Las Vegas is a pretty sunny place, right? So why isn’t the whole city powered through solar energy? You could ask this question for a lot of places in the world. The answer we’re hearing more and more is that alternative energy is not just about being good, but being politically advantageous and affordable. Bob Boehm from The University of Nevada’s Center for Energy Research explains the ups and downs of trying to implement alternative energy as a primary source of power. He also shows us some of the mind blowing technology (our favorite being sun captured through fiber optics for lighting!) that they’re testing at the CER. Thanks Bob!
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Technorati Tags: solar, green, las vegas, nevada, sustainable, alternative energy, University of Nevada, Center for Energy Research, Bob Boehm, ryanishungry
liked the fiber optic lighting.. never seen that before…
Ryan, green politics in Britain tends to demonise America for its lack of belief/interest in global warming/sustainable development so it’s really interesting to see what actually IS going on stateside. Thanks for being enlightening. Yet another example of the (people)power of vlogging.
i think a lot of this change is going to come not exactly from the government but from individuals. there are lots of folks in the states who are concerned and are taking action. and that\’s not exactly reflected in our \”elected\” officials, but in some cases it is. for example, the city of san francisco is pretty aware of sustainability and the actions needed to make it a reality (video to come!). so i think it\’s important to capture lots of individual stories that are out there. i\’m sure it\’s the same in a lot of countries. if the government is not going to do it, we should do it ourselves as much as possible.
thanks for watching
and thanks for the comment!
I love the fibre optics concept, it would allow sunlight to be captured in a much more discreet and elegant way.
Just imagine lighting in reverse with lots of fibre optics scattered all over your garden!
haha why would you need fiberoptics in your garden? you already have the sun! by the way, I really like your site: http://larchcottage.com/.
I think that the idea is great, but it shuld be done by giving the energy consumers the ability to produce their own solar energy, and not build a centeral one. This is tru for Las-vegas like it is true to anywhere else. Maybe the huge entertainment business there can support it even as a gimik to drive more customers.
Why would he need to botch a perfectly good EV and add H2? H2 is not free it’s made from natural gas and the energy to produce it exceeds the energy you get out of it unless they have their own electrolyzer to produce H2. In either case why bother with the extra cost, complexity and difficulties of a fuel cell? Why not just plug in and use batteries?
Solar power is dense and is quite an efficient use of power. These facilities could be set up across the world and they are maintenance free. The operating cost is very reasonable after the initial installation.
Australia has spent millions of dollars on a solar powered energy station. It is currently generating clean electricity to well over 40,000 locations in the small town of Victoria. It’s very energy efficient and safe for the environment due to there being no gas emissions.