Solar Power

[Colonel Ingus]

I am not a huge proponent of Solar Power (what do you do at night or on cloudy days?) But here is some good sounding information about cheap and easy Solar Power.

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/fairley0704.asp

[Chacal]

Originally posted by Colonel Ingus
I am not a huge proponent of Solar Power (what do you do at night or on cloudy days?)

bat·ter·y (bt-r)
n. pl. bat·ter·ies

6. Electricity.
1. Two or more connected cells that produce a direct current by converting chemical energy to electrical energy.
2. A single cell, such as a dry cell, that produces an electric current.

[Colonel Ingus]

and what do you do on cloudy day two, three, four when the batteries start wearing down?

If battery technology was that good we would all be driving electrical cars already.

Kind of like Wind power. what do you do on days that it is still. Putting multi million dollar machine in place to work only part of the time doesn't sound like a sound investment to me.

[Chacal]

Just pulling your leg. In fact you need multiple sources of energy. You could normally use solar power to charge your batteries, and turn to conventional power sources when they are depleted.

[Savant]

About time we push onward to the future, these new panels if deployed say on buildings, en mass througout the country not so much to rely on them 100% for the buildings power needs but as a supplement, connected to the power grid would be a huge leap foward, you will always need gen houses, but to reduce the need for them by 20% would be incredible

[Colonel Ingus]

Yeha I figured Chacal but I hear that so much I just have to bark back:D

And you guys are both dead on. Slap that stuff on anything that doesn't move and let it feed right into the grid.

And FUSION NOW!:D

[Mr. Slayer]

My neighbor has solar panels and when they are low on recieving energy, it switches to conventional power. They were expensive but he saves a lot of money in the process.

[cavalierlwt]

Many governments offer tax rebates to builders who install solar panels on their new homes. From what I have read 7-15,000 is average cost and can reduces that house's strain on the grid significantly. Just think if every home reduced it's usage by 20% or more, especially when you consider that the difference between our grid running at capacity or over is usually just a few percentage points. Also, look at this way, we either spend this money on solar, or build more power plants: assuming equal money, which one increases pollution, safety hazards, dependance on foreign oil? When the day comes that I build my house it will definately have solar panels, maybe a windmill if possible.