More news from the solar energy and green jobs front

[brenthutch 444]

"America's largest maker of solar panels said the layoffs amount to 30 percent of its global workforce"

http://www.startribune.com/business/147730365.html

[SkyDekker 1,465]

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America's largest maker of solar panels

America's largest maker with the manufacturing plant in Germany.

[billvon 3,120]

ssshhh, he's on a roll

[mnealtx 0]

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ssshhh, he's on a roll

Given that the OP states "layoffs amount to 30 percent of its global workforce", looks like he's right and it's you and Dekker "on a roll".

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[SkyDekker 1,465]

I was just wondering how they were America's biggest manufacturer of solar panels with their manufacturing plant in Germany.

[billvon 3,120]

More bad news (at least for the GOP:)

====================================
Solar Power Fastest Growing Utility Generation Source in 2011
Top 10 Utilities Reported Adding More Than 1,000 MW of Solar Capacity

Today, SEPA released the findings of 2011 Top 10 Utility Solar Rankings survey. According to the findings, utilities interconnected more than 62,000 PV systems of all sizes in 2011. These new systems resulted in almost 1,500 megawatts of new utility solar capacity, more than twice as much as was added in 2010, which itself had been a record year. Both the number of systems and the percentage of growth make solar electricity the fastest growing electric source in the U.S. in 2011.

Much of this dramatic growth took place not just in the Southwest, traditionally the leader in solar power, but also in eastern states, and it took place on the systems of municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives, as well as investor-owned utilities.

Altogether, the Top 10 utilities reported adding more than 1,000 megawatts of solar electricity capacity in 2011. Overall, more than 240 utilities surveyed reported nearly 1,500 megawatts of new solar, equivalent to about six natural gas power plants.

For the fourth straight year, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), in northern California, led all utilities in the most new solar energy added to its grid with 288 megawatts. A New Jersey utility, Public Service Electric & Gas Co., secured the No. 2 spot with 181 megawatts in 2011. It took at least 45 megawatts to make the Top 10 list in 2011, more than double the minimum amount needed the previous year.

[Southern_Man 0]

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More bad news (at least for the GOP:)

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Both the number of systems and the percentage of growth make solar electricity the fastest growing electric source in the U.S. in 2011.

(Trying to avoid the political mess, really)

Bill, what about in terms of absolute power generation--how does the 1500MW compare to growth from other sources?

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[brenthutch 444]

Double next to nothing is still next to nothing. But go ahead and come back with some "ifs" and "coulds"

[mnealtx 0]

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I was just wondering how they were America's biggest manufacturer of solar panels with their manufacturing plant in Germany.

Because biggest could mean any of several different things and not just the 'number of panels manufactured in the US' that you try to imply?

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[SkyDekker 1,465]

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that you try to imply?

Red herring thrower and mind reader.

Impressive

[mnealtx 0]

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that you try to imply?

Red herring thrower and mind reader.

Impressive

But enough about you.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[brenthutch 444]

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that you try to imply?

Red herring thrower and mind reader.

Impressive

Speaking of impressive check out these stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"The other electric power generation industry, which includes electricity generated from biomass, sunlight, wind, and other renewable sources, had 4,700 GGS private sector jobs. Within this industry, electricity generated from wind had the highest employment with 2,200 jobs, followed by biomass with 1,100 jobs, geothermal with 600 jobs, and solar with 400 jobs."

[brenthutch 444]

You mean we wont be using unicorn farts and fairy dust?

[jgoose71 0]

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America's largest maker of solar panels

America's largest maker with the manufacturing plant in Germany.

Sad face........

I guess we are still waiting for jobs in manufacturing in the U.S.

Where are all the Green jobs Obama promised us?

"There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
Life, the Universe, and Everything

[billvon 3,120]

>Double next to nothing is still next to nothing.

Total US renewable energy generation 2011: 14%
Total from wind: 3%, and increasing 30% a year.

Math problem for you: if we're at 3% now what will we be at in 10 years? Next to nothing?

>But go ahead and come back with some "ifs" and "coulds"

I prefer them to "no" "can't" "too hard" etc. It's how I make a living. But whatever floats your boat.

[Coreece 190]

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Total from wind: 3%, and increasing 30% a year.

Math problem for you: if we're at 3% now what will we be at in 10 years? Next to nothing?

You never know...maybe the next boogeyman will be an air current crisis!

Your secrets are the true reflection of who you really are...

[brenthutch 444]

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>Double next to nothing is still next to nothing.

Total from wind: 3%, and increasing 30% a year.


Using your math we would have over 100% of our energy needs being met by wind in around 12 years. Take away subsidies and the number will be closer to 0%

Faulty logic, false assumptions,

>But go ahead and come back with some "ifs" and "coulds"

I make a living by knowing the difference between the two and investing other peoples money on the outcome. I don't get credit for possibilities, I get credit for results.

[killler 2]

I try to stay out of these threads....

But , A hundred years from now people will be scratching their heads in disbelief that we wasted all this time and money on wind and solar.... When we had the keys to the future in our hands...

The use of nuclear power and Hydrogen fuel is were we end up.... One nuke plant will out perform all the windmills you could put in Texas ..

killer...

[brenthutch 444]

Yep, things just keep getting better and better for solar.

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/morning_call/2012/04/first-solar-layoffs-wont-affect.html?ana=yfcpc

[rushmc 23]

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>Double next to nothing is still next to nothing.

Total US renewable energy generation 2011: 14%
Total from wind: 3%, and increasing 30% a year.

Math problem for you: if we're at 3% now what will we be at in 10 years? Next to nothing?

>But go ahead and come back with some "ifs" and "coulds"

I prefer them to "no" "can't" "too hard" etc. It's how I make a living. But whatever floats your boat.

And the dirty little fact wind supporters try to avoid is this

For every megawatt of wind energy available, an equal megawatt of spinning reserve needs to be online

The other little factoid it that the wind business will not continue without fed help

Why?

Because wind farms do not make a company any money or return on investment

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[brenthutch 444]

Quote

Quote

>Double next to nothing is still next to nothing.

Total US renewable energy generation 2011: 14%
Total from wind: 3%, and increasing 30% a year.

Math problem for you: if we're at 3% now what will we be at in 10 years? Next to nothing?

>But go ahead and come back with some "ifs" and "coulds"

I prefer them to "no" "can't" "too hard" etc. It's how I make a living. But whatever floats your boat.

And the dirty little fact wind supporters try to avoid is this

For every megawatt of wind energy available, an equal megawatt of spinning reserve needs to be online

The other little factoid it that the wind business will not continue without fed help

Why?

Because wind farms do not make a company any money or return on investment

But you cant hold them responsible for results you have to look at their intentions. They are good-hearted people who wish to save the world. Don't get bogged down in reality; they certainly don't.

[billvon 3,120]

>The use of nuclear power and Hydrogen fuel is were we end up....

Fusion is indeed the energy source of the future - and always will be. It's fantastically difficult to get working. I hope we do get it working well, but we're not there yet - and we'd need a big change in our understanding of physics to get there.

Conventional fission is a good source of power now, and hopefully will provide more of our baseline power in the future.

>One nuke plant will out perform all the windmills you could put in Texas ..

Let's see:

Biggest nuke plant in Texas: South Texas project units 1 and 2
Total power output: 2820 MW
Percentage of total power for Texas this plant generates: 6.5%

Total wind power in Texas: 10223 MW
Percentage of power generated for Texas in 2011: 6.9%

[billvon 3,120]

>For every megawatt of wind energy available, an equal megawatt of
>spinning reserve needs to be online

And for every megawatt of nuclear energy available an equal megawatt of spinning reserve needs to be online.

So?

>Because wind farms do not make a company any money or return on
>investment

==================================
Midwest farmers harvest bumper crop of wind power
WIND POWER
June 14, 2000

Considering how much money farmers in Iowa and Minnesota make on power-generating wind turbines, their corn and soybean crops look like peanuts.

Once a struggling renewable energy supply that survived only through government protection, wind energy technology has taken off, in some cases producing electricity more economically than fossil fuels.

In recent years, wind farms have sprung up along the Buffalo Ridge, a long gentle prominence that straddles the two states and breaks the expansive Midwestern flats, a geographical anomaly that gives rise to strong, steady winds.

Arnold Kholhede has worked the Iowa soil since he left the Marines after World War II. He surprised neighbors in Storm Lake several years ago when he added five wind turbines to his farm.

"It just looked like a real good second income for one thing. They're good for the environment. There's no pollution from them whatsoever. And we have some real good winds around here," he said. Kholhede earns up to $10,000 a year by leasing five small plots to a utility company as sites for the turbines. The same land might produce a corn crop worth little more than $100."Judging from that, you see it's a really profitable venture," Kholhede said.

The windmills weather blizzards, lightning strikes and occasional wind droughts. The summer months are the poorest, Kholhede said.

As the winds pick up in the autumn, the nearby town of Alta hosts a wind festival, as does Lake Benton on the Minnesota side of Buffalo Ridge, which dubs itself the "Wind Capital of the World.""It's been a real boon to the community," said Marlin Thompson, part-time mayor of Lake Benton, which developed a large wind farm in the late 1990s."
============================

[billvon 3,120]

>I make a living by knowing the difference between the two and investing
>other peoples money on the outcome. I don't get credit for possibilities, I
>get credit for results.

Yep, 90% of the people out there go for the sure things, and for investment counselors that's probably a very good plan.

Of course, you would have missed out on the ground floor on plastics, automobiles, transistors, microprocessors, personal computers, digital telephones, the Internet etc etc as well. But you can still get reasonable returns by waiting until all those things are proven moneymakers. You'll never get the big payout, of course, but smaller returns are good enough for most people.

[rushmc 23]

Quote

>For every megawatt of wind energy available, an equal megawatt of
>spinning reserve needs to be online

And for every megawatt of nuclear energy available an equal megawatt of spinning reserve needs to be online.

So?

>Because wind farms do not make a company any money or return on
>investment

==================================
Midwest farmers harvest bumper crop of wind power
WIND POWER
June 14, 2000

Considering how much money farmers in Iowa and Minnesota make on power-generating wind turbines, their corn and soybean crops look like peanuts.

Once a struggling renewable energy supply that survived only through government protection, wind energy technology has taken off, in some cases producing electricity more economically than fossil fuels.

In recent years, wind farms have sprung up along the Buffalo Ridge, a long gentle prominence that straddles the two states and breaks the expansive Midwestern flats, a geographical anomaly that gives rise to strong, steady winds.

Arnold Kholhede has worked the Iowa soil since he left the Marines after World War II. He surprised neighbors in Storm Lake several years ago when he added five wind turbines to his farm.

"It just looked like a real good second income for one thing. They're good for the environment. There's no pollution from them whatsoever. And we have some real good winds around here," he said. Kholhede earns up to $10,000 a year by leasing five small plots to a utility company as sites for the turbines. The same land might produce a corn crop worth little more than $100."Judging from that, you see it's a really profitable venture," Kholhede said.

The windmills weather blizzards, lightning strikes and occasional wind droughts. The summer months are the poorest, Kholhede said.

As the winds pick up in the autumn, the nearby town of Alta hosts a wind festival, as does Lake Benton on the Minnesota side of Buffalo Ridge, which dubs itself the "Wind Capital of the World.""It's been a real boon to the community," said Marlin Thompson, part-time mayor of Lake Benton, which developed a large wind farm in the late 1990s."
============================

Apples and oranges

Farmers get rent for the land

The developers get cash for megawatts

AND

I could take to you a 100 land owners here and I would guess that 80% would never sign the contract again

And farmers talk

alot

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln