3 ms·
Why wouldn't there be sun in the winter in most places?
by themitigating 4y ago
Why wouldn't there be sun in the winter in most places?
- prottog 4y agoI don't know what GP meant about "most places", but I guess generally places that have a winter (away from the tropics, that is) are cloudier in the winter, as well as by definition having lower solar irradiation. Most of Europe is in the unenviable position of having higher power requirements precisely when solar potential is at the lowest[0]. [0]: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Typical-winter-and-summer-day-solar-irradiation-and-European-electricity-load-profiles_fig1_215681334 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Typical-winter-and-summe...
- fulafel 4y agoThe power requirements are fixable by better insulated housing (see eg passive houses). Practically free natural gas has kept people from investing in energy efficient housing, just like in warmer places where people use AC wastefully in poorly insulated buildings.
- peteradio 4y agoIronically during a nuclear winter event which may or may not be a fraudulent science meme concocted during the cold war. And yet we have had points in fairly recent human history where we had years long stretches of problems caused by volcanic activity. All we need then is some way to turn nuclear fuel directly to enriched calories.
- adamsb6 4y agoIn the northern hemisphere the winter solstice is five days from today. Where I am, in Seattle, the sun will be above the horizon for only about 8.5 hours. It will also likely be cloudy. Contrast this with the summer solstice, where we get about 16 hours with the sun above the horizon.
- fulafel 4y agoLess sun, more wind, vs no wind and no sun.