“Harness the Sun” for the Earth in West Virginia by S. TOM BOND on OCTOBER 28, 2015
WV SUN meetings scheduled Commentary on “Harness the Sun” by S. Tom Bond, Lewis County, WV
A recent issue of Science, the Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, ran a book review titled “A bright future,” a review of a book called “Harness the Sun, America’s Quest for a Solar-Powered Future,” by Philip Warburg. It concerns the amazing progress and prospects for the future of solar.
“A Bright Future” says the solar is scaling up faster than cell phones did. In Australia solar rooftop installations have been adopted at 10 times the rate of California, a similar climate. In some places 90% of the homes have it. In 2013 China added more solar capacity than the U. S. has since. Photovoltaic has popped up everywhere from inner city, to tribal lands to military bases. In remote locations like wells, electric fences and road signs it allows the use of electronics without power lines. Solar is the fastest growing energy source
Solar has fallen in price more than 100 fold since 1975, and 80% in just the last five years. Warburg, the author of “Harness the Sun,” explains both photovoltaic and concentrating solar plants, which use mirrors to reflect the sun’s light on boilers in an easy to understand way. He goes into government subsidies, and how financial arrangements can be made to make solar available to renters and low income people. He covers “net metering,” which allows homeowner to sell the excess power back to the grid. He also explains domestic solar power politics, and trade disputes.
Some interesting facts come out is that there is a potential for 5.5 trillion watts being generated on land in the U. S. that is contaminated “brown fields” and not suitable for many other uses. Rooftops, brownfields and commercial buildings could provide a great deal of the area needed, but the area around dedicated installations could be pastured. This appeals to me as a farmer because it would keep the grounds clear (remember the White House lawn pastured sheep in WWII) and would have no effect on the production of electricity, plus would produce beef, mutton or goat meat. It could also be wildlife habitat, for example.
Solar efficiency has risen from 13.5% in 2008 to 21% at present.
Then there is the matter of global warming potential and toxic emissions. Solar has very little, if any. Most cost accountings do not place a value on them in comparison. Warburg claims they must be considered to make solar comparable. However, the reviewer points to the increase in efficiency and notes that several more recent accountings, namely “Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Laurence Berkley National Laboratory, and half-dozen major financial houses have found that utility grade solar, now averaging under a nickel, generally beats gas plants’ lifetime cost per kilowatt-hour even without carbon or the volatility of gas cost.” This value estimate includes the federal solar subsidy (which is set to fall from 30% to 10% after 2016).” However “permanent subsidies for non-renewable energy” are generally larger.
The reviewer notes some additions he would like to see. One is the resilience of solar. Some 90% of the billion watts of solar in New Jersey survived Hurricane Sandy. As a result, new installations are being designed to work without being hooked to the grid in emergencies. There is no discussion of ways to accomplish storage. Flexible loads, distributed thermal storage, and other substitutes for electrical storage should be considered. We now have lithium batteries at the point they can be purchased for home use – at prices just over $7000, but that is expected to fall rapidly.) Third, business models need to be transformed to include renewable energy.
This author wishes to include two more. One is the nature of the work. Hydrocarbon burning is capital intensive, low labor and low skill labor, for the most part. Men spend a lot of time away from their wife and family, working atrocious hours in very seriously dangerous and dirty jobs. Many are the equivalent of “high plains drifters” made famous by the movie of that name starring Clint Eastwood. Alternative energy is more highly skilled, doesn’t require living away from home, work is eight on, five days a week, and much safer.
The other is that the neighbors of the extraction industries’ huge installations have no negotiating power against what those industries want to do, and must endure noise and night lights as well as air and water borne chemicals, uglification of the neighborhood, and loss of property values. These are costs externalized on people living in the neighborhoods where the industry establishes itself. On the other hand alternative energy is smaller in scale (or in appropriate places like deserts or mountain tops) and do not involve characteristics so intrusive on the senses, health, esthetics and pocketbook.
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WV SUN ground rules: 1. Be respectful. 2. Keep discussions focused on solar energy. 3. No advertising.
I’m super excited to be headed up to the lovely town of Thomas for an info session at the historic Buxton & Landstreet building at 571 Douglas Road, October 28th at 7 PM.
Corey Chase, a small business owner and resident of Thomas has organized the Tucker County Renewables Cooperative and they will be hosting us and getting the word out around town.
I have also been in touch with April Keating in Upshur County and she is helping reserve time and space in Buckhannon for a meeting on November 12th at the Public Library. So, help promote that meeting.
We also want a meeting in Elkins for Randolph County. Questions:solarteam@wvsun.org
See also: www.wvsun.org/solar-coops/tucker
Sincerely, Karan Ireland, October 27, 2015
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