Originally posted by shavixmir The Green party in the European parliament has a proposal (I'm not sure if it's actually been proposed yet) to join the complete energy system of Europe into one integral network.
Then using solar energy from Spain (and I believe Turkey), wind energy from Germany and the North sea, hydro-energy from various countries and tidal stream / tidal barrage ene ...[text shortened]... cient energy on a constant basis.
What do you all think?
Is it possible?
Is it realistic?
Originally posted by Teinosuke When I first read about this or a comparable scheme, the main resources were supposed to be geothermal energy from Iceland, wind and tidal energy from Northern Europe, and solar energy from Spain and the Sahara. I suppose the last component of the scheme may have to wait until we know what kind of regimes are going to emerge from the North African part of ...[text shortened]... s of the Nevada desert could, in theory, provide all of the energy needs of the United States.
The Saharan solar energy should be used for Africa.
I think solar and wind are perfect for home use, in fact that is my goal. However t will be very exensive to start..... I hope th tax incentives can hang around for a year longer.... And i will still need a dual fuel back up generator.
Anyome spent a week in a snow cave?
Originally posted by AThousandYoung The Saharan solar energy should be used for Africa.
Why ? I can understand a position that says that countries first need to look at their own energy needs, but why would you expand that to continents ? It's a bit arbitrary that countries have to prefer one partner over the other based on the continent they are on.
Originally posted by Kunsoo I think that's a bit exaggerated, but I've heard that solar panels on a certain percentage of homes would eliminate the need for oil imports. I realize that's not too helpful, but the percentage was considerably less than 50 percent.
I've always loved the irony in the alternative energy opposition. They fight any attempts to convert to solar tooth and na ...[text shortened]... entage low.... because the percentage is low.
Sometimes the lack of shame is profound.
You might have misread that argument. I use a similar one often when unrealistically optimistic people come out and say how we could easily and quickly replace all nuclear/fossil fuel power plants with alternative energy sources. The argument then is that they should take a look at what has been achieved so far and how it seems unlikely that such a small part of total production can quickly explode to cover all our energy needs. The argument is not, "It's small so it should stay small", it is "It's small and you can't explain how it's going to expand as rapidly as you wish it's going to expand"
I've seen number on energy production in Belgium and the rate of growth in total capacity for alternative energy is phenomenal .... and even if it continues growing like that for the next couple of decades it's still not going to cover everything.
Originally posted by Barts You might have misread that argument. I use a similar one often when unrealistically optimistic people come out and say how we could easily and quickly replace all nuclear/fossil fuel power plants with alternative energy sources. The argument then is that they should take a look at what has been achieved so far and how it seems unlikely that such a small part ...[text shortened]... ng like that for the next couple of decades it's still not going to cover everything.
No, but in conjunction with other developments, we could be free from oil and/or nuclear eventually. It's worth the effort.
Originally posted by Barts Why ? I can understand a position that says that countries first need to look at their own energy needs, but why would you expand that to continents ? It's a bit arbitrary that countries have to prefer one partner over the other based on the continent they are on.
And just as importantly, if a country wants to export it solar power, why shouldn't it? They export their oil. I don't see anyone saying "Africas oil should only be used in Africa".
Originally posted by twhitehead And just as importantly, if a country wants to export it solar power, why shouldn't it? They export their oil. I don't see anyone saying "Africas oil should only be used in Africa".
Solar energy is difficult to transport and Africa needs developing.
Pan-European green energy
17 Sep '11 08:28
YouTube
Back to Top