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Government to "kill" solar energy

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Conundrum

Fri Nov 11 2011, 09:30AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

This is horrible, those poor people who paid for $$$$$ solar power setups are now in a mess.
Essentially at a stroke the Government have destroyed the entire renewable energy industry with
the cost of nearly 6000 jobs, for the sake of a relatively small gain.

The oil companies must be jumping for joy at this one

Makes me wish Labour had won the election, even though they are incompetent at least they are
slightly better than the complete epic fail known as ConDem.

-A

Pinky's Brain

Fri Nov 11 2011, 02:58PM

Registered Member #2901 Joined: Thu Jun 03 2010, 01:25PM
Location:
Posts: 837

UK is not a great place to put solar panels ... they're better off building more off shore wind farms.

Nicko

Fri Nov 11 2011, 04:16PM

Registered Member #1334 Joined: Tue Feb 19 2008, 04:37PM
Location: Nr. London, UK
Posts: 615

People would be better off insulating their houses properly, using systems that work without subsidies, i.e. heat pumps, using low-energy lighting and learning to turn stuff off when not needed etc.

PV, even with the ludicrous subsidy from the rest of the UK tax-payers - the FIT tariff & guarantee period was plainly unsustainable - anyway had a 7 year payback. It was a lunatic idea to try to kick-start a local economy that was always going to shagged by the vastly greater state support in China - even the Germans gave up on this a while ago.

The bottom line is that most of our housing stock is not energy efficient - rather than try to patch over the huge cracks in our energy policy with headline-friendly subsidies that we can't afford, people should look at the root problem - the population's attitude to energy usage and fixing the housing stock.

/rant

NB. I've had a GSHP for over 6 years and 90%+ low-energy or energy efficient lighting, together with huge amounts of insulation and a house built as a thermal store. Its no more expensive than other methods of building, but a damn sight more efficient. Now all I need to do is to teach my teenage sons to turn off lights when leaving a room - I may even install sensors for that... still, our house is over twice as big as it used to be and our electricity/energy bill is under half what it was.

Steve Conner

Fri Nov 11 2011, 05:11PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Yep. It's more like government strapped for cash, forced to reduce ridiculous subsidy. You know they subsidised too much and turned it into a gravy train, when solar panel installers started springing up and advertising even up here. Solar panels in Scotland?! They are aff their heids.

Energy saving is still the easiest way. Now if only someone can figure out a way to combine sustainability and economic growth, and get us out of the mess we are in. If that isn't even some sort of contradiction in terms that would involve simultaneously consuming less and consuming more.

Conundrum

Sat Nov 12 2011, 07:27AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

What would be useful is if some of the major battery manufacturers made some monster "solar battery" packs using all those surplus used electric car packs with 80% remaining capacity.

Either that or make some thin film glass metal acids using all that surplus glass from the building renovations, I read about this back in 2004 and they seem to think that Ti-acid might be double the energy density of Pb-acid.

Ash Small

Sun Nov 13 2011, 10:00AM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

Steve McConner wrote ...

Solar panels in Scotland?! They are aff their heids.

Windmills, maybe?

Steve Conner

Sun Nov 13 2011, 11:01AM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Oddly enough, we've just built Europe's largest wind farm.

Pinky's Brain

Sun Nov 13 2011, 12:12PM

Registered Member #2901 Joined: Thu Jun 03 2010, 01:25PM
Location:
Posts: 837

Steve McConner wrote ...

Energy saving is still the easiest way. Now if only someone can figure out a way to combine sustainability and economic growth, and get us out of the mess we are in. If that isn't even some sort of contradiction in terms that would involve simultaneously consuming less and consuming more.

Personally I'd settle for sustainability and full employment.

Adam Munich

Sun Nov 13 2011, 02:00PM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

Our government recently pissed away $1B to the failing solar industry. Government needs to get out of the private sector --the company is going bankrupt because it is bad. WHY would you invest in a failing company?

Now under certain circumstances bailouts are good, such as the ford and GM ones which saved what were two very good companies. But solandra just makes panels at a higher price than china...

Steve Conner

Sun Nov 13 2011, 02:38PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Pinky, full employment requires growth, because more jobs have to be created, which means expanding companies.

Having said that, a big upgrade program for energy efficiency would create a lot of jobs, of the desirable kind that are shielded from downward pressure because they can't be outsourced to China. At least with current technology, it's not competitive to post your house over there and have it insulated.

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