On 15 Jul 2001, at 14:03, J. van Baardwijk wrote:
> Then why does more and more relatively small equipment (pocket
> calculators, weather stations, pollution measuring devices along
> highways, automatic feeding equipment on farms) run on solar power? So
> the government has an excuse to raise taxes and companies have an
> excuse to raise prices?
For small equipment which requires low voltages, it's fine. But,
pwoering a typical home requires a relatively LARGE array.
> Yeah, so? How long does it take most people to pay off the mortgage on
> their house? Hey, what a coincidence: that also takes decades! :)
>
> That is, around here it takes most people 30-40 years to pay off their
> mortgage. (With "around here" to be interpreted as "in The
> Netherlands".)
The problem is, YOU might, but most ppl won't! (Cost varies, but it
IS expensive). Capitalism is all about nownownow and WAY too
many ppl embrace that.
> An alternative is to use net-connected systems. You won't be able to
> run your household entirely on solar power, but it will significantly
> lower the amount of kWh's you'll have to buy from the local power
> company. Net-connected systems are significantly cheaper than
> autonomous systems.
True, yeh. There are cost overheads tho involved with that.
(Especially in the UK, where some of the power companies charge
you extra if you generate some of your own power..)
> BTW, the idea behind using ecological energy is that you can
> drastically lower the need for power from conventional sources like
> coal and natural gas. It's not intended to be your sole source of
> electricity (at least not for the next few decades).
> True, but statistics aren't much help when a carrier does explode
> right after lift-off. The same goes for nuclear power plants:
> *statistically* they can be safe, but when things *do* go wrong...
Sure, but even when they do, they'll kill less people that the
average coal fired power station will do over it's lifetime.
You have to make descisions based on the data avaliable..you
can't except people to accept measures which willl seriously cut
standards of living..that's a given. So, you have to take what may
be the less easy course to get enviromental benefits...
Andy
Dawn Falcon
