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Question

Anyone seen Hillary's ad

Aug 29, 2016 2:33AM PDT

promising 500 million solar panels to be installed by the end of her first term? Does anyone think that's a good idea? I wonder where Hillary will find the energy needed to do the mining and manufacturing needed to make these things. I wonder if she can calculate how long it might take to recover the energy used in that process. I wonder if she knows where these panels will be installed and what that land is currently being used for. I wonder if she's considered the maintenance needs of these panels and where the energy will come from to not only replace them as they fail or become less efficient but to develop new technologies that would make all of these panels obsolete. Then, how will be dispose of these hundreds of millions of solar panels that don't bio-degrade. Recycle them? Where does the energy come from to do that?

Sorry but I'm just a dumb regular citizen that's learned nothing becomes cleaner without getting something else dirtier.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
RE: how will we dispose of these hundreds of millions
Aug 29, 2016 5:05AM PDT
how will we dispose of these hundreds of millions of solar panels that don't bio-degrade. Recycle them?

Use them to build a 'wall...a HUGE wall"

I wonder if she's considered the maintenance needs

The people that are maintaining the present(that will be replaced) equipment will maintain the solar panels?
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Tell me this...or ask it of yourself
Aug 29, 2016 6:26AM PDT

when considering the definition of "renewable energy" sources.

Is it possible to produce a solar panel that can provide enough energy in its useful life to be able to replace itself?

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RE:Is it possible to produce a solar panel that can provide
Aug 29, 2016 7:07AM PDT
Is it possible to produce a solar panel that can provide enough energy in its useful life to be able to replace itself?

Replace itself?....generate enough electricity over its lifetime to pay for the solar panel, maintenance and replacement of solar panel that has outlived its usefulness?

The correct answer to that would be...depending on the rate charged for kw/hour and the evolving of technology and whether the price of solar panels drops because of demand..

RE: learned nothing becomes cleaner without getting something else dirtier.

nothing? dirtier?

Just shifting the "dirt" from one form to another?

Could be....

... things (the atmosphere) can get cleaner(with solar panels) by NOT using a product(coal/oil fired power generation) that produce Green House Gases(dirty). Take into account all the pollution created in processing the coal and oil that are used in power generation.

Solar panels?...the lesser of 2 evils?

I say yes.

Wind power?
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Sorry...wrong direction
Aug 29, 2016 7:22AM PDT

It's not about money or paying for anything that way. It's about the expenditure of energy needed to manufacture, install, maintain and dispose of something that produces energy. Another consideration I didn't bring into the picture was to ask if the solar energy humans wanted to capture was currently in use by mom nature for other important purposes. She could get upset with us for doing such things and I don't think she'd take our money as payment for her loses either.

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RE:It's not about money or paying for anything
Aug 29, 2016 7:33AM PDT
It's not about money or paying for anything.... It's about the expenditure of energy

In my mind....energy = money .

coal can lay in the ground and UNTIL someone spends money (removing the coal and building a power plant to burn the coal)...there is no "energy" in the coal....same with solar panels...

It's ALL ABOUT THE MONEY
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Very disappointing...disappointing indeed
Aug 29, 2016 9:26AM PDT

Money is simply a way we share our various skills so that all of us can have the things we need or want...or at least up until those things disappear from very existence. I think it would be wise to consider what the sun provides for us that we may have less of if we divert its energy for other purposes. In one respect, we already benefit greatly from the use of solar energy on great expanses of land. These are called "farms". They bring us food. As the worlds population expands, we'll need to produce more of it. We don't have an infinite amount of land at our disposal to do that. Hillary says she'll start with 500 million panels over her first term. How much land with that occupy and how many more does she have in mind if she gets to hang around even longer? Personally, I see this ad as being a short sighted one that might appeal best to short sighted people only.

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RE:we may have less of if we divert its energy
Aug 29, 2016 11:24AM PDT

we may have less of if we divert its energy for other purposes.

STOP!!! You're making me feel guilty about laying in the sun and enjoying it's warmth.

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I'd be careful about doing that
Aug 29, 2016 12:44PM PDT

Government might declare solar power to be regulated natural resource and tax its use. They might determine the tax based on how many square inches of skin you had exposed and how long you basked in the sun's rays. Perhaps a doctor's prescription for additional vitamin D could get you an exemption from the tax.

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RE: Perhaps a doctor's prescription for additional vitamin D
Aug 29, 2016 1:06PM PDT

Perhaps a doctor's prescription for additional vitamin D

Did you take into consideration the amount of energy that would be used to produce the paper the prescription would be written on, AND the cost of fuel I would use in picking up the prescription/OR the energy used via the internet to send the prescription to the pharmacy AND the delivery costs?

IF I don't use the power of the sun while it is available...who will?

Certainly not my ancestors.

Use it OR lose it....

You wouldn't by chance be working on a time machine...to travel back in time and use solar power from the past?

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This one is easy
Aug 29, 2016 1:32PM PDT

You asked...

Question: "If I don't use the power of the sun while it is available...who will?"

Answer: Mom nature. (also known by other aliases) She wastes nothing. The sun that you don't or didn't apply to yourself will be put to good use. You can count on that. The next time you enjoy a bowl of strawberries, think about it.

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RE:The next time you enjoy a bowl of strawberries,
Aug 29, 2016 2:14PM PDT
The next time you enjoy a bowl of strawberries, think about it.

I had a bowl of strawberries about 10 years ago....You want me to think about THAT every 10 years?

Are you saying the sun that doesn't shine on me, shines on a bowl of strawberries?

What about the sun that shines on the roof of the house where YOU live...Killing strawberries?

Do you plant strawberries on YOUR roof?

IF not...Why not?

RE:The sun that you don't or didn't apply to yourself will be put to good use.

'good use" includes enjoying the warmth from the sun.

You should move to someplace "where the sun doesn't shine".....
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Panels on roofs are a different matter
Aug 29, 2016 3:04PM PDT

I don't think Hillary's plan calls for giving away free solar panels to home owners to install on their roofs but I wouldn't put it past her. It has been written that the energy payback from properly installed and maintained solar panels can happen at between 4 and 5 years. You can find such articles if you're interested as I suspect you'll not even look at one's I'd provide. In any event, my point is...and what I can't find written...is who gets robbed of the energy absorbed by hundreds of acres of solar panels that might be useful for other purposes or used by mom nature to help keep her planet clean. Did you know that even deserts have benefits in that they help provide the wind and storms which re-nourish the atmosphere and redistribute clean water?

We want "renewable" energy sources. A tree can make more trees. Can a solar panel make more solar panels? Not yet. It takes enormous amounts of fossil fuel to produce these. We can sit in our homes with our solar panelled roofs feeling good that we're not polluting the air at the moment. But, we did pollute it earlier and will we pollute later when we need to dispose of panels? I suspect "yes" is the answer to both.

I'm not saying we shouldn't do this but I am saying that we need to be be careful of what we believe to be the whole truth when the words come from the mouth's of politicians seeking office.

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RE: A tree can make more trees.
Aug 29, 2016 7:25PM PDT

RE: A tree can make more trees.

AND after the planet is covered with trees? We cut them down and? We get off the planet?...Can you ever have too many trees? Why don't trees grow in the desert?....Mom Nature doesn't want them there?...Why don't trees grow in the Artic/Antartic? ....... Mom Nature doesn't want them there? WHY? Is she asleep at the switch?...All that land going to waste sitting there with NO TREES!!!!.......OH THE HUMANITY!!!!

RE:We can sit in our homes with our solar panelled roofs feeling good that we're not polluting the air at the moment. But, we did pollute it earlier and will we pollute later when we need to dispose of panels? I suspect "yes" is the answer to both.

While you're sitting in your living room feeling good...you could be using the power from the solar panels to develop a time machine and go back in time and NOT pollute the atmosphere.

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Some figures for you
Aug 29, 2016 7:45AM PDT
What Does Solar Electricity Cost?

Since costs after installation are minimal for solar electricity, the relevant costs are the purchase price, installation costs, and the cost of land (capital costs). Cost components that make up a residential solar system are: system design, solar modules, and the balance of system (BOS) which consists of an inverter, bi-directional billing meter, connection devices, and installation labor.
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HUGE wall
Aug 29, 2016 2:49PM PDT

"Use them to build a 'wall...a HUGE wall" "

trump would be happy - there is always the Mexican border

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Answer
I have yet to see any political ads
Aug 29, 2016 2:37PM PDT

I am a cord cutter so I have yet to see any ads, let alone political ads. 500 million solar panels installed. It will make the utility companies happy. a lot of states are allowing utility companies to charge a monthly fee to connect to their network. Her friends in china would be happy since the panels would be made there in order to be affordable.

I can see more homes and businesses in the future to have solar panels on their roofs to help but in the end, at this time, I doubt it would be cost efficient when it comes to overall savings.

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RE: I doubt it would be cost efficient
Aug 29, 2016 7:54PM PDT
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OOOOooooo! And leading the way?...
Aug 30, 2016 1:37AM PDT
WALMART....Walmart good! We should all shop there! Grin
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RE:We should all shop there!
Aug 30, 2016 3:24AM PDT

It looks like everyone IS shopping there.

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Answer
As stupid as.....
Aug 29, 2016 7:04PM PDT

Cash for Clunkers with Obama was.

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If you listen to the many ways she expresses her plan
Aug 30, 2016 2:02AM PDT

you might see that she's wanting to take credit for what industry is already moving toward on their own and for their own purposes. Her statement actually says this is a goal that she will ensure is met. What does that tell you about government's role in private affairs. Sounds to me like more arm twisting is on the way. She does say this is an effort to combat "climate change". Of course it's already been suggested by the current administration that climate change is the cause of worldwide unrest that has bred the Middle East terrorists. I have to wonder where these politicians get their educations.

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I have to wonder where these politicians get their education
Aug 30, 2016 5:16AM PDT

In all the liberal colleges where their liberal friends are professors..........When they are all teaching the same things because they all think alike, the students become robots for the same 'think tank' because they aren't being given the ability to have real debates over issues anymore.