Alternative energy not a fantasy

[Jemmons]

For those of you who doubt the reality of alternatives to oil-based energy production here is something to ponder on:

Denmark have allready the worlds biggest windmill facility at sea but wants to make a tenfold increase in off-shore production capasity over the next decade. This is perhaps the most dazzling proposal in the social-democrats new energy proposal, which is aiming at covering half the danish energy demand with renewable energy in 2025.

Danmark har i dag verdens største vindmøllepark til havs. Men i løbet af de næste 10 år skal kapaciteten til havs tidobles. Sådan lyder den måske mest markante udmelding i Socialdemokratiets nye energiplan, der har sat det som et mål, at halvdelen af hele Danmarks energiforbrug i 2025 skal dækkes af vedvarende energi.














Source:
http://www.jp.dk/indland/artikel:aid=3679874/

[sandnsea]

1. Every home with a solar roof

http://www.solarhouse.com/index2.html

There's a California company that is making solar shingles that can even collect energy if there's shade trees.

They're hooking up to the grid, selling excess energy, but still having energy if there isn't quite enough to meet all their needs. They're coming out about even. The Maine house is in surplus, actually an energy producer.

Between wind and solar, we can get off fossil fuels; it's a shame it hasn't already been done.

[nicknameless]

2. Do you have any info about the California company?

Article link? Company name, etc.? I'm very interested!

Thanks! :hi:

[sandnsea]

4. Uni-Solar

It's California only, and the only one I know of that has the shingles that can collect energy through leaves. When I googled this up, I noticed there were other solar shingle companies, but when I was reading on this the other day, this is the only company that I found that said it could collect the energy through leaves on trees. That's all I know, and I'm not in any way connected to this company either. Just passing along info. I would hope anybody who could afford to do this, would. I really can't think of a better thing to do for the earth.

http://www.uni-solar.com/interior.asp?id=72

[nicknameless]

11. Thanks, sandnsea!

I'm in the SF Bay Area, so this really helps!

:hi:

[oblivious]

3. How Denmark is leading the way in renewable energy

...In 1997, Denmark held a national competition. The selected winner would be home to a one-of-a-kind experiment: The winner would be expected to convert all its energy supply to 100% renewable energy within 10 years.

The small island of Samso was given the nod. Because it is an island that has no conventional energy resources of its own, Samso was an ideal choice for such a controlled experiment.

Since 1998, Samso began converting its energy into renewable energy, and has been so successful that 100% of its electricity comes from wind power and 75% of its heat comes from solar power and biomass energy.

http://www.moneyweek.com/file/10587/how-denmark-is-leading-the-way-in-renewable-energy.html

[wakeme2008]

5. I like solar panels as long as you are on the grid and can

sell extra back to the grid. Without the need of batteries, that cuts down the cost of the setup and still can lower your electric cost a lot.

[madokie]

7. My neighbor had a wind generator not sure of the output but

the blades were each 10 feet long. He used it for years until the generator burned out. If and when he was generating more electric than he was using he was only paid a small percentage of what he had to pay. It was on a separate meter from his house. Here in oklahoma he wasn't allowed to hook it so it would reverse the meter rotation.

[greenman3610]

6. alternative is the next boom

We've been saying it just might be for some time now. The newspaper of record weighs in with an odd piece Forget Computers. Here Comes the Sun.:

"Today, solar cells are a tiny niche in the energy business — rapidly expanding to be sure, but without the potential for exponential gains in performance and falling costs that are hallmarks of the computer world. ... After years of promise, the market for solar power is finally taking off, with annual demand expected to increase to as much as 2,500 megawatts by the end of 2008, from about 1,000 megawatts now."
Meanwhile, the British Wind Energy Association has announced that they expect to be producing twice as much electricity by 2010 as they'd previously estimated, the 20 largest utilities in Europe plan to invest twice as much in renewable energy generation over the next five years, and a new A$700 million solar chip plant has been announced for Germany's Thalheim "solar valley". Honestly, one could spend all day linking to this stuff.

http://www.worldchanging.com/

[TheFarseer]

8. I've been saying that for a few years

How great will it be when the world is coming to us for it's energy instead of OPEC? I picture alot of overnight millionaires and people working in some sort of energy field with a 50K a year jobs until of course we figure out how to outsource it. But this will be lots better than the internet bubble because people will always need energy whereas people quickly figured out they don't need to buy pet supplies online.

[bigtree]

9. It's always been a viable option

all that we are lacking is a national commitment. That will have to involve public funds, something that we haven't been able to achieve in numbers that would seriously challange the monopoly of fossil fuels. It's less a problem of innovation as it is a measure of the influence of the reigning oligarchy, in Congress and in the WH.

[MadHound]

10. In 1991, the US Dept. of Energy did a study on harvetable wind resources

They found that the US has enough harvestable wind energy in three states, North Dakota, Kansas and Texas, to power the entire US electrical grid through the year 2030, including factoring in growth. Energy experts have compared US wind resources, especially in the Great Plains, with the vast Saudi energy resources, and unlike oil, wind is clean and renewable.

Wind, solar and other renewable alternatives are the options we absolutely have to pursue for a sane, sensible energy policy. Oil, coal, and natural gas are all finite, some are in decline, and all pollute horribly. Nuclear has twin fatal flaws, no suitable way to store the waste and no way to eliminate the human error factor that has led to so many incidents and accidents. Thus, given the gravity of those two flaws, nuclear is unsuitable.

The only sane, sensible energy policy is one that intigrates wind, solar and other clean renewable aternatives.