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Cobretti2 said:
Kasz216 said:
Also worth noting the whole "The desert can power the whole country" argument isn't actually true.

It could create enough power to power the whole country... if the whole country was right next to it.

In reality though....

A) Transference. The longer power goes on the power lines, the more energy is lost.

B) Storage. It's a lot harder to store solar energy.. and it's very inefficient at the moment.

C) Peak usage times. These are usually when the sun isn't shining. Combine this with the storage and transference issues and.....

D) Stupidity of central power location. Would we really want all the power for the country being supplied by one area, or even the majority of it?

Essentially one terrorist attack, or hell, a bored 6th grader who's good at hacking could essentially take out the entire country for a while and cause HUGE problems.


I could go on... but i mean, That alone should be pretty decent to start.


All valid points.Soar farms and even wind farms cannot be used to replace brown energy as they rely on natures elements too operate. If hydro generation is vulnerable during long drought seasons.

When people at work ask me about if they should add solar to their house. I always tell them don't expect to profit from it but rather reduce your need for the grid to supply you 100% load. With the way power prices are risiing in Australia and now the carbon tax, and the cost of solar dropping, it makes it viable cost savining, at least during the summer period.

Yeah, I mean... that's not to say it isn't useful.

It's just worth noting that green energy as of current is too unreliable for full on mainstream use.

The truth is, I don't believe there is one green power plant that independently runs a power grid.(maybe one or two hydro plants?)  They either rely on other power plants, or have traditional generators in addition to the green ones to handle times when the green energy just can't produce.

Really, if you want to be throwing green energy subsidies anywhere... it shouldn't actually be at green energy....

but as research grants for battery technology.  Giant industrial batteries.

 

 

The future of green power I think is only viable in the short term with a few massive government owned green power plants that collects power in places just like the Nevada desert and near full capacity all day every day.  Then ships batteries out to local battery powered plants.who obviously keep extra batteries in storage for when problems happen with the power plant.

 

With decomissioned coal or other fossil fuel plants sitting around in waiting to fill in whenever there is a problem with the electric batter supply.

 

Why government owned?  Largely because the lack of suitable places would be prone to a monopoly otherwise.