Postby krenshala » Thu
Jun 22, 2017 1:07 pm
At
least initially, solar was subsidized to encourage development and
adoption of solar electricity generation. It has definitely become
much more widely used that it was 10 or 20 years ago, not to
mention the improvements in efficiency and price.
I've never heard of base load power being required for solar to
function. If it was, you'd have to plug your solar powered
calculator into the wall outlet to use it. With enough panels and
proper storage it could be used for base load, but I agree that
other solutions (hydro, fission, fusion, hydrocarbon) are much
better in that role.
CO2 is included as a 'major factor' because "everyone" "knows" its
the amount of CO2 created that matters. /s Solar panel
providers/manufacturers tout CO2 output in manufacturing/usage
because that is the going thing to do when discussion power
generation today. If the makers didn't talk about it, the
detractors would.
And even with fully functional, in production pB11 plants solar
electric generation would still be a thing. I doubt it would be a
growing percentage of power generation like it is now, but it
would most definitely still be useful : satellites, small (or not
so small) remote locations, homes, covered parking lots (i wish
this would catch on here in Texas, where it would be useful), and
probably a number of other things.