Take THAT Dirty Coal!

[team dirt]

I have worked on a drilling rig and on pipe lines and now live right by a big dam. So yes I get that it takes energy to build a dam or to get gas to the station.

But we do get returns back, or we wouldn't do it.

we get a return on a man made monetary dollar. The energy is converted into usable energy and lost in other areas.

 

[lilduke]

we get a return on a man made monetary dollar. The energy is converted into usable energy and lost in other areas.

No we get a return in when I flip the switch at my house and the lights come on. When I turn they key, my truck starts. That is the return.

 

[Merc63]

how did the dam get there in the first place. We used energy to make energy. Drilling for oil is also a loss. It's the amount of loss that is where the efficiency comes into play. It's a matter of finding the most efficient ways with the least cost of output versus cost of input. Do you have any idea what it takes to get oil and gas from the ground into your car or furnace. A lot of energy is used to to create a usable energy for consumers. And if you read my post you can see you actually proved my point. They are not creating energy in a dam. It's just a transfer with inherent loss.

I don't see what your point is? Obviously everything we do to create energy has losses in building and development. A dam, oil, nuclear, etc all have losses and efficiency rates. If a dam wasn't efficient, they wouldn't build it. $$$$ = energy, the funds put into the dam are far less than what is produced from it or it never would be built in the first place. Same with the cost of oil. It takes $30/bar to produce. Energy extraction is what drives the economy, without it we would be broke.

 

[team dirt]

No we get a return in when I flip the switch at my house and the lights come on. When I turn they key, my truck starts. That is the return.

Yes that is a return but at a loss. You put fuel in your car turn the key and drive where you need to go. That's the return but at a loss. Do you care? No you got where you needed to be. My point is going back to the start of the thread that wind and solar are such a loss it's not worth it. We need to innovate our methods of using coal to provide power in Alberta as we have so much of it. We also need to start using more of our nat gas to make power and use it in our own province. Taxing us to heat our homes and drive our cars is pure evil in my opinion. When it's 30below this winter I sure appreciate having the gas. I have worked in the patch since I got out of high school in 96 doing instrumentation. I love oil and gas and I love burning it in all my toys. I just get real p!ssed off when people think they are going to change our power to wind and solar and there will be no issues or huge costs. I'm not against dams at all as they are a very reliable source of power for many years but they are still not 100% efficient. At this point in time I believe nuclear should be looked at as an option in the west. Saskatchewan has huge reserves of uranium that I'm sure could be used. I don't know if it's the right kind or not but there's is lots of it. I hope you can see where I'm coming from now. Cheers.

 

[team dirt]

I don't see what your point is? Obviously everything we do to create energy has losses in building and development. A dam, oil, nuclear, etc all have losses and efficiency rates. If a dam wasn't efficient, they wouldn't build it. $$$$ = energy, the funds put into the dam are far less than what is produced from it or it never would be built in the first place. Same with the cost of oil. It takes $30/bar to produce. Energy extraction is what drives the economy, without it we would be broke.

Money and energy are completely different. I took a 25000 dollar hit this year so I could keep my job so Cenovus can keep producing at a profit. My family suffers so share holders can keep profits. Dams are efficient. Never said they weren't. More efficient that wind and solar I can say that for certain.

 

[lilduke]

Yes that is a return but at a loss. You put fuel in your car turn the key and drive where you need to go. That's the return but at a loss. Do you care? No you got where you needed to be. My point is going back to the start of the thread that wind and solar are such a loss it's not worth it. We need to innovate our methods of using coal to provide power in Alberta as we have so much of it. We also need to start using more of our nat gas to make power and use it in our own province. Taxing us to heat our homes and drive our cars is pure evil in my opinion. When it's 30below this winter I sure appreciate having the gas. I have worked in the patch since I got out of high school in 96 doing instrumentation. I love oil and gas and I love burning it in all my toys. I just get real p!ssed off when people think they are going to change our power to wind and solar and there will be no issues or huge costs. I'm not against dams at all as they are a very reliable source of power for many years but they are still not 100% efficient. At this point in time I believe nuclear should be looked at as an option in the west. Saskatchewan has huge reserves of uranium that I'm sure could be used. I don't know if it's the right kind or not but there's is lots of it. I hope you can see where I'm coming from now. Cheers.

Hey man, trust me I hate taxes. And I'm not a big fan of power companies either. My personal goal is to get off the grid and make my own power.

Alberta has lots of natural gas, burns clean and a great way to make electricity IMO I say burn that till its gone, but no one is asking me.


Cheers

 

[ippielb]

Money and energy are completely different. I took a 25000 dollar hit this year so I could keep my job so Cenovus can keep producing at a profit. My family suffers so share holders can keep profits. Dams are efficient. Never said they weren't. More efficient that wind and solar I can say that for certain.

That's what I have made all year so far... weather has royally screwed me over... missing over 20 days of work from rain, and that in turn screwing my overtime... not to mention no snow last winter... I was off work for Jan-March, and missed at least 1 day every paycheque because of rain... then get a slap on the wrist because I try to use sick days on rain days lol. Oh well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[team dirt]

Hey man, trust me I hate taxes. And I'm not a big fan of power companies either. My personal goal is to get off the grid and make my own power.

Alberta has lots of natural gas, burns clean and a great way to make electricity IMO I say burn that till its gone, but no one is asking me.


Cheers

ya I hear ya. I got a cabin in Seymour Arm and have built many off grid solar systems. From the couple thousand to 50000 systems. Make sure you have a diesel or propane geny big enough to recharge and provide the power to the loads. I know Revy and Seymour are very similar for sun in the winter. You end up running geny about 3 hours a day to maintain. I can send you some pictures of one we built in a c can 8 years ago. He is just now starting to look at battery replacement now. He is running a full on house off it. It would give you some good ideas for your own. Also stay as hi as voltage on the DC side as you can. Series all your panels and get a 48v inverter. Way more efficient that way especially in wiring sizing if you have to run over any big distances. Cheers. Hope it starts snowing again I'm heading to the cabin in a couple weeks to finish projects for winter and was hoping to sneak a good ride in.

 

[team dirt]

That's what I have made all year so far... weather has royally screwed me over... missing over 20 days of work from rain, and that in turn screwing my overtime... not to mention no snow last winter... I was off work for Jan-March, and missed at least 1 day every paycheque because of rain... then get a slap on the wrist because I try to use sick days on rain days lol. Oh well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ya that sucks man. It will turn around hopefully. A lot of guys around Brooks are having issues working now because of the cattle quarantine. It's such a hassle leaving one landowners land to another that their just not doing anything. My buddy with crew trucks said they have to bleAch tires and boots when leaving the fields right now.

 

[rightsideup]

Hey man, trust me I hate taxes. And I'm not a big fan of power companies either. My personal goal is to get off the grid and make my own power.

Alberta has lots of natural gas, burns clean and a great way to make electricity IMO I say burn that till its gone, but no one is asking me.


Cheers

Natural gas has been a generation source in alberta for awhile now. Since deregulation. That's basically when other providers could sell power on the grid. Retailer's could sell you power. Power rate's have risen quite a bit since then. If and when Alberta are forced to rely on technologies such as solar and wind watch for the increases again most likely quite larger. People really have no idea that to even measure the inconsistent amount of energy wind and solar provide is an exspence in it self.

 

[ABMax24]

Im curious how you came up with the above figures to determine a fossil fuel equivalency for the electrical output for the dam.

Quite simple really, a MWh of electricity will produce a given amount of heat, (1MWh = 3,412,000 BTU). 1 Barrel of oil will produce roughly 5,800,000 BTU. Which works out to 1MWh of electricity converting to 0.59 barrels of oil. This all assumes 100% efficiency of both sources.