Posted on 06/24/2006 11:19:37 AM PDT by Abathar
In Nebraska the bigger problem would be the smear from the road-killed deer.
If they can reduce costs to where retail prices are around $2500-3000, they will sell like hotcakes.
Hell if Walmart did all their parking lots alone they could probably generate enough to at least take a chunk out of their air conditioning costs...
Until the parking lot fills up with parked cars!
We need something. Electricity use increases with every new item invented and every new person born but we haven't built any new power plants since the big rolling blackouts.
Wind, Atomic, anything - let's get it built and producing!
I sure would like to hear the story of the intervening 2 years. Seed money is the very first capital, what did they do before that? Was it a starving entrepreneur with a dream? I hope he makes 50 zillion dollars.
However, the still to be resolved question, when it comes to dependency on wind and solar, is what happens on a calm, overcast day(s) commercial electric generators, are still working, inputing to the grid, we still have to have generating capacity, that covers 100% of requirements, even if in a prefect situation where, no power is taken from the grid
Solar panels, comprising solar cells connected in series, cannot tolerate unequal lighting...so in the case where, a road was partially in the shade, then some mechanism has to be developed to control the shaded cells
Much the same applies to a parking lot...cars would shade the cells, and this, under current technology, would be a problem..
Maybe AlBore, with the proceeds from his new Academy Award Winning Movie, can subsidize the prices so everyone can afford to put them on the roofs of their houses so BIG ELECTRICITY can stop emitting greenhouse gasses?
I mean, if he truly believes it is a morality issue...
Shalom.
You make your own petrol?
The average house, even in your 'green' region, can support itself with solar panels on the roof but it is presently cost prohibitative.
There's a sucker born every minute, especially when it ain't their money anyway.
"I've always been interested in the idea of a roofing material that doubled as a solar electrical panel."
Currently about $12 per Watt installed ($12,000 per 100 sq ft.), but that price includes a 25 year roof.
Looks like slate. http://www.atlantisenergy.org/sunslates2.html
There's a sucker born every minute, especially when it ain't their money anyway.
It's probably 5% venture and 95% government subsidies, so as with all solar projects, WE the taxpayers are the suckers.
There are probably not too many of us who remember those orange colored stacks of square plates.
Sunshine Ping!
Define average. My electricity needs vary radically. Summer usage is typically 2 1/2 times winter. Water usage is similar. Much more in the summer. Natural gas usage peaks in January and is at a minimum in the summer.
Trying to run solar panels with snow and temperatures that can drop to -20 F isn't reasonable.
The real problem becomes storage. This sort of capacity will actually cause problems because the Base generating stations need to be able to make a winter heating peak that occurs on super cold mornings. Otherwise, Solar power is the best because it generates power along the path of the day time load curve.
This is possibly something very very important for the US.
Its probable that these cells will only in real life generate a fraction of their capacity except on clear summer days but with the right price, every roof across the world is a potential solar collector.
The real impact on US and world fuel prices from this development may be kind of indirect. Solar power would nicely offset the need for peak power generation via oil and gas turbine sources. But this Generation may be put to creating Hydrogen and Hydrogen products as a means of storage and also for distribution to hydrogen powered motor vehicles.
Now on the issue of real impact the first year... 485MW is about equal to 0.2% of US generation capacity.. so it would take 5 years just to make a 1% difference assuming this is the only plant making solar cells by this process.
I said it was not economically feasible. Possible, yes. There is enough square feet of roof to support the house, even in the winter in the US. As for the snow, hire someone to brush it off each morning.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.