"Nevada Solar One is a concentrated solar power plant, with a nominal capacity of 64 MW and maximum steam turbine power output up to 72 MW net (75 MW gross), spread over an area of 400 acres (160 ha). The projected CO[SUB]2[/SUB] emissions avoided is equivalent to taking approximately 20,000 cars off the road annually. The project required an investment of $266 million USD,[SUP][1][/SUP] and the project officially went to operation in June 2007.[SUP][2][/SUP] Electricity production is estimated to be 134 million kilowatt hours per year.[SUP][3]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Solar_One
IMO, this is the way to go. No assurances can be made that water resources will make a comeback soon, meaning that the major hydroelectric facilities of the Southwest will not only under-produce, but may even STOP producing, electricity. Lake Mead, emptying through Hoover Dam, is the biggest lake, I believe, after Lake Powell. Mead's water level is down some 200 feet from it's highest level. There is NOT a helluva lot of water left in it, when considering it supplies water to almost 1.5 million users in Las Vegas, that water producing NO electric power.
The two alternatives to dams are Fossil Fueled plants, coal or gas-fired, which pollute the environment. Nuclear power production does not immediately pollute, but does so after the fact, leaving behind radioactive waste, as serious problem also.
Building more dams is folly if there is NO WATER behind them. F. F.s pollute. Nuke plants cost huge bucks to build, and take a decade or more to do so, their unpopularity notwithstanding. A third, not considered here, but non-polluting, they think, is wind power. Winds are whimsical, but the old Sol will 100% guaranteed continue to bake the desert areas relentlessly. The "Nevada Solar One" mentioned above, delivers enough electric power to completely service 28,000 homes like my own (usage 4800 kilowatt-hours per year).
What should we do? Imp[/SUP]
IMO, this is the way to go. No assurances can be made that water resources will make a comeback soon, meaning that the major hydroelectric facilities of the Southwest will not only under-produce, but may even STOP producing, electricity. Lake Mead, emptying through Hoover Dam, is the biggest lake, I believe, after Lake Powell. Mead's water level is down some 200 feet from it's highest level. There is NOT a helluva lot of water left in it, when considering it supplies water to almost 1.5 million users in Las Vegas, that water producing NO electric power.
The two alternatives to dams are Fossil Fueled plants, coal or gas-fired, which pollute the environment. Nuclear power production does not immediately pollute, but does so after the fact, leaving behind radioactive waste, as serious problem also.
Building more dams is folly if there is NO WATER behind them. F. F.s pollute. Nuke plants cost huge bucks to build, and take a decade or more to do so, their unpopularity notwithstanding. A third, not considered here, but non-polluting, they think, is wind power. Winds are whimsical, but the old Sol will 100% guaranteed continue to bake the desert areas relentlessly. The "Nevada Solar One" mentioned above, delivers enough electric power to completely service 28,000 homes like my own (usage 4800 kilowatt-hours per year).
What should we do? Imp[/SUP]