Alright Veeky Forums I come to you as the only possible hope, however remote, of laying out the goddamn facts on solar.
Is it a meme?
>pollution from production and batteries Does this actually outweigh power from coal or natural gas right now?
>but the sun is free! Battery lifetime and solar panel lifetime has to be accounted for. I've seen power output datasheets that indicate solar setups lose something like 50% of their net output over ten years. This tells me the expected lifetime of a solar installation is likely to be 25 years, then you have to pollute more to get more batteries and dispose of your old ones (how?) and possibly newer panels, too.
Can someone just give me some no-bullshit analysis? If you don't know sources, google is of no use because all you get are hippie websites and manufacturer advertisements. I've been attempting to research this for about a week and it's getting me pissed that the whole solar industry appears to be a meme.
>100% bullshit No, but it's never going to be a grid level solution. I think it's reasonable to have them for personal use, but that's only because you should have some actual infrastructure as a fall back on.
Michael Allen
the really good panels are being cockblocked by environmentalists because they contain small amounts of lead (about as much as you have in your car).
Jason Peterson
What makes them "really good"? Their efficiency or lifetime?
Nathan Wood
Solar is great for some applications. Passive solar is best overall, active solar is the worst since it eats up so many resources.
Passive solar is stuff like solar batch water heaters and solar cookers, (light to heat). This can be used to make electric from the heat (solar thermal power station.) Energy storage is typicality done as thermal mass (molten salts, water, cement/stone, etc.) Passive solar can be as simple as a stone/cement floor/wall in your home to collect the energy and release it as thermal energy at night when it is cool or hanging your clothing out to dry in the sun. However, passive solar systems can still be extremely complicated and have high maintenance depending on design and size.
Active solar is photovoltaic cells, (light to electricity). Energy storage is typically done using batteries, though high speed flywheels, compressed air, and elevated water are also used.
Hybrid solar typicality combines active and passive solar. An example are hybrid solar PV panels that have water heat exchangers on the back. The PVs produce electric while the water heat exchangers produce hot water for domestic use. Other types skip the water heat exchanger in favor of Peltier thermoelectric modules to generate more electricity.
The largest problem with active solar is energy storage. It is almost always very costly and uses lots of resources. The storage mediums that are really good are almost always based on location.
Nathan Hill
cost. it would make solar roof's viable, even without subsidies. i can't remember the technical term NREL used when they came up with them, but the panels would be slightly more expensive than cardboard.
The method sounds like it is too difficult for an amateur to replicate.
Jacob Nguyen
It's good for unused roof space and distributed production. Absolutely ridiculous for a plant. Takes way too much space and other alternatives are better.
Sebastian Nelson
Pretty much what said, maybe for supplementing a more stable form of power generation for base load like nuclear as well.
Carter Long
Energy return on investment is better than the oil sands
