Solar Energy Comments due April 18, 2024

[ismith]

That user base is absolutely a problem. How did the plug get pulled? It seems that a legit business should be allowed to operate, I guess until they cause a blackout, lol. I think there was a Bitcoin miner here in WA that located close to power source (a dam). I just struggle with how much demand things like crypto and AI will use given meeting even baseline current consumption is hard. Should they pay more? At least big AI players are trying to meet net-zero goals by building solar or even putting servers underground (and underwater apparently). The land use required to meet some of these projections would be incredible.

 

[Bonasababy]

That user base is absolutely a problem. How did the plug get pulled? It seems that a legit business should be allowed to operate, I guess until they cause a blackout, lol. I think there was a Bitcoin miner here in WA that located close to power source (a dam). I just struggle with how much demand things like crypto and AI will use given meeting even baseline current consumption is hard. Should they pay more? At least big AI players are trying to meet net-zero goals by building solar or even putting servers underground (and underwater apparently). The land use required to meet some of these projections would be incredible.

The company pulled the plug after it became clear they were not likely to get permits.

The servers in most of these installations are encased in steel enclosure surrounded by some type of Oil to cut the noise--leaking of that oil is one of the concerns for the things.

It's not so much the technology, it's the scale. Not unlike a new huge feedlot moving in and adding the waste to deal with equivalent to a city of hundreds of thousands of people. Then you start hearing about facilities drawing so much that regional blackouts of electricity are happening. Once people face the reality it doesnt look as enticing and yes then NIMBY's get rolling. For good reason if these things aren't in the middle of nowhere,

Re: solar it's coming whether we want it to or not, but like all new technology we never take the time to go slow and site and vet things properly.

Personally I think there's more immediate future in smaller scale residential or business rooftop solar, but am very intrigued to see how a local rancher's efforts to install a solar/agrograzing operation work out. He's not in an area where there's a huge loss to the local resources involved though. Solar and ranching can work together pretty well but still working out some details.

 

[darklozz]

Turns out, adding solar panels to your own home is actually easier than I thought. I read up on how Cork homeowners can set up panels that produce clean energy right on their roofs – it’s a straightforward way to generate power without having to rely on big projects in sensitive areas.