5 ms·
> Solar panels are still way over hyped It literally turns abundantly free solar energy into electricity. Where is the hype?
by yardie 5y ago
> Solar panels are still way over hyped
It literally turns abundantly free solar energy into electricity. Where is the hype?
- bobsmooth 5y agoWhat do you do when it's cloudy?
- buchanaf 5y agoUse other forms of electricity generation?
- nicoburns 5y agoIn addition to using other forms of energy, you can also over provision. Solar panels still work when it’s cloudy. They just don’t produce as much power. And with a grid you can average cloud cover over a large area.
- maccolgan 5y agoThat's why we have an electricity grid, it's not cloudly all the time all across the world, so even if we went full solar I don't see how it'd be problematic.
- themeiguoren 5y agoThankfully when it’s cloudy, your peak loads from AC are a lot lower.
- rozab 5y agoCurrent solar panels are almost 20% efficient. Even in the most outrageous sci-fi scenario, they could only hope to be 5x more efficient than they are currently, and in any case would require significant land use. Compared to nuclear or geothermal, the ceiling is so much lower. And then we get all the vaporware viral ops like solar freaking roadways and those water bottles that magically refill from the air with a tiny solar panel, ignoring the laws of thermodynamics but making hella kickstarter bux
- estaseuropano 5y agoSolar takes much space compared to what? Oil wells and refineries? Gas wells and processing and pipelines? Coal mine and power plant? Solar can be squeezed into lots of unused spaces, e.g. where I live all new Lidl and Aldi have solar on their roofs, an otherwise empty and unused gray space.
- mrfusion 5y agoLike most things, the final answer is probably a mix of everything.
- ijidak 5y agoWhen you count for buffer land around nuclear (most don't want to live too close) land use becomes comparable to solar For example, look at Diablo Canyon site acreage vs the acreage of the new large-scale solar project in Pahrump, NV.
- Daniel_sk 5y agoThat buffer land can be forest and lots of living creatures. Not a solar panel covered wasteland.
- Bootvis 5y agoDid you read the title of the article?
- 7952 5y agoAnimals and plants are perfectly happy living under solar panels.
- prawn 5y agoWe're commenting on an article about solar panels covering a productive farm. Need not be a wasteland. Solar installations are generally not placed where there'd otherwise be a forest, at least not where I live. I've usually seen them in deserts (where living creatures would appreciate the shade) or the sort of land people would've already considered wasteland.