Starting where we agree. Yes, nuclear should be expanded. I used to live less than 10 miles from a reactor, for all I care they can build one a mile from me. Damn NIMBY people are the only reason it won't become the majority answer. I do think it should be expanded, but to mollify the NIMBYs, you can't make it the majority answer. Also, we agree (I think) on having a variety of answers. We already have some hydroelectric for example, and even if it cannot be expanded further, keeping what we have and running it at full capacity is a good option. Wind should be expanded, especially in the west. If cattle are willing to graze under them, the footprint becomes very small.
Windmills do have a pretty good economy in
limited locations. You need a place with as steady and constant wind as you can get - too much wind and you have to shut the turbines down, not enough and you don't produce much power. They do have a fairly small footprint, and cattle do quite willingly graze under them. They're a good answer in the correct location. My parent's old town had a blurb in the newspaper how the electric company was shutting down the two turbines outside of town because wind levels couldn't justify the continued maintenance to keep them running, much less installing more.
I don't know much about geothermal, haven't heard about it any in years. If the concept of getting energy from the Earths heat was feasible, I admit I would support it.
Again, limited locations. Also, many geothermal places involve some nasty chemicals down there, which in any scheme to gain power from the heat source you run the risk of releasing them. Not to mention that they eat many of the materials we have, making them uneconomic(at this time).
First, when I said a few, I meant blanket the roof. Just clarifying.
I posted two solutions. The smaller install is ~163 square feet of solar panels. The larger is 2,857 square feet of solar panels
Second, cost. Right now it is a bad trade. However, I see long run potential for solar. If we spend the money now to develop the tech, we could put solar out there far cheaper. I am rarely optimistic, but I am regarding science. If you consider the massive increase in discovery in the last century, and project half that into the next, I can see great breakthroughs made.
There's plenty of stuff in the pipeline, but I view it like I view many of the ethanol plants under construction; the technology isn't really there yet, and installing current gen stuff is mostly a waste of time, because you'll have to replace the panels/rebuild the plant to get the better economy.
If the factor wasn't 12 for 1 it wouldn't be as big of a deal. If you could justify it as having a straight break even point within 5-10 years, you'd probably be able to get loans from the bank for the install.
So, what do I see foresee? If solar was developed, I could see solar panels becoming so well advanced they were used to augment a cars internal electrical supply. Imagine that for a moment, solar panels so efficient that they can keep a car running on a sunny day. Impossible today, but in a century or two I can see it happening. Long before then though, I could easily see them being placed on houses cheaply and greatly reducing the need for other methods.
Phoenix, AZ, a high solar energy area, only averages
5.7 kWh per DAY per square meter. Assuming 100% effective solar panels, that'd give your average car about 20 miles per day, the solar panels would act as a trickle charger during the day. More realistic efficiencies would limit you to 5 miles a day.
It sounds pie in the sky, but just keep in mind how far computers have come in the past few decades, let alone other advances. Someday in the future, I can see solar being the dominant form of energy production, but we need to keep the research going today. I don't deny for a second that right now solar isn't the best method, but then again, all advances take research. I hope they keep working on it.
Computers are data manipulation devices. Physics has proven to be much harder - just look at the automobile, which would be an efficient spaceship if it'd improved as fast as computers.
