Comment Re:Here we go again (Score 1) 496
And men are more able to require paternity leave, hint it comes from having words with gender.
And men are more able to require paternity leave, hint it comes from having words with gender.
Don't forget that any computers launched into deep outer space needs to be radiation hardened and that the development of radiation hardened components happens at a much slower rate then consumer products.
It comes from fission. All that U235 splits into other elements, which then split further down the line.
Solar cells do not use mirrors unless you're Solyndra. Anyway, the amount of silver is fairly low since only a very thin layer is required.
There are a lot of other costs involved with coal. Unlike China, the US requires scrubbers on all of the smoke stacks, then there's the storage of all of the ash left over, transportation costs for the coal, etc. That's why natural gas is overtaking coal. You just shove natural gas into a pipe and pull it out the other end. No long line of train cars, no scrubbers, no ash to deal with.
Your link is outdated and only considers a limited number of battery technologies, i.e. lead acid. There are many promising grid storage type batteries that are cheap and can handle far more cycles with greater energy density, such as liquid metal and liquid salt batteries. For areas with hydroelectric power there's pumped storage which is around 70% efficient. With pumped storage when there's excess supply water is pumped back into the resivoir. There's also flywheel storage, compressed air, molten salt, gravitational potential energy and many other storage methods. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_storage.
You also must take into account the electricity being pumped back into the grid during times of peak demand. It's helping reduce the utility's non base-load generation which is generally quite expensive compared to the base load generation.
It makes me glad that in my state they have added rules limiting stupid things HOAs try and do. HOAs cannot prevent solar from being installed and they must allow EV charging to be installed. The latest HOA laws prevent HOAs from requiring residents to water or prevent from putting in plants that require little water... we're in a major drought and some HOAs tried to fine people who wouldn't water their lawns or who put in low-water plants.
Thankfully I don't have to deal with an HOA.
They already had one hydrogen fire at the hydrogen fueling station in my county for the county fuel-cell powered buses, and this isn't some place where idiot joe public can fill up their car.
"If I do not want others to quote me, I do not speak." -- Phil Wayne