existing products which sell well, or are already in the hands of most consumers.
Design is the Key, low energy use products, homes built to absorb solar heat…or disipate heat, vehicle use reduction, alternate energy sources must be very efficiently deployed in order for them to become accepted , it will, is happening, but i agree it is a stupidly slow change process.
we really do not have the battery technology in the storage the power of the sun, but we are working in developing a ion battery for this and it will be cheaper and lighter and smaller.
We rely on oil because the oil industry runs everything from govenments to auto industry to utility companies. Individuals now have the means to get out of the oil industry markets. He is a very good web site the teaches individuals to produce and use energy sources other than oil.
I think we rely on oil because we have been taught to. Now that people know the alternatives, they are trying to use them more.