COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Solar Energy



Italy to host Europe's biggest solar plant: company
(AFP) –
MILAN — Europe's most powerful solar power plant is set to start operations in Italy later this year, the US company building the installation on an area as large as 120 football pitches said on Thursday.

The plant in Rovigo near Venice in northeast Italy will take up 850,000 square metres (9.15 million square feet) and produce 72 megawatts, SunEdison said in a statement announcing the start of construction.

The current biggest plant in Europe, located in Spain, produces 60 megawatts and the second biggest, in Germany, 50 megawatts, SunEdison said.

"The photovoltaic park in Rovigo province is a milestone in the development and establishment of solar energy in Italy," SunEdison's general manager for Italy, Liborio Francesco Nanni, said in a statement.

The total investment will be between 200 million and 250 million euros (273 million and 342 million dollars), the company said.
Energy production will begin in the second half of 2010 and the plant will be fully operational by the end of the year, said SunEdison, which is working on the project in conjunction with Spanish banking giant Santander.

During its first year of operations, the plant will cover the electricity needs of 17,000 households and will prevent the emission of 41,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

SunEdison, a subsidiary of US company MEMC Electronic Materials, is the top solar power company in the United States and the third biggest in the world.

Italy is second to Germany for solar power production in Europe.


37 comments:

  1. Solar energy? Really? Is that what we're to discuss?

    The fusion of energy and art has long been a subject dear to the hearts of men. Since the first warming rays...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I assume she is Eyetalian.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You remind me,
    Sophia is 75.
    Miller recommends we check her out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Indentured Servitude is Good
    The New Poor
    Lured Into Trade School, and Debt

    Commercial trade schools like Career Education Corporation’s culinary schools, above, are under fire as they attract more students and more Pell grants.

    ...it's all good,
    Rosie, the Rufie.

    "I'm from the Govt,
    and I'm here to help you."

    RONALD REAGAN

    Road to Serfdom 2.0

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, hell, Doug, there's trade schools, then there's trade schools. I've commented on this here, before. There are thousands of boys taking welding. I don't see where we need thousands more welders (but, maybe we do .. ? ..) either, but we're getting them.

    We Do need to retrain a lot of workers. You tell me what we should do.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I thot Edison was a Yank.

    ...favorite story about my childhood hero involved setting a freight train car afire when some Sodium spilled out of it's beaker.

    Thomas's mobile laboratory.

    ReplyDelete
  7. "We Do need to retrain a lot of workers. You tell me what we should do."
    ---
    Get Big Govt out of our lives
    and off our backs.
    Watch Us Grow.

    ReplyDelete
  8. For those of you who wish to stay current with the culture; Lady GaGa's latest

    ReplyDelete
  9. Miller caller said he can hire J-1 Visa Feriners cheaper than natives for his small business.

    Unemployment Insurance going up 33 percent on the Yanks, not applicable to J-1'rs.

    Brought to us via our Nanny State.

    Paying folks not to work,
    ad infinitum.

    Ain't Compassionate Socialism tm
    Grand?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Son's friend had a union job here.
    Going to college -
    entering into second year of unemployment insurance.

    When that runs out, Union will employ him for a month, then the bennies can start all over again.

    ...paid for by us, and wage slaves across the USSA.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Maybe that's why they're trying to get it away from private lenders.

    You will notice they concentrated on a couple of schools. Kind of light on "industry" averages.

    I'm guessing there are probably much better deals out there.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Back to Deuce's post: I think Solar has potential in cities (or, outside of cities) that use a lot of air conditioning. Max efficiency at time of Peak Demand.

    Some systems are getting pretty close.

    ReplyDelete
  13. There are always going to be scams, Doug. Don't mean much in the larger scale of things.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Another inspiration from Whit's Vid:

    Kid's favorite Letterman video was an IHOP teaming with Rats.
    Mom worked there at the time.
    Haven't found it yet.
    IHOP Ad

    ReplyDelete
  15. Big Govt means everything in the larger scale Rufus.
    Ignore History if you must.

    Better to buy a darker pair of Rose Colored shades and not inflict World with your flights of fantasy.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Solar payoff on Maui is ~4 years.
    Like Solar installer said, Oahu should have a Nuke.

    Rest of Islands could be run on Geothermal, but the Hippies in Pahoa put the Kybosh on that.

    ...and Nanny State was happy to oblige.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Payoff is with Tax breaks.
    ...now Maui Electric capping program at 4 PERCENT!

    Unstable supply, don'tcha know.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Doug, you can't find me an example of a Government that's ever failed because it was Too Good to the People.

    Governments fall when they Lose the Support of the People.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Under our Big Government System we have developed the Highest Standard of Living of Any Major Country in History.

    ReplyDelete
  20. You guys are the only state in the union that still burns oil for electricity.

    ReplyDelete
  21. You don't have a "Nanny" Government, out there; you have a CORRUPT Government.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Doug, hasn't it ever occurred to you that the greatest growth we've ever had came after enormous Deficit spending (WWII) built assembly lines that were manned by Union Workers?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Looks like Whit doesn't want to talk about solar energy.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I started a dissertation but no one clamored for more...

    What can you do?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Whit they were just praying that I wouldn't respond.

    ReplyDelete
  26. It a damp and rainy night and the only thing on the TV is Dora the explorer. I guess it's nap time for everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I actually really love that picture you posted.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Just back from seeing Crazy Heart. Another great performance from the Dude.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Makes me think of a soft-porn version of a mid-60's DuPont carpet add.

    Would have sold plenty of wall-to-wall to Playboy subscribers.






    After remarking the absence of spirit-bunny enthusiasm for Afghanistan at Belmont, there appeared an Afghanistan post, in which Wretched allows - or at least allows Robert Kaplan to allow - that the surge just might work. And then tacks on the appropriate (given that it's now Obama's war) amount of concern-trolling.

    What do Belmonters do?

    Opine that the real utility of any success in South Asia is the preparation of our military for a return home to a country that it will have to run.

    You just cannot make that shit up.










    And Balloon Juice, a few posts down this day, has a marvelous rendition of Ode To Joy.

    Which everyone ought to listen to at lest once a week.

    ReplyDelete