Canton Solar

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Don't know if this has been posted, but I would like to see more developments like this. Maybe if they went to Evergreen Solar for their panels, they wouldn't have to shut down their Devens plant...

Canton dump may soon be a solar powerhouse
By Kay Lazar
Globe Staff / January 31, 2011

A Canton landfill closed for more than two decades will soon be transformed into New England?s largest solar electric development, officials are expected to announce today.

Full article... http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/gre...ay_soon_be_a_solar_powerhouse/?p1=Local_Links

At least the developer is local: http://southernskyrenewable.com
 
I'm all for less pollution (don't give a fuck about being "green" and "hip" and hugging every single tree, but I don't want to breath toxic pollution) but this seems counter productive. 11 football fields of solar panels and we power 750 homes. Seriously, guys? Seriously...?
 
Will solar tech ever mature to the point where it becomes practical on a large scale? I'm more or less clueless as to the advances made in the field, but after 50 some-odd years of development I find it hard to believe it's still far from being a cost-effective power source. Same thing with hybrid/electric cars and their batteries hardly lasting 100 miles -- the technology just isn't there yet.
 
^ It can work on a large scale, but you have to deploy to efficient places that wouldn't have other, better potential uses. Cover the Sahara with solar panels? Not a bad idea, could actually power Europe. But it's just not sunny enough to try to achieve much with solar panels in Canton. The payoff of a few homes powered this way isn't great enough to offset the loss of land (note that there are more environmentally-friendly ways to deal with a former dump than to cover it with acres of metal).
 
It probably would have been more economic/efficient/environmental to just harvest the methane that is being released from the site, and then after that (don't know how long), just dump a load of seeds/trees and reforest the area.
 
Is it possible to make a hybrid solar-wind plant? I'm not sure how spaced apart windmills have to be, but make a wind farm as dense as can safely be achieved, and then fill in the rest of the space with solar panels? I'm going out on a guess here, but that could double the energy?

Also, I've seen alot of people talk about this methane method. Has this been done? Anyone have links to how it works/the theory of it?
 
This is the kind of solar power NIMBYs would love.

solarseville.jpg

abengoa.jpg


Cant complain about shadows!
 
I remember seeing part of a documentary series done by an incredibly sanctimonious, annoying environmentalist about this. It's in Spain. I forget exactly how it works but it was pretty cool.
 
erikyow said:
I remember seeing part of a documentary series done by an incredibly sanctimonious, annoying environmentalist about this. It's in Spain. I forget exactly how it works but it was pretty cool.
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It's pretty simple, simply giant mirrors focus the suns rays on the tower. Hot water = power generation, like pretty much every other form of power plant.

There are a few other designs that follow this basic principle.
 
Another energy saving/environment saving development


http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...n_would_convert_mass_river_discharge_to_heat/

Plan would convert Mass. river discharge to heat
February 2, 2011

BOSTON?Federal officials say a new plan will reduce the harmful hot water a power plant dumps into the Charles River and convert it into steam that heats Boston buildings.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that a permit for Cambridge's Kendall Cogeneration Station requires a 95 percent cut in the average 70 million gallons it withdraws from the river daily, then dumps back in.

Environmentalists argued the dumped water -- as hot as 105 degrees -- kills fish life.

Under the new plan, the plant will convert the hot water into steam and ship it through a new pipeline to Boston to heat buildings.

Peter Shelley of the Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental group that fought for the plan, said "tenacity, creativity and serendipity" helped find a solution "in which everyone wins."
? Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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