[Vwdiesel] Gas/diesel prices

David Schwarze dschwarze at dfwair.net
Mon May 26 09:08:08 PDT 2008


On the other hand, in the Southwest US (for example) solar power is much 
more viable.  Still not cost effective at today's energy prices, but 
with either a doubling of utility rates and/or a breakthrough in PV 
price per watt, all of a sudden it will make sense and I think you will 
see an absolute explosion in solar energy.  I did a rough calculation 
once and found that if the entire state of New Mexico were covered in 
solar panels, it would provide enough electricity to power every home in 
the U.S.A. all year long.  Ignoring minor things like power 
transmission, the initial cost of the panels, the population of New 
Mexico, etc.  :-)

-David

LBaird119 at aol.com wrote:

> 
>   Dad and I have been playing with a fair investment in solar.  I 
> bought stuff righ tfor him so it's a little better but...  At typical, 
> shopping around prices, $7,000 worth of solar equipment will 
> produce 300watts of electricity on a bright, sunny, summer 
> day.  That's maybe 3kwh/day if you have tracking, which 
> nearly doubles the price of the investment.  Here in sunny, 
> eastern Washington I think the power factor is .28 which 
> means thats what you multiply your daily power output by 
> for the annual output average.  I recorded 13 hours of full 
> sunlight from Thanksgiving through March a couple years ago. 
> Not much better but better last year.  That's winter sun 
> which is about 30% as productive as summer sun here.  
>   It's not as "whoopee" as everyone seems to think.


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