Myths and Facts About Solar Energy

FOCUS | Obama and Nixon: A Historical Perspective

Obama Denies Role in Government

FOCUS | Dissecting Bob Woodward's Comparison of Benghazi to Watergate

FOCUS | My Big Fat Greek Minister

Wall Street Lobbyists Roll Back Finance Reform, Again

Theel reports: "Renewable and nuclear energy have a substantially lower impact than fossil fuels over the lifespan of each power source."

A rooftop solar installation at City Gate Apartments in Washington. (photo: Evan Marczynski)

Comments

We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.

General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.

Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.

- The RSN Team

+12 # Willman 2013-01-27 18:45

A look at the nay sayers cited in this article is all one needs to figure out one reason renewable s are not where they should be.
These people are significantly responsible for most of the power/climate change negative noise out there.
Where are these types in China?

I can only imagine where our country would be if the non evolution believing cretins actually woke up from their faux news induced comas long enough to lend their support to a worthy cause.
These people will be looked upon as the early people looked on to those that believed the earth was flat.

+2 # Mrcead 2013-01-27 23:51

The naysayers unfortunately have broken wills. To gain back a measure of their self worth, they will attack benign movements because it is just words after all and no real recourse for lashing out - classic transference because it is their own lives they truly despise - not green energy to which they feel out of the loop on. It is when people start to believe these delusions do things become difficult. The American Luddites have risen.

-5 # brux 2013-01-28 17:14

No one is stopping you from installing solar, you seem to just want to force someone else to do it and offer it to you at a loss? And what does evolution or FOX News have to do with solar energy?

+2 # Mrcead 2013-01-28 00:11

Perhaps someone could answer this. I was wondering, would it be possible to have existing rooftops collect solar energy? I mean, they face the sun daily and the buildings the panels would be affixed to are already part of the grid. Rooftops are all just wasted space. I imagine airline pilots and birds would be annoyed with the glare but that aside, solar energy can only be supplemental to our energy consumption anyway (which is ridiculously high - most of it is spent heating and cooling the home) so why not have every consumer be a part-time supplier? Especially since most people leave their homes unoccupied whilst working. In a perfect world, people would just live in the city and that would cut energy usage nearly in half on its own (not to mention clean water - aka liquid gold - would not be WASTED on grass lawns - America's #1 crop) but that's not the case. I am not a fan of massively centralized production of any kind (food, water, power, medicine, etc) and I think communities should manage their own needs - far less waste in the long run and the locals will have steady jobs that actually help their communities thrive. Farmers the world over have the right idea, be your own producer, we just need to take that core idea into the 21st century and apply it to energy also.

What do you think?

+3 # tbcrawford 2013-01-28 11:56

I don't know where you live but welcome to California. Wonderful young companies sprouting up to install solar. People get it. We've already met our 20% renewables goal and we're heading to the next level. As our Gov paraphrased the Little Engine That Could, we know we can!

0 # pbbrodie 2013-01-28 20:12

The article clearly states that existing rooftops are a tremendous source of unused space for solar production.

0 # rockieball 2013-01-29 11:46

Their are quiet a few homes here in Las Vegas that have solar panels on them. You biggest cost is the converter not the panel it's self.

+4 # X Dane 2013-01-28 16:59

As always. IT IS MONEY. The oil and coal companies do not want to loose the money they can make when they get it out of the ground. That is the terrible truth. For money they will gladly kill the planet.

We MUST show them for what they are VULTURES AND KILLERS. We want a livable planet. We MUST speak up.

-5 # brux 2013-01-28 17:13

I wonder if people think about what a 100 square mile ... a 100 mile by one hundred mile square in Nevada would look like?

Batteries also need to be taken into consideration.

Then a huge plant like this would be a real military vulnerability.

Solar is not so easy. Just covering roofs might do it, but the coverage would not be very efficient, so the costs would go up.

The idea that you can graze cows that have grass growing under solar panels is really absurd ... because there is no light.

+1 # rockieball 2013-01-29 11:38

Have you ever been to Nevada? I mean outside of Las Vegas, Reno or Lake Tahoe?
Their is now little used Yucca Mountain area, or parts of Area 51 in which their is nothing but rock and no cows anywhere. Sure it will cost to build all this and the cost is going to go up more and more as long as we ignore the obvious and stop Big Oil from calling the shots.

Refresh comments list
RSS feed for comments to this post

THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community.

Name:	*
Username:	*
E-mail:	*
Password:	*
Confirm password:	*
Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.