Category Archives: Technology

Technology related blogs

Energy, Technology

Solar Versus Wind

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I really liked this article on energybulletin.net that looked at the fundamentals of solar versus wind.

Currently, wind power is cost neutral (at least) compared with fossil fuels for power generation, but intermittent.  Solar photovoltaic is 4x the cost of fossil fuels such as coal, and doesn’t work all the time – specifically at night.

So it seems obvious which one to develop….  Except for one thing.  All wind power comes from solar energy.  When you look at the total amounts of energy that actually goes into wind power, its a small percentage of solar.

Net result:  There isn’t going to be enough wind power out there to really solve all the world energy problems.  There is plenty of solar power however.

So – solar wins.

The article is here

 

Michael

Technology

Task Manager

I know that RoughlyDrafted is a bit of an apple site, but I did find this one amusing

Slowly but surely, microsoft is copying the user interface features of os x.

 

 

 

Or, to put it another way, be grateful that nobody let the programmers put a right mouse click on an iPhone.  Because they would have if they were left to their own devices.

 

Michael

Energy, Life, Technology

Cost of solar

Just to follow up from a discussion on friday…

The article notes that the 2009 average cost in the US is 6.1 to 18.1 cents per kilowatt hour.  It was on this basis that they say that IF power gets down to 15 c per kwh it would be competitive.

What about the cost of electricity in Australia?

Well, according to wikipedia, which may not be accurate but I have no reason to doubt it, its 3-5 cents per kwh.

So whilst solar will become cost competitive with coal in the more expensive parts of the US, in five years, possibly, its going to be quite a while before it competes with either the cheaper parts of the US or most of Australia.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m a big believer in renewable power as being the only long term plan that looks viable – but it will only happen with either:

a. Major government initiatives (eg., subsidies & taxes)

b. Major rises in the cost of extracting coal

If we wait for option b, then the economy is going to be in a bad way by the time it happens.

Michael

Technology

Windows 8

Well, microsoft has probably done it right, or at least a lot better.

Windows 8

Your next operating system won’t be windows.  At least not the windows you know.  Its much more like a mac.  Or an iPad.

Michael