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More and more use-cases will pop-up as the cost of solar tech slowly inches down. When you consider it, most of our roofs are unused, and would make an ideal l

More and more use-cases will pop-up as the cost of solar tech slowly inches down. When you consider it, most of our roofs are unused, and would make an ideal location for tiny panels + battery packs. Similarly new blocks of city development can be planned around a central panel+pack with housing surrounding it.

sv123 10y ago
Elon agrees https://www.tesla.com/solar https://www.tesla.com/solar
- anilgulecha 10y ago
  I did not know Tesla/SC is working on this. Thanks for the link!
Tharkun 10y ago
True, but mostly useful in suburban environments. Covering a sky-scraper's roof in PV probably wouldn't make much of a dent in its energy consumption.
- vvvv 10y ago
  Next step is photovoltaic, sentient Paint you can apply anywhere as per the amazing Stephen Baxter: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=q1FyDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1613&lpg=PT1613&dq=baxter+sentient+paint&source=bl&ots=TU9vBZ7XgG&sig=Ljy5aypfE561m6ZHhaYq_ON-y4c&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj728qZzb7QAhVsLsAKHQR_A_QQ6AEIPTAF#v=onepage&q=baxter%20sentient%20paint&f=false https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=q1FyDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1613&l...
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
CmdrSprinkles 10y ago
In a foggy/dreary climate (think UK) it doesn't make sense Same with places prone to radical weather. Or just anywhere that doesn't get a lot of sun (the farther you get from the equator, really). Because even if we get solar panel cost down in the next few years, it is still going to be expensive and need a fair amount of maintenance. And if that doesn't offset the cost sufficiently, it isn't worth it Believe me, I want clean energy and do think solar should be exploited where it is reasonable (same with wind) and wish we would at least use cleaner sources where it isn't. But studies/experiments like this tend to rely on best case scenarios and corner cases and often just don't take economics into consideration. Are they good as proof of concepts and PR? Yeah. But they still aren't that representative.
- cesis 10y ago
  PV doesn't have to be the best tech everywhere. Nuclear and coal has it's own drawbacks - hard to turn on/off and generating a lot of unneeded power during night.
  - CmdrSprinkles 10y ago
    Which I think is where solar/wind/hydro (in places that aren't the hoover dam...) make the most sense. Topping off comparatively clean sources like nuclear (or, preferably, actually clean sources) either through only turning them on when needed or having them charge capacitors. Hell, the UK have even been doing it, to a lesser extent, through pumped storage (think of them like really big water-based capacitors that you charge during non-peak times) My point was more in balancing out the common misconception of "Let's just put a solar cell on every roof".
- sarcas 10y ago
  Interestingly, Eigg, a small hebridean island off the west coast of Scotland has been operating 95% of their power on renewables since 2008: https://islandsgoinggreen.org/about/eigg-electric/ https://islandsgoinggreen.org/about/eigg-electric/ (they keep diesel to drive baseload backup) The initial reason for this was that to get electricity from the grid to them was going to cost _lots_ of money. Solar is an important part of their mix - the Hebrides get a a good chunk of sun in the summer (and long days too). They've been a case study for a number of similarly isolated communities - either islands or other locations far away from existing electricity infrastructure. Making batteries more efficient (and cheaper), and making each of the renewables mix more efficient and cheaper will make this possible for more and more communities.
  - masklinn 10y ago
    > Interestingly, Eigg, a small hebridean island off the west coast of Scotland has been operating 95% of their power on renewables Renewable, but mostly as hydro. Things are easier when you have large hydro (relative to your needs), Iceland's electrical production has been 100% renewable since 2008 (and was 99.9% renewable before that) because they have a ton of hydro (80% of total capacity), and a fair amount (and growing) of geothermal (geothermal is 2/3rd of their energy consumption but the vast majority is direct use for heating, not electricity generation). And note that ~70% of Icelandic electricity generation is solely for aluminum production.
imgabe 10y ago
For single family residences, yes this is true. The roofs of commercial buildings are often littered with HVAC equipment, antennas, patios, lots of other things. Plus the more stories you have in a building the smaller the ratio of roof area to building area, so you have less space to generate power for more people. There's definitely a lot of room for growth for solar, but it's not a panacea. I'm looking forward to what we can come up with.

sv123 10y ago

Elon agrees https://www.tesla.com/solar https://www.tesla.com/solar

anilgulecha 10y ago
I did not know Tesla/SC is working on this. Thanks for the link!

Tharkun 10y ago

True, but mostly useful in suburban environments. Covering a sky-scraper's roof in PV probably wouldn't make much of a dent in its energy consumption.

vvvv 10y ago
Next step is photovoltaic, sentient Paint you can apply anywhere as per the amazing Stephen Baxter: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=q1FyDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1613&lpg=PT1613&dq=baxter+sentient+paint&source=bl&ots=TU9vBZ7XgG&sig=Ljy5aypfE561m6ZHhaYq_ON-y4c&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj728qZzb7QAhVsLsAKHQR_A_QQ6AEIPTAF#v=onepage&q=baxter%20sentient%20paint&f=false https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=q1FyDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1613&l...
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

CmdrSprinkles 10y ago

In a foggy/dreary climate (think UK) it doesn't make sense Same with places prone to radical weather. Or just anywhere that doesn't get a lot of sun (the farther you get from the equator, really). Because even if we get solar panel cost down in the next few years, it is still going to be expensive and need a fair amount of maintenance. And if that doesn't offset the cost sufficiently, it isn't worth it Believe me, I want clean energy and do think solar should be exploited where it is reasonable (same with wind) and wish we would at least use cleaner sources where it isn't. But studies/experiments like this tend to rely on best case scenarios and corner cases and often just don't take economics into consideration. Are they good as proof of concepts and PR? Yeah. But they still aren't that representative.

cesis 10y ago
PV doesn't have to be the best tech everywhere. Nuclear and coal has it's own drawbacks - hard to turn on/off and generating a lot of unneeded power during night.
- CmdrSprinkles 10y ago
  Which I think is where solar/wind/hydro (in places that aren't the hoover dam...) make the most sense. Topping off comparatively clean sources like nuclear (or, preferably, actually clean sources) either through only turning them on when needed or having them charge capacitors. Hell, the UK have even been doing it, to a lesser extent, through pumped storage (think of them like really big water-based capacitors that you charge during non-peak times) My point was more in balancing out the common misconception of "Let's just put a solar cell on every roof".
sarcas 10y ago
Interestingly, Eigg, a small hebridean island off the west coast of Scotland has been operating 95% of their power on renewables since 2008: https://islandsgoinggreen.org/about/eigg-electric/ https://islandsgoinggreen.org/about/eigg-electric/ (they keep diesel to drive baseload backup) The initial reason for this was that to get electricity from the grid to them was going to cost _lots_ of money. Solar is an important part of their mix - the Hebrides get a a good chunk of sun in the summer (and long days too). They've been a case study for a number of similarly isolated communities - either islands or other locations far away from existing electricity infrastructure. Making batteries more efficient (and cheaper), and making each of the renewables mix more efficient and cheaper will make this possible for more and more communities.
- masklinn 10y ago
  > Interestingly, Eigg, a small hebridean island off the west coast of Scotland has been operating 95% of their power on renewables Renewable, but mostly as hydro. Things are easier when you have large hydro (relative to your needs), Iceland's electrical production has been 100% renewable since 2008 (and was 99.9% renewable before that) because they have a ton of hydro (80% of total capacity), and a fair amount (and growing) of geothermal (geothermal is 2/3rd of their energy consumption but the vast majority is direct use for heating, not electricity generation). And note that ~70% of Icelandic electricity generation is solely for aluminum production.

imgabe 10y ago

For single family residences, yes this is true. The roofs of commercial buildings are often littered with HVAC equipment, antennas, patios, lots of other things. Plus the more stories you have in a building the smaller the ratio of roof area to building area, so you have less space to generate power for more people. There's definitely a lot of room for growth for solar, but it's not a panacea. I'm looking forward to what we can come up with.