Comments chanceslade has made

  • organic fertilizer

    Is it not true that manure is not permitted in "official" organic certified farming and that the approved fertilizers are mined minerals similar to commercial non organic fertilizers? If so how do you conclude one is better than the other?On Outline for a move to a sustainable agriculture system posted 1 year, 3 months ago 108 Responses

  • GM cotton

    GM cotton reduces insecticide use
    Reduces tillage requirements (fuel use)
    Yields are not reduced

    Seems like an environmental friendly technology to me.On Outline for a move to a sustainable agriculture system posted 1 year, 4 months ago 108 Responses

  • decomissioning

    I guess the standard practice has been to just leave old power plants rot in place. I have seen  small old plants in the midwest just sitting there doing nothing. As the big "modern" coal plants come to end of life status I suspect they will just rot away until the government pays to clean them up or forces the owners to clean them up. If this cost isn't in the calculations for the cost of coal based power it should be.

    One possibility for a thermal plant needing to be decommissioned would be  something like fusion technology (or even concentrated photovoltaics) making them expensive and outdated. This could also be triggered  if water use becomes more expensive.On Renewables and efficiency would provide more GDP than fossil fuels posted 1 year, 4 months ago 48 Responses

  • Tribal study

    In fact the tribe has explored large scale concentrated solar possibilities. So far they, as far as I know, have not found a package of technology, finances, and ownership that has been judged to be beneficial to the tribe. One problem is concern with what happens when the lifespan of the technology is ended. What do you do with a thousand acres of mirrors and a solar tower? This is of concern as the nearby town of Laughlin now has a worn out coal fired plant and associated and possibly toxic waste from the scrubbers to deal with. The cost of tearing this plant down and cleaning up the site will likely be more than the initial construction costs. This has lead to concerns about end of life issues of any energy development on the reservation.

    Another issue is the catch 22 between having to have a long term power sale contract in order to get financing. As I understand it, the power utilities are willing to offer long term contracts at fixed prices and complete ownership of any marketable environmental resources such as carbon credits. Given that energy prices are increasing rapidly and the prospects for revenues from selling carbon credits is excellent, it doesn't make sense to rush into an energy development arrangement where the resource owners get only a small share of the rewards. Since a large solar project could cost a billion dollars it is not something that a tribe could finance easily without outside partners.

    If BLM gives away large chunks of the southwest for solar development then the large developers and large utilities may make out like bandits.

    In my personal view, the government needs something on the order of the TVA for large scale concentrated solar power development, including a smart and efficient grid to distribute it.On Renewables and efficiency would provide more GDP than fossil fuels posted 1 year, 4 months ago 48 Responses

  • Electric Energy Storage

    When we have plug in electric cars we will have a vast network of dispersed energy storage systems. So if energy is in excess during the day due to solar power plants, store it in your car. This just illustrates the complexities of the system. Your spreadsheet might be a good start to a model of the system that could, over time, include such strange things as storing energy in your car.

    I would be curious about your reaction to a more traditional feasibility study such as the one we did for the Ft. Mojave Reservation. See Http:/energy-renewable.com

    While it is useful to look at the big picture, I think that getting the first 10% of a renewable based system up and running is a critical goal in its own right. Obviously, we can't get to 99% unless we solve the many problems of getting to 10%.On Renewables and efficiency would provide more GDP than fossil fuels posted 1 year, 4 months ago 48 Responses

  • double counting????

    If a train runs over a car is this counted as a rail or auto fatality or both. My guess is that it is counted as both.On Renewables and efficiency would provide more GDP than fossil fuels posted 1 year, 4 months ago 48 Responses