wizodd
Scribbled:
All "green" ground generation systems, wind, water, solar (except point of use small systems) and hydrocarbon burning systems have measurable environmental effects which are not well modeled yet. Small systems can easily coexist with SSPS without problem, ideally water and building heating can and should be done locally--it is not feasible to generate the amounts of energy used by heavy industry in the same way. Cost per KWH is substantially higher with small solar to electric ground based systems than with large systems. Maintenance and life-time costs follow suit.
A wind turbine doesn't affect the environment much. 10,000 or 10,000,000 wind turbines dramatically affect the environment.
"Poor countries can -- through individuals' efforts -- build local capacity before building power grids, and their new digital power grids, following the precedent of their new telecom networks, will be cheaper, smarter, more efficient and less ugly than our 20th century power grids."
LANCEMCKEE, you confuse me, you are FOR connected grids but AGAINST scalar efficiency?
SSPS permits reception at local grid locations to reduce transmission lose and any grid interconnects are only needed for emergency. You will note that India has not built a telephone wired network--SSPS power can be delivered nearly anywhere on the planet WITHOUT transmission lines. This includes the middle of the oceans.
SSPS IS a power grid which is partially wireless. A system combining local and long-distance generation on the ground REQUIRES transmission lines.
"...parity with large producers in wholesale pricing of electricity..." Nice idea, I bet all those people currently selling power to the power companies at RETAIL will love it.
"...rising energy prices..." are not connected with use and have not been for some time. If they were, they would not have gotten so high this past 3 years of recession. Financial speculation has more to do than use, or imminent depletion of the oil or coal fields. Note that the available reserves of oil in N. Dakota were re-estimated this year increasing the available reserve from 30 BB to 300BB--about equal to the Saudi recoverable reserves.
Your financial expectations for local generation are unrealistic.
"...rooftop PV panel owners are more likely than others to buy plug-in hybrids or electric cars."
Very true, but the majority of them are upper-income folk as PV systems and hybrid cars are not economically sound on an individual basis--what is right for society is not necessarily in your own interest.
SSPS need no ground generators, rectennas are both rugged and cheap, transmission lines can be mostly short range.
Roofs are pre-exsiting--but it is non-trivial to install systems on most because they are not designed for the weight and increased wind loads. SSSPS needs no new structures save the rectennas, and that land can be dual use for farming or industrial use.
But SSPS systems are not and are not promoted as a 'quick fix.' As with nuclear plants, it takes a lot of resources to build an SSPS, and about 3x that to build the first one. If we began today, we would be in for nearly 20 years before we put the first large unit online. This makes it imperative that such a project be started sooner rather than later.
Had we started building these systems in the 1970's when first the concept was proven, we could no be generating 110% of our electricity needs using SSPS eliminating all of the inefficiencies and dangers of coal, oil gas or nuclear.
Since we refused to take any steps away from combustion-driven generation over the past 60 years that we have known that it was a problem, we are no stuck in a situation where we need a short-term fix along with long-term solutions.
At this point it is unfortunately clear that the best quick fix is to build more nuclear power plants.
There are very, very, very few problems which have only one cause or one solution. In the case of energy a strategy that mixes various solutions is more robust than any single solution.
Luckily, the Bush Depression will require governments to spend huge amounts of money to keep people employed, this provides a ready workforce to work on energy and environmental remediation projects--as well as little unimportant things like providing clean air, water, food, shelter, clothing, education and medical care to all people, wiping out malaria, STD's, dental caries, and stomach ulcers along with a number of other diseases, and similar projects.
