What are we Buying?

I just got this on my Florida Power and Light email:
"Did you know...
The largest solar photovoltaic power plant in the nation is right here in Florida? Our DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center uses more than 90,000 PV panels to turn the sun's rays into electricity to power more than 3,000 homes. President Barack Obama helped commission the plant last month. This new solar array will avoid 575,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions."

[575,000 tons sounds like a lot, but is it? Our atmosphere is 5 million billion tons, to which 575,000 tons is a mere pittance.]

So, If my math serves me, we have 90,000 PV panels to power 3,000 homes. That translates to 30 PVs per home. As stated in a USA Today article, Florida has more days where between 20% and 70% of the sun is blocked by clouds than anywhere else in the United States.

[What is the actual 'footprint' of this plant? 180 acres of panels to power 3000 homes. That translates to just under 20 homes powered per acre of land.]

"At a cost of $152 million for 25 megawatts of energy daily, the De Soto solar plant is pricey compared with natural gas or coal-fired power plants, and Florida’s energy regulation system does not ensure utilities will be compensated for that extra cost.

In 2008, the Legislature, at Gov. Charlie Crist’s urging, paved the way for Florida Power & Light to charge a small, one-time rate increase of about 31 cents per month for the average customer to build three solar test sites totaling 110 megawatts of energy — about one half of one percent of the total energy FPL produces.

Together, the three solar plants cost an estimated $700 million. The clean energy they will produce is the equivalent of taking 25,000 cars off the road."
(from: http://www.heatison.org/index.php/content/news_item/florida_opens_hemispheres_largest_solar_plant_asks_for_help_from_legislatur/)
So, this is even more expensive than Cash for Clunkers. $700 million to produce one HALF of ONE PERCENT of Florida's energy, to remove the equivalent of 25,000 cars from the road, all in the name of environmental concerns. How does this make any fiscal sense? That's $28,000 per car removed, for what puny reduction in 'greenhouse' gas?

This is madness, and it is just the tip of the iceberg once Cap & Trade is pushed through.

Has anybody done a study to find out what is the difference between a society that uses our clean-coal, natural gas , hydroelectric and nuclear plants for energy and their impact on our air quality and say... Candles, Wood and/or Dung Fires to cook and keep warm?

There are five other states in the union that have less cloud cover and more actual sunlight available to harvest than Florida. Oh...and the idea that they should build them first and then figure out how to pay for them later is pretty typical. Thanks, Crist! The legislature causes a problem and then they have to legislate rules and regulations to justify it after the fact.

Incidentally, the website from which I drew the above quote had a featured video clip with Van Jones on it. I didn't watch. I know his agenda. It is the same as all those who swallow the great Ponzi Scheme perpetrated by Al Gore et al. They only give you the 'benefits' and none of the dollars and sense [sic] that weigh the true impact of these plans. In short, if you do the research, it is tremendously expensive for practically zero impact on our planet. Madness.

I recommend: The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg