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Feinstein: "Don't Spoil Our Desert With Solar Panels"??

RedAkston

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So one of the leading dems in the Senate is now opposed to alternative sources of energy? WHAT THE ****??? This is ridiculous! It's about time these clowns are exposed for what they truly are.

Feinstein: Don't Spoil Our Desert With Solar Panels - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com

Feinstein said Friday she intends to push legislation that would turn the land into a national monument, which would allow for existing uses to continue while preventing future development.

We're talking about solar panels here folks, not oil drilling, SOLAR PANELS!!!
 
So one of the leading dems in the Senate is now opposed to alternative sources of energy? WHAT THE ****??? This is ridiculous! It's about time these clowns are exposed for what they truly are.

Feinstein: Don't Spoil Our Desert With Solar Panels - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com



We're talking about solar panels here folks, not oil drilling, SOLAR PANELS!!!

They're opposed to solar panels, they're opposed to turbines, they're opposed to coal, they're opposed to nuclear. It's becoming increasingly clear to me that the Democrats are seeking to stunt the growth of our nation.
 
There is not one source of energy that doesn't have someone in a hissy fit about it. If they want to maintain their standard of living and level of technology we now enjoy, the energy has to come from somewhere.

So, what do they want? To go back to hunting-gathering?

I note that this schizophrenia about energy sources is 99% exclusively a phenomenon of the Left, for whom no source of energy is sufficiently non-offensive.
 
If AGW was the dire threat it was, they wouldn't complain about the solar panals. Wake up people, AGW is not real, actions speak louder then words. Their actions betray their words.
 
So one of the leading dems in the Senate is now opposed to alternative sources of energy? WHAT THE ****??? This is ridiculous! It's about time these clowns are exposed for what they truly are.

Feinstein: Don't Spoil Our Desert With Solar Panels - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com



We're talking about solar panels here folks, not oil drilling, SOLAR PANELS!!!

Apparently democrats supporting alternative energy is a lie when it concerns their back yard. As far as I know there is nothing more cleaner,reliable and safer than solar energy and seeing how it is coming from the sun sun light is something we never have to worry about running out of. How can anyone not support this? Its not like the solar panels are going to take up the whole desert.
 
Apparently democrats supporting alternative energy is a lie when it concerns their back yard. As far as I know there is nothing more cleaner,reliable and safer than solar energy and seeing how it is coming from the sun sun light is something we never have to worry about running out of. How can anyone not support this? Its not like the solar panels are going to take up the whole desert.

Well, we don't know how changing the earth's albedo on a large scale could affect the climate. Likewise, we don't know how transferring energy from wind into a turbine on a mass scale will affect weather patterns. This is what happens when we try to play God.
 
How many right wingers want a nuclear plant in their backyards? ;)
 
Okay, Feinstein has just crossed the line. Unless the republicans nominate Hitler as her opponent, she has just lost my vote in her next election. Solar panels are a huge win in terms of California's energy needs and environmental protection. Energy needs to be generated somehow, and blocking solar just means more coal and more environmental destruction. Her stupidity is the matter is simply unacceptable.
 
How many right wingers want a nuclear plant in their backyards? ;)

They may not want them there, but they're certainly more willing to suck it up for the sake of progress. You would think that the people campaigning for alternative energy-- and the President is right, it is absolutely essential for our economy and our national security-- would be a little more forward-thinking in actually allowing it to be developed.

If it created jobs and brought more revenue into Wyoming, and wasn't just another case of California and New York treating us like "flyover country", I'd be happy to see a nuclear power plant built next door.
 
I grew up staring at a nuclear plant out my front door. Never bothered me in the slightest.
 
One of the problems with clean energy is that you still have to have transmission lines to carry all that power from the windmills or solar panels back to the metropolitan areas where the power is needed.

And even the greenest folks don't want transmission lines in their backyard. Many environmentalists don't want transmission lines anywhere.

I guess we need to think of a green way to get electricity from point A to point B without impacting anything in between.

:doh
 
One of the problems with clean energy is that you still have to have transmission lines to carry all that power from the windmills or solar panels back to the metropolitan areas where the power is needed.

And even the greenest folks don't want transmission lines in their backyard. Many environmentalists don't want transmission lines anywhere.

I guess we need to think of a green way to get electricity from point A to point B without impacting anything in between.

:doh

A great reason why electricity should be localized and we should switch to dc, but that would be a huge expense.
 
A great reason why electricity should be localized and we should switch to dc, but that would be a huge expense.

Well, the point of windmill farms and solar panel arrays is that they can be strategically located where they'll reap the maximum benefit.

And I don't believe we've reached a point where solar or wind could be located 'locally' in a major city such as New York. In fact, I seem to recall that the number of windmills necessary to power NYC would cover an area roughly the size of Connecticut.
 
And I don't believe we've reached a point where solar or wind could be located 'locally' in a major city such as New York. In fact, I seem to recall that the number of windmills necessary to power NYC would cover an area roughly the size of Connecticut.

Windmills are hugely inefficient so they are only "supplemental" energy.

We've got two large windmill initiatives in Texas right now. Both came under fire from "green" groups and one is still in limbo. They complained that the windmills would interrupt bird migrations. Thats what stopped the windmills in the gulf. The other initiative is going through full speed as the billionaire who's running it didn't give a darn what they said. Texas will have the largest windmill energy farm in the US and maybe in the world later. Its still supplemental though.
 
Well, the point of windmill farms and solar panel arrays is that they can be strategically located where they'll reap the maximum benefit.

And I don't believe we've reached a point where solar or wind could be located 'locally' in a major city such as New York. In fact, I seem to recall that the number of windmills necessary to power NYC would cover an area roughly the size of Connecticut.

Ever since I learned about the Tesla/Edison battle for which type current to use I have felt that Edison was right.

Electric companies have a regional monopoly that really has no future of real competition because it operates on the Alternating Current.

NYC would need its own coal fired plant ,a nuclear reactor, or a combination of the many types of power.
 
Windmills are hugely inefficient so they are only "supplemental" energy.

We've got two large windmill initiatives in Texas right now. Both came under fire from "green" groups and one is still in limbo. They complained that the windmills would interrupt bird migrations. Thats what stopped the windmills in the gulf. The other initiative is going through full speed as the billionaire who's running it didn't give a darn what they said. Texas will have the largest windmill energy farm in the US and maybe in the world later. Its still supplemental though.

Texas will have some real competition for windmill energy if Wyoming, North Dakota, etc decide to set up operation, they have far superior wind energy resources than the rest of the U.S.
 
How many right wingers want a nuclear plant in their backyards? ;)
already got one, thanks
2nd one is being built. Land has already been purchased and its building had been approved.

FAIL
 
Is she serious?

If she was talking about the Sonoran desert, or the Chihuahuan, or even the Great Basin, I could possibly understand.

But the Mojave? Give me a ****ing break. Has she ever been to Mojave? Here's what she's trying to save:

Mojave_SummerStorm.jpg
 
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How many right wingers want a nuclear plant in their backyards? ;)

I have 3 in mine, couldn't be happier. I would really welcome some decent tax breaks for solar.
 
I don't see the problem with putting the solar pannels there, but in a somewhat related way, I don't understand why solar technology can't just be integrated in urban areas as it is. The roofs of most buildings have nothing on them, and skyscrapers poke through a lot of urban pollution. Why can't we just put solar pannels and smaller windmill projects on top of pre-existing structures in an integral way?
 
How many right wingers want a nuclear plant in their backyards? ;)
...

Yes because a nuclear plant in your backyard is the same as 500k acres of empty desert converted to wind and solar generation are just SOO alike.
 
We could learn a thing or two from Spain. Tweak any problems and run with it.

Feed-in tariffs guaranteed in Spain for solar photovoltaic power and the government's ambitious plans to expand the solar market have led to a solar boom in the country. Solar companies from abroad pour into the Iberian Peninsula as investors and discover it to be a ripe sales market.

Mixed Review for Spain's Solar Energy Market - Renewable Energy World
 
We could learn a thing or two from Spain. Tweak any problems and run with it.

Feed-in tariffs guaranteed in Spain for solar photovoltaic power and the government's ambitious plans to expand the solar market have led to a solar boom in the country. Solar companies from abroad pour into the Iberian Peninsula as investors and discover it to be a ripe sales market.

Mixed Review for Spain's Solar Energy Market - Renewable Energy World

News from Cambridge UK
Another view of this situation was given by Dr Gabriel Calzada, Associate Professor of Economics at King Juan Carlos University during the Heartland Institute's climate change conference in New York last week. In contrast to the Times article, the title was "Spain's new energy economy: Boom and bust of the Spanish renewable miracle".

According to his figures, Spain has increased its emissions by 40% since signing the Kyoto protocol. And yet, in contrast to the government estimate in 2004 that emissions permits would cost Spanish companies no more than 85 million euros annually, the real cost is now estimated at between 3 billion (government statement) and 15 billion euros (Price Waterhouse Coopers).

As for renewable energy, the rapid growth of wind power is not surprising. For the first 15 years, a subsidy of 90% over the market price has been payable, reducing to 80% thereafter. And for solar, in which Spain is also seen as a leader, subsidies have amounted to 575% of the market price for 25 years, then declining to "only" 460%. With returns of 12 to 20%, the take up has been understandably high (indeed, there have been waiting lists).

The result is that installed wind capacity is just over 10% of the total for the country, although it is unclear whether this is theoretical or makes allowance for a realistic efficiency factor. The buoyant market has created around 50,000 jobs, but these are nearly all for installing new capacity and so do not provide long term employment. And they come at a cost: a renewables subsidy of 2.6bn euros in 2007, with about one third of the total going to the solar sector, which represents only 0.7% of installed capacity and about half the total number of jobs.

The costs are such that the government has now had to reduce the subsidy for solar power by 30% and cap the amount of new capacity to be installed. This softening of support resulted in 10,000 job losses. Further reductions of subsidies put 40,000 more green jobs at risk. Energy prices are rising to cover losses in the distribution industry, and generators have announced the cancellation of 4.5bn euros of annual investment because they also pay an effective subsidy for renewable energy through the controlled price to the consumer.

So, with Kyoto emissions targets almost certain to be significantly overshot and the bubble of green-collar jobs now burst, the Spanish government must be wondering how it managed to waste so much money for so little reward. It is difficult to see an economic recovery in Europe (or the USA) being led by a boom in long-term green-collar jobs.
 
If we got solar energy from "an area of the Southwestern desert 100 miles on a side, that would be enough, in and of itself, to provide 100 percent of all the electricity needs for the United States of America in a full year."

Al Gore on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 in a Senate committee hearing


Pretty bold idea.
 
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