Subject: Atomic Energy



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(3597)   Tue 30 Jul 91 22:16                             
By: Don Kulha
To: Terry Olsen

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> Original Message Date: 29 Jul 91 06:35:00
> From: Terry Olsen
> To: Don Kulha

> Yeah, for $20,000 a person can have a real power system, 
> using batteries, hydor-electric (1 KW wheel) and 2.5 KW 
> inverter.
> So if a person has a good source of water it would pay off 
> in 20 years!
> As for gettin rid of nucelar..well there are uses for 
> nuclear we haven't done much with yet, especially 
> spacecraft..No the two sources that I feel may become worth 
> a great deal (I've been wrong before) are 1.dirct solor to 
> electricity energy.  And 2. a beamed power system. 
> colleltors in space.
> ---
     I believe that PG&E, the utility in my area, wants something 
like $30,000 dollars a mile to run residence power lines. That's 
only a rough guesstimate based on what I *think* I recall reading. 
That's to say that before you can consume watt #1 at your rural 
homesite you may be paying that much for PG&E to put in the lines, 
then you have the priviledge of paying $.10-.14 per KW for all the 
power you use. If you're reasonably frugal with power you can have 
an independant power system for a lot less and never have to pay 
the utility after that. At our latitude, 20-50 watt PV panels will 
produce about 4500 watts per day on average (more in summer, less 
in winter). They'd cost you about $6000. Say another $7k for 
trackers, inverters, controllers, cable, batteries, an efficient 
Sun Frost 'fridge and a small generator. With the right gear and 
reasonable consumption you could live like a king on 4.5kw a day. 
My point is that the payback *could* be a lot sooner than 20 
years....if you had to pay a hefty fee up front for power lines. 

    Somehow I just don't think us educated monkeys are ready to 
mess with nuclear power yet. Maybe if we absolutely, positively HAD 
to in order to assure our survival it would be okay. I'm all for 
space exploration and believe we will use nuclear for that someday 
but it gives me the willies to think of a shuttle filled with 
radioactives blowing up like the Challenger.
    I like what Stewart Brand had to say (courtesy of the Real 
Goods Sourcebook):
    "Radiation leaks are caused by fools like me, but only God can 
build a nuclear reactor 93 million miles from the nearest elementry 
school".
    As for beamed power collected in space...why bother? It's gonna 
make it here on it's own anyway!

        DCK

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