Rave

Is there hope is there for Solar,wind...

Posted 32 months ago|7 comments|472 views

TAGS

Wave power , Wind Power , Swapsol , Natural Gas , Solar Energy

Written by

jon00052

Just read this quote on http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Wind-Power-Currently-006-Per-twst-4092092184.html?x=0&.v=1

"Wind Power Currently $0.06 Per KiloWatt Hour, Southern California Solar Power At $0.21 To $0.22/kWh: Natural Gas Must Double In Price For Cost Parity Without Government Subsidy According To Industry Expert"

This being the case and to obtain cost parity with power generated from NG, NG prices have to increase $3 to $4's. IMHO, it is unreasonable to expect gas prices to increase much at all, when there are so many new sources for NG & supplements for NG. Add to that Algae Bio fuels, possible fusion power, zeropoint energy and other energy sources. One has only to surf the net to descover for themselves just how many new sources and new plans to developed huge old unused sour gas, oil and methane hydrate fields.

It is little wonder to me that my blog comments are being met with few supporting bloggers when considering these facts. I often encounter people that are excited about their pet project only to have them go silent very quickly. It seems like the only ones that stay excited are Swapsol investors and people that will benefit from SWAP processes in some way or another.

So what hope is there for Solar,wind, geothermal, sea current/wave and other simular technologies?

Anyone have any ideas to keep good sources of clean energy alive and growing??

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Altruist
Eugene, OR

32 months ago: Currently we spend $ 72 billion in subsidies for fossil fuels compared to $ 29 billion for alternative energy and of that $ 16 billion goes to corn ethanol which is a terrible idea. We need to change our priorities.
When you talk about fuel prices, and about coal being the cheapest, you are not talking about the actual environmental cost. You aren't talking about the acid rain, the mercury that is in the water, the health costs of breathing contaminated air, or the effect on global warming.
Admittedly Natural gas is half as dirty as coal but it still produces CO2.
If there is a carbon cap or better still a carbon tax, the prices of fossil fuels would better reflect the actual environmental prices of these fossil fuels.
The article said the current price of N.G was $ 2.96 /MMBtu, but according to the the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the natural gas futures contract for October delivery increased by 10 cents to $3.860 per MMBtu.
Volatility of fuel prices and the almost certainty of increases, is difficult for energy planners to deal with, but alternative energy can be counted on to go down.
PS. most bloggers don't want to take part in a commercial for someone's product. That is why your posts elicit so few responses.
Making Sour N.G cleaner is admirable, but it is no panacea.

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jon00052

32 months ago: Scotmanster: Electric cars are part of the answer, we add 18 lbs of CO2 to the air with every galon of gasolene we use. Using electricity as a transportation fuel we can at least capture CO2 and put it to good use WITHOUT releasing it into the atmosphere.

As for funding, the only "hard" part is getting the "Powers that Be" to invest our tax dollars in good solutions. They did not hesitate to spend Billions on "clunkers for cash".

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jon00052

32 months ago: Altruist: Thanks for the guidance, I it is difficult to separate Commercial from Environmental benefits. I invested first for the Environmental benefits. It was later that the Economic benefits started to become clearer.
The processes are more than an Environmental solution they offer so much more. The more one looks the more one realizes that the solutions are not only practical to implement but benefit the Environment in many many ways while creating jobs across all areas of the economy. It is not just low cost energy that will create more jobs. The SWAP processes create markets for CO2 AND turns waste and polution into valuable materials while sparing our Environment.

Panacea, maybe not, real solutions...Certainly!

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jon00052

32 months ago: Being as realistic as practically possible, I asked the question "Is there hope" out of the thought that we maybe driving environmentally friendly energy sources out of the realm of economical feasibility.

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sixholdens

32 months ago: There is hope. As long as there are fossil fuels and rich people who can stay rich by selling them at the pump, we will not see wide spread aceptance, expecially if they keep the prices so dang high!

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jon00052

32 months ago: I agree there is hope as long as people will support the effort to build and develop Solar and Wind power. But given the known short falls in reliability of each and potentially zero emissions of fossil energy sources, the lower future cost of energy from fossil AND the fact that the existing power plants (even the oldest) could economically be reused with the greater efficiency of the new processes.

Pile on top of that these facts:

The byproducts of the new processes are of high value AND ARE what would have been the pollution waste products of the existing processes (CO2,gob piles and flyash ect..).

It has been stated that the cost of generating electricity could be less than zero! The immense impact on the economy is still being calculated. Every aspect of our world will feel the beneficial effect of lower cost energy while improving the Environment.

Electric cars for one will be the normal preferred form of transportation. Just think zero tailpipe emissions, we can eliminate the 18 lbs of CO2 generated per gallon of gasoline!
The cars could be made from the byproducts!

The list just goes on and on!

How can anyone deny that the environmental benefits alone far out weigh any issues that anyone could have.

Considering this information, I ask again. Is there any hope for Solar and Wind Power?

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