All Solar, Et Al, In 12 Years?

[Meandering]

One of the classes I took in "Green Building" admitted that it would take something like 10 years to recoup the cost of a solar power system on a house. The problem is, most homeowners average only staying put in one house for a period of around 5-6 years. I think it is normal human behavior for Americans to get their reward (money savings) immediately when they buy a home; they aren't going to hold onto a home long enough, so that they can begin to reap all the rewards of their solar power system.

I have a neighbor who installed a solar power system on his home about 2 years ago. He doesn't use the power actually generated, but receives a rebate on his power bill for the energy generated by the system. He doesn't usually have approving comments to say about his investment. He says what he gets back from the power company is pretty minimal and he has to try to use power at non-peak times to make his returns reasonable in the least.

$20k for solar panels.
$12.95 for a clothes line rope.

Same savings - Same life expectancy.

Wait for you neighbor to have to pay for the disposal of the solar panels that are toxic waste. Those minimal savings will be erased real quick.

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[Randolph Kinney]

Climate Change now causes ozone hole to grow larger

From the NASA/GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

Annual Antarctic ozone hole larger and formed later in 2015


This false-color image shows ozone concentrations above Antarctica on Oct. 2, 2015. Credits: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

The 2015 Antarctic ozone hole area was larger and formed later than in recent years, said scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

While the current ozone hole is larger than in recent years, the area occupied by this year’s hole is consistent with our understanding of ozone depletion chemistry and consistent with colder than average weather conditions in Earth’s stratosphere, which help drive ozone depletion,” said Paul A. Newman, chief scientist for Earth Sciences at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

 

[Meandering]

The ozone always thins when the temperature is colder. This is nothing new.

But a giant ozone hole says the place is getting colder, not warmer.

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[Randolph Kinney]

The ozone always thins when the temperature is colder. This is nothing new.

But a giant ozone hole says the place is getting colder, not warmer.

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Sort of a paradox, eh?

Global warming causes colder temperatures, more ice in the antarctic and larger ozone hole?

Maybe it was not CFCs after all.

 

[Pittsburgh Pete]

One can always do a socially beneficial thing or the thing that saves one money. Hmmmmmmmm! Easy to see which way Randy would vote (if he were prone to vote)!

 

[Randolph Kinney]

One can always do the socially beneficial thing with someone else's money. It is easy to see which way Pete does vote. People that don't vote can depend on Pete to do the right thing when he votes.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

The Pause has been in the news this week with the Karl et al paper, the ‘no-you-cant-have-our-emails’ story, and the Meehl paper.

So secret is the EPA and NOAA data and reports, even a subpoena issued by Congress oversight can't see the data, the reports or emails. I wonder, maybe the secret data and reports are stored on Hillary's email server?

 

[Restrain]

Michigan passed a law requiring a "renewable mandate" for electric generation, ie wind turbines. The report states that "billions have been spent" to generate more renewable electric service and has created " 8,200 new jobs in the entire “renewable and alternative energy” field. That may sound like a lot, but to put the figure in perspective compare it to the ongoing “job churn” that is a regular feature of the dynamic U.S. and Michigan economies. In the fourth quarter of 2014, 220,347 jobs were created in Michigan, and another 186,360 jobs disappeared." So, to put it bluntly, the rate payers have had their rates jacked up with no real increase in employment, just to support a government mandate.
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/21829

 

[Randolph Kinney]

So, to put it bluntly, the rate payers have had their rates jacked up with no real increase in employment, just to support a government mandate.

The utilities’ response to the renewable energy mandate has been almost exclusively to build wind turbines.

Well, maybe they should implement cap and trade, build a bullet train, require 50% of electricity be from green sources, and of course build public housing with solar panels on them.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Taxpayer-backed solar plant actually a carbon polluter

Even as the Obama administration announces another $120 million in grants to boost solar energy, new reports indicate a centerpiece of the administration's green-energy effort is actually a carbon polluter.

Located in Southern California's Mojave Desert, the $2.2 billion Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System benefited from a $1.6 billion Energy Department loan guarantee, and a $539 million Treasury Department stimulus grant to help pay off the loan.

Yet it is producing carbon emissions at nearly twice the amount that compels power plants and companies to participate in the state's cap-and-trade program.

That's because the plant relies on natural gas as a supplementary fuel.

According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, the plant burned enough natural gas in 2014 to emit 46,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. But Ivanpah, while in the cap-and-trade program, is still considered a renewable energy source because it technically produces most its energy from solar.

Taxpayer advocates object to the federal support. Environmentalists say it would hurt the endangered desert tortoise and lament that 3,500 birds were "fried" by the heat produced by the plant in its first year.

But the natural gas factor raises the fundamental question of whether this plant -- and others -- are undercutting their own green energy gains by emitting carbon pollution in the process, while not producing anywhere near the level of electricity of a regular power plant.

Solar and wind power plants typically require some form of supplemental fuel, to deal with weather changes.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/10/30/taxpayer-backed-solar-plant-actually-carbon-polluter/

Talk about a boondoggle and waste of taxpayer money, not to mention the carbon pollution and bird kills, only friends of Obama can get special treatment to make billions off the public teat.