Oh. Oh. It appears that those solar cells on which we bet the atmosphere...

[NNadir]

47. There's no such thing as a competition between solar and nuclear energy.

Nuclear energy has a capacity utilization of close to 90% in this country. Solar energy - even when the solar cells aren't breaking apart and spilling cadmium telluride into the environment - is lucky if it has a capacity factor of 10%, making it totally unreliable.

Solar energy will never be as clean, as sustainable, as reliable or as cheap as nuclear energy. Comparing nuclear energy with solar energy is rather like comparing Willy Mays to third string outfielder in the worst team in the Little League A level.

Nuclear energy works, solar energy doesn't. Nuclear energy produces about 30 exajoules of primary energy, making it the world's largest, by far source of climate change gas free primary energy. It did this while being criticized loudly by people who can't think very well.

By contrast, solar energy, with six decades of mindless cheering, can't even produce a half an exjoule of energy, despite unjustified popular enthusiasm, an absurd cost, the requirement for vast government subsidies without which it would die, and its need to entrench the dangerous natural gas industry forever, or at least until the atmosphere stops functioning because of the amount of waste in it.

And how old is the cheering? Here's a 1954 ad from the discoverer of the photovoltaic cell telling us that solar energy will bring us limitless energy:



I quote:

If this energy could be put to use, there would be enough to turn every wheel and light every lamp that mankind would ever need

http://www.beatriceco.com/bti/porticus/bell/belllabs_photovoltaics.html

Where have I, um, heard that before? Um...um...um...I don't know...maybe in the endless delusional day dreaming posts I've read here since about 2002.

And what has been the result of all this solar faith?

In 2002, the concentration of carbon dioxide as observed at Mauna Loa was 373.22 ppm.

Today, a little under 11 years later its, um, 400.03 ppm, for the week ending May 26, 2013.

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/weekly.html

I guess, sixty years later, there are lots of wheels and lots of lamps that "mankind" (sic) needs that solar can't do shit about.

At least in 1954, when they composed this ad, they didn't have 60 years of failure behind them. They, at least, had an excuse for naive optimism.

There are zero forms of energy on this planet that solar energy can replace, because it doesn't work.