From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net)
Date: Tue Aug 26 2003 - 00:26:14 MDT
--- Spudboy100@aol.com wrote:
> Or have I missed your reasoning on this account? We
> have lots of technical
> demonstration devices; yet none that I have heard of
> are anywhere near
> affordable
You're right about the way things are right now,
including current prices. If oil, gas, and coal were
not so cheap relative to renewable sources, then
renewable sources would be far more popular.
There are two obvious ways to address this: raise the
price of fossil fuels, or lower the price of
renewables. Raising the price has its merits, and a
mass consumption of the cheap supply (thus naturally
raising prices) is already underway, but this results
in release of large volumes of environmentally less
than beneficial gases. Plus, the rate does not seem
able to keep up with advancing technology, and
attempts to deliberately drastically increase the
consumption rate without getting useful work out of
the fuel, such as conducted a bit over a decade ago in
Kuwait, are extremely unpopular (for good reason).
Which leaves us with options for making renewables
much cheaper much faster. The price of renewables is
falling relative to non-renewables, but if one were
inclined to devote one's working efforts towards this,
the solar panel manufacturing and installing business
is not the bleakest industry in the world right now,
especially after the northeastern US's recent
blackout. More competition means cheaper prices
faster. There are other ways, of course, including
such small efforts as merely purchasing solar power
oneself. (Half of my roof has solar panels, which -
with a few other measures that were going to happen
regardless - cut my house's power bill from $400/month
to about $4/month. I'd have to check the numbers, but
it is possible the system may have paid for itself
already; we had it installed a few months after
California's blackouts.)
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