Quote:Five years ago when gasoline was over $4 per gallon and rising it spurned the research into electric cars and hybrids. Carbon monoxide pollution wasn't enough to drive those efforts, it was driven by costs of oil. That's what will drive the efforts of solar technologies too.
Regards................the Chiefjag
Yes sir. And it's unfortunate that this way of thinking has been developed over the past century and so forth. It shouldn't have to come down to that. With that said, I am more worried about the fresh water supply around the world. Here is a line from an article from the National Geographic.
"By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change."
That's troublesome.
Quote:Yes sir. And it's unfortunate that this way of thinking has been developed over the past century and so forth. It shouldn't have to come down to that. With that said, I am more worried about the fresh water supply around the world. Here is a line from an article from the National Geographic.
"By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change."
That's troublesome.
Water filtration is a readily available technology and its relatively cheap completely different problem from solar tech.
The issue with clean water Is getting it to more remote areas or around corrupt groups hoarding the resources.
Quote:All very true. It's only when those finite resources are about to become depleted will such companies, and their shareholders, be willing to invest in solar.
So, if we can hang in there for another hundred years or so we'll all be going solar. (I may not make it.)
I dot think it'll take that long. What would really help kick things into gear will also be battery tech improving. Much like the hybrid cars didn't really become marketable util they created a battery that could hold a long enough charge. The cost of panels and inverters have come down big time over the last 10 years or so but the cost of battery backups is still outrageous. No one wants to spend 15k on panels and investors but still be stuck with no power if the grid is out.
I've seen some hillbillies use truck batteries to get around the markets lack of options but most suburban or city folks don't have the space or wouldn't want to look at the eye sore of that.
Also deregulation of the power grid would help. Some states allow competition in the power grid and alternative tech is much more affordable in those states, albeit more of natural gas then solar or wind.
I think we're close give it another 10 years
Quote:A watt is a unit of energy per time, so a 5,000 watt AC unit will require 5,000 watts of solar panels == 20 panels. Since AC usage is highest when the sun is beating down on the roof, one probably wouldn't need much more than that. Offsetting the AC is probably the 2nd best use of solar, after heating water. The water is heated directly from sunlight, so conversion to electricity is not needed in that case, which makes it more efficient.
It's still more expensive than electricity delivered by the power company, but if it makes someone feel good about being 'green' then that has value too.
Two things our appliances are measured in watts but power is billed in kilowatts that's the reason for conversions when trying to figure out how much solar energy one needs.
Second the ac unit is 5000 watts per hour of peak usage so you have to multiply that 5000 watts times the amount of hours in peak use. In Florida it's easily 16 hours during the summer. To figure out how many panels you need to run that ac all day you'll néed to multiply each panel by 4 hours of peak solar activity and then by .85 to compensate for some loss of electricity in conversion from harnessing to production.
You are correct solar water heating tanks are more effiecent and require less energy but if you want hot water at night or during cloudy days you'll need additional heat generates by electricity
Quote:Yes sir. And it's unfortunate that this way of thinking has been developed over the past century and so forth. It shouldn't have to come down to that. With that said, I am more worried about the fresh water supply around the world. Here is a line from an article from the National Geographic.
"By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change."
That's troublesome.
In 8th grade science class it is taught that you can neither create matter nor destroy matter. Every drop of water that was here a billion years ago is still here today. Now, where the supply of drinkable water is located is and will be the challenge.
Regards................the Chiefjag
