Ukelele Ike, you really haven’t the foggiest idea what you are talking about and you haven’t learnt anything from previous threads about this very topic. It is just too easy for you to claim a vast right wing conspiracy isn’t it? People who know what they are talking about (Anthracite for instance) have already stated the state of things. Do I really need to go over this again? <sigh> I guess I do.
Nonsense. If the energy companies saw this was a viable alternative they would try to grab it before someone else did. Example: Kodak may have no interest in developing digital photography because it competes with chemical photography but they know that if they do not join the bandwagon someone else will do it anyway and they will be left out.
And rightly so. The government is not best suited to decide what avenues of research look promising, private business is. If you really believe this looks promising I would recommend you invest your money in some of the companies working on this. But don’t force other people to invest (through the government) in things that do not look promising to them.
Yes, so they would be foolish not to invest in technologies that look promising.
Nonsense again. Somebody has to sell and install the equipment. Even if the power company is not interested in doing it there are plenty of companies already trying to get a go at it and the only reason they are not doing so well is that it is not competitive.
In several states, including California, the power company is forced by law to buy back any energy produced by consumers and they have to pay the selling rate which is just outrageous. This law was passed by people who do not have a clue in an effort to promote alternative energy and yet the result is negligible.
The power company makes money because it can sell energy at a higher price than it costs to produce it. If you force it to buy energy at the sale price it cannot make a profit on that energy which means all the overhead costs have to be charged to the energy it is producing, further endearing it and distorting the true economy of the situation. In spite of that law, practically NO ONE is selling energy to the power company.
I will remind you there is plenty of research and development going into alternative energy sources and, I for one, have a very strong interest in seeing them succeed. I have a boat and alternative energy sources would be a godsend for me. Check out the internet for key words like “solar” “alternative energy” “boat” “RV” etc and you will see dozens of companies investing in developing these things. They will be glad to sell you shares if you would want to invest in them.
Many large corporations are sinking a lot of money into developing solar cells. Check out Siemens and you will see.
I am an engineer and know the technical facts about these things. All you have to offer is theories about corporate greed and right wing conspiracies to keep innovation out.
As I have already said in every thread, the yield of photovoltaic cells is pitiful and only justified in very specific circumstances (like your solar calculator).
Solar energy can be much more efficiently used for heating purposes and this is still not economic! I know what I am talking about. My house has an installation of solar panels to heat domestic water. I have done a detailed economic study and they do not make economic sense.
The only reason they were installed in the fisrt place was because those government subsidies you like so much. The only reason they remain is that I maintain them myself and enjoy the tinkering and experimenting. Ukelele Ike, I have no doubt that if this installation were in your house it would be gone at the first sign of trouble because it costs more to maintain than it is worth it. Of course, you would still blame the right wing conspiracy… but you would get rid of them.
Let me put it this way. Anyone who says "solar is free"etc does not know what he is talking about and need to learn a bit about engineering and a bit about finances. It is like saying we should use sailships because the wind is free and they use no fuel. Guess what, using fuel is actually cheaper than not using it. If you do not understand that it means you are missing something, not that the entire rest of the world is missing something.