> As a rule, if you're tempted to begin any sentence with "they should just..." -- don't.
Strongly agreed.
> Electrical signal attenuation increases with the square of the distance, so you'll lose ~95% of the power to heat loss in the wires if you try to power Seattle from solar in Nevada
What? HVDC lines are usually estimated to have 3.5% power loss per 1000 km. Since power transmission is done using power lines, the inverse square law doesn't really apply here.
> There are a lot of very good reasons why we haven't covered the desert in solar panels.
That does remain true however. Cost concerns, grid access concerns, environmental concerns are all good reasons.
Strongly agreed.
> Electrical signal attenuation increases with the square of the distance, so you'll lose ~95% of the power to heat loss in the wires if you try to power Seattle from solar in Nevada
What? HVDC lines are usually estimated to have 3.5% power loss per 1000 km. Since power transmission is done using power lines, the inverse square law doesn't really apply here.
> There are a lot of very good reasons why we haven't covered the desert in solar panels.
That does remain true however. Cost concerns, grid access concerns, environmental concerns are all good reasons.