DConf 2013 Day 3 Talk 1: Metaprogramming in the Real World by Don Clugston

[Steven Schveighoffer]

On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:21:31 -0400, John Colvin  
<john.loughran.colvin at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tuesday, 11 June 2013 at 18:47:35 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
>> On 6/11/2013 8:28 AM, Adam D. Ruppe wrote:
>>> It is great stuff, solar power is almost free money if you can wait 20  
>>> years for
>>> it.
>>
>> Yeah, but you'll have to replace it before 20 years!
>
> Source? There's not much that wears out in a photovoltaic AFAIK. The  
> associated electrical components may break however, especially on some  
> of the more complex setups.

I have to laugh at this.  "Solar is *almost* free money *if* you can wait  
20 years"

Solar isn't ready yet.  It's not cost effective.  But cost effectiveness  
isn't even the issue.  It's not sustainable.  You need fossil fuels to  
mine the materials, ship them, assemble the components, etc.  Until you  
can power all those things with pure solar, you are still dependent on  
fossil fuel.

I've seen all these "Solar farm" installations, and they are butt-ugly.  I  
find it ironic that we are cutting down trees to make room for these  
things...

You can save energy more cost effectively in other ways.  I have no doubt  
that solar technology will continue to innovate, but the worst thing we  
can do right now is subsidize it.  When it's ready (and it will be), it  
will succeed on its own merits.

-Steve