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Renewable Energy & Technologies Of The Future


SVT450R

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I'd suggest that if we try to reduce the sunlight hitting the ground that would slow down photosynthesis for plant growth and evaporation that drives the water cycle. Perhaps undesirable side effects?

Also aesthetically it's nicer to look at clearer skies...

Was there a noticeable reduction in plant growth from 1940-1980? Or did that not happen, which is it?

More then likely the 1940-1980's was natural variability and further illustrates a disconnect from CO2 predictions.

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Was there a noticeable reduction in plant growth from 1940-1980? Or did that not happen, which is it?

More then likely the 1940-1980's was natural variability and further illustrates a disconnect from CO2 predictions.

What does 1940-1980, and natural variability for that matter, have to do with particulate matter?

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Was there a noticeable reduction in plant growth from 1940-1980? Or did that not happen, which is it?

More then likely the 1940-1980's was natural variability and further illustrates a disconnect from CO2 predictions.

Variations in the output of soot from coal plants etc. is natural?

Only to the degree that pollution legislation was affected by "natural" protesters

Maybe on Earth Day...................

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I think technologies for renewable energies has increased tremendously. Pretty exciting to see new ideas being spread about. I do however think that there is not a technology that can match coal at the moment. I'm not saying to stop production on the technology we have at the moment. i'm just saying we can not cut coal and oil out totally just yet. coal and oil is our bridge to a future technology that will be sustainable. I for one can not wait until we solve our energy problem.

Natural gas is displacing coal in the U.S.

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Was there a noticeable reduction in plant growth from 1940-1980? Or did that not happen, which is it?

More then likely the 1940-1980's was natural variability and further illustrates a disconnect from CO2 predictions.

I wasn't talking about changes in plant growth in relation to CO2 levels. I was referring to what happens if you reduce sunlight with orbiting mirrors or the like.

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Whereas the right side is full of COIs, the other side of the aisle is hardly unified either.

There are major disagreements among self-identified environmentalists that cause stand-stills on local level initiatives. I've watched endless debates on the merits of hydro and wind.

Tear down the dam, it prevents salmon from spawning and warms the water... Don't tear down the dam, generations of turtles, beavers, etc. will lose their habitat....

Wind turbines are clean and renewable sources of power... Wind turbines kill eagles and bats, cause horrific noise pollution, and disturb local climate....

Not to mention that NIMBYism seems especially prevalent on the left. This area is about as liberal as it gets and we can't even get a solar panel installation on a landfill because it disturbs the view. If you think you could get a wind turbine up anywhere near here you're crazy. (fortunately there's no wind so it hasn't been broached)

And we all know who the primary opponents of the Cape Wind project were, and why. In the end, for all the rhetoric the spectre of reduced property values tends to change stories.

There appears to be some action at Mt. Tom which is pretty close.. I believe the entire Holyoke Range would be suitable for wind power generation.

This editorial "Wind turbines, migrating raptors don't mix" pretty much confirms what you were saying though.

Wind turbines can provide an excellent source of renewable energy and their placement should be pursued where appropriate. However, Mount Tom is not an appropriate site. Scientists have recently told us that the Mount Tom ridgeline produces the best wind in our region; the migrating hawks have known this for centuries.

Wind turbine blades and large numbers of migrating raptors are not compatible. Period.

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There appears to be some action at Mt. Tom which is pretty close.. I believe the entire Holyoke Range would be suitable for wind power generation.

This editorial "Wind turbines, migrating raptors don't mix" pretty much confirms what you were saying though.

Wind projects in NH WILL continue to be built. Power prices in the NE will ensure that and the wind is certainly good. As for raptors, the issues with migrating raptors in the east aren't nearly as big as in the west. The big issues these days in the east from a species standpoint is the sread of white nose syndrome and its effects on many species of bats.

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Wind projects in NH WILL continue to be built. Power prices in the NE will ensure that and the wind is certainly good. As for raptors, the issues with migrating raptors in the east aren't nearly as big as in the west. The big issues these days in the east from a species standpoint is the sread of white nose syndrome and its effects on many species of bats.

It's always something eh.... Sounds like a few dead bats might have to do.

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I've probably pounded this subject to death on this forum, but it warrants continued hammering.

Every energy source must be reconciled with its inputs and analyzed thermodynamically. With (most) oil, coal and natural gas, this is easy: The outputs far exceed the total input energy.

With renewables and increasingly so with unconventional fossil fuels, the energy in/energy out ratios are much smaller. A certain amount of that energy output must be then reinvested back into the energy sector and enough must be left over to operate society. How much? Well, that's the subject of much debate, but almost all estimates lie above 5:1 and most above 10:1. Anything less than the critical threshold acts as a "leech" on the system and slows it down via entropic processes. In other words, you can't run the world as we know it on oil sands.

As for the fusion article. Great, how long has it been 30-50 years away? Getting a stable, usable and persistent fusion reaction has been way more difficult than we ever imagined. Trying to imitate stable conditions that occur in the center of stars with pressures on the order of gigabars and temperatures in the millions Kelvin isn't just hard, it's ridiculously difficult on Earth.

Entropy does not care about our aspirations. I've yet to see a single solution that can pull even a significant amount of the weight. It's going to take multitudes of integrated renewable sources with way more funding than we have physical, political and social means to do currently. We'd better hope for a monumental breakthrough.

Edit: For salbers on the thorium thing since it seems more viable to me than fusion:

http://www.torium.se/res/Documents/124670.pdf

Great paper there from the guys at ORNL about the tech gaps that remain. We're a ways off from LTFRs becoming viable, much less economically viable (costs remain very high).

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When do you think that Detroit will design and build a heavily subsidized light rail system to provide the populace with carbon neutral transportation?

Terry

After the Revolution, we will ALL like strawberries!

Seriously, Terry, here I side with Jonger

It's never too late to try and fix this, simply because it's too important to give up on.

I didn't know that the Calgary light rail system was solar powered - I find that comforting also, and I'm a card carrying Alarmist.

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Bump for a solution to the problem of SLR that does not require us to stop all the melting - either by reducing GHG or by parking giant mirrors in space.

That's a good thing, since the above increasingly looks like not happening.

So....if you can't beat'em, join em....especially if you are one of the first places slated to go under.

http://phys.org/news/2012-08-maldives-island-masterplan.html

I actually think that this might be one of the solution types that actually happens in the event

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There appears to be some action at Mt. Tom which is pretty close.. I believe the entire Holyoke Range would be suitable for wind power generation.

This editorial "Wind turbines, migrating raptors don't mix" pretty much confirms what you were saying though.

Just saw this...

While I'm skeptical about the "quality" of the wind on Mt. Tom at all, this project was nixed for an entirely different reason:

FAA determined that a turbine here would disturb air traffic at Bradley and Westover.

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