"DSK" wrote in message
. ..
... I guess decentralized solar & fuel-cell power won't return enough
money to the big corporations, and they're the ones that make big
political contribution$... so yeah, we won't be seeing any of that for a
long long time... do some research on "off-grid powered housing." I used
to call 'em 'survivalists' but it's a different attitude.


Jeff Rigby wrote:
The problem with solar power besides the cost to make the solar cells
(energy) and maintain (they have a limited life before they degrade) is
storage.

Your point? 'Conventional' energy system ain't cheap, nor are they trouble
free.

... Current battery technology is terrible.

Only in comparison to fossil fuel technology. It may be physically
impossible to store as much energy in electro-chemical bonds per pound as
is available in a pound of gasoline.

For fixed storage, weight is not the issue, it's economics. IF you have 10
batterys in a state like Arizona for for use at night, that might work but
for Florida where we get cloudy days you might need 30 batterys. And every
2-3 years you need to replace those batterys. Not economical at the current
cost for fuel unless you live outside the power grid and transporting fuel
is too prohibative in cost economics again.


... Having your solar cells feed back into the electric grid is the best
solution now.

Not really. A lot of people are taking their houses off the grid, putting
in 24V lighting & fridge etc etc. It works acceptably. How much is your
electric bill each month?

$100 and most of that is Air conditioning for the 90 degree 99% humidity
days, I have a very efficient (good insulation) home. Can't use solar power
for Air conditioning. There are some locations that have climates that lend
themselves to well designed homes that use the sun to heat and solar power
to provide electricity for appliances. Their electric bills today are
probably (without solar panels) $25 per month.

I'd love to live in N. Carolina by a stream that I could use to provide
hydo-electic power, to be totally self contained. Ain't happening.

Did you know that American pals of Cheneys were getting more money from
the oil-for-food scams than the Russians and the French put together?

Prove that, point to a NEWS source that supports that statement.

Why bother? A yay-Bush person like yourself isn't going to believe any
link I post. However, the facts are out there even if Fox News isn't
shouting it at you 24/7.

I googled and look what I found:

"With regard to the three individuals cited in the CIA report and "revealed"
by the Times, two of the individuals have been known since January 2004 when
the Scandal information was first publicized in Iraq. The first American is
Iraqi-born Samir Vincent who has lived in the U.S. since 1958 and once
organized a delegation of Iraqi religious leaders to visit the U.S. and meet
with former president Jimmy Carter. And the other person is Shaker
Al-Khafaji who has historically had an indepth involvement with the Hussein
regime. He is described by The Middle East Mediar Reseach Institute (MEMRI)
as "the pro-Saddam chairman of the 17th conference of Iraqi expatriates,"
and financed a film by Scott Ritter, former UN inspector, [which argued]
against UN sanctions, admitted to having financial ties to the Hussein
regime, been active in the anti-Iraq-war movement and accompanied
Congressmen Jim McDermott (D- Wash.), Mike Thompson (D-Calif), and David
Bonior (D-Mich) to Baghdad prior to Gulf War II in 2002 to criticize the
impending war."