Thought of the day circa 1931
Posted September 27th, 2007 by ianjones
“I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”
1931 Thomas Edison
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le soleil ne marche pas
Edison may have got it wrong occasionally —
(1) ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES
Walter Youngquist
http://www.hubbertpeak.com/youngquist/altenergy.htm
“Solar energy. This is a favorite possible source of future energy for many people, comforted by the thought that it is unlimited. But, quite the contrary is true. The Sun will exist for a long time, but at any given place on the Earth's surface the amount of sunlight received is limited--only so much is received. And at night, or with overcast skies, or in high latitudes where winter days are short and for months there may be no daylight at all, or available in small and low intensity quantities. Direct conversion of sunlight to electricity by solar cells is a promising technology, and already locally useful, but the amount of electricity which can be generated by that method is not great compared with demand. Because it is a low grade energy, with a low conversion efficiency (about 15%) capturing solar energy in quantity requires huge installations--many square miles. About 8 percent of the cells must be replaced each year. But the big problem is how to store significant amounts of electricity when the Sun is not available to produce it (Trainer, 1995), for example, at night. The problem remains unsolved. Because of this, solar energy cannot be used as a dependable base load. And, the immediate end product is electricity, a very limited replacement for oil. Also, adding in all the energy costs of the production and maintenance of PV (photovoltaic) installations, the net energy recovery is low (Trainer, 1995).”
(2) WHY ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES WON'T SAVE US IN THE POST-OIL AGE
http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2007/09/27/news/cover/iq_168820...
Kevin Capp
‘Heinberg adds that the photovoltaic panels used to harness the sun's energy are composed of rare elements such as gallium and indium "that are depleting pretty rapidly. There's just not that much in the earth's crust. If we're talking about replacing all the coal plants with photovoltaics, we find ourselves" coming up short.’
. . . But the GOOD news is that I think I’ve figured out how the UK can maintain its annual importation of 272,000 kg of tea in the post-oil era. I just have to get a new battery for my calculator and I’ll let you know the results. Let’s say 50 kg per canoe . . .
Best wishes,
Peter Goodchild
Solar
Peter
I don't disagree that solar energy will solve all the problems. There is not one panacea that will make life sustainable. There never has been. Unfortunately though our current system has taken oil for granted and has used this resource to address most of life's trials and opportunities. There never will be one solution to our existence just a myriad of different things which we will need to adapt and utilise. Solar is just one.
It is a shame though that people did not recognise that life is complex and that absolutes just do not exist. We are entering the age of paradox which we will have to develop very basic ways of living alongside some strange innovations which we as yet do not know. The beautiful thing about life is that we just do not know what is going to emerge. Some people have visions of technological futures others envisage a raw dystopia. Neither will come true it is going to be a mix that I believe will be very strange to our current expectations.
Luckily I don't drink tea! I hope you have your thermals ready for another cold Canadian winter.
Ian