Earthquake survivors get solar-powered bibles

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/earthquake-survivors-get-solar-powered-bibles/story-fn3dxity-1225821184929

AS international aid agencies rush food, water and medicine to Haiti’s earthquake victims, a US faith-based group is sending Bibles to Haitians in their hour of need. Not just any Bible. These are solar-powered audible Bibles that can broadcast the holy scriptures in Haitian Creole to 300 people at a time.

Called the "Proclaimer," the audio Bible delivers "digital quality" and is designed for "poor and illiterate people", the Faith Comes By Hearing group said.

According to their website, the Proclaimer is "self-powered and can play the Bible in the jungle, desert or … even on the moon!"

Is this not further proof that money is better given to secular charities such as the Red Cross? Can Christians please explain how this helps anyone and that is does not simply replace cargo space for food and medical supplies?

1. Solar energy is not cost effective due to the cost of equipment and the cost fossil fuels needed to create solar energy cells in the first place. If you were to install solar panel on an average home in Phoenix AZ and you calculated the cost + fossil fuels used in creating the solar equipment it would take from 5-8 years to show a profit. Other cities that get less sun than the desert would take even longer and the cost would go up as you also calculate Maintenance dollars.

2. In order to generate enough energy to effectively curb our need for fossil fuels would not be economically prudent or reliable with the given solar technology as we know it today.

3.Hydrogen fueled cars and and big trucks is the main target of defeating the need for foreign oil. Solar energy will never be able to generate enough energy to supply hydrogen refueling stations.

According to this link Europe uses 4,000 terawatts of energy but in the normally unusable deserts of North Africa and the Middle East 630,000 terawatts fall unused. If solar thermal plants covered the desert about the size of Austria it could power the whole entire world. The technology is cheap and includes an ability to store the energy for nighttime needs. If all this is possible why are Earth are we not employing this clean, cheap, abundent source of energy?

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,550544,00.html

Would Iraq be a good place for solar panels? I saw on the news about how the power plants in Iraq are all screwed up. I thought since it’s a desert (very sunny most of the time) that it would be a perfect place to build a couple of large scale solar power plants. I realize solar power doesn’t work at night, but it seems to me the Iraqis mostly need electricity for air conditioning, which is during the day so it work out pretty good. Anyone agree or disagree?