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In central/northern Europe in january solar goves 10% of the output of summer, and you need 3-4x power to heat compared to cooling down in summer.
by kolinko 2y ago
In central/northern Europe in january solar goves 10% of the output of summer, and you need 3-4x power to heat compared to cooling down in summer.
- eichin 2y agoIt is often surprising that most of the US is south of most of Europe (the common reference is that Chicago and Rome are both 42N. The jet stream complicates the effect on overall climate, but latitude is pretty much the only thing that matters for solar power.)
- gpm 2y agoSolar panels are mildly more efficient when colder, the same latitude in an area with similar cloud cover in north America is probably generally slightly better for solar than Europe because it is colder, not sure if it would ever be more than a rounding error though.
- Scoundreller 2y agoI’ve been in northern France for a couple weeks in a January and didn’t see the sun once… Not really a thing in Toronto.
- maigret 2y agoSolar panels don’t need sunshine they need light.
- Scoundreller 2y agogonna have a lot lower performance in cloudy conditions
- taneliv 2y agoThe difference between surface solar radiation levels in the US and Europe are wild[1], fully agree on the rounding error view. Anchorage seems to receive the same level of watts per area as Germany and Poland. [1] https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I5kzJIeV4Ds/VFSHUX3374I/AAAAAAAAAsU/L8-hwCSueEU/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2014-11-01%2Bat%2B2.51.27%2BAM.png https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I5kzJIeV4Ds/VFSHUX3374I/AAAAAAAAA...
- Gibbon1 2y agoAmusing southern California is getting more watts per m2 then A lot of North Africa. This is a good source, population by latitude. http://www.statsmapsnpix.com/2021/11/world-population-by-latitude.html http://www.statsmapsnpix.com/2021/11/world-population-by-lat...
- taneliv 2y agoIt's missing the "most population in smallest (circular) area" view, as defined in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeriepieris_circle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeriepieris_circle .
- Gibbon1 2y agoNeed a renewables feasibility index that accounts for the amount of solar, wind, hydro vs climate and typical weather. And bin plot population vs that. Seems obvious that Norway, Washington State have lots of hydro. Places like Spain and California have lots of steady sun. Scotland, no sun in the winter but lots wind all the time. Those places renewables aren't problematic.
- Retric 2y agoNorthern Europe is much further from the equator than most of the rest of the world. To the point where rooftop solar stops being a great option. That said there’s a few ways to boost that 10%. PS: Geothermal can also slash energy needed for heating. Ground sourced heat pumps are the only reasonable small scale solution, but in urban areas going a little deeper starts to make a lot of sense.
- nicoburns 2y ago> To the point where rooftop solar stops being a great option. Perhaps as a complete energy solution. But it is already the case today that a domestic rooftop solar in Europe (maybe not in the very north) has payback times <10 years. And that's without factoring in batteries which (as the OP describes) are rapidly approaching affordability.
- Dylan16807 2y agoWhere in central Europe is it 10%? And you get extra in summer, the actual overprovisioning is when you compare to the equinoxes.
- ftrobro 2y agoIn southernmost Sweden, just above Germany, solar production is only 5% in December compared to June. In northernmost Sweden the sun doesn't even rise above the horizon for most of December.
- dgacmu 2y agoThis is a pretty late response, but even as "not too north" as Hamburg it gets close to 10%. Hamburg is at 53.6 degrees North; Berlin is 52.5. Both are just farther north than Calgary, as a pretty reasonable comparison for the US. To contrast, New York City is at 40.7 degrees, and Boston is at 42.3 degrees North.