tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291287351469784668.post6359227083289463734..comments2023-10-14T09:10:22.357-07:00Comments on Shearer Insanity: Rooftop solarJames B. Shearerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13452342984383895221noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291287351469784668.post-22959408163870659172009-09-22T07:17:15.162-07:002009-09-22T07:17:15.162-07:00I agree with you, Peter, on the problems with sola...I agree with you, Peter, on the problems with solarizing the desert due to the fragile ecosystem. Take for example the cryptobiotic crusts in desert regions such as at Arches National Monument. The crust is composed of bacteria, fungi and algae and can take 500 years to form. It protects the desert soils from erosion. All this can be wiped out in a moment by heavy work boots, not to mention RV's.Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14830629701752556960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291287351469784668.post-89564706343401922872009-03-16T20:34:00.000-07:002009-03-16T20:34:00.000-07:00My residential electric bill in San Diego does not...My residential electric bill in San Diego does not work in the idealized way that James describes (i.e., a fixed charge plus a simple per kWh charge). In fact it includes a complicated and opaque list of charges, fees, and rebates that make it impossible to predict the total payment from any given number of kilowatt hours billed. But it's clear that the cost per kWh actually increases steeply with usage, presumably reflecting some societal desire to subsidize starving widows and penalize electricity hogs, regardless of the actual cost of providing service. For example, in February we used 461 kWh and were charged $63.33, corresponding to a rate of 13.7 cents per kWh. For comparison, in January we used 553 kWh and were charged $92.17. The additional 92 kWh cost us $28.84 extra, for a marginal rate of 31.3 cents per kWh.<BR/><BR/>This does not detract from James' main point that it surely must be more efficient to operate solar panels in bulk rather than distributed among individual homes and that rooftop installations must be subsidized in order to be competitive. But there already are large subsidies and penalties involved in individual household bills, and it's not obvious to me that this one is larger than any of the others. How electricity should be rationally priced is complicated in California, which has considerable hydropower that is very cheap but now insufficient to serve a swollen population and expensive long-term contracts that were signed during a crisis provoked by an ill-conceived experiment in deregulation.<BR/><BR/>Two final points: There is some cost in building utility lines to bring power from the desert to where it is needed and some loss of power during transmission, both of which don't apply for rooftop installations. Finally, from an aesthetic point of view, some of us would rather see solar panels on rooftops than spread over vast areas of currently pristine desert.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11225979663163454962noreply@blogger.com