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In that case I suggest installing efficient panels in some large installation somewhere else. Like, a power company solar farm miles from your warehouse. <digr
by JoeAltmaier 4y ago
In that case I suggest installing efficient panels in some large installation somewhere else. Like, a power company solar farm miles from your warehouse.
<digression>
It's such a strange magpie impulse folks have to want solar on their house. Look at my stuff! I'm doing things!
From a societal point of view the efficient installation is in bulk, serviceable, unobstructed. A rooftop is comically not these things.
</digression>
- thehappypm 4y agoSure, cut down a forest or buy ready land. Level the land, prepare drainage, and install racks to hold the films. Why do that when a warehouse roof is ready for solar to be deployed?
- lazide 4y agoOr just put it on the parking lot? The efficiency is so low on these, good luck. Covering a corner of the parking lot with standard panels is going to be cheaper and easier than doing the roof using these.
- throwuwu 4y agoCovering a parking lot with anything let alone solar panels that require lots of electrical connections is not a simple job. Think of all the supporting posts and beams, footings that will take up space, wind load considerations, etc.
- lazide 4y agoSimpler than doing it on a (low load rating) roof, where you also have to deal with an inability to drive to where you are doing things, have low maximum weight limits, have to worry about water tightness, etc. Even better, if the contractor screws it up, it doesn’t burn the building down or cause massive water damage. Worst case some cars catch on fire. Much cheaper!
- adgjlsfhk1 4y agoThe advantage of solar on roofs is that solar doesn't need to be serviced often, and the solar panels actually protect the roof under it and will lower electricity use in the summer by keeping sun off the roof.
- eldaisfish 4y agoThe disadvantage being that they add weight to the roof and are a significant source of wind load.
- JoeAltmaier 4y agoAnd pierce the supposedly waterproof roof (the entire point of a roof). And mounted at whatever angle the roof is built, instead of an optimal angle. And are in the most difficult place for maintenance and cleaning, so those things will be neglected. And you need to replace the roof? Now what?
- r_hoods_ghost 4y agoYou could run cables down the roof and the outside outside of the wall which not particularly rare. Actually that's the case for one of the aerials on my roof. And piercing roofs isn't exactly uncommon. Aircon vents, chimneys, mountings for aerials etc. The thing with something like this is that it doesn't have to be an optimal solution which instantly solves all our problems, which is what a lot of people seem to demand when it comes to anything which is even vaguely green, it just needs to be cheap and easy and move us away from our reliance on fossil fuels. This, along with traditional solar, hydro, onshore and offshore wind, nuclear etc. all have their place.
- eldaisfish 4y agoressources are not infinite and framing the problem as one of good being the enemy of perfect is disingenuous. Rooftop solar is a terrible idea when compared to the alternative - utility scale solar, installed at the right location, in the right way, with economies of scale; all while achieving everything you mentioned. Rooftop solar has numerous problems, starting with structural considerations, scale, shading, imperfect angles, local grid congestion and so on. Why have everyone waste money on this when we could just install solar farms?
- kwhitefoot 4y agoGreat in a sparsely populated country like the US, not so much in Belgium, Netherlands, South East England where such installations end up either on agricultural land or in places where housing is needed.