Why isn't hydropower talked about? Do the Libs really think solar power will work for Chicago? At night?

Question

Why isn't hydropower talked about? Do the Libs really think solar power will work for Chicago? At night?

Answer 1

I live in NZ, where hydro power is an even bigger deal than in the States.  The only trouble is that in both countries almost all the suitable valleys have already been dammed.  Here, our last big hydro project, the Clyde dam, involved flooding land which already had another use; fruit growing.  We can't rely on hydro power for new energy production.  That leaves wind, geothermal, nuclear and solar.  Solar includes not only photovoltaics, which as you point out, don't work at night, but also artificial photosynthesis, which produces liquid fuel which can be stored and used later.  In the States you live on a continent with 9 time zones from Atlantic to Bering.  Even photovoltaics could be useful there with the help of a continent-wide grid.  Even better would be an intercontinental grid linking up with Asia, Europe and Africa.  It's only 56 km. across the Bering Strait.  Geothermal doesn't only include hot springs and geologically active places.  Anywhere in the world, if you drill deep enough, you can pump cold water down and extract heat from the hot rocks below.  They've done it experimentally in Britain, which isn't geologically active.

Answer 2

The libs are thinking they can get elected, if they offer to create a lot of jobs. unfortunately alternatives doesn't produce much electricity, in proportion to the effort invested. So we'll have expensive energy, with the cost concealed by subsidy, & paid with taxes.

    Ethanol is a good example of how subsidies distort a market.  so we produce fuel inefficiently, because the cost is hidden.

     I hope every global warming advocate buys an electric car, before electricity prices start to make gasoline look cheap.

Answer 3

Hyrdopower is solar power. I am not a lib but lets face it, right now we have a giant fission reactor already burning. Lets use it. And to use solar power at night is easy. Its called batteries. Energy that is produced under sunlight is stored in hydrogen or lithium ion batteries.

Answer 4

That is so distorted it doesn't deserve a direct answer

Answer 5

Clinton had dams systematically destroyed. This has continued under Bush. The reason is that fish population studies show dramatic decreases for most species in most dammed rivers. Thus, rather than building more, we are gradually destroying the existing dams.

Note that noisy windmills killing birds, solar cells changing desert environments, millions of acres of land converted to high intensity corn production for ethanol, as well as coal strip mining and crude oil and gas production all have environmental impacts, so we are trying to pretty much ban all of them by degrees (despite occasional windfall subsidies for the various alternative energies).

Basically, hydro is being destroyed because the energy laws made by the US government are based on lobbying by fanatical or big business interests, rather than the best interest of most citizens.

Answer 6

Somehow I don't think the Chicago River's turning too many turbines.  Perhaps wind power is in order (if you've ever been to the middle of Illinois you'll know what I'm talking about)!