Do we need the oil and gas industries? The answer is an obvious "yes". In fact, I'll go further. I am grateful to these industries. After all, I drive a car powered by an internal combustion engine that burns gasoline. I drive on streets paved with asphalt. Polymers are ubiquitous in my lifestyle.
However, I have four problems with the fossil fuel industries. First, they do contribute more to climate change than alternative sources such as solar for example. Next, they do extraordinary violence to the environment and to the earth. Fracking and oil sands (tar sands) productions are the most vile of Orcs. Third, they are more politically powerful than each of us who cast a vote. They wield that power to stifle the free market of competition. That is why the Koch Boys want to help utilities across the country destroy the rooftop solar industry. Finally, like so many things in our consumer economy, oil and gas is overused. This final objection is really not about the fossil fuel industries but about our choices as consumers.
To be sure, the production of photovoltaic panels is not as clean and green as we would want. However, changes occurring in that industry are moving in the direction of being cleaner. Recycling toxic compounds has become more of the standard than the exception. Better yet, less or non-toxic compounds are being substituted for nastier chemicals. There is a small amount of water used in the production of photovoltaics since other fluids are used. Finally it is becoming increasingly the case that photovoltaics are powering photovoltaic plants and not natural gas meaning that the industry is decreasing their carbon footprint. To be sure, there is much more to be done.
Keep in mind that our consumption of fossil fuels is principally as an energy source. If you take a barrel of oil, only 7% of it is used for non-energy products: petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, rubber, etc.
So, is the fossil fuel industry a bad guy? No except when they use their vast wealth to crush competition, buy state legislators to pass laws against local governments putting restrictions on fracking and wreak havoc on the environment. Still, in the final analysis, the finger must be pointed at you and me who make consumer choices that provide the market for any industry to run a profitable business. That is why I am all for an unstifled market place by powerful interests such as the oil and gas lobbies. That is also why I'm trying as a consumer to make better choices and live greener while realizing that there are and always will be trade-offs.
I wrote the following text for a change.org petition yesterday afternoon. Eco El Paso (along with elpasonaturally) is sponsoring the petition.
El Paso Electric Company's proposed rate hikes are not just a burden on all rate payers such as yourself but punish those who use solar panels and discourage the use of clean, renewable solar energy. The utility argues that added infrastructure costs are not shared equitably because solar users are not buying all of their electricity from them. Yet, if more people used clean, alternative photovoltaic solar power, there would be no need for added infrastructure - power lines and power stations. The simple fact is that El Paso Electric Company wants you to buy all of your electrical energy from them and they want you to buy more of it. And, btw, traditional electrical production requires massive amounts of water - a very scarce resource for all of us. Photovoltaic solar power uses just enough water to clean off the panels maybe twice per year.Support solar energy. Support conservation. Tell the Mayor and City Council of El Paso to say NO to EPEC's request for higher rates on all of us.
When I created the change.org petition yesterday, I told just a few people. I had not posted it to social media yet. I hadn't blogged about it. Almost instantly it got 83 supporters. Let's see what happens now that the news starts getting out.
Go HERE to say HELL NO to El Paso Electric's rate hike proposal. Spread the word.
The oil industry oligarchy and their supporters will tell you that natural gas and even coal use less water to produce electricity than solar power. They are half-right.
You have to distinguish between two types of solar energy: photovoltaics (the panels you put on your roof for example) and concentrating solar thermal - big mirrors that gather heat from sunlight to heat water to be used in a thermoelectric plant. As you might guess, concentrating solar thermal requires tons of water for steam for generating and for cooling - more so than natural gas or coal unless dry cooling is used which cuts water usage by 90% but also cuts efficiency and costs more.
On the other hand, photovoltaics require little water, the least of all in renewable energy except for wind powered generators. How much water? Enough to clean the dust (or smoke in some places) off the panels. My brother, Paul Tolbert, who lives in Upland, California installed solar panels on his home this past winter. Here is what he said about cleaning the panels:
"My installer estimated cleaning every 6 months. But it depends on where you live. EP may have less soot/smog than I have. My panels have been up 6 months (since mid Feb) and don’t need cleaning so far. I recently checked and my electricity generation has not dropped. (However, a couple of recent smoky days may change this). Google says to clean the surface of a solar panel much like you would clean your car -- with warm water and dishwashing soap to remove any accumulation of dirt and grime. I plan to use a long handled squeegee."
6 months and he is going on 7 now without a drop in generation! A bucket of soapy water, a squeegee (a jug of wine, a loaf of bread . . .) We aren't talking about much water.
[Just a word about wind powered generation. Those spinning blades do kill birds but far less than my cat, Aristotle, and his feline friends from coast to coast do, and far less also than power lines, window panes, pesticides, automobiles and lighted communication towers. Tens of thousands by turbines versus millions by the other causes. Newer turbine technology is reducing the number even more. Sorry, oil industry cronies.]
The process for making the solar panels like all industrial processes requires some water. Still, panels use less water from production to installation to service than thermoelectric plants driven by gas, coal, concentrating solar thermal technology, nuclear, etc.
There are some nasty molecules involved in photovoltaics (as there are in the computer chips that make your smart phones and televisions, well, smart.) The industry (at least in the United States) is very careful about the proper disposal of these chemicals. (I won't get into rare earth metals here. We want quantum electronics for our convenience but we need rare earth metals to accomplish that. I don't know about you, but I don't like to be dependent on China so the trade-off is rare earth mining. More on that later.)
The technology that uses the least amount of water after wind turbines is photovoltaics. The best place to employ that technology is on your own home or business if you want to be part of a community that conserves water. Of course, at the present time, you don't use all of the electricity generated from your solar panels. Without batteries you have to sell that power back to the grid. The "grid" at least the El Paso Electric Company wants to increase substanially how much a solar user pays for a kWhr while buying back at $.03/kWhr. An Australian system uses the excess to heat water. If you own an electric car, you can recharge its batteries with your excess. Bottom line: getting off the grid (and thus the community's consumption of more scarce water) is the way to go.
More on passive solar next. - Jim Tolbert
For more information and references for above:
Water Use by Solar Projects Intensifies
Environmental Impacts of Solar Panels
How It Works: Water for Power Plant Cooling
Fact Check: How Much Water Does Solar Power Really Use?
Get more out of your solar power system by using water as a battery
Do wind turbines kill birds?
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