Solar roads!

[M-technik-3]

Bring back Trains!

[george graves]

It is neither Political nor religous.

It's retarded. That's where all the retard thread go. ;)

[Kershaw]

sunburn in the winter usually is only an issue when its sunny outside. not when its currently snowing.

i dont know why thats a point here.

this idea is for the usa. it is feasible light wise for the usa. and i cant think of a hippy who would oppose this. its not ruining any new land. and its putting existing land to extra use. maybe its not feasible for iliveastonesthrowfromthenorthpoleville canada.

sometimes great ideas are not about the cost. but the impact it will have on our daily lives and our environment. i would gladly pay an extra grand on my taxes to have this.

[ForcedFirebird]

You've never left Palm Beach, have you?

If you lived in the tropics, would you really want to leave? I haven't seen snow since 1988, and don't miss it a bit (born in Mass).

[ForcedFirebird]

Bring back Trains!

Tri-Rail is still here in FL :P

[BillBrasky]

If you lived in the tropics, would you really want to leave? I haven't seen snow since 1988, and don't miss it a bit (born in Mass).

Oh, I know. I can't wait until I'm able to move south. If it never went below 70 degrees the rest of my life, I'd be the happiest man on Earth.

[Raxe]

I would love to see a running MYT engine period. I'm still extremely skeptical, and it's been 4 years already.

[briansjacobs]

if you lived in the tropics, would you really want to leave? I haven't seen snow since 1988, and don't miss it a bit (born in mass).

masshole

[parkerbink]

No It costs on the order of 1.4mill a Per Megawatt of power to build a wind turbine and about 600-800k to build with conventional fired power generation (IE Coal or Natural gas).
It takes VAST amounts of real estate to build a 800meg wind farm, Vs a few hundred acres for a Conventional fired or nuke facility. No to mention the anual cost of Maintenance of those turbines and the lease and Royalties you have to pay the guy actuly owns the ground that mill is sitting on. Just royalty payments are on the order 4k a year per turbine.

Solar, Fairly sure the sun dont shine at night, same real estate issues, where it is sunny all much of the time the hippies and greenies wont allow the arrays to be built or the transmission infrastructure to be built to get the power to market.

The only reason wind/solar is going up right now is the HUGE subsides coming form the feds put them up and maintain them. When that dries up well that will be it for that bubble industry.

If it was a economically viable means of production, for power (in the world of price controlled power) we would have been seeing utilities doing for the last 70 years.


NO again, We have over 150 years of Coal supplies, and about the same for natural Gas form just 2 major deposits that are just now starting to see development. With our modern scrubber tech, the ari coming outta the stacks at these plants is cleaner than the air going in, and getting better every day. The efficiency of these plants is also getting better and better there by extending that Coal and N/G supply even further. Not to mention we have not built a Nuke plant in 30+ years.

Also the C02 can be scrubbed outta those plants can be used in the tight gas and oil shale plays to aid in freeing resource from parent rock and pushing it to the well points.



See above.

So with this road of yours we get to enjoy the higher taxes to build it, sky high energy rates to pay for and maintain it. What do we do about making Juice when its dark???? Gooddie I am tickled pink over this thought.

Edit: With this huge over abundance (the video said we could make more than 3 times the us demand) Power should be super Uber Cheap. Think like 2 cents a KwH, thanks to the laws of supply and demand. But then we have to add the taxes, and govt fees to it and it will be even more than what it is now. Then we have the problem of the federal govt owning the entirety power generation sector, not just having limited regulatory control. In some states they have have price controls on the generation industry. This would leave it all 100% control in every regard to the govts, and eliminated any private interest outta the equation. This seems like a VERY VERY slippery fucking slope to me as well.

Have you heard of the West? Have you heard of canyons/public lands/open areas? Batteries?


For every no there are yesses, for every infrastructure issue there WERE the same issues for coal/oil/gas BEFORE they were commonplace.

What about a solution. We are at the mercy of big energy and it is time for change.

Thanks for the thoughtful response at least you use logic and information as opposed to "this is dumb".

[briansjacobs]

Oh, I know. I can't wait until I'm able to move south. If it never went below 70 degrees the rest of my life, I'd be the happiest man on Earth.

the past 3 years I have been all over the country, sometimes 4 flights a month. Nowhere else I would rather live then here.

Good weather all year (I actually like the heat)
Sebring=2hours
Daytona=3 hours
Homestead=1.5 hours
PBIR=15 minutes
Savannah=6 hours
Rd ATL=11 hours
VIR=12 hours

[mrsleeve]

got a wicked sunburn in crested butte

helps when the Snow Reflects of the Snow tough dont it.


that and I dont see the MYT making all the much torque, and seems like it would have to have a shit load of RPM to just keep it self running let alone power anything.

[mrsleeve]

Have you heard of the West? Have you heard of canyons/public lands/open areas? Batteries?

Still not a Viable means of production as if it was the Utilities would have been doing it for 70 years.

Ask Spain how that solar power thing is working out for them. Batt Tech is not there yet, and is more harmful for the environment, than conventional means of production. The hippies and greenies are stopping us from being able to have a once a year Horse back event on a pirticular chunk of Federal land, they are trying to keep hikers, and horse back riders, Mt Bikers and every other from of recreation off much of the federal land, that has been held every year since the end of WWII up here (this year the BHO admin appointee director of federal lands for this area, told us to fuck off) . While its not wide spread yet its gaining lots of traction out west. This is also very indicative of energy production, that in recent years the feds have been buying up tons of land out west that has lots of oil/gas/coal underneath it (13m ac this last spring). The govt gets a better lease/royalty rate on energy production from federal/state lands than private individual as it is now with petroleum/mineral extraction, The same would go for wind, or solar there by makeing it more expensive. Then we get into the whole Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) thing, which is a whole different thread

If the private utilities do put up some of the capital to do this road thing, any and all savings that may be realized by ease and volume of production would be negated by the lease and royalties to be paid on use of the State/fed owned ROW for the road. SO the power itself would as much or more than conventional generation, and the huge cost of subsides via our tax dollars would give it nice double whammy to OUR wallets.

Its in the enviro nuts that run our govt's best interests to make Coal/NG (and to a certain degree Nuke) artificially expensive to produce power from. Its the only way that Wind/Solar/wave etc... can be economically competitive, hence why they have tried several times for the Cap and trade bill, then when the public caught on to that they changed the name to "The American Power Act" Same damm bill. Still got no traction, so now they are still trying to get a scaled back version through (afaik just minus some of the pork).

For every no there are yesses, for every infrastructure issue there WERE the same issues for coal/oil/gas BEFORE they were commonplace.

I will admit its a neat and innovative idea, all be it impractical. Yes I know that but what I was referring to was the solar arrays that the hippies have been screaming to be put up to save the earth. Another group of Hippies petitioned to 1: to stop the build, and 2:to stop the infrastructure being built out into the desert to bring the power to market from arrays that were already going/gone up. Because off some mouse, and impact on the environment.

What about a solution. We are at the mercy of big energy and it is time for change.

How would this change that?? Would either still be under the thumb of the utility, or the govt, or any combination there of, just like we are now. They have the power and own the means of producing it, we are the consumers of that power, it make no a shit of difference where it comes from other than how much the means of production costs, thus how much you have to pay for it.

Really many of the issues with "being at the mercy of Big energy" has to do with govt interference and meddling. With oil, its taxes, taxes, taxes, taxes, and more taxes. Taxes make up the bulk of the cost of motor fuel and good chunk of other fuels is taxes as well.

With the power generation sector in many places the state has/had regulated the price they could charge for a KwH. This put the screws to the utilities and in many cases operated in the red for long periods, when the Fed EPA or State DEP/DEQ mandated newer pollution controls and other infrastructure up grades. Thus the service you receive is crap, because they are running on a bare bones, razor thin line due to govt interference, this is why many utilities branched out into NG and other forms of energy and industry. Or several communities got together, with bond proposals, to pay for and build their own local power company Co-Op's.

Thanks for the thoughtful response at least you use logic and information as opposed to "this is dumb".

This is something I take to heart, I am no means a Greeine and feel that there has to be a voice of reason to counter the idealism that is the GREEN movement. petrol/fossil resources are not going anywhere for a very very very long time and will be a primary fuel source till long after we are dead, our grand kids may see it end as primary fuel source

Hey I am all for doing something and developing alternative tech, But lets not step on our dick in the process, by ignoring the sources we have now. This is the proverbial step over a dollar to pick up a dime scenario. Its a hell of Idea I will give you that, and maybe in 10-20-30 years we will have a better means of execution for this that can be implemented for minimal cost with in current road building tech, and incorporate the distribution infrastructure with in that road as well. I see thermal transfer of some kind as a MUCH better way to go about this than conventional solar cell.

[ForcedFirebird]

helps when the Snow Reflects of the Snow tough dont it.


that and I dont see the MYT making all the much torque, and seems like it would have to have a shit load of RPM to just keep it self running let alone power anything.

Well, good sir, you know RPM=tq ;)

The MYT is often treated worse than the Wankel ever was, yet once into production, it (Wankel) was actually classified as an engine with twice the displacement of a conventional pushrod/ohc motor solely because it produced more power with slightly more oil consumption. Imagine 1.5 power strokes per crank rotation, magnified.

[Raxe]

Well, good sir, you know RPM=tq ;)

Not in the real world.

[HiTheNameIsBJ]

Bring back Trains!