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Costa Rica has gone 76 days using 100% renewable electricity

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Re: Costa Rica has gone 76 days using 100% renewable electricity

#31

Post by JoeAltmaier »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #18
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #17

" its per capita electricity consumption is about one-quarter of, say, France or Belgium." Its in the bottom quartile worldwide I believe. Also the recommendations for the USA are way off. The "only way" to reach this goal is apparently to build lots of wind and solar. No mention whatsoever of nuclear, which is by far the more practical solution. And far less ecologically damaging.

> No mention whatsoever of nuclear, which is by far the more practical solution. And far less ecologically damaging. I vaguely follow developments in this area, and this seems to either outdated or simply untrue information. The people building traditional nuclear don't seem to be able to do so economically, even when they punt on insurance and eventual disposal. The people building the new nuclear which is going to…

The ecological damage is not outdated info. Solar farms are essentially clear-cutting the land. No sun - no life. The ecosystem under the panels is completely disrupted. Not unlike strip-mining.

Re: Costa Rica has gone 76 days using 100% renewable electricity

#32

Post by cup »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #31
ZeroGravitas wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No mention whatsoever of nuclear, which is by far the more practical solution. And far less ecologically damaging. I vaguely follow developments in this area, and this seems to either outdated or simply untrue information. The people building traditional nuclear don't seem to be able to do so economically, even when they punt on insurance and eventual disposal. The people building the new nuclear which is going to…

The ecological damage is not outdated info. Solar farms are essentially clear-cutting the land. No sun - no life. The ecosystem under the panels is completely disrupted. Not unlike strip-mining.

Unless its a desert area. Like most of Australia, Central Asia, North Africa etc.

Re: Costa Rica has gone 76 days using 100% renewable electricity

#33

Post by JoeAltmaier »

cup wrote: post #32
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ecological damage is not outdated info. Solar farms are essentially clear-cutting the land. No sun - no life. The ecosystem under the panels is completely disrupted. Not unlike strip-mining.

Unless its a desert area. Like most of Australia, Central Asia, North Africa etc.

This again. For some reason the ecosystem of the desert is assumed to be worthless, and undeserving of preservation. This is an armchair ecologist idea that won't die.

In fact the desert ecosystem is more sensitive to sunlight changes. Which makes sense when you think about it.

Re: Costa Rica has gone 76 days using 100% renewable electricity

#34

Post by jfaucett »

cup wrote: post #32
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ecological damage is not outdated info. Solar farms are essentially clear-cutting the land. No sun - no life. The ecosystem under the panels is completely disrupted. Not unlike strip-mining.

Unless its a desert area. Like most of Australia, Central Asia, North Africa etc.

Which is not where the majority of solar energy is being deployed. The world leaders in solar energy production are the EU and China : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_by_country.

Re: Costa Rica has gone 76 days using 100% renewable electricity

#35

Post by jfaucett »

millettjon wrote: post #29
jfaucett wrote: post #19

Notice this is because 80% of the energy obtained was from Hydroelectric power, which is a great energy source because it is reliable - unlike wind and solar which in this case provided 7% and 0.01% respectively and are not reliable. It frustrates me that so many environmentalists are still against hydro because it alters ecosystems when nature itself is inherently violent, dangerous and in a constant state of flux.…

In Chile, the mining companies in the North use a disproportionate amount of energy. They are located in one of the driest deserts in the world and could easily supply their power needs from solar with minimal impact. Instead they continually fight to build dams in pristine temperate rain forest in the South.

"could easily supply their power needs from solar with minimal impact."

I would really like to see some data backing up that claim. I mean this. It would be amazing, if there were a cheap, reliable way to sustain all energy via solar - since the world leaders in solar energy production can only manage around 7% from solar.

Re: Costa Rica has gone 76 days using 100% renewable electricity

#36

Post by Declanomous »

jfaucett wrote: post #34
cup wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless its a desert area. Like most of Australia, Central Asia, North Africa etc.

Which is not where the majority of solar energy is being deployed. The world leaders in solar energy production are the EU and China : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_by_country .

China has huge deserts. The Gobi and the Taklamakan cover a massive area of China.

Edit: According to wikipedia, only 14.8% of China's land is arable. And that is for a country that is about the same size as the United States.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_China

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Deserts_of_China

Re: Costa Rica has gone 76 days using 100% renewable electricity

#37

Post by taneq »

millettjon wrote: post #29
jfaucett wrote: post #19

Notice this is because 80% of the energy obtained was from Hydroelectric power, which is a great energy source because it is reliable - unlike wind and solar which in this case provided 7% and 0.01% respectively and are not reliable. It frustrates me that so many environmentalists are still against hydro because it alters ecosystems when nature itself is inherently violent, dangerous and in a constant state of flux.…

In Chile, the mining companies in the North use a disproportionate amount of energy. They are located in one of the driest deserts in the world and could easily supply their power needs from solar with minimal impact. Instead they continually fight to build dams in pristine temperate rain forest in the South.

So why are they fighting so hard to build hydro dams when they could so easily and cheaply run off solar instead?

Re: Costa Rica has gone 76 days using 100% renewable electricity

#40

Post by taneq »

sickbeard wrote: post #38

Same story every month. Can't wait for the 100 day update

Future 100 day update: We got 99 days before we had to fall back on non-renewable resources for a day. That's only a 99% fuel saving, which is not enough and means renewables are terrible and we should never try to use them again.
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