Progressives (Liberals)

The growth rate of wind and solar power is limited by their cost, despite large subsidies and guaranteed access to sales to Public Utilities.

georgeob1 wrote:

The growth rate of wind and solar power is limited by their cost, despite large subsidies and guaranteed access to sales to Public Utilities.

This isn't as lucrative as it sounds. I just had a guy come analyze my home for solar 2 weeks ago. Turns out at least in Illinois, the power companies will only buy solar energy up to 10% greater than your home needs.

maporsche wrote:

georgeob1 wrote:

The growth rate of wind and solar power is limited by their cost, despite large subsidies and guaranteed access to sales to Public Utilities.

This isn't as lucrative as it sounds. I just had a guy come analyze my home for solar 2 weeks ago. Turns out at least in Illinois, the power companies will only buy solar energy up to 10% greater than your home needs.

That 10% over actual use limit appears fairly reasonable to me. In the first place compelling someone (or a company) to buy something is an infringement on freedom. Secondly, considering the fact that the utility pays for and operates the power transmission grid that makes the delivery of your solar power possible the limitation looks reasonable to me.

Haha. I wish I could have I summed up the frustration with debating with him so well. Nevertheless, I find George one of the more sane conservatives on this site.

I'll concede that the currently booming demand for electric cars is one I didn't foresee. While electric vehicles are indeed exhilarating torque machines, they are significantly less efficient than IC vehicles, when the losses attendant to generating the power; transmitting it to the charging site; and charging/discharging the battery are included to make the comparison meaningful.. In addition electric vehicles take hours to charge (unless one pays Tesla about $8K for a high speed charging station (Tesla is now closing their formerly free ones) . Finally since the batteries are good only for ~ 500 charge/discharge cycles, the owner is confronted with a $22K replacement cost at about 50,000 miles. The $7.5K Federal direct subsidies on all electric vehicles are now being removed, and Tesla is scrambling to reduce the price while still making a profit to sustain its sales. My bet is the company will collapse within a few years. (I certainly don't recommend an investment in the stock).

Hybrid vehicles are a different story. They have an ultra efficient constant speed IC engine that delivers nearly all of the power; a rechargeable battery & motor to take the acceleration transients (which significantly reduce the efficiency of IC engines) , and synchronous generator braking to save otherwise lost energy.

I have no beef with hydro-electric generation which is benign (other than as regards conflict with resident populations who will have to move).

Ilhan Omar: Congresswoman accused of 'anti-Semitic' tweet

Ilhan Omar suggested in a tweet that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac ) was buying influence to promote US pro-Israel policies.

Republicans and Democrats alike said the tweets stoked anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money.

The Minnesota lawmaker has previously been accused of anti-Semitism.

What's the controversy?

In response to a tweet on Sunday from a journalist questioning why US political leaders always defend Israel, Ms Omar used a slang term for $100 bills, writing: "it's all about the Benjamins baby."

When challenged where she thought such money was coming from, the 36-year-old Somali-American tweeted back: "Aipac."

Aipac spends millions of dollars a year lobbying lawmakers and the US federal government to adopt pro-Israel policies, according to campaign-finance monitors.

Actually, if you look at the technical details of their operation, hybrids are fueled and driven almost exclusively by the gasoline powered engine. Their batteries are small (and relatively inexpensive) but you can't drive very far on them alone.

There are indeed large hazards associated with nuclear power. However the probability of their occurrence is incredibly small, and modern construction features virtually eliminate most hazards in the unlikely case an extreme accident - a meltdown- occurs. This was demonstrated at Three Mile Island, and, despite numerous, unconscionable safety violations, even at Fukushima. ( 15,000 were killed by the tsunami but no one died as a result of the reactor accident.) Almost forty years after the Three Mile Island accident, there is still zero discernable impact on public health in the region.

Mere partisan bombast.