Solar Energy Companies – Becoming Familiar With the Best

October 31, 2011 By

Solar Energy Companies Becoming Familiar With the Best

The solar energy that is most actively collected and converted to solar electricity is provided by the sun’s radiation. Solar energy is used by many people in rural areas now as the sole source of electricity. Industrially, solar power is currently used for powering everything from waterfront desert desalinization plants to the powering of intracity rail systems. In fact, solar energy is now becoming a major consideration in the architecture of buildings and homes, both for conversion to electricity and for running a building’s heating systems. the purpose of the information being presented to you here is to get you familiar with the current solar energy technologies and the best solar energy companies producing them so that you can make a good decision about solar energy.

DayStar Technologies is one of the leading solar energy companies. They have been able to significantly cut solar cell production costs by developing new manufacturing technologies. their success in this field has been a large contributing factor the continuing increase in solar electricity installations.

Evergreen Solar is another of the leading solar energy companies today. However, as you might have guessed from the name, their focus is more on producing environmentally beneficial solar power products. They have put their manufacturing technological development efforts into how to product solar power products that are very unobtrusive and make use of environmentally friendly manufacturing processes and materials wherever possible.

For residential and light commercial solar energy applications most people seek out SunPower Corporation. this company produces and sells solar panels. the primary focus of SunPower Corporation is on increasing the space to electricity conversion ratio of its solar panels. They claim that their all-back-contact silicon-based solar cells produce 50% more power than conventional solar cells of the same size.

At the heart of most solar electricity units are the tools used in the manufacturing process of the core of the solar panel, the photovoltaic modules. the leading supplier of these tools is the Spire Corporation. the other companies mentioned often use these tools to enhance their manufacturing processes.

There are many other solar energy companies forming each year, but the ones discussed are the big players with established reputations. If you choose one of these newer companies or one of the smaller companies, make sure you do it based on good personal testimony of someone you know, that you check out the company thoroughly, or that you at least check the company out with the better business bureau.

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WINDMILL: Rain chances improve, but drought likely to linger

October 14, 2011 By

WINDMILL: Rain chances improve, but drought likely to linger

SAN ANGELO, Texas —Cloudy, autumn-like days with the promise of rain have enhanced conversation at every coffee shop, feed store and even church socials the first week of October.

More than anything, just the anticipation of moisture has dampened the recent announcement by Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon that the drought could linger for five or 10 more years. he said the culprit is the likely establishment of a new La Niña in the central Pacific Ocean.

A La Niña occurs when colder than usual ocean temperatures form in the central Pacific, and these tend to create wetter than normal conditions in the Pacific Northwest but also drier than normal conditions in the Southwest. a La Niña has been blamed for starting the current drought, but the new one, which began developing in September, is likely to extend drought conditions for Texas and much of the Southwest.

Nielsen-Gammon, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University, said that 95 percent of the Lone Star State is in either a severe or exceptional drought status and that the past year has been the worst one-year drought in history.

“Many residents remember the drought of the 1950s, and tree-ring records show that drought conditions occasionally last for a decade or even longer. I’m concerned because the same ocean conditions that seem to have contributed to the 1950s drought have been back for several years now,” he said.

Even though the 1950s drought is remembered as one of the worst in West Texas, it was mild compared with the current one, XB Cox Jr. told me while visiting last week.

Cox, 96, said he ran cattle in the 1950s on his Upton County ranch. “These days I hear from ranchers who are forced to sell their foundation cattle herds or go bankrupt buying feed to hold on to them,” he said.

Light, scattered showers fell in several counties of the Texas Hill Country last week, but there was not enough moisture to do much good. Herbert Loeffler operates the Panther Creek Ranch in Mason County, which has been in his family since 1882.

“Wow, we have received 5.55 inches of rainfall since this time last year,” he said. “There are lots of trees dying in the pastures. besides the cedar and live oak, the persimmon and other small brush are dying. the terrain in Central Texas will look lots different in a couple of years.”

Meanwhile, cotton harvest has started across the Lipan Flats, east of San Angelo. all of the dryland cotton failed this season, and the limited amount of irrigated cotton will produce low yields.

Jake Powell, who farms 2½ miles north of Vancourt, about 20 miles east of San Angelo, started applying defoliation on two patches of irrigated cotton last week. although the crop survived because pivot irrigation kept it alive during the consecutive 100-plus degree days of summer, the cotton will likely yield below average, he said.

The Kasberg Gin co. at Miles, 17 miles northeast of San Angelo, started ginning the first cotton bales of the season last week.

“We have modules containing about 150 bales on the lot ready to feed through the gin,” said Eugene Kasberg, gin manager.

Kasberg ginned 26,413 bales in 2010. the company serves farmers in a 70-mile radius, including Runnels, Tom Green, Concho, Coleman, Schleicher and McCulloch counties.

The Wall Co-Op Gin, 10 miles southeast of San Angelo, also started producing cotton bales last week.

It is unusual to be harvesting cotton this early in the fall, but there’s not much chance it will make any more than is in the fields now, manager Jerry Don Multer said.

“It’s hard to say where we will end up when this harvest is done,” Jerry told me. “Some of our farmers have pitched guesses that range from 5,000 to 8,000 bales.”

Although cotton harvest will have a slow start all across West Texas, it is likely to be a brief harvest season and be swift once it gets fully under way.

The heat and drought have affected the crop more than previously thought, some industry officials say.

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Cheap Wind Generators – Finding The Best Bargain

October 5, 2011 By

Cheap Wind Generators Finding The Best Bargain

How do you locate a wind turbine cheap? The best bargain might not be the one with the least expensive sticker price. when you have to spend a lot of money on other items in the process, you are really not better off by having acquired something with a really low up front price.

That being said, what homework do you need to do make sure that the inexpensively priced wind device you have found is actually worth your while?

There are three simple steps to keep you from buying a pig in a poke:

1. Make sure you correctly size the wind turbine to the task you have in mind. You definitely don’t want to just buy a wind turbine that fits into your budget. that may end up costing you more in the long run.

The first thing you need to do is decide where you want electricity to go. Do you have in mind charging a set of batteries or, are you looking to export power to the grid? While charging a set of batteries is a very straightforward task for a wind turbine, you need to understand there are a lot of things you can do with electricity make.

A little upfront work on your part in properly sizing the turbine to the task will pay off greatly. that way, you are going into this thing knowing exactly what you want to accomplish.

2. Make sure you have enough wind to do the job you want to do. The wind is like the weather in general – it changes all the time. but, there are embedded patterns regarding the wind around your house that you need to try to get your arms around. For example, we know that the wind on your roof is always going to be a lot more turbulent and chaotic than the wind 30 feet over the height of the trees.

The way to get started with this analysis is just to buy a small anemometer and test the wind at several locations on your property where you might like to install a wind turbine. You can collect data for a few weeks and draw some conclusions quickly. that information, combined with an understanding of any seasonality in these wind patterns, should be enough to make an intelligent conclusion about where to put the turbine up.

3. Carefully search to make sure you have looked for all available wind energy rebates and credits. There is currently a federal tax incentive of 30% off your total cost to get the device up and running. That’s a 30% credit of the total cost of your installation that will be taken off your taxes in the year you install a turbine. but, there are a number of other state and local incentives, including help from your power utility, that you need to research.

All in all, the best wind turbine for you may not be the least expensive upfront. Getting a wind turbine cheap is more than just finding the lowest initial price. You need to consider these other factors and make sure you are buying the turbine you need and placing it in the best location to get the most energy you can out of it. Then, you need to make sure that once you have identified the exact turbine you need by these steps, that you are finding every possible way to cut the initial purchase cost through rebates and credits that may be available.

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Women: Celebrate the Full Moon Total Lunar Eclipse and Winter Solstice In a Sacred Feminine Circle

September 16, 2011 By

Women: Celebrate the Full Moon Total Lunar Eclipse and Winter Solstice In a Sacred Feminine Circle

Women and the Moon

The Moon has long since come to represent women but the power of the moon is much more than symbolic in a woman’s life. For example the average menstrual cycle of approx. 28 days and mirrors the length of days from one Full Moon to the next.

The 40 weeks of pregnancy lasts not 9 months calendar months but 10 Lunar Months (10 Moons). Many labors begin in the wee hours and research reports more births around the full moon and more conceptions during a waxing moon.

So women are definitely influenced by the Moon and that is probably why the Moon has become a symbol for the Feminine.

The Full Moon

The Full Moon is a mirror of the power, clarity, brightness, beauty, and magic a woman tuned into her femininity possesses. She is a reminder of your true, brilliant nature.

What about the Winter Solstice? Well, in plain language, the Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year..the beginning of the end of the dark days (in the Northern Hemisphere). Night time (and the Moon) has long been associated with the Feminine Energy.

The longest night of the year then, represents a peak in the Feminine Energy. and that is why many sacred temples were specifically designed thousands of years ago to allow the rays of the solstice sun (a symbol of the masculine) to enter following the longest night…receiving the energy of the masculine when the feminine power is at its highest.

This year the Full Moon and Winter Solstice fall on the same day. so it is an especially powerful opportunity to tap into your Feminine Wisdom. There happens to also be a total lunar eclipse too. the Universe is giving us big clues..this 21st of December is IMPORTANT For YOU.

How are you going to reconnect with your Feminine Energy?

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Technology to harness solar energy after sunset

August 19, 2011 By

Technology to harness solar energy after sunset

Brightsource is liaising with utilities to clarify which future projects would best benefit from this technology, which combines its power tower solar thermal technology with two-tank molten-salt storage – the latter technology is a proven one that has been around for the past decade.Molten salt storage, otherwise known as ‘solar salts’, is used widely in solar thermal plants in Spain. Solar salts are composed of 60pc sodium nitrate and 40pc potassium nitrate.Combining its solar thermal technology with molton-salt storage, according to Brightsource, will extend the production of electricity into later parts of the day and after the sun sets when it is most valued by utilities.It predicts that the SolarPLUS technology will reduce the cost of renewable power for utilities’ customers by increasing a plant’s capacity factor and by offering higher efficiencies than competing solar thermal power plants.Brightsource also says its technology will offer utilities and grid operators extra operational and market value, by "providing balancing and shaping capabilities, as well as ancillary services to support a reliable grid"."Coupling storage with BrightSource’s high-efficiency LPT solar thermal technology represents a natural and critical advancement in utility-scale solar power generation," said Israel Kroizer, EVP of engineering, R&D and product supply, BrightSource Energy and president of BrightSource Industries (Israel).Brightsource is building the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert. When construction of Ivanpah is completed, it is expected to nearly double the amount of commercial solar thermal electricity produced in the US today.

Brightsource Energy’s LPT solar thermal system harnesses the sun’s energy to create solar power. Image courtesy of Brightsource

Two new solar plants planned for California

The privately held Oakland, California-headquartered Brightsource has also filed an application with the California Energy Commission to develop two 250MW solar plants in California’s Inyo County.If the project goes ahead, Hidden Hills will be poised on 3,280 acres of privately-owned land in Inyo County, California, adjacent to the California/Nevada border. The proposed site is situated south of Pahrump, Nevada, and west of Las Vegas, Nevada. in the past, the property has been used as an orchard.The Hidden Hills Solar Electric Generating System (SEGS) will use the company’s next-generation plant design, which Brightsource says will take advantage of economies of scale – driving down the cost of energy while also reducing the project’s land use footprint.for utility-scale solar projects of similar capacity, the new configuration reduces land use by 33pc or more compared to a typical photovoltaic (PV) farm and parabolic trough solar thermal plant, said Brightsource in a statement released on 8 August.BrightSource is hoping to construct two separate 250-megawatt (nominal) solar thermal power plants, each with its own solar field and solar power tower. When complete, the two plants are expected to produce enough electricity to power 178,000 homes and avoid more than 500,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

Green collar jobs for California

According to the company, the Hidden Hills SEGS project has the potential to create more than 1,000 construction jobs at the peak of construction and about 120 operations and maintenance jobs.over the plant’s 25-year life, construction wages are expected to reach nearly US$160m, with total employee earnings estimated at nearly US$390, said Brightsource."The economic benefits that will be created by the Hidden Hills SEGS are significant, especially in the context of the economic challenges the region continues to face," said Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst for Applied Analysis, a business advisory services firm that carried out an analysis of the economic and fiscal impacts of the Hidden Hills SEGS. "After doing a detailed analysis of the HHSEGS, we expect the project to directly generate nearly 2,900 jobs related to onsite construction and the fabrication of materials over the two-year construction period, and contribute over $265m in local and state taxes over the plant’s lifetime. these new jobs and extra tax revenue will likely have a noticeable impact on the surrounding communities," he said.

Solar field design

Brightsource says Hidden Hills will harness the company’s proprietary LPT solar thermal energy system, which generates power the same way as traditional power plants – by creating high temperature steam to turn a turbine – but using the sun’s energy rather than fossil fuels or nuclear power."at the heart of the LPT system is a state-of-the-art solar field design, optimisation software and a control system that allow for the creation of high temperature steam. The steam can then be integrated with conventional power plant components to produce predictable, reliable and cost-competitive clean energy," the company added.The new plant design at Hidden Hills will also feature a taller tower that allows for greater concentration of heliostats, which Brightsource says will significantly lower the amount of land required to produce energy. The company is also planning to place mirrors on individual poles that are placed directly into the ground, allowing the solar field to be built around the natural contours of the land and avoiding areas of sensitive vegetation.

Closed-loop cycle

And in order to conserve desert water, Brightsource says Hidden Hills will use an air-cooling system to convert the steam back into water in a closed-loop cycle. "By using air-cooling, the project will use only 140 acre feet of water per year, less than 10pc of the total amount of water used in competing solar thermal technologies with wet-cooling," the company said.Hidden Hills SEGS will provide power to Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) pursuant to two power purchase agreements approved by the California Public Utilities Commission in 2010. Brightsource has 2.6 gigawatts (GW) of power contracts with Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric Company, California’s two largest utilities. The company also manages an 110,000-acre development site portfolio in California and the US southwest, which it says has the potential to allow for about 11GW of installed capacity.

Photo: BrightSource Energy’s Solar Energy Development Center. Image (c) Eilon Paz and courtesy of Brightsourceenergy.com

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Wind Power – Talking About The Advantages of Wind Energy

June 4, 2011 By

1307163608 91 Wind Power Talking About The Advantages of Wind Energy

Power bills can be a tremendous responsibility for any family. This is absolutely true during the dark winter months in cold climates, when power bills can really hurt the pocketbook. This is just one reason an alternative energy source can be a major advantage in your home.

Fossil fuels have been proven to affect the environment in very negative ways and if more people would use green power this devastation could be greatly lessened. All renewable energy has a very low impact on the environment and harnessing the wind’s power is no exception.

You can and should do your own research and determine if wind power can benefit your home and if this type of energy is presently within your budget. We can tell you that another great advantage of wind energy is that even though you will need to make an initial investment you will continue to save money throughout all years of use of this power source.

The size of your turbine for your wind energy system and the height of your tower will affect the benefits of this type of renewable power. the biggest cost associated with this green energy source is the installation process. So it may take some time to really feel the true financial benefits of this type of energy. the environmental benefit is immediate.

Keep in mind the fact that many areas also have tax cuts available for installing a renewable energy source in your home.

Maybe you can able to handle the installation process of your wind power system by yourself. If so this can provide you with a great feeling of accomplishment. It can take some time to accomplish this task, but the end results and the knowledge that you did it on your own can be priceless.

If you have the right confidence level you can easily install your own wind energy system. There are many resources on the internet that you can use as a guide to keep you on the right track and help you to build your own generators correctly.

When you do not have to rely on anyone else for your power needs, it can be a major advantage. It can be freeing knowing you will never have to solely rely on your local electric source again. If you find that there is not enough steady wind, you can easily add batteries that can help generate the energy you need. This can also make a big difference in the results that you experience and you can stay as self-sufficient as possible.

Your property value can increase significantly when you install a renewable power source. as more and more people begin to hear about wind power it’s becoming a very popular choice and if needed, this can help you sell your home fast. just think you can save money and your home’s value will increase. This is a true possibility when you choose to add any alternative power. Check, a real estate agent will tell anyone that use of renewable energy can greatly increase the value of a home, even in a tough market.

Doing research is a must to help you to determine all of the major advantages you will receive with wind power. You may find that this is the perfect choice for your home. Contact someone who is truly knowledgeable with wind power it pays to speak to an expert. hopefully you will be using green power in no time.

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Tanning Beds and Protecting Your Eyes

May 24, 2011 By

1306232409 84 Tanning Beds and Protecting Your Eyes

When using tanning beds it is important to protect your eyes. the UV rays are stronger and more concentrated than sun rays and can easily cause any amount of damage to your eyes. It’s always recommended to wear some covering to protect your eyes but for some reason, there are always people who do not heed the recommendation. they usually call them peepers or goggles and it’s a good idea to own your own pair.

Tanning salons are required to provide a pair for you but they may not work as well. it will usually be of lesser quality that may not block all the UV rays. also, since salons offer a one size fit all, it may not fit properly and you don’t want to compromise your eyes if the gear they give you doesn’t cover your eyes properly. a leak in the corners will still allow some amount of UV radiation and that can be enough to cause damage. Along with getting the right fit, be sure to get one that comes with bands to go around your head as that will help keep it in place throughout your tanning session. you can also find disposable form for single uses although if you’re a regular tanning bed goer there’s no reason not to own a pair you can bring with you every time.

It’s also a good idea to keep your eyes closed through the duration of your tanning session. High intensities of ultraviolet rays will damage the retina and cornea of your eyes and many times beyond repair. Cataracts can also happen in your eye as a result of unprotected over exposure to UV rays. if your eyes are damaged beyond repair or surgery doesn’t go well, you can end up blind.

It’s such an easy step to avoid these problems when getting your tan on. Although tanning beds have other health risks to other parts of your body, your eyes are among the more sensitive parts and even irregular use can put your eyes at risk. Fortunately there are other forms of sunless tanning options that can leave your skin looking well toned without blasting yourself with dangerous amounts of UV radiation. Tanning lotions are recommended by many health associations because of the relative safety they offer in contrast to other methods.

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On Harvest Moon Magical Melody, my character keeps losing energy really fast!?

May 5, 2011 By

1304567418 86 On Harvest Moon Magical Melody, my character keeps losing energy really fast!?

I have the Harvest Moon Magical Melody for the Gamecube and my character is a pregnant girl.
She keeps losing energy really fast. Normal tasks like harvesting crops now take her way more energy.
Please help!!!

Let that be a life lesson. being pregnant wastes a lot of energy. just wait it out, doing what you need to to keep a few crops growing.

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Genentech or Amgen? Sunpower or First Solar?

March 30, 2011 By

1301489417 12 Genentech or Amgen? Sunpower or First Solar?

Two seperate questions. I was wondering which 2 stocks you think will do the best in 2010 (one from healthcare, the other from solar energy)?

Genentech (DNA) or Amgen (AMGN)

Sunpower (SPWRA) or first Solar inc (FSLR)?

I want to say DNA over AMGN and FSLR over SPWRA?

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Green building: Solar panels and earthquake faults don’t mix

March 17, 2011 By

1300355412 16 Green building: Solar panels and earthquake faults dont mix

I'm no solar engineer, but many moons ago, I had to fabricate a solar panel from scratch materials for a science fair.

Required some nasty stuff back then – that in turn, created some nasty waste.

Like DeCo said, arsenic, hydrochloric, hydroflouric and sulfuric acids just to name a few.

I just poured the stuff on my crops – good green fertilizer.

DeCo: you are extremely ignorant about solar power. Solar modules are made from Silicon. Silicon is abundant and not toxic. Compared to the government subsidies provided to nuclear power and other energy industries, subsidies to solar are relatively minor. furthermore the price of using solar has plummeted in the last couple of years and is still going down. Solar has become viable without any government subsidies. you can't say the same of nuclear. Nuclear power plants can't even get financed without government guarantees on the financing stating that if anything goes wrong the taxpayers will pay for it, not the investors. Not to mention that it is the taxpayers who are responsible for dealing with the radioactive waste from these plants. Nuclear power is a classic case of privatizing the profits and socializing the losses… please educate yourself and stop regurgitating sound bites from the Fox news channel.

The ideal situation is that you have solar panels installed, hook up to the electricity grid and then use less energy than you contribute so the electric company sends you a check in the mail every month instead of the other way around. Awesome idea, isn't it? For some people this is already a reality.

Just as well. Solar panels never pencil out without huge govt subsidies (witness the Spain debacle), take 1000 acress per 100MW assuming no dirt or bird poop, and contin high quantities of Gallium Arsenide, a class a toxic. despite what you see in Japan from the media frenzy, nuclear is the way to go (greenest and safest by far).

What's wrong about developing solar energy, this plan looked really efficient, they should find a quick solution and install asap snew solar equipment.They don't want to build solar installation on earthquake faults but School don't look like a real issue.

An even simpler solution exists that would lower energy bills dramatically, and not involve any installation or equipment. This solution could be applied throughout the world, for dirt cheap. The answer?

Painting our roofs WHITE.

Studies show that this simple technique, multiplied over vast urban areas, has the ability to lower energy costs by up to 30%, by reflecting vast amounts of light and heat back into space, similar to how the polar caps keep our planet cool. The secretary of energy estimates it would save americans $735 billion dollars a year.

Of course, something this sensible and easy will never come to pass, as long as DWP and EDISON have a stranglehold on our power.

Dear Michael Finnegan and Gale Holland,Want to write a real news story about solar? Write about how the California utilities are fighting feed-in tariffs from solar systems. They are fighting clean energy so they can keep a stranglehold on the current delivery system (and profits). their answer is to build giant solar arrays in the desert and string giant power lines all over the place so they can keep control of the energy instead of allowing distributed generation. This is a hot controversial story for the right writer. Not your typical LA Times piece though. Something that really needs to be exposed.

Maybe all the gas and oil facilities that are built around fault lines should be immediately shut down too. This sounds like some kind of propaganda piece put out by the gas and coal industries. The big utilities are running scared of solar because they can't figure out how to keep their stranglehold on your pocketbooks. That's why they are refusing to buy back any extra totally clean energy produced by their customer's solar systems (feed in tariffs). furthermore, solar can be mounted on existing building's roofs and doesn't need to be built in remote giant arrays. Problem solved.

djack80: we are the stupidest people on the globe. you know why? because we are using more fossil fuels than anyone on earth. Don't buy into the propaganda about the natural gas industry and their "new techniques." These wonderful "techniques" ruin the land to obtain the gas, and then release greenhouse gasses when the gas is used. This is not a solution, it's a problem. The price of solar energy systems is dropping dramatically. The only real chance our country has at self sufficiency is using the free clean energy provided by the sun every day! please, use your head and analyze the real issues instead of cheering on the commercials put out by the gas and coal industries.

@Engineer READ the article. The spent money on PLANNING and DESIGN, not installation. if they had checked the land prior to this they would not have wasted the money there. Not that I understand why the hell it costs so much for the designs and such. Someone out there is collecting money for what exactly?

If they had been stupid enough to build it, yes, of course they could still use it, but you try not waste money by building something somewhere where there is a higher probability of needing to spend lots of money repairing or replacing it.

Solar works well when well planned. It has a larger capital outlay at the beginning than other methods of power generation, usually a payback period of 7-15 years depending on the price of electricity, where we live it is closer to 15 years because we have inexpensive elecricity. However and it is a huge however after that the fuel is FREE, maintainance is minimal. Natural gas on the other hand is finite and will become more expensive over time as it becomes more scarce.even being able to free it from shale and having more to burn does not make it infinate, yes we are self sufficient in natural gas, at the moment, but it will not continue indefinatelly and it will become more and more expensive. It costs less to build a natural gas generating system but there is a continual financial drain in buying natural gas and the maintainance is much more expensive.The solar panels are vulnerable to an earthquake bacause they are brittle, and will fail if broken but they are not dangerous if broken, just ineffective.

The notion that we should rely on a finite source for energy be it oil,gas,coal or uranium is beyond stupid. Yes as transitional methods of creating energy thaey are useful but in all cases the fuel will run out. Solar,wind, tidal not so much.

We put solar on our house in the Pacific NW, an area of cloudy days and cheap electicity in 2000. we will see payback most likely in 2014-2015. After that our elecricity is free. So when you guys will be payine ever increasin rates for your power, we will be continuing to leave our lights on for no expenditure. The notion that if you have solar power you have 1 lightbulb burning and that is it is just ignorance. we wive in an all electric houes and heat in 20 degree weather with elecricity. Do we have a meter, yup. In the summer we sell our excess power to the electric company. we have used this reliable system for over 10 years, the only maintainnance has been washing off the panels twice a year and replacing 4 batteries.

What a joke. we have to be the stupidest people on the Globe. Solar is wat more expensive then Natural Gas fired power. In the last 5 years, the Natural Gas industry has developed new techniques to free gas from shale which makes our country self sufficient for this resource. we need to be developing new generations of Gas fire plants (like those in Seal Beach and Huntington beach)

How idiotic! Solar panels are not nuclear power plants! So what if there's an earthquake fault?! So what if there's even a quake?! What possible downside is there to having panels installed? really, what? please let's hear because with 30 years working as a engineer I can't imagine ANY GOOD REASON!

Has common sense so completely left the US?

If you have solar panels "fail" some how because of a quake, it only affects that building. THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF ENERGY REDUNDANCY YOU WANT! because most other installations of solar panels that do happen to survive (even those located on OTHER FAULT LINES!) can hum along without being affected by some single hypothetical building.

And if the concern is structural, well why even allow such a building still stand at all. Adding solar power panels will not affect quake damage significantly more than the building itself collapsing if it is expected to so do. and the building will certainly cause more local damage that the solar panels affixed to it. a person with a brain would realize this and condemn the building OR stop worrying about the solar panels and let energy independence reign in the name of national security.

This dithering about irrelevant yet completely blind rule-following is nuts. Do local government even understand the reasons for the rules; the original spirit and technical intent? It seems not.

It is fiddling while Rome burns by

It is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

It borders on bureaucratic high treason.

Honestly, stupidity like this makes the rest of the world (and plenty of Americans) think that America simply DESERVES to collapse, simply out of Darwinian expediency.

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