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Solar panels disguised as terracotta tiles in Pompeii

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Re: Solar panels disguised as terracotta tiles in Pompeii

#141
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> resistance sucks and makes your electrons bump into protons This is a myth with little bearing to reality. Protons (and the atomic nucleus) are insignificantly tiny when compared to the size of an atom. The major contributor to electrical resistance are defects to the crytal lattice of metals and grain boundaries.

Don't you need the defects to have semi conductors? I seen some really cool experiments with superconductors and every computer works better cold. Isn't that why Google's quantum computer is supercooled?

> Don't you need the defects to have semi conductors?

No. However, most of the time you want doped semiconductors and doing that introduces defects. The defects are bad for resistive losses but that's life.

> every computer works better cold

No. Conventional electronics based on doped semiconductors don't work below a certain temperature because the impurities are "frozen". There is a sweet spot of temperatures that works best. The purpose of cooling on a computer is to keep the temperature as close to the sweet spot as possible.

> Isn't that why Google's quantum computer is supercooled?

Quantum computers like Google's rely on superconducting materials (most of) those require sub-Kelvin temperatures to work, both to reach the superconducting regime and to reduce phonon induced decoherence. Superconductivity works in quite a different way to conventional materials to conductivity in semiconductors and metals too.

Re: Solar panels disguised as terracotta tiles in Pompeii

#142

Here's the product datasheet: https://www.dyaqua.it/invisiblesolar/_en/documents/rooftile-... An independent research center lists the efficiency as 0.111: https://integratedpv.eurac.edu/en/products/modules/invisible... Anybody know how that compares to an average panel on the market today? From a quick search it seems like the best you can actually buy is 0.22 efficiency. Edit: The best available on this site is 0.2…

That's fine, they look great. Realizing we've got stuff looking like that that generates freakin' electricity is amazing.

[deleted]

Re: Solar panels disguised as terracotta tiles in Pompeii

#143
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about initially, but yes, Tesla has a solar tile project. It is mostly being installed by third parties now and is very expensive compared to an asphalt roof with panels. https://www.tesla.com/solarroof At announcement, different designs were available, but in the end I think they've only offered slate.

They got it as part of rescuing SolarCity, which made little sense as a business move from Tesla, but was owned by Musk's cousins so he decided to gift them 2B$, let it go a bit, then abandoned the project.

They are still being installed. Its not an abandoned project.
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