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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

#181

Post by Arnt »

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.…

Hydro is as reliable as the rain. When I was a child (and 97% of the power came from hydro) the newspapers would sometimes predict power shortage in the summer because there hadn't been much snow in the winter, and sometimes they predicted low power prices because of an abundance of snow.

In a way hydro is rather like solar power, which is as reliable as the sun, and wind, which is as reliable as the wind. I know of places where the sun shines reliably and there isn't much dust, and I know of places where it doesn't. I know of places where the wind blows fairly steadily from roughly the same direction most days, and I know of places where it doesn't.

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

#182

Post by jessaustin »

pnw_hazor wrote: post #176

Would never work in the US because hydropower is not considered renewable. "But in general, hydropower is not even considered a renewable energy in most states or, for the most part, by the federal government. " http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructur...

Hydropower is somewhat environmentally questionable, but it's "renewable" by any reasonable definition. Your link confirms this:

...because it is an endless, constantly recharging system, hydropower is defined as a renewable energy by the Environmental Protection Agency.

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

#183

Post by forthefuture »

hguant wrote: post #146
metaphorm wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eudaimonia is more like "ethics for virtuous and stable society" rather than saying very much about human relationship with the ecosystem. in the ancient world the human relationship with the ecosystem was extremely different than it is now.

Right, but the core principle underlying all that is that human happiness is a good in and of itself, and a virtuous and stable society is good only in that it allows for the greatest potential growth of human happiness.

Well I'd much rather have Advancement over Happiness. We can be happy our entire lives but if everyones dies before 100 and humanity never goes anywhere I wouldn't consider that a successful society. Happiness is masturbating 24/7 until you die. If you truly believe that is the goal of humanity I can't help but disagree.

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

#184

Post by pilom »

jessaustin wrote: post #182
pnw_hazor wrote: post #176

Would never work in the US because hydropower is not considered renewable. "But in general, hydropower is not even considered a renewable energy in most states or, for the most part, by the federal government. " http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructur...

Hydropower is somewhat environmentally questionable, but it's "renewable" by any reasonable definition. Your link confirms this: ...because it is an endless, constantly recharging system, hydropower is defined as a renewable energy by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Unfortunately it isn't exactly endless. Even if you ignore the decreasing amounts of water at many dams due to climate change, eventually dams fill up with sediment. Lake Powell and Lake Mead already have about 10% less capacity than they did when built due to sediment infill.

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

#185

Post by bpodgursky »

Arnt wrote: post #181
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.…

Hydro is as reliable as the rain. When I was a child (and 97% of the power came from hydro) the newspapers would sometimes predict power shortage in the summer because there hadn't been much snow in the winter, and sometimes they predicted low power prices because of an abundance of snow. In a way hydro is rather like solar power, which is as reliable as the sun, and wind, which is as reliable as the wind. I know of…

No -- hydro is like solar, _if we had unfathomably large, incredibly cheap, low-leakage batteries_.

The US southwest is generating hydro power using water it saved up from 30 years ago, behind the hoover and glen canyon dams. That is MANY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE past what we can do with solar.

Come back to me when battery technology has gotten even close to that.

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

#186

Post by jessaustin »

unprepare wrote: post #170
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider: earth may well be the only habitable planet in our galaxy. In that case its nearer the truth to consider it a gift just for us.

Humans may not be the only beings on this planet with agency/ consciousness, whatever you want to call it. How do you know the planet isnt a gift to them, instead of us?

This argument is flawed. If there's a gift, there must have been a giver, so why don't we ask the giver? Well the Christians already have, and they like the answer they got. Why don't you like it?

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

#187

Post by [deleted] »

solipsism wrote: post #178
BinaryIdiot wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To presume that one (or ones species) is the most important thing in the world (or universe) is basically the definition of narcissism Humans are the most important things in the world. Why? Because I am a human. My family are humans. To me, and likely most people, humans are most important. If I were an Otter and capable of self reflection I would likely think Otters were the most important things in the world. No…

Replace "humans" with "white people" in your post, and you'll get a sense of how silly your beliefs seem to me. Not to say my beliefs are more right than yours -- to each his/her own.

[deleted]

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

#188

Post by Arnt »

goodcanadian wrote: post #49
millettjon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I would caution that deserts are some of the most sensitive ecosystems in the world. Covering up large areas of a desert with solar panels may be more harmful than you realize. That said, I am a strong solar advocate; I simply believe we should start with the roofs of warehouses. These are huge areas of relatively flat space where the ecological damage has already been done.

Solar panels are large compared to a house, not large compared to a desert.

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

#189

Post by JoeAltmaier »

maxerickson wrote: post #171
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We hardly have enough data to say that. In fact we've found nothing remotely similar to Earth in all the thousands of samples we've taken. So if there are any others at all, they number in the dozens?

Estimates say there are ~100 billion planets in the galaxy. I'm also not sure that In fact we've found nothing remotely similar to Earth in all the thousands of samples we've taken. is reasonable. Take Proxima b . It orbits the Sun's closest neighbor, is in the habitable zone (doesn't mean it is habitable, necessary but not sufficient) and is roughly earth sized. Sure, we don't know a whole lot more about it, so it i…

So many, many things can be wrong and make a planet uninhabitable. Earth is probably unique in being - Earthlike. Such a delicate balance.

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

#190

Post by Arnt »

bpodgursky wrote: post #185
Arnt wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hydro is as reliable as the rain. When I was a child (and 97% of the power came from hydro) the newspapers would sometimes predict power shortage in the summer because there hadn't been much snow in the winter, and sometimes they predicted low power prices because of an abundance of snow. In a way hydro is rather like solar power, which is as reliable as the sun, and wind, which is as reliable as the wind. I know of…

No -- hydro is like solar, _if we had unfathomably large, incredibly cheap, low-leakage batteries_. The US southwest is generating hydro power using water it saved up from 30 years ago, behind the hoover and glen canyon dams. That is MANY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE past what we can do with solar. Come back to me when battery technology has gotten even close to that.

Or I can come back to you when technology allows timeshifting usage to match availability.

Even if you want to run a factory 24×7, you don't have to run the most power-hungry parts at an invariant pace, see?

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