Video: Filmmaker Rides 700 Miles to Find Out Which Energy Is Best

To: Mark Pedri, Please include geothermal energy in your search for a documentary. There's no mention of geothermal in the article. Please remember that geothermal is not 'sexy'. It doesn't hit you in the face like solar panels, massive wind turbines, and the massive hydroelectric dam. Geothermal is stealth and underground. It doesn't generate a lot of news unlike nuclear because it's relatively safe and quiet. The Philippines gets 25 % of its electricity from geothermal source and Iceland used to be quite polluted from coal until geothermal was used. Have fun while educating everyone.

Data - 25 year warranties on panels, 15 on string inverters, 25 on microinverters. The manufacturers of these products are pretty sure they're going to last. And if you take the covers off an inverter, they're isn't much in there - nothing like a PC or even a flat screen TV. Microinverters are encased in epoxy, with no serviceable parts whatsoever.

You are right about it's seemingly passive nature, but things still move as in connections through heat and load variations, and panel frames, and I do know that the inverters need replacement after 15 years. And what about panel cleaning, especially in dirty environments. I could be totally wrong about what I'm saying but is there any data supporting what you say?

@hikerweirdo: Not sure where you get your information. There are no moving parts in PV systems, and no regular maintenance is required. Part of the beauty of PV is it's elegance and simplicity, not complicated. Is it customer serviceable? No, but then neither is the electrical panel either! The inverter will die in 15 - 25 years or so. And we typically mount the gear right next to the electrical panel so it sees the same conditions they do, and those things last for decades.

As far as "high priced" specialists - any electrician worth a hoot can work on these things. Some of THEM are indeed high priced!

I think a major problem with household solar systems is that at this time, little is known about O&M. Most people are not technology oriented. These systems are dangerous (600V DC), they are relativily complicated, and there will be parts that break down such as all electronic parts in heat, connections, bad panels etc. These people will have to hire high priced specialists to repair. Also, houses will be bought and sold with new owners and as the economy (maybe) gets worse and China's air pollution becomes more of a concern, there will be less concern for these systems.

@SolarTEKMike

Actually the main concern is the volumes of rare earth minerals needed in the manufacture of efficient solar panels. While rare earths really are not that rare to find, they are at such low PPM in the crust, they are very expensive to extract and refine. While the primary cause has been Resource Protectionism by China, their spot price has increased like 20x over the past 10 years.

There is speculation from the think tanks that we have to start making decisions as to how the remaining mineral resources are to be used over the next few hundred years. People need to expand their thoughts about "Peak Petroleum" to "Peak Everything". Have you tried to purchase a copper pipe in the past year? Ouch!

Have you seen the Richard Heinberg video on this issue? You can view this 2 minute clip - 2nd down on this page:

http://etcgreen.com/blog/general/are-you-driving-your-last-gasoline-powered-car

It's a bizarre argument. The material takes 3 - 4 generations to break down, maybe more. We don't actually know. How long does glass retain it's fundamental properties? No one's thought about it because it's so far into the future. (But a LOT less than the tons of nasty radioactive material that is absolutely produced from those plants.) And there really isn't a huge MASS of material, in the grand scheme of things. Of the 35 - 50 lbs in each panel most most of the mass is in aluminum and glass. I'll bet you a steak dinner that in the next 40 years some smart person will find a good use for used solar cells.

The real question is - does the solar panel produce more energy than was used to produce it? And the answer is of course, yes - a LOT more.

@SolarTEKMike

For perspective, I sit on a national committee to define "Renewable Energy" which has been determined not to include all technologies to generate energy from "Renewable Energy".

Confusing? You bet, but your key word is "renewable" - which indicates sustainable and there is the rub. I have sat across the table from 6 Chief Engineers for solar panel manufactures and asked each the Q, "What is the mineral recovery cost for your panels?" None of them - zip, zero, ..., even have a plan. They do not expect that the majority of the minerals used in their panels are reusable - not today and not in 100 years. Simply too expensive to recover and re-refine and to some degree these minerals will experience a molecular bonding failure during service - a form of "metal fatigue". Blending used metals with virgin metals will extend the life of the resources we still have available, but the resulting metals will have less desirable properties so the solar panels will be less efficient.

Solar energy is clearly a "Renewable Energy", but solar panels are not a sustainable energy source solution. Within the next 3-4 generations, I expect we will be robotically mining the minerals of Mars or asteroids.

http://etcgreen.com Popular: EV's and Hybrids are not our Future

Great project! Can't wait to see the final product!

But.........There isn't a "best" energy source. We need a mix of resources to help us get to the point where we can be 100% renewable, and that won't happen for a long time.

I salute Mark's passion and staying true to the concept of human powered transportation for his project, however...

For proper perspective, cycling to every power plant is far from energy efficient.

While I have served as an Analyst/PM/PI for the largest electric utility in the world, the DoE, DoD and 2 major universities and currently serve as the CEO of a renewable energy firm, I also hold a university Minor in Human Performance and can bore you to tears for hours on metabolism and the Krebs Cycle.

Modern agriculture is basically the conversion of petroleum to food so unless Mark is also an avid gardener and can attest to low or no petroleum processing of his food or he is from the planet Krypton and gets his energy from a yellow sun, he indirectly burned far more fossil fuel on this adventure than had he driven an efficient advanced diesel vehicle. There are charts and tables available on-line that will support this statement.

The point of Mark's project was likely to make a movie for his 15 minutes of fame. It seemed to have worked well enough.

Our serious energy challenges are economic vs. environmental (emissions and mineral reserves).

I note a couple bloggers suggested that electric vehicles are 'Greener' than ICE vehicles. This also is not necessarily true.

http://etcgreen.com Article: U.S. Migration

To be at these facilities physically is important. I have hiked around many of them, both renewable and non renewable. You are asking the right questions e.g. what is the best source, how much do they really cost, how much usable energy do they really produce? etc. etc. Keep up the good work. Will this be made into a documentary? I hope you do!

I applaud you for using a bicycle to travel. I invented an attachment that makes ordinary bikes into dual purpose bicycle. This bicycle can be used for transportation as well as power production. You my visit my web site www.technologyforthepoor.com to view its various applications especially in less income countries. There is a link to a youtube video that was awarded a finalist status in the Invent or Die competition. Or, you can go to youtube site and in the search box type in Dual Purpose Bicycle. I would encourage you make a similar film on the appropriate energy system for less income countries.

Electric bikes weigh a lot more than normal bikes, therefor if you happen to run out of battery power you have to carry with you all this extra mass. In makes perfectly sense to me to choose a lightweight-bike with charriot.

Why Mark chose pedal pushing as opposed to some of the new electric bikes is strange. Many of these manufacturers are also offering solar canopy installs and swappable batteries. A foldable solar charger (an alternative to jumper cables?) could have fit nicely in a sidesaddle.