[ExI] 2.2 g$ bird-cooker

[spike]

A few days ago when I commented that nuclear is cleaner than ground-based
solar, I may  need to clarify on the terminology.  Environmental impact is
bit of a slippery concept.  These kinds of solar concentrating schemes
scorch birds and may interfere with tortoises:

 

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304703804579379230641329
484

 

On the other hand, they are good for a lot of other reasons.  I like birds,
not so much the turtles for two reasons: there aren't very many of them
anyway, and we have plenty.  So I am in the tortoises-schmortoises camp.
But I do partially buy in to the theory that birds are attracted to the
solar concentrator tower.  There is one in the southern California desert; I
can confirm that one can see one of those things a long ways off, tens of
kms easily.  It is believable to me that birds are confused by and attracted
to the bright object, perhaps interpreting it as a lake, which is a welcome
sight to a soaring bird.

 

Note that the bird argument also applies to PVs to some extent.  It doesn't
cook the birds, but it might attract them by the looks-like-a-lake phenom.
The birds land, then they can't take off.

 

If Keith's vision ever flies, the yahoos are going to argue that space based
solar is bad for wildlife.

 

Nuclear is looking better from a Greenie perspective all the time.  I keep
being reminded that if a major nuclear accident takes place, it creates a
wildlife habitat.

 

In any case, I switched over this week to LED lighting, and I am pleased
with it.  I don't have a power bill yet, but in general the un-diffused LEDs
are about 10 times more efficient compared to incandescent, and the
spectrum-adjusted LEDs (the devices that intentionally mimic the visible
color spectrum of incandescent) are about 3 times more efficient.  Do it!

 

spike

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