Fighting 'Solar Farm' Installation

[turbo36]

They're not all foreign many are being made in the US now creating good jobs.

Wind Manufacturing and Supply Chain

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) works with wind technology suppliers to promote advanced manufacturing capabilities.

www.energy.gov

 

[K5lwq]

You know what help farmers need? Lower fuel & fertilizer (and any other input) costs and less stupid regulations.
THATS what farmers need.

I definitely agree with this! But when I was on the farm raising $4-$5 beans with average of 35bu to the acre believe me fuel and fertilizer was very expensive then! We did have less regulations but still. That is why anything that a farmer can do to offset their expenses I am a fan of.

 

[turbo36]

How much power does it take to mine all the metals needed to make batteries, windmills and solar panels? How much fuel does it take to manufacture them across the oceans, then ship them here and erect them? How about to maintain and eventually replace them?
The argument for wind & solar was/is how ”clean“ it is. Well it isn’t clean, it never has been and it never will be.
All energy generation involves using power & resources to make power. Nukes & NG are the sensible & economical answer, but there’s too many screaming teenagers and they’re weak-minded, enabling parents running the news media right now.

Are you saying that the coal burning plants and nuclear plants don't require energy to build? Do they just spring up out of the fields like tulips?

 

[turbo36]

To further the problem with snow cover on solar panels.....here in Northern Ontario Canada , we have a 100 acre solar farm 15 miles down road, they clear the snow with two diesel Kubota side by sides on tracks with auto brooms sticking out ..... funny to see.

Why is that any funnier than clearing snow on the roads? Can't you learn to drive on snow? Our forefathers went through the snow with their Ox carts!

 

[turbo36]

You know what help farmers need? Lower fuel & fertilizer (and any other input) costs and less stupid regulations.
THATS what farmers need.

So what does solar power have to do with fuel and fertilizer cost? Are you implying that solar farms are raising your fuel and fertilizer cost?

I would like cheap beer, but I don't look to the government to give it to me.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

I do not like the view of wind farms. They permanently disrupt the view of the horizon, and the red lights all at once for as far as you can see would drive me nuts. I like looking out my windows at night and seeing stars.

I noticed another wind farm off to the east of US 31 somewhere on our drive home north from Indy on Friday. I probably wouldn't have noticed it had it not been for the blinking synchronized lights.

At least solar farms are down low, and pretty easy to to planting around the perimeters to limit the view of them. And they don't glow at night.

I have to somewhat agree with you on windmills. We have manybe 12 or so I can see, as the crow flies, maybe 2 or 3 miles away on top of a ridge. We are on top of a ridge as well. Maybe 10 miles as crow flies there are more. I love nothing more than sitting out at night, watching stars and satalites go by. The ones I mentioned are not disruptive to that in the least. I actually kind of like seeing the dim flashing red lights.
Where I will agree, is that I don't think I'd want to see the whole ridge lined with them, whether it is miles and miles of them or just another 100 or so. I also know I wouldn't want to be much cloer to them either. How close, I don't know. What I have now is doable.

 

[Fishin-4-a-Livin]

So what does solar power have to do with fuel and fertilizer cost? Are you implying that solar farms are raising your fuel and fertilizer cost?

I would like cheap beer, but I don't look to the government to give it to me.

Well if the government started regulating your beer out of existence, you would probably be none too happy.

The entire green energy thing is being forced upon us before it’s ready. We have all the energy that we need at our fingertips already.

 

[Hay Dude]

So what does solar power have to do with fuel and fertilizer cost? Are you implying that solar farms are raising your fuel and fertilizer cost?

I would like cheap beer, but I don't look to the government to give it to me.

No.
I’m pointing out how much farmers would like to see a return of normal cost inputs, not 5 buck a gallon diesel and $800/ton nitrogen and seed doubling in price
That happened 2 years ago, or maybe you are unaware farmers are dealing with that?

Not all farmers can have solar panels of windmills installed on their fields.

 

[Hay Dude]

Are you saying that the coal burning plants and nuclear plants don't require energy to build? Do they just spring up out of the fields like tulips?

Nope, but they’re already here, so the don’t have to “spring up out of the fields like tulips” now, do they?
You are aware coal plants can be converted to NG, right?
Or are you unaware that all this solar & windmill fantasy requires seizure of land, construction from scratch costing many billions and manufacturing and mining in foreign countries which costs many more billions and increases all our energy costs?

If you just leave the plants we have, convert them to clean NG, we wouldn’t have to spend or build 1/100th as much and we’d be energy independent and still FAR cleaner than coal-burning China.

Don’t you see how these people just guilt the US into building all this crap (manufactured by them) then turn around and burn coal in their country? Do you see what a competitive edge that gives them? Why do you think they build a new coal fired plant like 1-2 times a month there?

You won’t be talking solar panels made in China when you see that people won’t be able to afford energy in this country anymore. Poor people freezing to death might just come up as a leading cause of death in this country in the near future.

 

[wawajake]

Why is that any funnier than clearing snow on the roads? Can't you learn to drive on snow? Our forefathers went through the snow with their Ox carts!

Its funny because we are on a tractor site and I get to bring the word Kubota into this ......AND .....for at least two months each winter when well below freezing, they need to use fossil fuels ( diesel) , to sweep each solar panel.

 

[Hay Dude]

They're not all foreign many are being made in the US now creating good jobs.

Wind Manufacturing and Supply Chain

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) works with wind technology suppliers to promote advanced manufacturing capabilities.

www.energy.gov

Even if they are ALL made here, it doesn’t do much to offset that our main economic competitor (China) is going to build everything cheaper than us because they still make energy with fossil fuels!

 

[jyoutz]

yeah lets use power so you can make power make sense ...usually these heat trace grid are pretty spars from one to the other so it can take a while if its pretty cold and thick snow plus lots of existing one are not equipped with them. So it is still a reality and the reality is there for anywhere from 3 to 7 days a winter ... that means you are not getting the power during these days so you can't depend on that power during these days plus the days it is overcast ... so it is valid regardless

It’s not like you make it sound. The answer is a power grid supplied by multiple sources and backup redundancy for winter conditions. Also engineered for winter conditions (unlike the grid failures in Texas 2 years ago).

 

[jyoutz]

Oil and coal won't run out in our lifetime nor your children's lifetime nor the grand and great grandkids lifetime and way beyond.

There is a new energy source currently being developed that will replace coal and oil and its not solar or wind energy.

U.S. announces nuclear fusion energy breakthrough: "One of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century"​

Coal will never run out, because it’s going to stay in the ground in the US. Coal mining is obsolete; it will just take some time for some places to accept this. I say it’s obsolete because the current plants are aging out, and no utilities are planning new plants.

 

[jyoutz]

Even if they are ALL made here, it doesn’t do much to offset that our main economic competitor (China) is going to build everything cheaper than us because they still make energy with fossil fuels!

And the air and water is toxic in China. They are killing their own people.

 

[Redbug]

In South Carolina I see commercial solar farm/factories becoming more and more abundant. Large acreages. Most people need to make money on their lands whether growing trees, farming, cows, etc. I don't harbor ill feelings on solar. But I do have feelings on esthetics. But I have other questions.

Without federal subsidies I do not see how a commercial solar factory/farm could be profitable. These companies are paying thousands of dollars per acre to the landowner to lease the land for panels each year. (More than a farmer could make farming). Those companies also pay the difference when the land is rezoned to a different commercial use. Each year panels lose some of their effeciency through age, not to mention the newer panels being produced all along are more efficient than what is already installed. There is some land degradation from panels leaching, too. I don't see how these commercial solar companies will be in business in ten or thirty years considering the costs. What happens if the company bails or goes bankrupt? What happens if your heirs don't want those panels on the family farm? To me this sounds like a pyramid scheme funded by subsidies and I wonder about the long term viability of those solar companies. Remember how to get rich quick with ostrich farming?

 

[Rockbadchild]

It’s not like you make it sound. The answer is a power grid supplied by multiple sources and backup redundancy for winter conditions. Also engineered for winter conditions (unlike the grid failures in Texas 2 years ago).

sure it is like I make it sound … can you depend on that power during those days ? yes or no … the answer is no, so to fix that they take it from somewhere else, why ? because it’s not sunny that day … why it’s not sunny ? because it’s snowing… ok, so what about tomorrow? well there will be snow covering the panel tomorrow… ok so take power from somewhere else to feed where these panel are suppose to feed plus power to warm up the heat trace … The only point I am making and how this whole conversation started is you can’t fully depend on solar or wind electricity … you just can’t … why ? because it depend on mother nature to continually provide for it … so it can only be part of 10 to 20% of the system (page 20, I don’t see the post # for some reason ) and yes I look at it on its own, because that’s how you have too look at it for the whole system to work 365 days per year each link as to be able to produce… not saying solar is bad I am saying you can only depend on it at a low percentage … Germany tried it and as a result they created more pollution then if they would’ve stick to natural gas … why because during these days they had to fired up their coal plant that was over 50 years old so people could have electricity.

 

[jyoutz]

sure it is like i make it sound … can you depend on that power during those days ? yes or no … the answer is no, so to fix that they take it from somewhere else, why ? because it’s not sunny that day … why it’s not sunny ? because it’s snowing… ok, so what about tomorrow? well there will be snow covering the panel tomorrow… ok so take power from somewhere else to feed where these panel are suppose to feed plus power to warm up the heat trace … The only point I am making and how this whole conversation started is you can’t fully depend on solar or wind electricity … you just can’t … why ? because it depend on mother nature to continually provide for it … so it can only be part of 10 to 20% of the system (page 20, I don’t see the post # for some reason ) and yes I look at it on its own, because that’s how you have too look at it for the whole system to work 365 days per year each link as to be able to produce… not saying solar is bad I am saying you can only depend on it at a low percentage … Germany tried it and as a result they created more pollution then if they would’ve stick to natural gas … why because during these days they had to fired up their coal plant that was over 50 years old so people could have electricity.

The power companies where I live produce 32% from wind and solar and the remainder from natural gas. That’s what they are in the business to do: keep a steady supply of power with backup. They continue to add renewable capacity, but retain the backup sources. They have stated that they are on track to be at greater than 50% renewables by 2030. I have no doubt that those companies are smarter than us in planning for contingency backup. It’s what they do.

 

[Rockbadchild]

The power companies where I live produce 32% from wind and solar and the remainder from natural gas. That’s what they are in the business to do: keep a steady supply of power with backup. They continue to add renewable capacity, but retain the backup sources. They have stated that they are on track to be at greater than 50% renewables by 2030. I have no doubt that those companies are smarter than us in planning for contingency backup. It’s what they do.

you guys get lots of sun year round so if there is one place that it can work it’s there … can’t speak about the wind i don’t know enough about your area

 

[Hay Dude]

And the air and water is toxic in China. They are killing their own people.

And they are killing us, too. It doesn’t stay within their borders.

The bigger point is while they brainwash America into spending trillions on this green energy farce, they continue to beat us 6 ways to Sunday in manufacturing.

Is the game they’re playing becoming more clear to you? They guilt us into spending 2-3X what we spend to make electricity while they use cheap, plentiful coal & gas?

 

[Hay Dude]

The power companies where I live produce 32% from wind and solar and the remainder from natural gas. That’s what they are in the business to do: keep a steady supply of power with backup. They continue to add renewable capacity, but retain the backup sources. They have stated that they are on track to be at greater than 50% renewables by 2030. I have no doubt that those companies are smarter than us in planning for contingency backup. It’s what they do.

They couldn’t do it without billions in taxpayer confiscated money, either.