I agree that it's a good thing, Louis. It's a very small amount of energy compared to the production offered by a nuc plant, but it's another step in a long process.
I just wish these things were available on a small scale for homes. But steam generation is not to be played with, unfortunately.
I am not thrilled that a bankrupt state gets involved in these things, but that is California's problem as long as they don't come crawling to the rest of the country to bail them out.
But politics aside, we could use more innovative electrical generation. Since the King will not let us use coal, and congress has made sure we keep the Middle East rich, the un-taxed sun seems a good place to go.
Too bad the ocean is so hard on equipment, as there is a lot of energy stored there from the sun and moon!
California is the leader in such legislation; other states follow their lead.
There is no single solution to this country's energy needs. The Southwest should be focusing on solar; the PNW in improving hydro, and the coastal regions wind.
The whole country will need to work on the smart grid to move the power inward from the edges.
TJ, I, too am surprised that California hasn't mandated that commercial roofs will use solar energy. But I'm even more surprised that Arizona, Utah and New Mexico haven't done so. I believe their desert areas get more usable sunlight hours per year than we do here in the golden state.
Ann, a 25% reduction of cost in a primary part is a great thing. It is not clear from the article how big the 275kW unit is. A medium size coal plant typically puts out 400 - 500 mega watts of power. A typical nuclear factilty about 900 - 1,000 MW. So, that would be about 1,400 of these units to replace a medium size coal plant. Of course, the coal plant puts out that energy all the time, on demand. So, while this technology is interesting and useful as an augmentation, in areas with lots of sun, I wonder if it is economically viable.
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