We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Mirrors

27 Replies to “We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Mirrors”

1. Why don’t animals photosynthesize? When you answer that question, you’ll understand why solar power is not the great bargain progressives and environmentalists claim it is.

2. We saw this all before in the Great Leap Forward under Mao, of course lots of people starved, but hey, you gotta break some eggs to make an omelette.

   1. Wouldn’t it be less damaging if the gang greens just went for a swim in the ocean?

   2. imTay there are so many parallels. You are absolutely right.

   3. Where’s the omelettes?

3. so basically the glory and esteem on that project had already happened, cant ‘milk’ it for any more kind of support or publicity, so, Dharnai, here are your cattle sheds.

   ah! eureka moment!

4. I’m highly skeptical of solar – but this could just as easily be a case where primitive villagers cannot maintain technological equipment. Rather than simply replace a battery, they did what comes naturally and revert to neolithic behavior. This happens in Africa constantly: Westerners build a water filtration plant: locals dismantle it to sell the metal for scrap.

   1. Yes, they couldn’t keep the Sun on during the night. Buinch of primitives; if they had our politicians, it would have all magically worked.

   2. The follow up from the author of the X post:

      “Dharnai lost trust in the solar project and switched to thermal power (fueled by coal) as soon as it became available on the grid beginning in 2016.”

      Far from being “primitive villagers cannot maintain technological equipment”, imo. The Indian villagers were given a choice between solar and thermal power and chose thermal. They chose wisely. Thermal is the superior power source. I prefer natgas, hydro and nuclear to coal but coal was the only thermal source available.

      1. And then they did the logical, frugal thing. They found an alternative use for the panels, sheltering livestock.

   3. Yeah … the dot Indians should have learned to code? So … how does one “maintain” a solar panel or battery? Count me as ignorant as a dirt villager

5. I am 72 years of age and have come to believe that life is elegantly simple. Yes, it is great to have “nice things” (to quote Cam from Modern Family) but it is equally important to maintain them – I call this housekeeping. If you own a house, you must do yearly maintenance and upgrade projects, if you own a car, you must take it in at least twice a year for oil change and filter (possibly other work required as well), if you have good clothes you must clean or dry clean them, same with furniture and your other possessions.

   Further to this philosophy, all cities (and especially Calgary now) must take care of their core responsibilities. I define this as good roads and sidewalks, good water and sewer pipes and the essential services such as police, fire, EMS. Only then, can cities spend money on Parks and Recreation and social experiments (which really are NOT their business!). Water and Sewer pipes especially have a life expectancy of 50-60 years. Fortunately, on my street in Regina, the water and sewer pipes were upgraded and only then was the roadbed and sidewalks done and this was summer of 2021, finished up in early summer 2022. It is now a pleasure to drive on our street. Sadly, Calgary seems to have missed that memo!

   But back to the topic, all things (even solar farms) need regular maintenance. I had read an article years ago, that the Chinese as part of their roads and beltway initiative, had created a large solar farm on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. They forgot that it would need regular maintenance, especially when there are sandstorms. The solar array is now out of commission and the sands have reclaimed the space.

6. What happens when the rare earth minerals start leaking out of said panels, will said minerals poison people?

   1. Yes. There are toxic metals in solar panels. Most landfills refuse to take them when they are at end of life as they are deemed toxic waste. Most people don’t factor this in when they decide to install them. There could be a big cost to dispose of them.

7. Ah, but their “virtue” was sated. thats all that matters. to be seen “Doing good” not actually doing good is what matters.

   1. Bingo. Liberal policies are based/judged on their intent – never results.

8. That is not typical of a good quality solar panel. I suspect engineering corruption who purchased a low graded product. Much like utilizing low quality concrete in a football stadium or irrigation dam here in Canada.

   Purchase a good quality cast iron welding table along with a hickory stick one inch in diameter, 20 inches long. Clamp the hands of the offender to the welding table. Strike hands until dark blue. Remind offender that
   that next time, he or she should supply solar panels with 20 year lifespan.

   Works every time.

   1. A lot of things are forgotten in 20 years. Windmills for example. There are many sets of blades being replaced in 2 or 3 years. There is massive toxic waste from the blades as they are a mixture of fiberglass and epoxies. They cannot be reused or recycled.
      https://stopthesethings.com/2023/10/31/touring-texan-turbine-graveyards-becomes-latest-green-tourism-venture/

9. That’s enough power for almost one 50 watt light bulb per person for at most 40% of the time. That little wouldn’t replace dung for cooking so it was essentially a useless novelty item. Luckily for them, they are now adopting higher density energy in the form of coal-fired electrical plants.

   And Greenpeace’s gift to Canada was Guilbeault.

10. How many Canadian tax dollars did Greenpeace get to waste on this? Just because it’s in India doesn’t mean we didn’t pay for it.

11. SOLAR is awesome for…?
    RV’s and small Cottages: PERIOD.
    I’ve 350W on my RV, perfect for keeping my 3 Batts Charged (2x6V +1 x 12V)…as well as my Power
    Bank.

    Industrial Strength Arrays…meh, not so good.
    Takes away huge swaths of Agricultural land, subject to Hail and Snow…

    I do think however, that ALL EV’s should be Mandated to only be charged by Solar Arrays.
    Cloudy/Winter/Snow/Hail…??
    Tough shit, suck it up Climatard.

    1. Take mass transit Climatards

12. Do the heavy metals in the panels leach out onto the cattle when it rains?

13. When I was a kid I used solar power to burn bugs with a magnifying glass.

    1. I used solar power to make a jug of iced tea yesterday

       1. Yeah, solar power is quite good for heating water, a jug of tea in sunlight or using solar to heat water for residential use. Passive solar designed homes are also pretty interesting. But, attempting to use solar to replace thermal power electricity in modern society is nuts.

14. l still wanna know, l see all them traditional tarpaper type shingle UNDER the solar panels.
    how does one reshingle according to use guidelines with the panels in the way?
    tear it all out? really? gonna factor THAT in your equation? all that WASTE and pollution causing expenditure of resource and energy . . .
    the utterly ONLY place l wd have any such structure if there was no power available whatever point its not worth ‘hooking up’ in which case go out even further to get away from the nonsense.