Near Net Zero Reached at Frito-Lay Plant

First off, I realize the journalistic hook came from the TreeHugger article.

10MM kWh? In a year? In a week? Well, to energize 860 homes for a year that might be about right; works out to about 968 kWh/month/house. That's more than I use, but I don't have a big house and four kids who leave all the lights on. I can see some homes using 2,000 kWh/month. Got a shop at home that you work out of?

It says somewhere 18,000 PV panels in the array. That works out to about 600 watts per panel 24/7/365, after inefficiencies/losses/darkness. Wow.

Are the numbers even there?

Other than that, 'Thumbs Up' to PepsiCo for the Green thing. At least they are trying to get off the grid. Too bad it has to turn into some sort of hyped-up affair.

This is the way to go, here in Britain our government is paying half the costs to anyone who installs solar panels on their roofs, but so far things are going slow, but as more do this then more will follow!

But, and it is a very big but, the government of the UK has a bee in it's bonnet about wind turbines, we have them off the coast next to where I live, and the wind doesn't blow all the time, then when it blows too much they have to be stopped, so the net efficiency so far is a miserable 12.5%. Now the government in it's infinite wisdom has plans to cover our whole coastal area with these darned things, at a very high expence, and who is being billed for this expence, why the taxpayers of this fair land, then there is the price of the electricity produced, this means that our electicity bills will be about 2oo to 3oo% higher!!!!!

I would like to see "shelter" (as from our primary education civics classes, "food, shelter and clothing") redefined to a locally sustainable model that copies this example. Imagine if housing could be built on this type of model. Solar costs, still preclude it being cost effective, but maybe someday. The biggest energy consumption in "shelter" is in climate control and food storage. If the power grid went down these would be the two most pinching, immediate effects. Distribution of water would also be a huge problem. Thus, the need for locally, recycled water. Thinking ahead with a local scheme would help minimize the effects of such a mass disaster. Local gardening is also a primary necessity in a model like this. We all take "current conditions" way too much for granted and don't think about just how fragile our existence is under the current paradigm of "living."

I saw a program on TV many years ago about a scientist working for NASA, which featured water recycling as the main part of a sustainability project. I had to look a bit, but I think this is the gentleman and the project I am remembering. And if you scroll down at this link, you'll see the reference to 3 30-minute segments on PBS, which is where I probably remember seeing about him and his project.

I hope other businesses see Frito-Lay as an example to emulate.