ChemE Stewart <cheme...@gmail.com> wrote: Flat mirrors like you buy at home depot and a bunch of steel with a couple > stepper motors. That is their technology. >
No, it isn't. Not even slightly. Read the paper. A "glass honeycomb-style matrix sandwiched between an optical quality mirror and a sheet of structural support glass" is not like anything you can buy at Home Depot. > Do the math and see how much water and time it takes to wash 375,000 > mirrors monthly and how much fuel that takes in vehicles. > They have been operating plants like this in desert areas and washing the glass for 30 years. They have equipment designed to wash it with a minimum amount of water and energy. They have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in that aspect of the technology. They know how much water it takes and they have taken that into account. The mirror washing machinery is electrically power in most installations. It is part of the energy overhead, like the friction in turbine bearings. Overhead is lower in these plants than it is conventional plant such as coal-fired plants. (It takes a great deal of energy to shovel and pulverize the coal, not to mention mining it.) > Greeny weeny bamboozle. No robots to be seen. > Completely wrong. All the mirror washing is done by robotic equipment. - Jed
