Category Archives: Solar

Richard Heinberg: Paul Krugman’s Errors and Omissions

Posted on March 2, 2018 by

[ 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

Want to go off-grid? You might need hundreds of Tesla batteries

Posted on February 4, 2018 by

Preface. Although you may not be as far north as Victoria, British Columbia (48.4 latitude), you’d ideally want to be at 30 degrees or less latitude from the equator to even consider the expense of off-grid solar power.  And even … Continue reading →

Posted in Batteries, Photovoltaic Solar | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Why is nearly all solar power built where subsidies are the highest?

Posted on October 8, 2017 by

If solar net energy return is as high as some solar advocates claim, why does solar need any subsidies? And not just U.S. subsidies, it’s subsidies on top of subsidies when you add in that we’re buying Chinese government subsidized … Continue reading →

Posted in Concentrated Solar Power, Energy Policy, Photovoltaic Solar, Solar EROI | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Wind and solar need natural gas to balance intermittent, variable, and seasonal power

Posted on July 8, 2017 by

[ The highest wind states are getting to be enormously dependent on natural gas to balance wind and solar as this EIA article about California below shows.  Yet conventional natural gas has peaked — half our natural gas– and is … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural Gas, Solar, Wind | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Wind and solar need natural gas to balance intermittent, variable, and seasonal power

California hits the solar wall

Posted on June 17, 2017 by

[ What is a solar wall?  Read part 1: California could hit the solar wall and then excerpts from the following article in the financial times, Britain’s Wall street journal.  I’ve also reworded some of it. Renewables are rendering existing … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural Gas, Solar | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Tilting at Windmills, Spain’s disastrous attempt to replace fossil fuels with Solar PV, Part 2

Posted on January 26, 2017 by

[ Pedro Prieto presented an update on June 20, 2017 at the International Society for Biophysical Economics “Spain’s Solar Revolution Revisited: six years later” here: Pedro-Prieto_ISBPE_2017-Spains-solar-revolution-revisited.pdf.   See the pdf for more information Losses in book overestimated and revised Before / … Continue reading →

Posted in Charles A. S. Hall, EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Pedro Prieto, Photovoltaic Solar, Solar EROI | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Tilting at Windmills, Spain’s disastrous attempt to replace fossil fuels with Solar PV, Part 2

California could hit the solar wall

Posted on September 18, 2016 by

[ According to a Stanford University article below this introduction (followed by excerpts from two California Energy Commission reports), if California uses mainly solar power to meet a 50% Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), on sunny days, for most of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Photovoltaic Solar, Renewable Integration | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Taxpayers are paying for a concentrated solar project — Ivanpah– that doesn’t work

Posted on September 6, 2016 by

Ivanpah in the news: Dvorsky, G. May 21, 2016. The World’s Largest Solar Plant Just Torched Itself. Gizmodo (Australia). Misaligned mirrors are being blamed for a fire that broke out yesterday at the world’s largest solar power plant, leaving the … Continue reading →

Posted in Concentrated Solar Power, Corporate Welfare | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Taxpayers are paying for a concentrated solar project — Ivanpah– that doesn’t work

Net metering and the death of US rooftop solar

Posted on August 29, 2016 by

April 22, 2016 by Roger Andrews at euanmearns.com “Net metering” allows anyone with a solar installation to sell surplus solar power to the grid when the sun is shining and to purchase power back from the grid when it isn’t. … Continue reading →

Posted in Other Experts, Photovoltaic Solar | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Solar PV cells using rare elements unlikely to scale up enough to replace fossil fuels

Posted on July 16, 2016 by

[ Sunshine may be free, but the materials to make solar contraptions aren’t.   Since sunshine arrives in a diluted form (2500 kWh/m2), vast expanses of solar photovoltaic panels will be needed to produce the world’s 15 Terawatts of power that … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy Resources, Limits To Growth, Photovoltaic Solar, Rare Minerals | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Solar PV cells using rare elements unlikely to scale up enough to replace fossil fuels