Quote:
Originally Posted by Hagar
I have managed and controlled many different power stations for a lot of years now and Clive you are just wrong. WRONG.
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Doug, your 40 odd years working for the fossil fuel industry does not in fact make you an impartial source of information with respect to emerging energy technology, nor as an authority figure on the subject to whom we should defer judgement to, far from it. The last time we engaged in a discussion on this issue I spent the time to construct a mathematical model in the form of a spread sheet to prove that the value judgements you were making with respect to the viability of solar energy were not even supported by the figures you yourself tended as evidence to the contrary. I even posted it on line and left all the variables and equations open for you to manipulate to your hearts content to see if you could find a flaw in my reasoning.... Your response was something along the lines of: 'Your figures look good Clive, I'll give you that'.
I suspect the conflict in our view points lies in that you have become accustomed to looking at energy supply as a profit making enterprise where share holder return is the primary concern, where as I look at it from the perspective of the consumer and someone who has to (ultimately) absorb the deferred costs of pollution, diesel subsidies, climate change, ocean acidification, mercury in the ground water & ocean, maintenance of transmission lines that I no longer need etc, etc.
In point of fact, one of the reasons we chose our (rural) property was the that it had power lines crossing it... a valuable commodity or so we thought. I did the sums and found that the money it would cost to attach ourselves to the toxic umbilical cord was better spent on an off grid power system. We now have solar PV and 24kwh of battery back up for less than the cost of putting in the meter box. We didn't sponge off the system so it was done without REC's or subsidies. We have no power bills and have never run out of electricity....
By all means show me a fossil fuel energy supplier that can offer me a better deal if you can.
ie) I'll pay for the meter box and you supply all my energy for free on the understanding its production does not involve some activity that is environmentally damaging.