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We need a New Deal-type mobilization to build https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_Landing_Solar_Community https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_Landing_Solar_

by coryrc 4y ago

We need a New Deal-type mobilization to build https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_Landing_Solar_Community https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_Landing_Solar_Communit... everywhere across the country. Like building the Hoover Dam, it will generate massive amounts of carbon-free energy for a long time and with a relatively short ROI. It's embarrassing parallelizable. We could be off fossil fuels for heating in fifteen years across all homes, saving thousands of dollars a household per year.

jeffbee 4y ago
52 entire dwellings on 250 acres? Thanks but no. You would literally need to pave America to make this happen. 50 dwellings on one acre is at the low end of the urban density scale.
- coryrc 4y ago
  First, that's literally not even close to true about paving. But I meant retrofit all existing housing stock with solar collectors and heat storage, neither of which require much room.
  - jeffbee 4y ago
    It is though. This is a net 5 acres per dwelling, there are only ~300 million arable acres in the USA and there are 200 million households.
    - coryrc 4y ago
      This is a tangent. Only the garage roofs have solar thermal collectors on them. Every existing suburban area in the USA regardless of density has enough building roof volume to fully supply a Drake Landing-type thermal system and eliminate heating inputs. Drake Landing shows it will work even in the exurbs. I would guess it could provide enough heating for low-rise apartments and row houses as they have reduced heat loss compared to SFH to make up for the lower available roof area. They cover the deep bore thermal system with dirt and make it a park. I would expect you could put a building over it too. It literally doesn't need to take up any additional land area, so the fact that Drake Landing is an exurb does not mean the system would only work there. What I haven't read enough about is whether it's limited to a certain geology. I assume it wouldn't work in Florida, but it's not needed there. Back to your tangent, Drake Landing isn't a giant paved area: the vast majority of the area is not paved or building. I also don't know why you're counting only arable acres as they're houses not farms. Since the system only needs a large-garage-roof-sized thermal collector and the average house roof is larger than that (and if the roof is even smaller so is the thermal load) it's completely irrelevant.

by coryrc 4y ago

jeffbee 4y ago

52 entire dwellings on 250 acres? Thanks but no. You would literally need to pave America to make this happen. 50 dwellings on one acre is at the low end of the urban density scale.

coryrc 4y ago
First, that's literally not even close to true about paving. But I meant retrofit all existing housing stock with solar collectors and heat storage, neither of which require much room.
- jeffbee 4y ago
  It is though. This is a net 5 acres per dwelling, there are only ~300 million arable acres in the USA and there are 200 million households.
  - coryrc 4y ago
    This is a tangent. Only the garage roofs have solar thermal collectors on them. Every existing suburban area in the USA regardless of density has enough building roof volume to fully supply a Drake Landing-type thermal system and eliminate heating inputs. Drake Landing shows it will work even in the exurbs. I would guess it could provide enough heating for low-rise apartments and row houses as they have reduced heat loss compared to SFH to make up for the lower available roof area. They cover the deep bore thermal system with dirt and make it a park. I would expect you could put a building over it too. It literally doesn't need to take up any additional land area, so the fact that Drake Landing is an exurb does not mean the system would only work there. What I haven't read enough about is whether it's limited to a certain geology. I assume it wouldn't work in Florida, but it's not needed there. Back to your tangent, Drake Landing isn't a giant paved area: the vast majority of the area is not paved or building. I also don't know why you're counting only arable acres as they're houses not farms. Since the system only needs a large-garage-roof-sized thermal collector and the average house roof is larger than that (and if the roof is even smaller so is the thermal load) it's completely irrelevant.