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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Vilsack Highlights role of agriculture

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Vilsack Highlights role of agriculture
  • Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:59:40 -0700


Same here, ranches still have windmill wells and we see a few derelict
windmills along the roads. Priced them awhile back and they're very expensive
today. Now anyone considering solar backup needs to price it, and they may
get a rude shock at how much solar is required, esp with a deeper well or
heavy use. Plus storage or pressure tanks. But you don't have pressure
without electricity or a tank height of at least 20-30 feet. Full house solar
today can add 1/3 to the cost of a new house. Do the math.

What few understand is the energy cost that goes into the manufacture of
windmills or solar systems. Every step in the materials and construction and
shipping involves energy, whether the electric utility source is coal, gas,
nuclear, whatever. A very tiny fraction is alternative sources today, even
counting what's on the drawing boards. All those costs will keep rising
faster very soon, first the fossil fuel plants and soon nuclear as 40-year
old plants (that's most of them) must be decommissioned (astronomically
expensive which the utilities have never funded as required). Bottom line
financially for home and farm energy looks awful. We can't afford any kind of
backup as it is, but those who can should, while they can still get it.

Meanwhile, rainwater systems need more research to simplify them and make
them more affordable and efficient. I have rudimentary ideas for market
garden scale rain collection but storage is still problematic. Cheap and low
tech would meet the needs of many growers, and may be the only feasible way
to keep produce costs down and sellers in business.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 12/22/2009 at 6:43 AM Pumpkin Lady wrote:

>Tradingpost wrote:
>> Question. If city water fails, is it failure of electrical power? If so,
>>wells like mine would be DOA. Which may lead to the fallback, rainwater
>storage.
>
>Which is why some people have a back up. Solar or wind,
>depending on where you are, can do quite adequate for a
>non-commercial well power source. Lots of people in this
>area used to have wind powered wells.
>
>Morgan
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>Livingontheland mailing list
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