USA could become energy self-sufficient with natural gas.

[OldWiseGuy]

Efficiency is tied to effectiveness. Have a few installed and you sustain your house and if you have power left, sell it to the power company win win!

I mean do these high priced systems effectively reduce dependence on imports? Not unless many more are installed. It doesn't matter how technically well they are designed. If too few people buy them they are 'ineffective'.

Honestly I don't think you have given thought to this or looked. Just recently OfficeMax has started selling 3d printers, and you can build one yourself, it won't be long until you can print your own panels.

How will this make these systems less expensive?

If we had this kind of fault finding attitude the internet, tv, computers and the moon landing would not have existed.
R&D is expensive, it always will be.

I have no problem with these systems.

Why are we talking about gas anyway? Nuclear is safer than fossil fuels, thousands die ever year from fossil fuels and while fewer than a hundred died from nuclear.

I thought we were talking about alternate energy sources.

 

[rossignol]

It's interesting listening to debates on the Northern Gateway Pipeline. Canada would be able to send more oil to the US and China to refine but it's crude oil and if it leeks, the area would never be able to recover.

One man, David Black is trying to open a refinery in BC Canada which would make transport safer.

There are others who think people and the government's money should be spent on green projects like natural energy that would make more revenue in the long run. The world is changing and it's been clear for a while that green is best. Stocks for natural products and green energy are going up, oil will be a thing of the past soon.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

There are others who think people and the government's money should be spent on green projects like natural energy that would make more revenue in the long run. The world is changing and it's been clear for a while that green is best. Stocks for natural products and green energy are going up, oil will be a thing of the past soon.

Green energy means less revenue for the government, especially with the tax breaks and incentives it now awards to green energy companies.

Also a little known secret about green electricity is that it must be sold to existing power transmission companies, at wholesale prices, and must then be repurchased at retail prices along with transmission fees in order to be distributed to customers.

Very little green electricity is used directly by consumers, and there is not only no savings, but it usually costs more than conventionally generated electricity, especially when conventional power companies own these green energy projects.

Green energy provides a very small fraction of our energy needs. Oil, coal, gas, and nuclear will be around for a long time.

 

[General Mung Beans]

No. Nuclear is the way to go.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

No. Nuclear is the way to go.

Our military runs on oil and nuclear. That's not going to change.

 

[gattaca]

why not?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

why not?

Tanks, planes, and ships can't run on the limited amount of green energy being produced today. They also need a tested and reliable source of power. Green energy cannot guarantee that.

 

[marshlewis]

I bet that if I set up a car to run on methane and turned my yard clippings into that gas, I'd have government thugs kicking in my door for tax evasion.

A few years ago it was discovered that using waste deep frying oil mixed with another cheap household substance (i forget which one), it was possible to run a diesel car for about 5 cents a liter or about 18 cents a gallon.
The tax man did in fact hunt these people down for tax evasion.

 

[mindlight]

USA could become energy self-sufficient with natural gas, and even an exporter of natural gas.

If it does shouldn't that then call into question the alliance they have with the Saudis. Afterall if the USA is no longer dependent on Arab oil why should it support despotic regimes that murder Christians , fund terrorism and allow its citizens to go out and commit 911s right left and centre.