Solar Impulse II Makes California

[Much snipped in the interest of brevity]


On Sat, 30 Apr 2016 20:21:48 -0000, wrote:

If our planet were a closed system, solar energy wouldn't work at all.


Ah Jim, there you go demonstrating that sound mind capable of reasoned and
insightful thoughts.

I guess I need to amend my statement to exclude the full spectrum of
electromagnetic radiation.

Thanks for the correction, but it doesn't materially affect my argument.

Reasonable people know we cannot continue to dump our trash and emissions into
our environment, and expect to continue to experience the same quality of life.

You do know the modern view is that petroleum is not dinosaurs and is
constantly being created in the Earth?


At what rate? Please don't attempt to pull a Ted Cruz obfuscation, and attempt
to imply, that petroleum is being created at a rate adequate to replenish the
volume that is currently being extracted. :-)


Known oil reserves are estimated to be several hundred years worth, which
should be long enough to get fusion energy and good batteries working.


So, you appear to agree that oil is a finite resource as compared to
insolation.

Fusion is the Holy Grail, but apparently nearly as elusive.


[...] giant leaps in several technologies before something like an
electric 747 becomes possible.


I would be skeptical of the useful production of such an aircraft too, but the
experts (NASA) appear to believe progress toward that end is possible:
https://www.rt.com/usa/328220-nasa-electric-plane-future/

"Electric skies: NASA claims progress on hybrid plane engine
Published time: 7 Jan, 2016 22:14

Project engineers and researchers at the Glenn Research Center in
Cleveland, Ohio are looking at electrical systems that could either replace
or complement the current turbine engines, turning electricity into thrust.

One of the agency’s goals is to help the aircraft industry shift away from
kerosene-guzzling gas turbines, in order to reduce emissions, noise and
fossil fuel consumption.


If you think "sustainable power" has no environmetal impact, you are living
in a fantasy world.


I hope you aren't attempting to imply inefficient petroleum power is anywhere
near as clean as a 98% efficient electric motor. The environmental impact from
some energy technologies is more damaging than others...


Not everyplace has abundent sunshine


But every place does have _some_ sunshine. Where there is sunshine, it is
possible to directly convert it to electricity without emissions. It's just a
matter of how much square area of photovoltaics need to be installed to meet
the particular demand.


and the decentralized solar power in Hawaii, one of the few places where it
is really practical, is destabilizing the grid.


If the solar installation is totally off-grid, that becomes a non-issue. The
way I see it, decentralizing electric distribution mitigates the issue of a
single point of failure (among other benefits).

It may also impact the utility companys' bottom line, but, given the fact that
So. Calif. Edison had the audacity to see that their former top executive at
Southern California Edison Co., Michael Peevey, as California Public Utilities
Commission President, that may be a good thing:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-puc-peevey-20141010-story.html

"I think Peevey started his collusion early, and he did it often," Lynch
said. "From the beginning he evidenced a complete disregard for the rules
of law and a complete interest in cozying up to utilities."

[...]

Undisclosed emails and other private conversations are representative of
the "endemic corruption" in state government created by "the imbalance" in
lobbying power between wealthy corporations and advocacy groups that speak
for consumers and utility ratepayers, said Robert Fellmeth, a regulatory
law expert and director of the Center for Public Interest Law at the
University of San Diego.

Regulators like Peevey should not hold "secret conversations" with only one
side in a pending case that they eventually will have to rule upon as both
judge and jury, Fellmeth said.


http://fueltracker.com/content/why-you-can-no-longer-trust-public-utilities-commission-look-out-your-best-interests

At issue is a vote that will take place at the California Public Utilities
Commission in San Francisco on Thursday, November 20. The vote will
determine if Southern California Edison will be unlawfully awarded more
than $4 billion in ratepayer dollars by the California Public Utilities
Commission. This vote is the result of secret back-room negotiations that
violate public utility law, due process, and the Fifth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States. It is important because the 5th
Amendment protects you from being forced to pay for something you never
receive. This legal concept is known as "Just Compensation."

VOTE IN SAN FRANCISCO, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014

There will be a critical vote on Thursday by the two of the most powerful
appointed bureaucrats in California: Michael Peevey and Michel Florio of
the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The vote will decide if
the Commission should reward SCE with an unlawfully negotiated $4 billion
bailout of the failed nuclear reactors without a reasonableness hearing or
an investigation into why SCE executives intentionally installed nuclear
generators that they knew would fail.

This Federal Complaint shows how Southern California Edison and
Commissioners Florio and Peevey violated the constitutional rights of 17.4
million Californians by engaging in …

(1) Secret back-room negotiations,

(2) Judge shopping,

(3) Delaying investigations into what went wrong at San Onofre;

(4) thwarting civil investigations into the nuke failure;

(5) unlawfully seizing property (money) of California ratepayers by
allowing Southern California Edison to charge customers for electricity
that was never delivered.

(7) Permanently delaying public hearings by using procedural delays to
avoid public scrutiny, and …

(6) Forcing customers to pay extra by allowing SCE to charge for the cost
of replacement electricity -- a double-billing double whammy.



Thank you for taking the time to ponder these issues and offer your insight.
It's always a pleasure to read your views.