no solar panels on the White House roof

[subroc]

Well done obama

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...ls-white-house

[depittydawg]

Well done obama

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...ls-white-house

Sounds like a smart move. Why install 40 year old out dated and inefficient panels. Obama has been a huge supporter of Solar and Wind power. These are technologies of the future. And he, and the democratic congress, have done the correct thing in funding the development of those technologies.

"Representatives from the White House met with the group to discuss President Obama's unprecedented commitment to renewable energy including more than $80 billion in the generation of renewable energy sources, expanding manufacturing capacity for clean energy technology, advancing vehicle and fuel technologies, and building a bigger, better, smarter electric grid, all while creating new, sustainable jobs...They concluded by reiterating our continued commitment to promoting renewable energy development."

[code3retrievers]

Sounds like a smart move. Why install 40 year old out dated and inefficient panels. Obama has been a huge supporter of Solar and Wind power. These are technologies of the future. And he, and the democratic congress, have done the correct thing in funding the development of those technologies.

Did you even bother to read the article?

"A California company Sungevity had offered to equip the White House with the latest technology.

But the White House declined - twitchy perhaps about inviting any comparison to one-term Democratic president Carter in the run-up to the very difficult mid-term elections in November. "

[subroc]

solar power will "never" be cost effective.

$1000.00 system will power your laptop computer for 2 hours a day.

[depittydawg]

solar power will "never" be cost effective.

$1000.00 system will power your laptop computer for 2 hours a day.

It already is. Especially when you factor in the military cost of a trillion dollars a year to get the oil and gas out of the middle east. Asia and Europe are going Solar in a BIG way. Much of America is going in now too. You think they are in it to lose money?????

[depittydawg]

Did you even bother to read the article?

"A California company Sungevity had offered to equip the White House with the latest technology.

But the White House declined - twitchy perhaps about inviting any comparison to one-term Democratic president Carter in the run-up to the very difficult mid-term elections in November. "

I quoted the article. Did you read it?

[subroc]

Feel free to run the numbers, how much battery power does it take and how many batteries would be needed to run say, 6 or 8 30 inch electric heaters, a refrigerator, a computer, a television, a few lights an electric stove, a washer and a dryer, as well as a microwave oven, determine how many solar panels would be needed to recharge that system in the dead of a New England winter. How often would the batteries need to be replaced?

[depittydawg]

Feel free to run the numbers, how much battery power does it take and how many batteries would be needed to run say, 6 or 8 30 inch electric heaters, a refrigerator, a computer, a television, a few lights an electric stove, a washer and a dryer, as well as a microwave oven, determine how many solar panels would be needed to recharge that system in the dead of a New England winter. How often would the batteries need to be replaced?

You might want to consider that many people made the same proclamation of doom for the following emerging industries when they were in their infancy:

Automobiles, Chain Saws, Personal Computers, Cell Phones, Quartz Crystal Watches, the Internet... The list is long indeed. State of the art Solar Panels are converting up to about 20% of the suns energy to electrical power using todays technologies. A Solar Panel installed today, on my home, has a payback of about 10-15 years. Assuming the const of energy continue to rise over the time period the payback shortens. The expected lifetime for the sytem is 30 years. Solar grids are profitable. Don't take my word for it. Just sit back and watch the industry grow in the future.

[YardleyLabs]

I'm not sure how the number work out generally. However, my church installed solar panels on our roof. The savings in utility costs are sufficiently great to repay the cost of installation in 3-4 years. That is the product of government subsidies. However, without those subsidies, the saving would still pay off the full cost in under 15 years, which is less than the projected life of the system. The math only works because the utility is required to buy back excess power generated, which is put out on the grid for general use during the day, and because solar power is only a small fraction of total generation so that the fluctuations in production are readily balanced through traditional production methods. Even with those caveats, however, it makes sense when measured against the value of petroleum generation not used.