Category Archives: Solar

Can concentrated solar power be used to generate industrial process heat?

Posted on September 25, 2019 by

Preface. In the comments section, Ray Universe pointed out an excellent article, The bright future of solar thermal powered factories, about solar collectors and what they can do. Some important points: A large share of energy consumed worldwide is by … Continue reading →

Posted in Concentrated Solar Power, Energy | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Concentrated Solar Power can only exist in deserts and use too much water

Posted on September 22, 2019 by

What follows is my summary of: Bracken, N., et al. 2015. Concentrating solar power and water issues in the U.S. Southwest. U.S. department of energy, National renewable energy lab. Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and … Continue reading →

Posted in Concentrated Solar Power, Electricity | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Why solar power can’t save us from the coming energy crisis

Posted on July 2, 2019 by

Preface. Embedded within the posts below are many reasons why solar electricity can’t replace fossil fuels.  All solar and wind do is add to the giant fire of burning fossil fuels with just a tiny bit more power, about 4% … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, CSP with thermal energy storage, Solar, Solar EROI | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Pedro Prieto: many solar panels won’t last 25-30 years, EROI may be negative

Posted on March 4, 2019 by

Preface. Pedro Prieto and Charles Hall wrote the definitive book on the EROI of solar power, “Spain’s Photovoltaic Revolution. The Energy Return on Investment” and has built many commercial facilities himself and witnessed the failure of solar panels long before … Continue reading →

Posted in Pedro Prieto, Photovoltaic Solar | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Challenges to the Integration of Renewable Resources at High System Penetration

Posted on February 2, 2019 by

Preface.  This overview of challenges for wind and solar written in 2010 is still true today. We are far from being able to reach even a 50% renewable grid (excluding hydropower from the total) given the lack of storage, the … Continue reading →

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Wind, solar, and natural gas are driving nuclear power out of business

Posted on December 20, 2018 by

Preface. I’m no fan of nuclear power because we may already be at peak uranium, there’s nowhere to store nuclear waste, and a spent nuclear pool fire could harm millions of people. But renewable wind and solar and natural gas … Continue reading →

Posted in Nuclear Power, Solar, Wind | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Why Concentrated Solar Power is not a good choice for a 100% Renewable Energy System

Posted on December 7, 2018 by

Preface.  The authors conclude that: In light of the obtained results — a low capacity factor and Energy Returned on Invested, an intensive use of materials—some scarce, and the significant seasonal intermittence) — the potential contribution of current CSP technologies … Continue reading →

Posted in Concentrated Solar Power | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Solar PV requires too much land to replace fossils

Posted on December 4, 2018 by

Preface. This is a brief summary of the Capellan-Perez paper that calculates the land needed to use solar to replace electricity as well as the land needed if solar were to replace all of societies use of energy (i.e. transportation, … Continue reading →

Posted in Solar | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Renewable EROI must include storage, low capacity factor, wide boundaries

Posted on June 25, 2018 by

[ Trainer argues that when you consider how the capacity factor of wind and solar are to fossil plants, seasonality of wind and solar the number of facilities is quite large to deal with the intermittency problem.  Therefore the storage … Continue reading →

Posted in Solar, Solar EROI, Wind, Wind EROI | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Richard Heinberg: Paul Krugman’s Errors and Omissions

Posted on March 2, 2018 by

Preface. This article by Richard Heinberg at Postcarbon refutes a column by Paul Krugmen called “Errors and Emissions Could Fighting Global Warming Be Cheap and Free?” here.  Most of my friends and family think I’m nuts because articles like this … Continue reading →

Posted in EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Richard Heinberg, Solar, Wind | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments