[ExI] saudis building enormous gb solar installation

[Eugen Leitl]

On Tue, Apr 02, 2013 at 06:01:06PM -0400, Mike Dougherty wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 4:16 PM, spike <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:
> > This is cool.  Even if it turns out it isn’t yet economically feasible, this
> > installation will provide a ton of excellent cost/output data:
> >
> > http://singularityhub.com/2013/04/02/worlds-largest-solar-power-plant-online-in-united-arab-emirates/?utm_source=The+Harvest+Is+Bountiful&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=bedf5cd4e3-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN
> >

Parabolic troughs work well enough in the desert.
But, most industrial locations are not in the
desert.

One loophole is that 1 TW/year total includes
heating and air conditioning, which involves few
10 K thermal differential and can be driven by
low-quality energy. Plus, impact of insulation
(negawatts) is also not considered.

Transportation can be electrified, and considerably
improve efficiency overall.
 
> Are you "Sham 1" isn't a 4/1 joke?  (my first thought reading that name)