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posted by LaminatorX on Thursday August 21 2014, @10:40AM   Printer-friendly
from the Archemedes-Mirror dept.

AP reports that wildlife investigators who watched as birds burn and fell at the Ivanpah Dry Lake Solar Tower Plant are urging California officials to halt the operator's application to build a still-bigger version until the full extent of the deaths can be assessed. Estimates per year now range from a low of about a thousand "streamers" by the plant operator to 28,000 by an expert for the Center for Biological Diversity environmental group. Those statistics haven’t curbed the enthusiasm of the Obama administration for the solar-power plant, which granted Ivanpah a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee. The deaths are "alarming. It's hard to say whether that's the location or the technology," says Garry George, renewable-energy director for the California chapter of the Audubon Society. "There needs to be some caution." Federal wildlife officials say the plant might act as a "mega-trap" for wildlife, with the bright light of the plant attracting insects, which in turn attract insect-eating birds that fly to their death in the intensely focused light rays.

The $2.2 billion plant at Ivanpah Dry Lake near the California-Nevada border is the world's biggest plant to employ so-called power towers. More than 300,000 mirrors, each the size of a garage door, reflect solar rays onto three boiler towers each looming up to 40 stories high. The water inside is heated to produce steam, which turns turbines that generate enough electricity for 140,000 homes. While biologists say there is no known feasible way to curb the number of birds killed, the companies behind the projects say they are hoping to find one — studying whether lights, sounds or some other technology would scare them away, says Joseph Desmond, senior vice president at BrightSource Energy. Power-tower proponents are fighting to keep the deaths from forcing a pause in the building of new plants when they see the technology on the verge of becoming more affordable and accessible (PDF). When it comes to powering the country's grids, "diversity of technology ... is critical," says Thomas Conroy, a renewable-energy expert. "Nobody should be arguing let's be all coal, all solar," all wind, or all nuclear. "And every one of those technologies has a long list of pros and cons."

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by evilviper on Thursday August 21 2014, @08:57PM

    by evilviper (1760) on Thursday August 21 2014, @08:57PM (#84099) Homepage Journal

    Gasses don't just escape into space.

    Yes, helium does.

    "Helium is a finite resource and is one of the few elements with escape velocity, meaning that once released into the atmosphere, it escapes into space."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium [wikipedia.org]

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  • (Score: 2) by Vanderhoth on Thursday August 21 2014, @09:49PM

    by Vanderhoth (61) on Thursday August 21 2014, @09:49PM (#84115)

    I guess I stand corrected.

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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday August 22 2014, @06:49PM

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 22 2014, @06:49PM (#84437) Journal

    So does hydrogen. The H2 molecule travels at above escape velocity. IIUC so does O, but not O2. One reason that ozone in the upper atmosphere is undesirable is that solar UV can knock an O loose from O3, and that fragment will be above escape velocity. OTOH, even O is considerably heavier than H2, so it needs to be at a much higher "temperature" to break loose...but it gets that from the solar UV.

    N.B.: This happens over geologic time scales, so even though it's quite important (in my evaluation) it's not urgent. Still, short-range solutions that ignore this problem bother me.

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    • (Score: 2) by evilviper on Friday August 22 2014, @07:22PM

      by evilviper (1760) on Friday August 22 2014, @07:22PM (#84449) Homepage Journal

      The H2 molecule travels at above escape velocity

      Yes, but it's not noble like helium, so it's vastly more likely to react/bond with another molecule (like O) on its way up from ground level.

      One reason that ozone in the upper atmosphere is undesirable is that solar UV can knock an O loose from O3, and that fragment will be above escape velocity.

      Oxygen isn't a scarce resource, like helium. I don't see how the loss of a little bit is a serious problem.

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      • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:25PM

        by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:25PM (#84679) Journal

        Over geologic time a planet can lose it's atmosphere...or at least the lighter parts. To me that's serious. I'll grant you there won't be any measurable effect in the next century or so, but over time little changes add up.

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        • (Score: 2) by evilviper on Saturday August 23 2014, @07:12PM

          by evilviper (1760) on Saturday August 23 2014, @07:12PM (#84735) Homepage Journal

          3 billion years from now, I'm sure that would matter, if not for the fact the sun will have wiped-out all life on earth a billion years before that.

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          Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
          • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday August 24 2014, @07:12PM

            by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Sunday August 24 2014, @07:12PM (#85030) Journal

            That might be a significant point. I'd need to run the math. But remember with departing hydrogen the amount of water available will shrink, and carbohydrates will become more difficult to make. I'd expect it to become a significant problem long before half of it was lost. It is, however, clearly not a short-term problem. It's just that short term action impact the long term scenario.

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