Should it be possible one day to scale up this technology … I think I’ve seen this one before.
More than once
Paper-Thin Solar Makes Any Surface Photovoltaic
111–120 of 130 posts
Re: Paper-Thin Solar Makes Any Surface Photovoltaic
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
3500kg for the whole vehicle including interior + 100L of water + 100L of Diesel + 50 L of gray water + 2 Passengers + 1 shower + 1 bed + 1 kitchen + 2x11 l gas etc. As I mentioned: A typical camper van is borderline at 3300 kg already so you have 200 kg for cloths, food, water to drink, bedding, etc. It even matters whether or not you gained 10kg during winter or lost 10kg. 16kg equates to about 2 lithium ion 100WH…
The limit is for maximum authorized mass (which is basically "what manufacturer says" it can carry max) not current mass. I doubt anyone will ticket you over being 10 kilos extra... On top of that you could probably pick any other part to make lighter and come out cheaper than buying fancy solar panels
I'm pretty sure that in EU the limit is for the actual current weight, that you can get a huge ticket for an overweight vehicle and that the police use mobile and fixed vehicle scales to enforce that (I specifically remember Austria doing that a lot)
I read an article about it in Czech a while ago, so I don't have a link at hand, but you should be able to find it easily.
Re: Paper-Thin Solar Makes Any Surface Photovoltaic
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Domestic rooftop solar no longer makes financial sense. Panels have gotten so cheap that installation costs now dominate. Utility scale solar can be built outright for the 30% subsidy offered on domestic solar.
> Utility scale solar can be built outright for the 30% subsidy offered on domestic solar. What does that even mean ? I have a ton of sunlight all throughout the year (almost). What do I do to harness it ?
> What does that even mean ?
So in 2021 solar construction costs averaged $2.94/W for residential and $0.77/W for utility scale solar. https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/how-does-utility-scale-sol...
So if you installed a 10kW residential system it might cost $29,400 which would make you eligible for a 30% federal tax credit at a cost to the government of $8,820.
However if the government instead spent that $8,820 on utility scale solar it could pay outright for the construction of 11.5kW of solar generation capacity.
> I have a ton of sunlight all throughout the year (almost). What do I do to harness it ?
So as an individual it might make sense for you to take advantage of the government subsidy and have them help pay for a residential system for you! It just makes no sense at a societal level to spend money on small expensive systems when we could instead be spending it on large cheap systems.
Re: Paper-Thin Solar Makes Any Surface Photovoltaic
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
The limit is 3500 kg, if you’re at 3300 kg stock then you only have 200kg to play with when retrofitting. Also it’s 200W/m2 but camper roofs are a lot more than 1 square meter so you just cover a larger percentage of the roof with solar.
I'd rather have 5x the power and find a few kilos somewhere else to save. If efficiencies were within a few percents.. sure.. but when we're talking about a factor of 5+, it doesn't seem to be worth it.
If by 5x the power you mean 1kw then your up into the 70kg/150lb range for the panels and brackets which isn’t that easy to shave.
Re: Paper-Thin Solar Makes Any Surface Photovoltaic
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most of the US is in fact better for solar than most of Europe (Iberia is fairly good). However, energy prices in the US are considerably lower, so the bar for profitability is much higher. The EU also has colossal subsidies for renewables, which obviously skew the market. In a purely market-driven world Europe would not be investing in solar.
> In a purely market-driven world Europe would not be investing in solar In a purely market-driven world, we'd already be well on our way to extinction.
Man, I was just trying to answer the question “why does this work in Northern Europe but won’t in the US”. Not everything is an attack.
Re: Paper-Thin Solar Makes Any Surface Photovoltaic
#116Monocrystalline Si solar panels have so many advantages that it's hard to get interested in anything else for home or business construction. Lifetime is measured in decades, not years; efficiency is approaching 25% while prices are dropping (only expensive multi-junction III-V types are better, currently limited to satellite power systems); and for variable surfaces, they can be manufactured as small shingles as well…
Bear in mind that China has like, no oil[0] or gas[1] at all. Their investments into renewables is kind of a life of death situation, not just for the world, but the PLA specifically, who would likely monopolize domestic oil production in any military engagement. Also worth mentioning that Beijing sits on one side of a mountain range, and the other side is arid desert. It's kind of a no brainer to drop solar panels t…
It's overstating the case to say that China has no oil or fossil gas. Yes, it imports a lot but there are oil fields both on-shore and off-shore. The largest field is Daqing, which, yes, produces less than a million barrels per day. Not nothing, though.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Oil_fields_in_China
Re: Paper-Thin Solar Makes Any Surface Photovoltaic
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Domestic rooftop solar no longer makes financial sense. Panels have gotten so cheap that installation costs now dominate. Utility scale solar can be built outright for the 30% subsidy offered on domestic solar.
> Utility scale solar can be built outright for the 30% subsidy offered on domestic solar. What does that even mean ? I have a ton of sunlight all throughout the year (almost). What do I do to harness it ?
They're saying don't bother. The same panels can be installed more cheaply in a utility scale solar farm, and the sunlight hitting your roof is not itself a valuable commodity.
Re: Paper-Thin Solar Makes Any Surface Photovoltaic
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bear in mind that China has like, no oil[0] or gas[1] at all. Their investments into renewables is kind of a life of death situation, not just for the world, but the PLA specifically, who would likely monopolize domestic oil production in any military engagement. Also worth mentioning that Beijing sits on one side of a mountain range, and the other side is arid desert. It's kind of a no brainer to drop solar panels t…
It's overstating the case to say that China has no oil or fossil gas. Yes, it imports a lot but there are oil fields both on-shore and off-shore. The largest field is Daqing, which, yes, produces less than a million barrels per day. Not nothing, though. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Oil_fields_in_China
> China has like, no oil or gas at all
The word "like" here indicates hyperbole - an intentional overstatement used as a figure of speech.
Re: Paper-Thin Solar Makes Any Surface Photovoltaic
#119Monocrystalline Si solar panels have so many advantages that it's hard to get interested in anything else for home or business construction. Lifetime is measured in decades, not years; efficiency is approaching 25% while prices are dropping (only expensive multi-junction III-V types are better, currently limited to satellite power systems); and for variable surfaces, they can be manufactured as small shingles as well…
Bear in mind that China has like, no oil[0] or gas[1] at all. Their investments into renewables is kind of a life of death situation, not just for the world, but the PLA specifically, who would likely monopolize domestic oil production in any military engagement. Also worth mentioning that Beijing sits on one side of a mountain range, and the other side is arid desert. It's kind of a no brainer to drop solar panels t…
But why couldn't China just keep milking it`s fat cow Russia? AFAIK they are getting mass oil and gas for literally nothing.
Re: Paper-Thin Solar Makes Any Surface Photovoltaic
#120It is all about the sustainability of the "base" energy supply, the part about what is the bare minimum power output needed for power generators to be running before kicking in extra power generators.
If the baseline base power supply is not maintained, then no amount of cyclic power supply can help out there.
Solar and wind power generators are never considered as a base power supply unless they run 100% 24/7/365. Only Antarctica science bases can boast the steadiest wind supply but is more prone to mechanical failures. And solar power is keyed only to daylight hours.