Recent headlines and the ascension of a retired military man to head a renewable energy organization were merely coincidence. But they put some of the justification of clean energy into perspective nonetheless. Likewise, energy security, the cost of renewables and new ways to tap underutilized resources were topics on readers’ minds of late.
The military man, now heading the American Council on Renewable Energy, gave us the chance to revisit the imported oil/clean energy discussion.
“In the short run, energy security, economic growth (particularly for the manufacturing segment of the economy) and global warming form a three-cornered teeter-totter board: help anyone and watch the others fall. Department of Energy Secretary Chu understands this and addresses it as a need for technological breakthroughs, and probably more than one!” one reader observed.
A counter view responded to the topic du jour, debt, while no directly addressing the trade deficit.
“I really have to question just how much renewables really contribute to national security. Renewables are contributing to the national debt. None of them would be getting built if they were not subsidized by the taxpayers via DOE. Those subsidies end up adding to the national debt which is our single largest national security issue and is still growing at a furious pace. Much of the materials used to build renewable energy generating facilities come from overseas, including China who is arguably the greatest threat to our national security because of technology piracy and manipulation of their currency to keep it undervalued.
“While oil imports also contribute, I have heard far too energy experts contend that we have reserves of oil, gas, and coal that would allow us to end the need to import a lot of the oil we presently do. The present administration is preventing going after it by stalling drilling permits and encouraging legislation and EPA actions that will greatly increase energy prices. Arguably, the policies of our own executive branch of government, including subsidies that add to the national debt without contributing energy, MWh in proportion to their expense, is the greatest threat to our national security,” he concluded.
The presumed rebound in wind energy construction drew opposing responses.
“Yes. It is. Wind is the oldest and most reliable (seasonally). The way offshore wind farms are coming up in different countries of the size of 5 megawatts and above, the future for Wind Energy around the globe is great,” said one.
“I have been reading reports that wind energy is not delivering as promised in Europe where governments have spent a lot of money and electrical rates have gone up to install a lot of wind turbines. We might want to take a good look at that before getting too carried away,” said another.
A reader was skeptical about a recent study that showed how the addition of solar panels made a home more attractive from a sales standpoint and even helped its price.
“While I would love to jump on the band wagon and sing the praises of how solar systems increase the value of a home, it's simply too early to say that they do!
“With my previous career having been in the real estate and mortgage banking field, I was curious about this topic too. In my research I talked with three different appraisers in the Los Angeles area and they all three said the same thing, that, "Not enough homes have sold with solar power generation systems for them to have sufficient ‘comparables’ to prove that they add to the value of a home,” he wrote.
When we discussed the impact of a company like General Electric and its entry into the solar PV space, its deep pockets are sure to get some attention. And they did.
“Look for other well capitalized technology companies making similar announcements soon. First Solar will likely be acquired if it can't retain its leadership position which will be tough to do against the big boys. BP bought (former market leader) Astropower assets from their corpse so maybe Exxon or RD Shell wants to spend a few billion to get in the game. Hopefully they do a better job at being green(er) than BP did!”
Finally, one reader found the idea of converting waste heat from industrial processes as intriguing as I did. He expressed some skepticism.
“This sounds like the pitch for storage. It suffers from a similar key flaw - it's too expensive to stand on its own - and two other less obvious technical flaws,” he said. “Stack temperatures are typically kept above the boiling point of water to avoid condensation and the accompanying problems of acid formation and corrosion. There certainly is a meaningful amount of waste heat that could be recovered from flue gas, but it's not obvious that the value of that energy is enough to offset higher operating and maintenance costs, let alone the capital cost of the additional equipment that would be required."
“I comment TAS Energy for their creativity, but they still have some explaining to do,” he concluded.
Source: www.renewablesbiz.com
The military man, now heading the American Council on Renewable Energy, gave us the chance to revisit the imported oil/clean energy discussion.
“In the short run, energy security, economic growth (particularly for the manufacturing segment of the economy) and global warming form a three-cornered teeter-totter board: help anyone and watch the others fall. Department of Energy Secretary Chu understands this and addresses it as a need for technological breakthroughs, and probably more than one!” one reader observed.
A counter view responded to the topic du jour, debt, while no directly addressing the trade deficit.
“I really have to question just how much renewables really contribute to national security. Renewables are contributing to the national debt. None of them would be getting built if they were not subsidized by the taxpayers via DOE. Those subsidies end up adding to the national debt which is our single largest national security issue and is still growing at a furious pace. Much of the materials used to build renewable energy generating facilities come from overseas, including China who is arguably the greatest threat to our national security because of technology piracy and manipulation of their currency to keep it undervalued.
“While oil imports also contribute, I have heard far too energy experts contend that we have reserves of oil, gas, and coal that would allow us to end the need to import a lot of the oil we presently do. The present administration is preventing going after it by stalling drilling permits and encouraging legislation and EPA actions that will greatly increase energy prices. Arguably, the policies of our own executive branch of government, including subsidies that add to the national debt without contributing energy, MWh in proportion to their expense, is the greatest threat to our national security,” he concluded.
The presumed rebound in wind energy construction drew opposing responses.
“Yes. It is. Wind is the oldest and most reliable (seasonally). The way offshore wind farms are coming up in different countries of the size of 5 megawatts and above, the future for Wind Energy around the globe is great,” said one.
“I have been reading reports that wind energy is not delivering as promised in Europe where governments have spent a lot of money and electrical rates have gone up to install a lot of wind turbines. We might want to take a good look at that before getting too carried away,” said another.
A reader was skeptical about a recent study that showed how the addition of solar panels made a home more attractive from a sales standpoint and even helped its price.
“While I would love to jump on the band wagon and sing the praises of how solar systems increase the value of a home, it's simply too early to say that they do!
“With my previous career having been in the real estate and mortgage banking field, I was curious about this topic too. In my research I talked with three different appraisers in the Los Angeles area and they all three said the same thing, that, "Not enough homes have sold with solar power generation systems for them to have sufficient ‘comparables’ to prove that they add to the value of a home,” he wrote.
When we discussed the impact of a company like General Electric and its entry into the solar PV space, its deep pockets are sure to get some attention. And they did.
“Look for other well capitalized technology companies making similar announcements soon. First Solar will likely be acquired if it can't retain its leadership position which will be tough to do against the big boys. BP bought (former market leader) Astropower assets from their corpse so maybe Exxon or RD Shell wants to spend a few billion to get in the game. Hopefully they do a better job at being green(er) than BP did!”
Finally, one reader found the idea of converting waste heat from industrial processes as intriguing as I did. He expressed some skepticism.
“This sounds like the pitch for storage. It suffers from a similar key flaw - it's too expensive to stand on its own - and two other less obvious technical flaws,” he said. “Stack temperatures are typically kept above the boiling point of water to avoid condensation and the accompanying problems of acid formation and corrosion. There certainly is a meaningful amount of waste heat that could be recovered from flue gas, but it's not obvious that the value of that energy is enough to offset higher operating and maintenance costs, let alone the capital cost of the additional equipment that would be required."
“I comment TAS Energy for their creativity, but they still have some explaining to do,” he concluded.
Source: www.renewablesbiz.com
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