Thursday, June 14, 2007
Great Basin as energy source
The Great Basin is really big. We've ridden 150 miles into it. We still have over 150 miles to go. Sure there are ravens, eagles, and wildlife that we've seen. But mostly it's desert. 350 plus days a year of sunshine. Hmm, what can we do with all of that sun? How about solar energy? How about solar arrays up and down the Highway 50 corridor? Why isn't this done. Can't our government give incentives to private industry to do it? After all, we've put $400 billion and counting into Iraq to keep cheap oil flowing. We've met a lot of people on our trip who have signed the petition we're bringing to D.C. We need to all shout to our representatives and demand we leave Iraq and invest in energy independence. It is only by each and everyone of us with letters, phone calls, and petitions to our leaders that they will actually follow our lead.
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6 comments:
Queridos Yonah, Solomon, Matt & Djina,
I love the stories of your fabulous trip! I am amazed and so proud of you all! I think of you every minute of the day.
Solomon, I wish I had shown your site to your classmates! But the days went by too fast with too many things to complete. Luckily, Sra. Devine just sent an e-mail to all the parents, with your address.
Solomon, we missed you very much these past few days at school! Today we made Smores using a Pizza Box Solar Oven... now that you mention the sun...!
The problem is that solar cells are unreliale on that scale. Birds poop on them, cables degrade, they get abraded by blowing dirt, etc So if a huge Basin solar installation is built, there are going to be probably significant portions of it that are down at any given time.
The solution to this would be to build a lower-tech version,. like a series of mirrors feeding into a large parabolic mirror which would in turn concentrate heat o a collector and heat up water inside it. The advantage of this method is that you are using really very simple installations(mirrors) for most of the plant, which don't have very many failure modes. They're also a lot cheaper--and the big things is that a system like this could operate using the same equipment in a coal-fired plant(since you're still using steam, just not heated by coal burning)
Nathanww whoever you are, are absolutely right. The mirror idea is much smarter than photovoltaics. The point I'm making is that here is an untapped energy source that we should be using.
Nathanww whoever you are, are absolutely right. The mirror idea is much smarter than photovoltaics. The point I'm making is that here is an untapped energy source that we should be using.
nathanww is my son and Christopher's older brother.
Happy riding!
Hi you Bierses!! It is moi, the great unwashed cousin from the large California carbon footprint to the south. Your mom & dad sent me a link to your blogsite and, well, here I am. Just want to wish you a safe and enjoyable trip, and I am looking forward to following your adventures online. I will write you from time-to-time. Take care! David & Yoshiko. . . . .
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