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Old 08-16-2012, 08:52 AM   #30 (permalink)
Ryland
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Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder View Post
Next you need to factor in the production of PV panels - which is consuming a lot of energy in a potentially dangerous process.

With the cheapest PV panels coming from China, you simply don't know how they were produced, and what the environmental damages are.
I don't want this to drift off topic, but panels from China are not that much cheaper then the 100% USA made panels, at least when I priced them out and while you are correct that it takes energy to produce them, it takes energy to produce anything! and the amount of energy it takes to produce a PV panel is produced by that panel in less then it's first year, we could say the exact same stuff about not knowing the full environmental damage caused by the shirt you are wearing and in the case of the shirt you are wearing it could be even more true because PV panels will last the rest of your life.

To me the bottom line is, even if we have enough oil to last the rest of our lives, do we want to keep using it at the rate we are? there are better ways to do things so why not do things better? even if peek oil is a hoax, the side effect is that we've made the world a better place, oops! well we can easily undo that!
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