JUL 06

We've seen that eSolar is capable of doing some pretty fascinating things with it's solar thermal mirror arrays previously, but now the company is wishing America a happy independence day (while promoting American energy independence as well.) This one square-mile field of mirrors will soon be producing 5 MW of electricity for California. But the Lancaster, CA power plant became a giant display for July 4th, showing several messages for us EcoGeeks to eat up.

eSolar has been a very successful solar thermal startup having focused on high-tech IT control systems and lower-tech power generation technologies. They're already producing power for PG&E and Sothern California Edison. In their e-mail to me about this patriotic gimmick, they also pointed out that they were looking forward to a certain piece of upcomming legislation: "As a controversial climate bill awaits approval in the Senate, now is the time to rally behind renewal energies as Amercians' viable path to the end of fossil fuel dependency."

Let's hope their patriotic display gets the Senates attention.

Comments (8)

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5MW / 1 square mile???
written by Jeff, July 06, 2009

That just doesn't seem right. That photo definitely doesn't look like 1 square mile. Maybe it will EVENTUALLY be 1 square mile, but it's only starting as a much smaller 5MW plant?

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written by Fred, July 07, 2009

California is doing a great job keeping up with solar energy

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written by Elana, July 07, 2009

This is great because one of the big complaints people have about solar energy is that it is not aesthetically pleasing. eSolar changed our perception of solar panels as being an ugly use of space! Thank you! Amazing!

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Dims Admit this is a job killer
written by mreagan, July 07, 2009

I love how Hank keeps deleting my posts as of late. my post from this morning has been deleted. If that isn't socialism I don't know what is. I love the fact that its true that when progressives don't like what you say they try to shut you up.

so here is a shot at enlightening your few readers you have left Hank. that CAP and Tax is a JOB KILLER. see link.

http://tinyurl.com/mnokqb

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definition of socialism
written by Jeff, July 07, 2009

"If that isn't socialism I don't know what is. "

mreagan, you're right on that last part, at least. You have no idea what socialism is. Congrats on being both very opinionated AND very ignorant! What a novel combination!

(socialism = "an economic system based on state ownership of capital")

Bottomline, I may not agree with deleting posts, but on the other hand I don't think most visitors of this site are interested in having it devolve into mindless, predictable, partisan political bickering. The focus is on technology and environment, with the occasional mention of legislative efforts that could potentially advance technology, protect the environment, or both. That's probably how it should remain.

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written by robert zwerlein, July 11, 2009

I just caught the end of the program and have one simple question, why is the boiler white and not black? It seems so stupid that I am almost afraid to ask but since a bunch of scientist designed it there must be a good reason...perhaps if it was black it would get too hot???

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written by Bryan, July 22, 2009

I am continually amazed that people continue to discuss--much less consider--using hydrocarbon energy sources these days.

All hydrocarbon energy sources have been rendered obsolete technologically speaking as of 2006--it's just a matter of time before they become financially obsolete as well.

By the way, Germany created food, medicine, explosives, ink, fuel, oil, lubricants, synthetic plastics, etc. from their coal gassification and fictionalization plants during WWII. These largely pneumatically controlled plants were a marvel of technology for their time.

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written by Bryan, July 22, 2009

make that "FRACTIONALIZATION"

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