Re: Windscaling

kevinmccabe@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
John P. Mullen wrote:

kevinmccabe@xxxxxxxxx wrote:


John P. Mullen wrote:


Michael O'Neill wrote:



kevinmccabe@xxxxxxxxx wrote:


Southern California, there's apparently a commercially feasible
semi-transparent wrap. It sounds like a material where they've got the
cells down to the
thickness of saran wrap. They sort of shrink wrap whole buildings with
the stuff.

Sounds promising. However, around here, high winds and sandstorms tend
to be hard on that sort of stuff.


Don't suppose you've got any places where it blows steady most days?



Well, there's Sante Fe, but that's another matter.

We do have such spots and there are turbines there.

<BW snip>

But, with solar, I get the idea that
there's a snob appeal factor. Like, you can only get so many style
points from sports cars, so to be truly cool you have to show your
green and the most ostentatious way to do it is to sheathe your roof
with solar cells.

Mostly, around here, it is the lower middle-class homes that have the
solar collectors. A big exception is one of the buildings in our
engineering complex, which uses solar for heating in the winter.


As I say, the only thing I've heard of that works here is the water
heating. But, that's a pretty good chunk of residential electrical
consumption (and/or natural gas). So, if at some point, economies of
scale can make the initial purchase not only practicable, but the
standard, we would see real decreases in consumption.

Well, that was the theory 30 years ago, but the systems we have here have pretty high maintenance costs.

I think the real
point is that we're faced with a situation that does not lend itself to
easy, sound-bite solutions. But, if we have the patience for complex
solutions that include conservation, alternative generation, reductions
through new technologies such as hybrids and alternate sources like
biofuels, AND if we look at the situation concretely and accept that we
need a backup, then we probably wind up with nuclear power. Its cleaner
than coal and not subject to the geopolitics of other fossil fuels.
And, not only can it be safely deployed, but has been up and running
for fifty odd years. This experience has demonstrated some poor
decisions, but it also resulted in the production of some fairly safe
technologies. I'm still needing to go back through this stuff again,
though, now that Si rained so nicely on Candu. I really liked the idea
of reactors that could run off the waste we currently have. I don't
remember if the PBMRs could do that, just that they don't require
enrichment to weapons grade. Also, I'm not real clear on whether their
graphite casings become radioactive or just their pebbles.



The problem with nuclear power is that you have to trust the corporations that run them to keep them up. If someone goofs badly enough, you may have a dead zone for generations. That record is a bit spotty in these parts.

Anyway, I think Bren has a solar hot water heater
that he's real fond of, so maybe he'll chip in and give us a real-life
low down. I'm looking into it, but I just bought a standard one a year
and a half ago (old one sprung a leak), so I'll be having a little bit
more trouble on the sales pitch to the bride then I did when I replaced
all the bulbs with fluorescents.

McCabe


We use a lot of fluorescents. No problem in the kitchen and laundry.
Once those big tubes (we got 8 footers in the kitchen) lit up, she was
sold. We also found that fluorescents are easier to take in the
bathrooms at 3 am than incandescents. However, be aware that because
fluorescents produce a discontinuous spectrum and turn off 120 times a
second, some people have a lot of trouble reading or doing close work
under them. You may want to keep a few incandescent task lights about.

John Mullen


I only have the tubes in the garage. This place is wired for a million
spots. They work ok after a bit. The real reading challenge is that you
can't just flick a switch and open the book. Gotta wait a few minutes.

McCabe


What kind of spots are these? Ours light up immediately.

John Mullen
.

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