First wind as a lot of people- appear to be more in favour of Wind in Pakistan. I will try to point out that in the US.....Minnesota has the most wind turbines in place. They do generate electricity.....BUT and that is a big BUT.....and that is that Wind Turbines are NOT cost effective.
First they require great amount of money for initial outlay-( over 1 1/2 Million US dollars) but the KICKER is the issue of maintainenece which is very substantial.......yes very substantial. And if you take the initial money spent plus maintainence costs.........they are very expensive. They are only being put up because the State( province)- provides substantial subsidy not only for starting them but for maintaning them too. And of course certain capitalistic profiteers who have supported the proper politicians to put these things in place so that certain people can become very rich at the State's expense.
One of the problems that was not thought ahead of time is the sheer size.....in a triple Blade turbine.....in Minnesota each Blade is 150 foot long.......when you take up the PHYSICS of things in motion and that involved in building the tower, then install the blades the sheer mechanical problems are immense and costly.
So anyone who thinks Wind Turbine Farms for Pakistan must have the Zardari mindset where one would go for that so that Zardari or Nawaz Shareef can make a whole lot of kick backs.
What about Solar?
Well, the technology is there for anyone and everyone.........initial out lay might be expensive but since Solar panels do not have moving parts........once installed........maintainence is little. Yes there is problem of storage of electricity but that can be dealt with simply piping it into the present grid........and encouraging the local people to start using it.
All these things are not going to be THE solution but they will help and help greatly.
It again boils down to if we really are serious and want to do the right thing. Just look at across the border in Rajhastan , India where the common village people who do not even have shoes have been and are being taught to build the solar panels to electrify their villages.
More Black Bile later..........
Statistics: Posted by Shimatoree — Thu Aug 30, 2012 2:04 am
]]>
]]>
[newtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdO6T1TIDzQ[/newtube]
http://www.africaportal.org/articles/20 ... ara-desert
http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/dn1 ... ng-the-sun
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1 ... power.html
Statistics: Posted by Holly Flame — Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:15 pm
]]>
Statistics: Posted by Holly Flame — Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:55 pm
]]>
]]>
]]>
The points you raise about solar energy are all valid. You are right, the technology is expensive and there are inherent difficulties in storing it. The trick is to use solar energy in tandem with other forms of power generation as is the case in many places. The expectation that we can have continuous and reliable source of energy without a back up is not tenable. In case of Pakistan, we can rely on the sun shining brightly on us a lot more than timely rains to fill our dams. Future technologies are never cheap, they only become so when they become popular.
I see the future of wind power as bright too except that they are a lot more mechanical therefore more prone to wear and tear as compared with Solar. Bio-fuels is so last year and we have to be really careful not to put many of our eggs in that basket.
Without investment, we cannot hope to even produce a nut and bolt. Training the right kind of engineering graduates may be the first step in the right direction.
Statistics: Posted by stingingnettle — Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:10 pm
]]>
]]>
]]>
Statistics: Posted by Holly Flame — Sun Aug 26, 2012 3:59 pm
]]>
As H2O has pointed out, there are countries that are seriously investing in solar energy and the technology is getting better and cheaper all the time. I am sure China can help Pakistan in this respect if there was some degree of seriousness. The general rule is that the more people use a certain type of technology the cheaper it gets. Demand will bring about innovation along with price reduction.
Americans have been investing in solar energy for many years now and Britain with its laughable amount of sunshine is encouraging domestic users to install solar panels on their roof tops and you can see more and more of these around England.
Like all things in Pakistan, the incompetence of those at the helm coupled with political interference in technical initiatives keeps us back as a nation from pursing new directions and initiatives. If Pakistan is interested in tackling our energy crises, we need to embrace the obvious; solar energy is the light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s not be last in this race too.
Statistics: Posted by stingingnettle — Sun Aug 05, 2012 1:37 am
]]>
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... nline-news
Transparent solar cells could come cheap
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepe ... nline-news
Statistics: Posted by LifeH2O — Sat Aug 04, 2012 11:51 pm
]]>
]]>
]]>