We saw the new Ivanpah solar plant off of I-15 near the CA/NV border...

[Playinghardball]

It was AWESOME!
These solar generating plants looked like something from another planet.



It was pretty windy that day so the cell phone photo out of my side window wasn't that good...

http://www.brightsourceenergy.com/ivanpah-solar-project#.U2wEZkZOXX4

The electricity generated by all three plants is enough to serve more than 140,000 homes in California during the peak hours of the day.
The complex will reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by more than 400,000 tons per year.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Fantastic isn't it.

Like that one,there is another North of Tonapah Nevada. Just think,one of the Nations dirtiest power plants,North of Vegas is in shut down mode as a result. The air quality on the Moapa Reservation is a whole lot cleaner and it's only been a few days. By September,the whole plant bits the dust.

[Playinghardball]

3. We should be building these plants all over the U.S. and shutting down all of the coal plants...

AND NOW!!

[oldhippie]

4. A couple of them around Seattle would be good.

[onethatcares]

11. can't have em here

in Floriduh. Not enough sun

and besides that, duke energy couldn't charge us for nuke plants that will never be built if we did.

[Sheepshank]

2. the future of energyh is now! n/t

[Egnever]

5. Really wild looking.

Those towers are especially hard to focus on.

Makes you feel like you are looking at something in a sci-fi movie.

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. Juuuuuust wait.

hear that? there it is....Hear it?

That's the sound of the inevitable DU'er who will point out that birds will get fried when they fly into the halo.

Just watch. It'll happen.


I'm not going to point it out, however. I like fried bird and I am all for solar energy.

We're just going about it the wrong way.

We should be doing it the way Gerard K. O'Neill proposed forty damned years ago.

[Warren DeMontague]

10. Agreed on all points.

Some people seem to rank their progressive cred by the degree to which they can figure out a way to complain about just about anything.

[n2doc]

12. Yep. And tortoises too

Of course, said animals would be toast in the longer term if we don't do something like this. Nukes are not a viable alternative and asking everyone to live in an unheated/cooled hut and bike to some sustainable job isn't realistic.

[DLnyc]

7. Cool!

Or maybe we should say "Hot!"

Here is a link to a more informative article in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivanpah_Solar_Power_Facility

CO2 output is essentially zero, so that is very good.

The capital cost per watt capacity of this particular plant is a little high (about $5.60, according to the Wiki article), so it may be that lower-tech (e.g. parabolic trough mirrors) can be put in for less capital cost per watt capacity. Nevada Solar One ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Solar_One ) seems to be an example, with a cost more like $4.16 per watt capacity, but that was about 7 years ago so . . .

[bananas]

8. k&r nt

[Warren DeMontague]

9. AWESOME

[madokie]

13. Any is better than none

At this point we need all the help we can get.

[a kennedy]

14. I love the turbines that have started going up around here too.....

http://www.google.com/search?q=pictures+of+wind+turbines&biw=1336&bih=828&tbm=isch&imgil=aD4YTJOrSI2qVM%253A%253Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ft0.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcS_WRSzCgGSMdr0LHgxROdQufbm6fqeOMz85FJN_8ORWBgPSwot%253B464%253B286%253BLLjylOFKf1NBNM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.globalwindgroup.com%25252F&source=iu&usg=__7TNAWEfYd43YGoH0Fw_Phd2Czfw%3D&sa=X&ei=h8VsU8_GNIW1yATbhoHYAg&sqi=2&ved=0CDgQ9QEwCA