Why not

[Geronimo]

I'll wait to see what MtG thinks of viability of each of these ideas.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
I think solar and wind is the only way to go.

That's not a good idea. Sometimes it's a cloudy day and sometimes it isn't windy. Solar and wind have a niche place to pay but they'll never be able to replace base load power which is completely scalable to demand with in minutes and which is extremely reliable rain or shine or even if there isn't wind.

BTW the underwater windmill and even buoys which bob up and down with the tide & waves idea have both been tried. The problem is sea creatures love to wiggle their ways into the maving parts and jam things up. Seaweed, barnacles, etc... have to be regularly removed all the time which just drives up costs and makes them uncompetitive.

The idea of producing the entire country's power supply in Nevada is so retarded that I can only guess the person proposing it knows nothing about science. The electrical loses due to resistance in the lines would be astronomical. Most power plants need to be relatively close to their end users or else transition loses dramatically increase costs. Solar is by far the most expensive energy production source and this is after 50 years of massive subsidies and improvements so it is unlikely we'll see anything but incremental improvements for such a mature technology instead of any sort of revolutionary advance.

There is a place for solar and wind power; in remote locations, very windy mountain passes, or exceptionally sunny locations where people can afford to pay 200%-300% the going rate for electricity. Geothermal is great (cost effective, no green house gas production) but is limited to a few locations with a high geothermal gradient. Cost to benefit wise hydroelectric power is our absolute best option ever but we have pretty much damed every river we can. If we want massive amounts of reliable base load power generated at a affordable rate without producing green house gases then we really only have one option.

Nuclear power.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Re: Why not

Originally posted by Will9
Earlier today I watched a show on alternative energy. It said solar pawer plant in the 1/10 the size of Nevada could power the entire United States if placed in place with stong enough sunlight. Also, we could all our power from wind, but it would take alot and 20% is the current goal. Also Britain could power itself from what are basiclly wind mills underwater in the North Sea. also, 17% of the world's people could use geothermal energy especially in southern Europe and the Asian part of the Ring oif Fire.

With all this potential, why has so little been done?

Because what the show stated was simplistic bull**** on so many levels it would take me practically a book to list them all.

You can't just abstractly dump a power plant somewhere and magically have electricity everywhere people want it, when they want it.

One quickie re geothermal: There is a huge difference between geothermal resources and useable geothermal resources. Among other things, you have to screen for rocks and small solids.

I've worked on geothermal test wells where there were so many corrosives (high temperature and high pressure really juice up corrosion from ISO conditions ) that high-grade stainless steel separator screens (to trap small rocks and large particles) were turned so heavily corroded within 24 hours that you could push your hand into one and crush the (formerly) stainless mesh into a handful of powder.

[Dis]

Nevada is a big state. That would be very expensive to produce and maintain.

[Dis]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
Vegas gets the lion's share of Hoover's power, but by itself it isn't enough to meet modern Vegas' needs. We just opened a large solar plant which can power 15,000 homes in southern Nevada (re:Vegas) so we'll see over the next few years how that work's out. I think it would behoove Senator Reid, in his capacity as Senate Majority Leader, to push for major aid packages and incentives for states and private companies to accelerate the construction of new alternative energy plants. Like I said, Nevada is a really good position to be a major player in that regard.

Actually, most of Hoover Dam's power goes to California and Arizona. It was built when Las Vegas was a nothing town. The contract still calls for that power to be sent to Californian and Arizona. Nevada keeps a little of it. We have fossil fuel power plants to supply Las Vegas.

[Dis]

The biggest technology obstacle I see right now is we still have no feasible way of storing large amounts of electricity. As has been mentioned, some days it is cloudy. Unless we can store electricity, large scale solar power is out. And yes it is very expensive to transmit power accross such large distance. They ramp up the voltage to reduce current losses, but there's still a significant amount.

Nuclear would be great for base load. Use fossil fuel for peak demand. And use solar and wind to help out with base load.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Dis

Actually, most of Hoover Dam's power goes to California and Arizona. It was built when Las Vegas was a nothing town. The contract still calls for that power to be sent to Californian and Arizona. Nevada keeps a little of it. We have fossil fuel power plants to supply Las Vegas.

At least Nevada still knows its place. Now if we could only get those upstarts in Arizona to once again accept that the Colorado River's water belongs to us as we built our canals first.

[RGBVideo]

Originally posted by Will9
Earlier today I watched a show on alternative energy. It said solar pawer plant in the 1/10 the size of Nevada could power the entire United States if placed in place with stong enough sunlight. Also, we could all our power from wind, but it would take alot and 20% is the current goal. Also Britain could power itself from what are basiclly wind mills underwater in the North Sea. also, 17% of the world's people could use geothermal energy especially in southern Europe and the Asian part of the Ring oif Fire.

With all this potential, why has so little been done?

Because your TV tends to lie to you.

Think about it: If the guys owning the TV channel which sent that program had believed in that idea, they would've already started an energy corporation and made $$$bigbucks$$$ with it. They have the initial capital to start one, for they have the capital to upkeep a TV channel.

[Will9]

The show said that a giant solar power placed in Nevada could produse enough energy to power the nation. Whether it meant it could power all the nation just from the power plant or it could produce the power used the entire country, I don't know.

[Provost Harrison]

10% of Nevada?! It may not sound a lot but that is an area of nearly 30 000 square kilometres...do you have any comprehension of the kind of industrial capacity required to produce that?! We would probably have to switch the entire planets industrial production over to solar panels for many, many years to do that!

I say it is about time we had cold fusion and superconductor! In the original civ they were discovered by 2000!

[Heresson]

Re: Why not

Because I hate You

[Provost Harrison]

Handbags away ladies

[Heresson]

or Provost Harrison may take them

[Provost Harrison]

I'm sure my mother could get a good price for them at a car boot sale

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Will9
The show said that a giant solar power placed in Nevada could produse enough energy to power the nation. Whether it meant it could power all the nation just from the power plant or it could produce the power used the entire country, I don't know.

There's no point to producing more power than you can use within the effective transmission/distribution area for the plant. Plus, how much power would it produce in early morning and evening hours, and at night?