"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message thlink.net...
"Len Over 21" wrote:

They do? WHICH "hills," senior? We've got a whole
bunch of Big Hill things in this 60 x 120 mile area.


Drive east on Interstate 10/20 and you'll see hundreds of them overlooking
the valley just east of San Bernardino. You can't miss them - they're good
sized and plainly visible from the Interstate (many are right beside the
Interstate, with many more placed along the hillside in both directions for
several miles). It's an impressive sight (but not very attractive).


Dwight, I worked on Solar One in Barstow, CA, the first
large-scale solar-furnace electric plant in the middle desert.


Do you know where the one in Arizona is? I saw it about a mile off to one
side the Interstate as I was driving through. There was a sign for the road
leading to it saying something about a power research facility, but I don't
remember the name of it.


Solar Two replaced it, trying out more things in re solar power
as heat. The two plants put about 50 to 100 MWe into the grid
(as I recall). A small part of the GWe required by the region.


Very likely. I don't think solar is going to be able to supply power on a
large scale anytime soon. In the meantime, additional fossil fuel plants are
the only real option. Nuclear power may one day become more viable, but
people will have to be convinced of it's safety first. And steps will have
to be taken to lower costs and better deal with waste products. Until then,
I have serious reservations about additional nuclear power plants.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

Dwight, we would need to change how we used energy, and in the solar
arena, conservation is key.

In the early 90's I took my older son's camping at Land Between Lakes,
KY/TN. There was an 1860's working farm as part of the scenery. The
weather was hot and sticky, we should have been out on the lake.
Anyway, we were looking over the farm and I had decided when we pulled
in that I wasn't going to go into the old farm house and get cooked.
Anyway, as I stood on the breezeway at the back of the house, between
the main house and the summer kitchen, I noticed that there wasn't
heat pouring out of the house as I expected. So I went inside and
things were pleasant. Upstairs and downstairs. No electricity.

My 2000 sq ft Ranch would have been sweltering under those condx.

The key was ventilation at ceiling level of the exterior walls, as if
one of the logs were missing.

Go figure.