With ya'lls permission, may I weigh in here?
Isn't there an underlying issue here?
What was the electrical load of the last house you residential guys put together?
I'm exagerating of course, but a 40 gigglestinker sq ft summer house with the hot tub swimming pool whirlpool tub in the master bath home theater landscape lighting electric dog washer three dishwashers multiple big screen tv's etc etc etc etc.
The ones that make PV work are the ones willing to forgo some of the bells and whistles that so many of the consumers feel are a "right". Alternative energy is a good thing, but it will only work if somehow all of the users of the electricity are willing to say "This much and no more"
The CA energy crisis of a few years ago could have been a lot less, if everyone would have turned some things off, turned the a/c a little warmer, and thought about what they were doing before they turned something on, but how many people were willing to do that?
There are some comments on the ethanol boondoggle here, the electric car is the same thing. They are remote polluters. I read that it takes more energy to make the electricity to charge the car to drive for 10 miles than it takes to make the half gallon of gas to go the same distance in a "average" car.
I think the whole point of my somewhat rambling post, that until something convinces everyone that they "help the cause" by not using as much as they did, we are stuck with what we have.
BTW I use PV here at the railroad, it powers some of my signals that are out in the middle of nowhere, LED bulbs are a good thing.
TW
