Lex Stewart, Sydney Aust

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    • Tue Aug 28th 09:42 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Alternative Energy: Can It Compete?
      About 30 years ago when I was in the EPA (equivalent) we were interested in the energy content of concrete, steel etc used in constructing wind, solar etc generators. Your article looks at DOLLAR costs, which we use to calculate economic paybacks e.g. Sydney taxis use LPGas, as the cheaper running cost on a High Mileage vehicle "pays back" the upfront capital cost in a year or two - worth doing. Calculations 30yrs ago were that the energy to make solar or windpower equipment was so large and the energy density so dilute as to mean a "payback" period of about 300 years - in other words the equipment will decay long before it pays for itself in ENERGY terms, even if it might pay for itself in dollar terms (due to distortions, subsidies etc). I am out of date on all this sort of stuff but would be curious if technology has reduced the 300yrs to ?100yrs or perhaps ?10yrs. The burning (pardon the pun) question is whether these alternative technologies can EVER "payback" the energy inputs?
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