You're not looking
Solar and wind power are pipe dreams, limited by chance and any foreseeable technology, as well as physical limitations on amount of power available.
Bull.
If you design for it, you can design a modern house that collects all the energy (and water if you like) it needs from the environment and only raise the cost of the house about $20k. By way of illustration let me point out that my uncle's passive solar home in Parker will reach 90 degrees inside on a subzero sunny day - he leaves the front door open all day in winter, and convection effects in summer keep the place a cool breezy mid 70's on the hottest day.
Of course, you'll have to force the rapists - er property developers to build this way. They won't do it on their own because they compete on price and it raises the cost a bit (not much - but enough). If you want this stuff to become adopted, it has to start with government regulation and incentives.
[link|http://www.eere.energy.gov/erec/factsheets/passive_solar.html|http://www.eere.ener...assive_solar.html]
[link|http://www.sbicouncil.org/home/index.html|http://www.sbicounci...g/home/index.html]
[link|http://www.thenaturalhome.com/passivesolar.html|http://www.thenatura...passivesolar.html]
[link|http://www.homepower.com/|http://www.homepower.com/]
"I believe that many of the systems we build today in Java would be better built in Smalltalk and Gemstone."
-- Martin Fowler, JAOO 2003
You're not looking
Solar and wind power are pipe dreams, limited by chance and any foreseeable technology, as well as physical limitations on amount of power available.
Bull.
If you design for it, you can design a modern house that collects all the energy (and water if you like) it needs from the environment and only raise the cost of the house about $20k. By way of illustration let me point out that my uncle's passive solar home in Parker will reach 90 degrees inside on a subzero sunny day - he leaves the front door open all day in winter, and convection effects in summer keep the place a cool breezy mid 70's on the hottest day.
Of course, you'll have to force the rapists - er property developers to build this way. They won't do it on their own because they compete on price and it raises the cost a bit (not much - but enough). If you want this stuff to become adopted, it has to start with government regulation and incentives.
[link|http://www.eere.energy.gov/erec/factsheets/passive_solar.html|http://www.eere.ener...assive_solar.html]
[link|http://www.sbicouncil.org/home/index.html|http://www.sbicounci...g/home/index.html]
[link|http://www.thenaturalhome.com/passivesolar.html|http://www.thenatura...passivesolar.html]
[link|http://www.homepower.com/|http://www.homepower.com/]
"I believe that many of the systems we build today in Java would be better built in Smalltalk and Gemstone."
-- Martin Fowler, JAOO 2003
