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To: Wonder Warthog

Actually I do but that is neither here nor there. I am not saying that this isn’t going to help or isn’t a worthy effort to keep exploring and working on. To the contrary I believe that we should be pursuing all sorts of different technologies. Right now the max output of any of the installed CSPs is 350 MW. That is a nice sized plant. It is in Mohave where there is lots of land and lots of sun.

A lot of the smaller plants help in areas where there is no other infrastructure. That’’s not a bad thing. I was addressing my remarks to the Canadian ( and Americans) who think that this is the be all and end all. There are problems that must be overcome with the technology but I believe that is doable.

There are many ongoing efforts to research and develop many new ideas. There is less effort to develop things such as coal ( since the current administration wants to close basically all coal down) and nuclear which also give us independence from the Middle East. Europe learned this long ago.


57 posted on 09/16/2009 12:51:41 PM PDT by the long march
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To: the long march
I was addressing my remarks to the Canadian ( and Americans) who think that this is the be all and end all.

OK, now you're making stuff up, cuz I never said that. I believe I specifically used the word "augment" and also mentioned its definite limitations, but I guess with all your attacks you were too busy to notice that.


59 posted on 09/16/2009 2:17:12 PM PDT by canuck_conservative (Obama - The "Big Owe")
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To: the long march
And my point is that it is POSSIBLE for solar to do the whole job, without need for fossil fuel backup. Is it the BEST alternative, probably not. My own preference would be full bore nuclear fission, including spend fuel reprocessing and breeder reactors. But if we are NOT allowed to do that, solar CAN pick up the whole ball of wax. It won't be cheap, but it CAN be done, and with technology available today.

The real "missing ingredient" for solar thermal is a market size sufficient to justify the capital investment in a fully automated mass production facility for mirrors/concentrators. Once that point is reached, the price of the total system will drop significantly. The rest of the package is pretty much "off the shelf". A pot of thermal mass is NOT rocket science.

68 posted on 09/17/2009 8:18:07 AM PDT by Wonder Warthog ( The Hog of Steel)
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