Photovoltaic Systems

Sam Deane answers:

Photo voltaic cells are an ecological disaster, costing (read using lots of resources to manufacture) a lot, and they have a limited life. They are uneconomic which is why solar farms use mirrors reflecting light to a central tower or to water pipes, where the high temperatures generated heat water to drive a turbine.
In a hostile environment like the sahara, photovoltaic cells or mirrors would be sand blasted into oblivion.

Sam Deane answers:

Depends on the model about £50

Sam Deane answers:

It depends on the size of the system. $3/watt is a typical installation price in most parts of the country, after rebates are considered. In wealthier areas, or where rebates are higher, it may be more. That’s only for the labor, not the materials. With materials included, it will be more like $8/watt.

If you want to see a breakdown of how much our system costed, it’s at http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/roderick/solar/photovoltaic.html . But we self-installed, so it’s not truly a fair comparison.

Sam Deane answers:

WPA is a tough place especially in the winter with lack of light and snow plus energy storage for overnight is a problem. The last I looked it was about $8K in raw materials. From what I co

Sam Deane answers:

But the BNP can promise what they want, secure in the knowledge that they will never have to deliver. The British people will not elect a single BNP MP, as they know that the BNP are a bunch of racist thugs.

Here’s one promise that Nick Griffin would try to keep, however (no apology for repeating it)

“Without the White race nothing matters [other right-wing parties] believe that the answer to the race question is integration and a futile attempt to create “Black Britons”, while we affirm that non-Whites have no place here at all and will not rest until every last one has left our land.”

EDIT REDMONK: Sceptic hasn’t said “Livingstone will probably get in again”. I know I shouldn’t quarrel when you finally admit I’m probably right, but you’re making that one up.

Sam Deane answers:

Hey Zeus, I have to assume you are talking about the solar electric, or photovoltiac type of panel, they are the most common and are used to make electricity directly from the sun. They are made up of basically 3 things, pure silicone, sliced in thin slices from solid ingots, acrylic for the glass covering, and aluminum for the frames. The thin silicone slices, or “wafers,” are doped in two different chemicals, boron and phosphorous. When the two different wafers are glued together with a conductive epoxy, and put in the sun, the incoming photons from the sun strike the wafers and force electrons from one wafer onto the other. This is referred to as the, “photovoltiac effect,” and it creates 1/2 of a volt between the two wafers. By connecting a suitable number of these pairs of wafers together, we can generate any voltage we need by simply putting the panel in the sun. Take care Zeus, Rudydoo

Sam Deane answers:

A solar panel out of a calculator

Sam Deane answers:

It’s amazing what you can find by utilizing the power of a search engine.
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell

Sam Deane answers:

They’re made of wafers of crystalline silicon, and attached wires.
They make pollution free electricity.
Dis- not so good under cloudy skies, expensive.

Sam Deane answers:

 
How to make a solar generator from scratch is less expensive but more labour intensive. You will need raw copper sheeting and it is available at hardware stores and then a heat source. The copper must be heated for at least a half hour for a chemical reaction that produces copper oxide.  When the copper sheeting is cold you combine it with another non-oxidized copper sheet of the same size. You then add a salt-water solution and then all the components is enclosed in a durable glass panel. You have a low voltage panel now. It depends on how much power you want on the number of panels you will have to make.

Sam Deane answers:

Why are laptops costly, when plastic and wires are available everywhere?
Why are diamonds costly when coal is available everywhere?

Sam Deane answers:

Ever seen the EPA guidelines for handling the new and improved so called Green Light Bulbs ? Its about 5 pages long and contains such passages as if a bulb should accidentally break , immediately air out the premises by opening adjacent doors and outside windows . After 15 minutes the area should be considered safe enough to return for disposal . ————-Sounds like a radiation leak exercise to me.

Sam Deane answers:

Electric cars are getting better when it comes to mileage per hour of recharging. But they still require energy, namely electric energy. Which begs the question “what do you think is the best idea for alternative production of electricity?” Maybe solar generation will be made more efficient over the next decade if both business and government invest enough in the technology.

Hybrids are a good stepping stone. It’s still some gasoline, but at least you get superb mileage and consume less petro.

Hydrogen is a rather stupid idea since it is not only dangerously explosive, but takes more energy to initially produce than it releases when burned. I’m not saying there is no role for hydrogen fuel, just that it can never be a major energy staple.

I think biofuel, especially cellulose ethanol, is the most practical long-term solution to our fuel energy issues. Critics will insist that ethanol doesn’t work, that its production consumes more oil energy than the bio energy we get out of it. But that is only because we use mediocre biofuel crops (such as corn) and we produce it by more primitive means.

Brazil, which uses the “old production” method still gets a strong net energy gain on its sugarcane ethanol, mainly because sugarcane is a better crop for producing “old” ethanol than corn. But the “new” way of producing alcohol from fiber rather than sugar could increase gallons-per-acre yield more than twofold from Brazil’s sugarcane and make ethanol a truly feasible fuel. In temperate climates with distinct winter seasons, switchgrass and hempstalk would be excellent “new” ethanol crops since sugarcane isn’t hardy and the new method produces far more fuel anyway.

Even with alternative fuel we still have to cut down on the total miles that society drives by encouraging more carpooling, mass transit, and opportunities to work/shop closer to home.

Sam Deane answers:

Solar power cannot be harnessed during a storm, on a cloudy day or at night. This limits how much power can be saved for future days. Some days you may still need to rely on oil to power your home.

Sam Deane answers:

Star for you! I 100% agree with you! I was feeling pretty cynical yesterday, when I answered a question about someone wanting to be “green.”

Here’s the link to THAT question:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AknsqPBgXq3M1zHLEFsZx_Pty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071210194356AAUknPU&show=7#profile-info-AA12157050

For my husband and I, who really DO live very “green” lives, I get pretty tired of the folks who do one little thing, and then think they have saved the earth.

CFL bulbs happen to be one of my big pet peeves right now. I too was suckered into them. When I found they were not holding up to their promises, I did some research, and found they are made in China, use more electricity to produce than they will ever save, of course are shipped over the ocean, are toxic waste, since they have mercury in them, last only about 7 months in my house (vs 3 years for the incandecents!), and certainly not the seven perdicted years, and to top it off, are packaged in plastic clam shells instead of the highly recyclable cardboard of incandecents.

And yet people are trying to pass LAWS that state I MUST use them (here in the U.S.)? Oh please!

No vehicle my husband and I drive is newer than 20 years…not a single one. Some are over 40 years old. The tractors we use are even older than that (1930′s for some).

Our vehicles all did their manufacturing environmental damage more than a generation ago. Every one of them can run on the biofuel we produce right here on our farm. If my husband and I needed or wanted to, we could become nearly totally indepentant of foreign oil. Of course funny enough their are laws that prevent us from driving our biofuel on the roads, so we don’t. Be green! Oh no, wait…it’s illegal to be green!

Shall we talk about the fact that I produce very humanely raised and cared for meat goats, and meat rabbits? It is however totally illegal for me to butcher an animal for our customers, right here in very clean, very sanitary open air, and sunshine outdoors. I can however take my animals to be butchered at a slaughterhouse that processes 400 or more animals an hour and allow my customers to pick the meat up there. Of course I know which is cleaner, and much more humane, but that does not matter…it is still illegal for me to butcher for my customers in environmentally green ways. Thank heavens in my state it is still legal for customers to come to my farm and butcher the animals themselves….I’m sure that loophole will be closed eventually.

I agree with you, that a free market is great. Funny thing is, the greener your lifestyle, the more likely you are to run into laws that make it illegal.

Let’s face it….the Government only wants people to become so independant. If people were suddenly driven to become very independant, living green lives, in a mostly agrarian way, it would drastictly lower the taxes the Government brought in, and there-by lower the amount of power the Government has (just think of it!). No, wait…don’t think…it makes the Government nervous when people turn off the TV and think for themselves.

What really drive me nuts are the hypocrits. People who tell me I’m cruel and heartless for killing and butchering a cute widdle bunny wabbit, or widdle goat I’ve raised….while freely admiting they eat meat! So they will consume the flesh of some animal they have no idea what was fed to it, what drugs were pumped into it, nor how it was treated…yet I’m the cruel one?! Oh please!

I hate the hypocrits who preach living a green life, and yet do not do it themselves, indeed spend time jetting about the world (think Gore). I am really botherd by the new trend of people and companies toward buying “carbon credits.” What a HUGE load of horse pucky! Bloody well clean up your own act, don’t pretend it’s all better, because you purchased carbon credits from someone else who REALLY does live a green lifestyle!

Ok….I think I’m going to stop right there, before I say something I shouldn’t.

Great question!

~Garnet
Homesteading/Farming over 20 years