Solar finds it hard to squeeze water from desert

[NickB79]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090418/ap_on_sc/water_for_solar

"OAKLAND, Calif. – A westward dash to power electricity-hungry cities by cashing in on the desert's most abundant resource — sunshine — is clashing with efforts to protect the tiny pupfish and desert tortoise and stinginess over the region's rarest resource: water.

Water is the cooling agent for what traditionally has been the most cost-efficient type of large-scale solar plants. To some solar companies answering Washington's push for renewable energy on vast government lands, it's also an environmental thorn. The unusual collision pits natural resources protections against President Barack Obama's plans to produce more environmentally friendly energy."

I think we'll be running into a lot more of these kinds of unexpected problems in the future, unfortunately.

[mike_c]

1. TANSTAAFL....

Yes indeed.

[phantom power]

3. There is no risk free energy....

:popcorn:

[tanstaafl]

8. You called?

[w4rma]

2. They'll work the problems out. The fact is that this type of technology is about as good as it gets

in terms of low environmental impact.

[jpak]

4. Unlike nucular power plants, PV requires no water and can be sited anywhere.

So sorry

[mike_c]

6. yes, the article references steam generation via focused sunlight...

...rather than PV. Which isn't to say the vast PV arrays don't have ecological effects, too. But I agree that those effects are certainly less grievous than, say, fossil fuels or nuclear fission.

[Nihil]

7. RTFA

> Water is the cooling agent for what traditionally has been
> the most cost-efficient type of large-scale solar plants.

> Kim Fiske, said her company is planning to use photovoltaic technology
> in Amargosa Valley but elsewhere will evaluate each site's feasibility
> for water. Photovoltaic systems use conducting material to convert
> sunlight directly to electricity and need only nominal amounts of water
> to wash their solar panels, compared with the traditional steam-turbine
> solar that uses much larger volumes of water for cooling towers.

> "Water usage is becoming the larger issue. Some companies still want
> wet cooling and say it's less efficient to do dry cooling, and they
> need 10 percent more land to get the same output," said Peter Weiner,
> an attorney representing solar companies.

And some people say that it's the pro-nukes that do the knee-jerk reactions ...
:eyes:

:P

[damntexdem]

5. The world is a complex place.

And we learn by trying.