Would that be what we know out here as the Salt Cedar...a/k/a/ Tamarisk?
They're horrendously ugly and suck up tons of deep water. 
Posted on 02/10/2006 11:18:12 PM PST by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK (Reuters) - People will soon cool their homes with power from the searing desert sun, according to companies investing in a little-used solar technology.
Deserts are becoming hot spots for solar thermal power in which futuristic troughs concentrate the sun's rays and create steam to run power-producing turbines at power plants. It is a different technology than rooftop solar panels.
Tiny experimental plants built in the 1980s in California ran into problems when energy prices dropped.
But as oil, natural gas and electricity costs soar, companies are racing to build commercial solar thermal plants that are the size of conventional power plants.
"Now the industry starts again," said Burghard von Westerholt, head of thermal solar for private German specialty glass company SCHOTT.
Mandatory caps and potential limits on emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels have also promoted the new technology, industry officials said.
Utah-based International Automated Systems Inc. on Thursday signed an agreement to install a $150 million, 100-megawatt power plant for Solar Renewable Energy in Nevada.
And North Carolina based-Solargenix, in which Spanish building and services company Acciona SA is buying a 55 percent stake, will break ground over the weekend on a 64 MW, $100 million solar thermal plant called Nevada Solar One. The company said it will be the first U.S. commercial solar thermal plant, coming on line in 2007.
TINY, BUT GROWING
Currently, all the types of solar energy provide only about 1 percent of U.S. power. One hurdle is price. Solar thermal at present costs about 12 to 15 cents per kilowatt hour, Westerholt said, compared with natural gas power which costs 10 cents per KWH.
But as production grows, solar companies expect costs to slip to 8 cents per KHW in five years.
SCHOTT will provide components for at least one 50 MW plant per year in the U.S. Southwest deserts every year until 2010, said Westerholt.
He said the region's intense sun and growing population make it ideal. SCHOTT plans to open a manufacturing center in the United States that would provide 100 jobs, he said.
And solar thermal is growing globally.
A white paper produced by environmental group Greenpeace, the International Energy Agency's SolarPACES, and the European Solar Thermal Industry Association, claims that by 2040 solar power could satisfy more than 5 percent of the world's electricity demand. The best places for it are Australia, the United States, Spain, the Middle East and North Africa, which could export power from the sun to Europe on high-tech power lines, the report said.
Westerholt said SCHOTT will provide parts for 500 MW of solar thermal in Spain by 2010.
Fred Mayes, an alternative energy expert at the U.S. Energy Information Administration, said that solar thermal is pricey compared with wind energy and fuel from biomass. But it does have advantages, he said.
Power from the desert sun is more reliable than wind power during the day -- the time of peak prices. And unlike biomass fuels, it emits no greenhouse gases.
Rhone Resch, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Solar Energy Industries Association, said the technology is ideal for power in the U.S. West where supply is tight and prices are high. "(Utilities) are negligent to their ratepayers if they are not considering building a concentrating solar plant in the next five years."
Nevada Solar One will provide power to Nevada Power, a subsidiary of Sierra Pacific. At least one other U.S. utility is interested. A PG&E spokeswoman told Reuters it is in talks with companies about buying power from solar thermal plants.
They could have at least mentioned that nuclear works better at night.
They'll just run it off of moonlight then.
Nuclear power will be a lot better prospect once one of those Western states agrees to let the rest of the country store our spent fuel in their state underground. As I understand it they worry that a major earthquake could cause leakage into the ground water.
Environmentalists: "Sure, we're for 'solar' power and 'wind' power, but don't you dare mar our fragile desert ecosystems with evil power plants. And take down those ugly bird-killing windmills, too!"
don't believe everything you read,
150 MW is the sum of the 140 MW 'backup' gas powered
generator, plus the output of the
solar 10 MW main generator.
or something like that,
Yes, ha.ha.ha.
This is part of the unavoidable.
This is part of the new world.
Solar/Steam plants in large desert enclaves, all over the world.
Beaming energy off the upper layers of the atmosphere, just like we do radio waves now.
We could do this around the north pole. 23 hours of daylight is being ignored.
The technology is available.
California could use the Death Valley area to provide power-generating stations that would be virtually out of sight.
Whoops, I forgot. There is probably a lizzard or rat out there that might go extinct if humans were allowed within 50 miles of it.
I used to be like you, living on the East coast and thinking of the rest of the country as "those Western states". I've heard that even people in the federal government talk about getting rid of nuclear waste "out west". But once you actually live in one of those western states, the idea of being a nuclear fuel dump for the rest of the country doesn't look so attractive.
There are probably lots of lizards and rats that would thrive in the shade of the cells, be happy for a square foot of shade out of the sun...
did you ever notice that most of the 'endangered' critters that trigger 'no growth' lawsuits by the moonbat greenies are always in the West?
Apparently there aren't any spiders, minnows or bugs that need protection in the Eastern part of the country?
Two points - first, we should learn to exploit energy where it presents itself.
And second, try to amortize the cost of nuclear when the waste has to be stored for 10,000 years (and the Pyramids are half that age).
Last I checked, the Snail Darter was in the Tennesseee River basin (not that I agree with the Endangered Species Act).
Of course you know that when these solar plants become effective, the Environmental Nazis will complain about how they threaten some spider or turtle. Or how they are heating up the atmosphere. The end result is that the Environmentalist want us to live in caves, or just kill ourselves.
Another big lie is about nuclear waste. The waste need to provide energy for a family of four or 20 years would fit in a shoe box. If it is recycled the waste would be reduced to a the size of a cigarette pack. ALSO, because of half-life decay it is only really dangerous to living things for about 20 years. After that the radioactivity drops to background levels.
I believe that was the first time the environuts used their power to save a animal from extinction. It caused such a ruckus in the MSM that I don't think they have used the EPA in the East very much if at all.
Can you think of any? I can name several in Texas including:
1. a cave-residing spider (stopping development in the Hill country outside of San Antonio)
2. some snail darters in a San Marcos spring (which had completely dried up in the 50s)to 'protect' the spring, causing the underground water supply of several million people to be limited. Cost around 5 billion for those 23 minnows to be protected.
3.stopping farmers/ranchers from removing cedar trees from their land, a tree which is not native to Texas and migrated from Mexico and robs the soil of needed water to protect a bird which only nests in that certain tree which is not native to Texas but migrated north from Mexico along with the tree in the last century.
Apparently there aren't any spiders, minnows or bugs that need protection in the Eastern part of the country?
Would that be what we know out here as the Salt Cedar...a/k/a/ Tamarisk?
They're horrendously ugly and suck up tons of deep water.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.