Go Solar wrote on August 20, 2008 09:45 PM: (Continued from previous essay)

The building of power transmission lines that would export solar electricity from Nevada to the rest of the United States is similar to the building of a national interstate highway system.

The national highway system we enjoy today here in the US is due to Republican President Dwight Eisenhower, a former General in the US Army who was given responsibility for the D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

The formal name is the “Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways”; you can read about its history at the Department of Transportation (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/interstate.cfm), which states the following:

“The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1952 authorized the first funding specifically for System construction, but it was only a token amount of $25 million a year for fiscal years (FY) 1954 and 1955. Legislation in 1954 authorized an additional $175 million annually for FY 1956 and 1957.

Under the leadership of President Eisenhower, the question of how to fund the Interstate System was resolved with enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. It served as a catalyst for the System's development and, ultimately, its completion…and established a new method for apportioning funds among the States, changed the name to the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, and set the Federal Government's share of project cost at 90 percent.”

Just as the highway system was necessary for military defense purposes, power transmission lines emanating from Nevada will eliminate the U.S. dependence on foreign petroleum and increase its national and military security.

Go Solar wrote on August 20, 2008 09:43 PM: Common Sense wrote “If the government had proposed 40 years ago that every taxpayer in the country furnish million-dollar home computers for everyone else, the reaction would have been the same.”

People have affordable computers and the Internet today because US taxpayers paid a lot of money to fund their development in order to fight the Cold War against the Soviet Union.

For example, taxpayer-funded NASA paid billions of dollars of money to Silicon Valley companies to develop the electronic component technologies used in the onboard computers of the rockets that sent astronauts into orbit around the Earth as well as to the moon. This was not just a matter of pride and bragging rights; the technology was necessary for the military defense of this nation (think of reconnaissance technology used in satellites as well as the long distance rocket technology that could deliver either a payload of men --- or a weapon).

Similarly, the reason the whole world can enjoy the Internet is because the US S Department of Defense needed to develop a system of communication that could withstand a nuclear attack. The result was the Internet, which the US taxpayer funded with billions of dollars of research and development money.

So although individuals taxpayers could not tangibly enjoy the benefits of owning a personal computer (before the 1980’s) or the Internet (before the 1990’s), those taxpayers were immediately benefiting from the military defense and also subsidizing the cost to develop the technology that future generations would enjoy.

(My essay continues in the next post due to the 300-word limit)

mike wrote on August 20, 2008 08:39 PM: What about the people who said that the internet will never work.

What about the people said the DVD or CD will be here forever.

What about the people who said that hybrid cars will fail.

Common Sense you thought process is outdated. Talk to you in couple of years, you will eat your words.

Good night grandpa common sense.

Common Sense wrote on August 20, 2008 06:43 PM: Oh, certainly, it CAN be done in the future. But what today's activists demand is that we all pay the exorbitant costs NOW.

If the government had proposed 40 years ago that every taxpayer in the country furnish million-dollar home computers for everyone else, the reaction would have been the same.

And the government didn't force people to buy automobiles in the late 1800s.

The idea that something CAN be done someday doesn't justify forcing people to throw their money at it right now.

Jen wrote on August 20, 2008 05:01 PM: Absolutley right Mike!! All these people who are saying "can't do it" probably had relatives saying the same thing about replacing horses with automobiles. :)

mike wrote on August 20, 2008 04:06 PM: Common Sense stated,"Clean energy" is another example of a great theory that simply cannot justify its own cost in the cold light of reality.

Well that what people said about cars when they saw them in the streets or when computer were first created.

"The computer is slow and takes up too much room, I can do it faster. Why should buy this million dollar computer"

Common Sense wrote on August 20, 2008 02:49 PM: Solar energy would be a great thing, except for the cost. You'll notice a glaring absence of cost whenever the issue of wind and solar power arises.

"Go Solar" is correct to factor in health costs caused by traditional fossil fuels. However, even those costs don't make solar power attractive or practical. Just check out the cost of installing a rooftop solar array in your own home, or check the cost of a small windmill for your backyard. You'll be shocked.

Theoretically, yes, covering a chunk of Nevada with solar panels would generate enough electricity for the entire nation. But how much money would that cost? And don't forget to add the cost of the transmission lines to every major U.S. city to deliver the "free" electricity.

"Clean energy" is another example of a great theory that simply cannot justify its own cost in the cold light of reality.

Go Solar wrote on August 20, 2008 01:39 PM: Jim Nance, the "current market price" is malleable and doesn't take into account the other indirect costs that you suffer by having old-fashioned dirty-energy technologies.

For example, if you have lung problems caused by polluted air, you are going to get it treated and then get a big fat medical bill(s) from the hospital.

So you are actually paying for the health-care costs of the dirty energy generation, even though you don't explicitly see it on your energy bills.

Even if you get Medicare or Medicaid to pay off that medical bill, then some other taxpayers are going to be subsidizing your medical treatments.

It's unnecessary for people to have to get sick just to get a "cheaper energy bill", because in the end, they end up paying more for health.

Contrast this to Solar One. After the plant is built, that's it: The thing is done. The only thing harvested is sunlight; any water resources are circulated forever through the system, nothing is wasted, and no pollution is generated. As long as the plant is running, you NEVER have to worry about replenishing it with more "dirty fuel" that has to be dirty-mined/dirty-drilled/dirty-processed-with-chemicals (as you would with coal or petroleum).

There is no need for the kind of human security personnel that you would need to protect a Yucca Mountain; there is no need to develop "exotic technologies" to guard by-products (like you would with spent nuke fuels using those caskets).

So in the end, Solar One may be 240% the current market price of the electricity bill alone.

But take into account the price of treating yours (or others) medical bills and all other consequences, and it actually becomes a bargain.

mike wrote on August 20, 2008 12:59 PM: I rather pay higher prices for cleaner energy. Eventually it will go down.

Just think about computer, vcr, cars, house, etc, eventually over time as demand increase the product quality gets better.

Things don't get better if the demand isn't there.

Jim Nance wrote on August 20, 2008 12:29 PM: Solar One is a new solar thermal plant southwest of Las Vegas.

Even with a ton of tax credits, it cranks out energy that is charging at 240% times the current market price.

We should put more money in R & D and wait until the technology matures before causing a large utility bill increase on consumers.

Read All Comments