I try very hard to do my factual research before I Blog my opinion on some topic, but when it comes to Green Energy, I am finding it very difficult to find the facts. How can that be? You would think that some place on the Internet, you could locate the facts, but that has not been the case. I learned a lesson many years ago when I worked for Harold Geneene at ITT. On his first day at work as the new President, he encountered a corporate culture that had lost touch with "facts". He wrote a short note that was published and sent to every manager at ITT about what he found. He said to everyone that there is one one fact and that was a "snapping turtle fact". A "snapping turtle fact" was one that you could pick up and throw on the ground and step on it and stomp on it if necessary and it would always turn out to be the same. That was a "snapping turtle fact" and that is exactly what we need today regarding Green Energy. You try to find "snapping turtle facts" on the Internet and see how far you get.
I was reading one account where a new type of solar panel was 300% better than some other one, but I never found how much of the solar energy that was available was collected by either panel. Now with my 4th grade math, if the original panel only collected 10% of the total solar energy, then if the new one could collect 40%, that would make it 300% better. Now I don't think the first panel was that bad nor do I feel the new one could be that much better. No where did I find a figure on how much energy from the Sun there is in a square foot of the Earth's surface. If I did, I would have to also know the day of the year and the location on the Earth as well as the time of day. I did not find any of this type of key information.
The Sun follows a sine wave path around the Earth (the Earth goes around the Sun, but for the example, let's say that the Sun goes around the Earth) and goes about 22 degrees north and 22 degrees south in a year. That means the angle that the Sun is in the sky at high noon changes during the year. The angle also changes during the 24 hour day. Some account state that you can only figure on about 5 hours per day of equivalent full Sun light on the solar panel. This is also affected by how far North or South you are. The problem is how do you find the numbers for this. I read the spec's on these solar panels and they state that it is good for so many watts. What does that mean? Is it based on high noon on the equator on the first day of spring? I am a sailor and have my own sextant so I know a little about these things.
I read one article about how the panels degrade over time. How do they take this into account? If the panel is in a fixed position on your house, how does that compare with one that can be move during the day or at points during the year? Can't find numbers on that either. What they seem to want us to do is to trust the salesmen for the solar panel companies and go on dumb faith. I think that is what a lot of voters did when they voted for Obama, blind faith. I guess that I just don't have that much faith and I am sure that I am not blind.
I also tried to look at the financial numbers and it was just as bad. When ever you mix into the numbers "free" money from the government and then calculate what something costs, you get screwed up final numbers. It happened with ethanol and it is happening with Green Energy like solar and wind. I read on article where Nellis AFB was able to buy solar power for $0.022/KWH. That is a good price. They were buying real 24-7 power for $0.09/KWH. That was a good price too. I know for a fact that power generated with coal comes in at about $0.02/KWH and non 24-7 power comes in at about $0.015/KWH. If the solar panels were paid for with tax payer money and if the profits were non-taxable for solar power, it is possible to sell power for as low as $0,022/KWH, but those are fudged numbers, not real numbers.
Before we can figure out what is going on, we have to get all the funny money out of Green Energy. It is so mixed up that no one can determine its true cost. I would even go one step further and require that all solar and wind companies be public companies so that we could get at their financial records. There is no way that public money should be given or loaned to companies where the public can not see their financial records.
Take it from me that I am not thru with this subject. I am going to keep digging for "snapping turtle facts" and when I find them, I will be reporting back.
