You are Free Republic.
Please Contribute Today!
Posted on 08/07/2013 8:13:07 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
Simple solution. Get a government grant to build a new control tower that faces away from the panels.
sarc /
Solar panels (for a home owner) make some sense as an emergency back up system for lighting and communications (AM/FM/Shortwave radio) maybe even a low power PC. Other then that they are a waste of money. Reliant Energy sells me power for under 10 cents a KW hour. Solar panels can’t touch that price but I do own a couple for emergencies.
“Authorities have made the decision to undrape the solar panels only at night, stating that should help with the problem of the bright glare.”
It's best to have panels that follow the Sun on a daily basis, for a net gain of watts vs. the tracking expenditure.
Without even taking in to consideration the latitude, mean sunlight, etc., I'll ballpark the LOSS of potential watts by pointing them East at 80%.
Why do I get the feeling that some solar panel company based in DE is an Friend of Biden?
What about moon glow?
“... rebuild the control tower elsewhere.”
You would never make it as a gubment worker...you think too small.
REBUILD THE AIRPORT to the west...THEN create a commission to look into the matter and to make a plan as to what to do (relocate the airport AGAIN, to the east).
Electrical tape! Put a few pieces over the controller’s window right where it’s brightest.
You know, like us regular people do to our winshield that has a crack in it to stop the glare.
If so much light is deflecting....isn’t so much energy not being utilized?
OR the air traffic controllers could all put black grease paint/makeup under their eyes like MLB outfielders do on a sunny day.
I bow to your wisdom
How about, instead of picking a solution that might reduce the visibility for air traffic controllers, we just get rid of the damn panels?
Cost: $3.5 million.
Annual energy savings: $ 100,000
Wow—only a 35 year payback!
What genius!
Let’s hope the panels even last that long, which they won’t.
As a general rule, when an engineer negligently performs services on behalf of his firm or employer, the individual allegedly suffering damage from the engineer’s negligent performance may sue the company and/or the individual engineer. Typically, in the case of an engineering firm in private practice, the firm’s professional liability insurance carrier will respond to claims against any past or present principal, partner, director, officer, or employee acting within the scope of their duties.
http://www.nspe.org/ProfessionalLiability/LiabilityEmpEng/index.html
Read carefully, they need to add another 180 panels to reach their goal. That may be an additional cost to the $3.5 million already spent. The article does not specify.
I also wonder if it includes maintenance costs. Somebody most need to go up on that roof and clean those things off once in awhile.
A simple solution would be something like either honeycomb, or vertical venetian blinds, so that the glancing rays of the sun will be blocked, and the direct mid-day rays of the sun won’t.
One would need to play with the geometry a bit, but one could probably keep 2/3rds of the annual output, especially if the “blinds” were movable to the limited areas where the glare was a seasonal concern. The blinds could even be steerable like any venetian blinds, with a sensor that tracked the sun to keep the blinds parallel to the sun’s rays.
Maybe I should submit a proposal.
Either that or a wall/screen between the panels and the tower windows.
Overall, this is what happens when people spend other people’s money.
One of our local airports recently got to spend about 8 million dollars of federal airport dollars regrading the dirt between and around the runways and taxiways. The goal was to smooth things out so that if a plane departed the runway it had a smoother transition and smooth dirt to roll out on.
Problem: The engineers must have been concerned with drainage more than any pilot concerns. The grading on either side of the runways smoothly slopes away from the runway right up to about 10 feet from the parallel taxiways, where it abruptly banks back up to taxiway level. If you depart the runway for any emergency lading, you can no longer roll across a taxiway without slamming into that 3 ft wall of earth with props, gear, and anything else hanging low. Also, if someone departs the taxiway for any reason, there is now not a smooth transition to dirt, just a 3 ft shear drop, which is also not good for the airplane.
To make matters worse, it is very difficult to see this unfriendly terrain feature from any angle unless you are pretty much standing at the bank and looking along it, since its all grassed and tends to blend when viewing from the taxiway nearby or the more distant runway. The local pilots know of the problem, but I have already seen a visiting aircraft taxi off the taxiway (tail dragger in strong crosswind, poor pilot control) and prop strike and have rudder damage as a result.
Some govt planner just spent 8 million moving dirt around the airport and did not even ask one pilot for input.
What happened to the picture?
Anyway, from what I remember, it looked like the panels were not properly oriented toward the path of sun. I would think you would want them oriented toward where the noonday sun is. And maybe adjust them for the winter months or maybe once a quarter.
RE winter sun in New Hampshire: Wouldn’t the panels be covered in snow much of the time? No prob, government can just hire a crew of panel cleaners, yeah that will be cost-effective....
Now the pics are displaying again. Yes, the sun appears to be beyond the runways. Looks like these panels were oriented along the building axis.
Some study that firm did [not]!
I still see the pictures. But if you click on the link below them, it takes you to a pdf with them embedded.
The article describes it a early morning sun causing the glare, not noonday.
The building, and associated panels, are pointing just slightly west of straight south.
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.