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MalibuGuru
Joined: 11 Nov 1993 Posts: 9300
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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slinky wrote: | Human activity through the burning of matter releases one quadrillion btu's of HEAT every 26 hours!
Where does all this heat go?
It seems like our oceans are absorbing much of it, as mac pointed out.
Since our oceans cover 70% of the earths surface, it would seem as though we are in fact causing global warming |
I for one am looking forward to the trade winds blowing into Malibu... |
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wynsurfer
Joined: 24 Aug 2007 Posts: 940
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:35 am Post subject: |
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stevenbard,Sure wish I was out there in Malibu! Yesterday gave a taste of spring after many weeks of bone chilling cold and high winds. Sunny and warm with almost no wind, 35 degrees felt warm!
mac, Thanks for taking the time to straighten me out. I've long been aware of the greenhouse gas thing, and how it's our atmosphere is what keeps the planet earth from alternately backing and freezing like th moon. I have just recently begun to wonder if all this heat we are producing might also be a factor. I guess it's just a drop in the bucket and of really no concern, so I can stop wondering.
We should be looking towards solar for our energy needs. Even Thomas Edison realized this over a hundred years ago. I'll try not to let these "nattering nabobs of negativity' get to me. There is abundant "free energy" out there in unlimited supply. |
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mrgybe
Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 5180
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 12:45 pm Post subject: |
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slinky wrote: | We should be looking towards solar for our energy needs. There is abundant "free energy" out there in unlimited supply. |
When you can harness it, store it, and distribute it on a mass scale, economically and with reasonable environmental impact, please do get back to us. In the mean time, most of us will remain grounded in reality and rely on cheap, reliable sources of carbon energy that have immeasurably improved the lives of billions and will continue to do so for decades. |
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boggsman1
Joined: 24 Jun 2002 Posts: 9120 Location: at a computer
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 12:50 pm Post subject: |
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mrgybe wrote: | slinky wrote: | We should be looking towards solar for our energy needs. There is abundant "free energy" out there in unlimited supply. |
When you can harness it, store it, and distribute it on a mass scale, economically and with reasonable environmental impact, please do get back to us. In the mean time, most of us will remain grounded in reality and rely on cheap, reliable sources of carbon energy that have immeasurably improved the lives of billions and will continue to do so for decades. |
Dont tell that to Tim Cook, who just committed to a $850 million dollar project to supply Apple data centers with power in Monterrey County. |
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mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999 Posts: 17748 Location: Berkeley, California
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 1:04 pm Post subject: |
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As the saying goes, when your only tool is a hammer, you see all problems in the world as nails:
Quote: | When you can harness it, store it, and distribute it on a mass scale, economically and with reasonable environmental impact, please do get back to us. In the mean time, most of us will remain grounded in reality and rely on cheap, reliable sources of carbon energy that have immeasurably improved the lives of billions and will continue to do so for decades. |
Perhaps a little myopic, as well as defensive about a life spent poisoning the air and atmosphere. It is crystal clear that the solar energy stored millions of years ago as fossil fuels cannot continue to provide energy for the rapidly increasing demand on the planet in a sustainable manner. It is a fallacy, but one common to those whose world view is entirely corporate, that energy must be stored and distributed on a mass scale. The energy challenge of our time is to find ways to take advantage, in an economically competitive manner, of solar energy, and to store it. That storage might most cost-effectively be done locally.
In order to move the technological dial, it is necessary to create economic incentives for research and development. Those for generation of solar electricity, and some aspects of solar heating, have been effective. Those for storage are promising.
But those invested only in carbon fuels may well be carbon fools. |
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mrgybe
Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 5180
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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boggsman1 wrote: | Dont tell that to Tim Cook, who just committed to a $850 million dollar project to supply Apple data centers with power in Monterrey County. |
I'm sure that will be a great comfort to 1.4 billion people in China..........you know, the place where Tim Cook has all his workhouses. "Mass scale" may mean Monterrey Country to those whose whole focus is Silicon Valley. For most of us, however, it means the other 7 billion people who rely on carbon fuels for heat, light, cooking, transportation, synthetic materials, iPhone cases etc, etc. |
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boggsman1
Joined: 24 Jun 2002 Posts: 9120 Location: at a computer
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:30 pm Post subject: |
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I' not discounting fossil fuels, Im stating that because of the fixed cost nature of solar power, one of the smartest businessmen in the world, is choosing solar. I would expect the ramp to accelerate in the near term. Google is doing the same as well as Tesla. |
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mrgybe
Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 5180
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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boggsman1 wrote: | I' not discounting fossil fuels, Im stating that because of the fixed cost nature of solar power, one of the smartest businessmen in the world, is choosing solar. |
..........for a limited application. That is precisely where solar will fit......relatively small scale niche opportunities. I see no evidence to suggest that solar will be anything other than a bit player in the global power picture for the foreseeable future. Helpful?......of course. A viable alternative to hydrocarbons?........not in our lifetime. I'm guessing old Tim won't be putting solar panels on his G650 or his Porsche. |
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boggsman1
Joined: 24 Jun 2002 Posts: 9120 Location: at a computer
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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No...but replacing coal, nat gas, in a lot of corporate builds is happening all over silicon valley. Have you seen the articles about Apple, and Google getting into the auto biz? The driverless electric car, powered by solar charging stations is coming...with or without you. |
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mrgybe
Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 5180
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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Boggsy, Take a seat.......I'll have to break this to you gently........this will be a shock, but there is a world outside Silicon Valley. If the entire Valley stopped using carbon based energy it would not make one iota of difference the global energy picture. A bunch of wealthy yuppies having the car doing the driving for them is interesting for them, but entirely irrelevant to world energy demand and supply. Thought you should know. BTW, it will indeed be without me. It may be de rigueur in Guccitown to have driver-less cars, but they will have to prise the steering wheel from my cold, dead hands. |
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