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Apple Building Solar Farm at North Carolina Data Center
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Hopefully some company will put tubes under the hot solar cells to make steam and create energy that was as well
Solar panels don't really get hot. They are just warm.
I know because creating jobs and pumping cash back into the crippled economy is a waste of time... You must believe that creating a coal plant on site would be a much better alternative.
Padding
I'll add my opinion to everyone else's
The purpose of this solar farm is to ensure that the power stays on no matter how many air conditioners are running in the central east coast.
I have no doubt that apple is employing the latest and greatest in Solar technology on this project, but I have not heard about any breakthroughs that overcome the toxic and energy intensive nature of producing solar cells and the expense in upkeep. (solar cells are fragile and the components that convert the energy into usable current have to be completely replaced every few years)
I don't "hate" solar. I just don't understand why so many think its efficient or environmentaly friendly.
Its padding and nothing more...
I'll add my opinion to everyone else's
The purpose of this solar farm is to ensure that the power stays on no matter how many air conditioners are running in the central east coast.
I have no doubt that apple is employing the latest and greatest in Solar technology on this project, but I have not heard about any breakthroughs that overcome the toxic and energy intensive nature of producing solar cells and the expense in upkeep. (solar cells are fragile and the components that convert the energy into usable current have to be completely replaced every few years)
I don't "hate" solar. I just don't understand why so many think its efficient or environmentaly friendly.
Its padding and nothing more...
Put up a solar farm, that in the course of its lifetime will produce more energy and offset more waste that those trees would have?
Waste of money because it's so inefficient. This is not a fact to be argued it's just a fact of life as of this time. They should want trees there if they want to be 'green' not burning it all down all the while creating more of those 'greenhouse' gases.
Doing this is a huge tax credit for them, that is the sole reason.
Scar on the earth? They are having to contour the terrain for this while burning down everything that is there, hmmm. And it's not creating jobs neither initially or ongoing, it's taking away from jobs be already have here. Thanks for playing.
Dirty sources of energy? Please, go educate yourself a bit on the subject and not just the brain wash stuff it sound like you've been taught. Here's a fact if we were coming into an ice age instead of out of one, you would be blaming A/C on global cooling.
^yes.
You're not pumping cash or jobs into this economy. A coal plant there really would be overkill though.
Solyndra's Fire Sale! Got plenty of 'em and cheap too!
For the U.S. taxpayer, not so cheap... lotta money gone. Is that why it's called "Green Energy"?
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If this were a plausible idea, which it is not, then California could solve its summer time brown out problem by hooking up warehouse sized batteries to the grid at night and make up for the power shortage during the day.
It would be FAR more efficient and environmentally friendly for the state to give everyone the latest energy efficient air conditioners.
No, no jobs would be created at all. Not one solar panel company would get a massive order for solar panels (thus creating production, thus creating jobs). No professional would have to install them (another job). No electrical engineers would have to be there. No site surveyors, security, construction workers. Your looking at a easily 2 year construction job. Not to mention extra people hired to maintain the solar farm. Considering that our country is refusing to build upon our future I think Apple's at a good start. Apple will lead as it always has.
I agree that we really need to consider nuclear - all power generation has very serious downsides, and when you compare the certainty of global warming to the possibility of nuclear accidents it's pretty clear that nuclear is the lower risk.
However, I doubt that any batteries are involved.
Most solar installations in the US today are grid-connected - they offset the power use from the grid rather than attempt to independently power the facility.
This is an excellent idea, since a major problem for many utilities is dealing with mid-summer mid-afternoon peak air conditioning loads. Since mid-summer mid-afternoons are exactly when PV (photo-voltaic) solar systems produce the most power, they're great for reducing the peak power on the grid.
I have a large (8.5 kW) PV system on my roof. During the mid-afternoon, it sends about 7 kW into the grid (and I'm credited for the mid-day $.32/kWhr rate for that). At night, I draw from the grid at the off-peak $.08/kWhr rate. (Our electric rates are time-of-day based - 8¢/kWhr from 21:00 to 10:00, 15¢/kWhr from 10:00 to 13:00 and 19:00 to 21:00, and 32¢/kWhr from 13:00 to 19:00.)
At the end of the year (with solar, we get yearly electric bills, not monthly), my electric bill will be $0. Although I will have consumed somewhat more kWh than I've produced, I've been selling kWh to PG&E at 32¢/kWh during the days, and buying kWh at 8¢/kWh during the night.
So, Apple's PV system in North Carolina probably won't power the data center outright - but it may help the NC utility with peak summer daytime loads, and help reduce Apple's operating expenses.
And lower operating expenses for Apple should mean lower prices for Mac computers, Iphones, Ipads and other Apple products.
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True, what a shame Apples buying them from CHINA!
A surprise? No.
Avoidable? Yes
But hey, Apples the best at keeping a secret, denying it and convincing others to believe them. Yet this shouldn't surprise anyone, it doesn't surprise me.
I sure miss the old admirable Apple. There was a period of several years when Apple was wildly successful, focused on the future and not as antagonistic, nefarious, and sue happy as they are at the present.
Oh well, nothing good lasts. Apple's proof!
No one has brought this up. Since the data center in NC is huge, why didn't Apple just put a bunch of solar panels on the roof (along with the the solar farm)?
Certainty of global warming? And here I was overestimating the level of your intelligence.... my mistake.
What's next, you're going to make a statement about the the certainty of the spherical shape of the planet? Don't go to far TMar, you'll fall off the edge of the world.... too late.
Touchè.
I should rephrase that, infrastructure in clean energy.
Sometimes, my fingers are faster than my eyes. Something the ladies seem to like.
What's to say they don't. It would be nothing to put in for a building permit to construct them on roof. No where did it ever say they would not. Apple may be possibly waiting to put in a massive order all in at once. Wouldn't make sense to have to make more shipments of solar panels than needed. They are probably waiting for solar farm site to be cleared and ready for insulation then kill two birds with one stone. All thinking of efficiency through transportation of material.
Show me scientific proof of MAN MADE global warming, please. I'm not saying we haven't had an effect on the on environment just not to the blown out levels that some of these "studies" say we had. Since this ball of rock has had a sustainable atmosphere it has been on a heating/cooling cycle. There's a reason they call it global climate change now and not global warming.
There have been scientific studies in both directions on this topic and nothing is certain.