I wouldn't do this in my place. Having a balcony already makes your interior less bright and "closed". Blocking sunlight (even compared to semi-opaque balustrades) would make it worse, for a final energy gain that is quite small compared to central electricity production.
Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels
461–470 of 651 posts
Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels
#462Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I don’t understand this sentiment at all. They didn’t sacrifice their balcony, and this is electricity that the central utility organizations couldn’t generate. Many parts of the world don’t even allow this kind of solar panel to be used by individuals, so its legality is actually a policy success. Completely disagree. This is definitely electricity that central utility organizations could generate. A central metho…
I've never been in a house that isn't a single point of failure for its own electricity. Possibly you didn't think this point through when you wrote it.
Yup, bad point. Sorry about that. I forgot about the feeding into the grid aspect of solar.
Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels
#463Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some good points, i have a few thoughts to add. Norway: yes, they are doing fine (80% EV, btw, so it seems you can actually use EVs in colder weather... I think the nordics are actually way ahead of the rest of Europe when it comes to sustainable energy creation, with norway getting about 90% last year from Hydro - super impressive. https://lowcarbonpower.org/region/Norway France: I think they might turn around, beca…
Norway: 5.50 million people. Finland: 5.6 million people Sweden: 10.57 million people. All these 3 together have slightly more population than NRW in Germany, and they have way more money. So: almost same population, way more money and way more resources to generate energy (unless we want to consider Coal again... then we'd win). The sooner we stop considering the Nordics as the model example the better it is for all…
I mean, in Germany, issue number 1 is the grid, especially in Bavaria. Politicians were just asleep or did not care.
For example, there is a super interesting agri PV installation in the Hallertau, where they grow most of the hops for beer. The farmer built and payed it himself and its a commercial trial instead of a public testrun.
He lost about 20 percent of the hop compared to the non-pv areas; however, the money from the solar panels easily covered that and made a profit. In addition, he used about 30 to 40 percent less water with no impact on the quality of the hop, which is one of the biggest issues in that area, as it runs out of water in summer.
The Hallertau would be ideal for generating large quantities of power; however, due to not having a modern power grid, he is unable deliver more power to the grid. (article in German here: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/pilotprojekt-hat-erfolg...)
you would think that this is a simpel fix, and it would be in the political interest to decentralzie the powergrid and create local storage solution (or at least in the local power companies interest), but it seems like nothing is moving forward for about a decade now.
Personally, i think agri pv has a huge potential as enables the farmers to have additional income while keeping the field open for farming. Its also an easier sell than wind or hydro (especially because you have the farmers on your side, and with them their lobby), but it needs grid upgrades and storage capacities. It baffles my mind that our politicans are willing to throw millions at nuclear, but everything besides that needs to have a strict business plan or it is not even tried.
Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels
#464Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nuclear technology is a dead end. Renewables and saving energy is the future. Nuclear and fossil are in the same boat. They are both more risky and have huge hidden costs that the general public and future generations will have to bear. The only good reason to go nuclear these days is if you want the bomb, like Iran. Interestingly, it is the same people who supported fossil in the past who are still promoting nuclear…
Renewables have huge hidden costs as well. Solar panels and windmills are low density sources - we need a LOT of them to get the job done, and even then you still need base load somehow. That means a huge amount of extra powerlines and future landfill of defunct panels. Not to mention the very sturdy windmill foundations scattered around the landscape. Say what you will about nuclear, but all of its negatives are con…
I find that people with strong, pro fission feelings, but no hard numbers, often preface their opinions on the matter with phrases like 'honestly' or 'objectively' or 'non idealogically'.
Concentration of power production is just one of the problems that renewables / distributed power generation systems solves.
Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels
#465Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not German nor do I live there, but I would have thought the legacy of Habeck would be more negative due to his opposition to nuclear.
Well, I like the guy but compare the electricity prices in Germany to other European states, and also to China and the US. It’s about $0.15 kWh in the US vs $0.40 kWh in Germany. I personally think this is absolutely insane, but I don’t blame Habeck but the poor renewables transition execution in Germany. It is currently a failure in terms of electricity consumer prices. Edit: I just rechecked China and wow! $0.08 pe…
Interesting watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWR_7K6UIkE
Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels
#466This highlights a sad fact: renting is becoming the new long term standard for the younger generations. The buying market is out of reach to 95+% of the population, and so people resort to small hacks like this rather than install full solar sets. Meanwhile landowners and real estate funds are getting richer and laughing at them. Totally dystopian.
Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels
#467Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "That post is some dangerous half-knowledge and simplifications stated as fact." That's... putting it mildly. To call a spade a spade: The post you replied to consists of nothing more than anti-Green crankery. The kind of tedious, intellectually dishonest click-bait crap you see disseminated in the Springer-Presse, e. g. ze WELT-Plus -Commentariat, or media of even less repute.
thank you two for providing important context, although it is not popular
The depth of the parallel-world narratives on display here have been wild.
Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels
#468I wonder if the solar panels could be tailored themselves to be a balcony, but with a rather distinct look. That would be a massive win. I bet some people wouldn't install it now because it looks kinda meh.
Solar facades can be bought with your desired looks https://solarix-solar.com/en/solar-panels-on-the-facade
This looks such a beautiful idea. Lovely.
Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels
#469[dead]
Re: Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels
#470Earlier quoted context omitted.
Renewables have huge hidden costs as well. Solar panels and windmills are low density sources - we need a LOT of them to get the job done, and even then you still need base load somehow. That means a huge amount of extra powerlines and future landfill of defunct panels. Not to mention the very sturdy windmill foundations scattered around the landscape. Say what you will about nuclear, but all of its negatives are con…
solar panels actually decrease load on power lines. every house with solar panels on it reduces the amount of power the grid needs to bring to that house
this is false.
Power line capacity is designed around the maximum power that must be delivered. Solar power by itself reduces the mean, and possibly the minimum as well, but never the maximum.