• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Solar Freakin' Roadways

In 2017 America the guy selling you on solar panels is looking to take your money, not save the environment. Trust no one. 2008 has only emboldened the snakes.

(Yes I'm becoming that man)
 
[insert "why not both? gif here]
 
PhDeac said:
Anybody put solar panels on their home through Vivant Solar? Had a guy come out today. He lives in our neighborhood and has installed for some neighbors. Their pitch is pretty straight forward. You can either buy them straight up or take out a 20 year loan that would yield a monthly payment around the same as an average electric bill.
Click to expand...

So far so good with the panels. There were some hitches with the installation and set up, but they've been working continuously for about 10 weeks now. The way it works is the electric company (TECO) installed a netmeter which tracks energy going in and out. The solar panels power the home during the day and put energy back into the grid. At night, we use the energy from the day and energy from TECO. Most days we bring in significantly more energy than we use thanks to a combination of sunny days and low temperatures. The netmeter tracks total energy use, energy put back into the grid, and the difference (the net). TECO credits us with the net and pays out the remainder once a year. We still have to pay $19.99 in energy fees and such.

So far the solar panel payments + fees are about $20 less than our average bill last year. Most likely the net now will cover the summer months when it rains more and we use the AC. So in terms of cash, we'll probably save $240 for the year and we essentially got a $12,000 15 month loan because the tax credit was part of our tax return and we have to pay it back within 18 months of installation. All and all, I'm happy we did it. It's not a huge amount of direct savings, but it's a little bit and the tax credit helps us pay off some debts and get started on other home projects.
 
I live in the West Palm Beach area. My wife and I still have a house in Georgia, that is hopefully going to be sold in the next couple of months. At that point, we will look to buy down here and I have always said I would install solar panels as soon as I could. To me, it just makes too much sense with the amount of sunlight that we get down here.

PH, did your installer address the durability of the panels through a hurricane? My one concern with having them is how durable they are in a storm and if they can potentially cause greater damage to the roof.
 
Good question. We got assurances that the panels are durable through a hurricane although we did wait to install until after hurricane season. My wife's best friend is a real estate lawyer whose husband is a contractor and they went over the documents and installation plan and let us know things were all good.
 
That’s awesome. It looks beautiful.
 
[h=1]Solar panels that can generate electricity at night have been developed at Stanford[/h]
https://www.npr.org/2022/04/07/1091...tricity-at-night-have-been-developed-at-stanf


A team of engineers at Stanford University have developed a solar cell that can generate some electricity at night.
The research comes at a moment when the number of solar jobs and residential installations are rising.
While standard solar panels can provide electricity during the day, this device can serve as a "continuous renewable power source for both day- and nighttime," according to the study published this week in the journal Applied Physics Letters.
The device incorporates a thermoelectric generator, which can pull electricity from the small difference in temperature between the ambient air and the solar cell itself.
Click to expand...
 
PhDeac said:
[h=1]Solar panels that can generate electricity at night have been developed at Stanford[/h]
https://www.npr.org/2022/04/07/1091...tricity-at-night-have-been-developed-at-stanf
Click to expand...

Here is a link to rhe the article in Applied Physics Letters where the actual work is published.

http://el.scitationmail.org/ls/click?upn=f5Paaw2NjAh8Zm-2FWc0wNRaDzWKg6nZbxkufPkEbtvTm1BYFGnZ9GyUVHA28BXSkZEiDLYa-2B9tW54mEmNySnYug-3D-3Dyru1_2H87lete6X2jl5uEq0eeQgCuTPKj3HisR17PM3gMWzW-2FuuhdBmYdG1eshuZJfcuS-2FFo8g24T5i1GNiHlmXp0aNHIx915qPRA5NHZYoDGNltXPLcConCC7udKnotTJ-2FxIg6ti2J0oXKgPEU6ps9VQEek5kx1SVjscuIgZ-2FZo5gA3NHN-2FTxEHmkzn3QB1eNjxXQQYB4Vf6-2FKFNYUOKirMdXa-2BP4eraEziQZwXMf5RXOIym2itcoWzvsOOwQD9aO4Bjxk9PhYeaKEB64JC03TAKLz4xCzNmVK4nBQEw5KsVDp0-3D

What they did was add thermocouples to the system to make a thermoelectric generator (TEG). TEGs generate electricity from the temperature difference of the two sides. The authors used the black box holding the solar panels and the surrounding air as the two sides.

In their design, power production at night by the TEG was about 0.1% of the daytime power from the solar cells. Twice a day, when air temperature and solar panel temperature were the same, there is no power from the TEG.

It will be interesting to follow this line of research. TEGs have no moving parts, extremely long service life and can be used almost anywhere there is ability to create a temperature difference between the two legs. However, they have low efficiency, converting only a few percent of the heat into electricity. Current solar panels are15-20% efficient.
 
PhDeac said:
So far so good with the panels. There were some hitches with the installation and set up, but they've been working continuously for about 10 weeks now. The way it works is the electric company (TECO) installed a netmeter which tracks energy going in and out. The solar panels power the home during the day and put energy back into the grid. At night, we use the energy from the day and energy from TECO. Most days we bring in significantly more energy than we use thanks to a combination of sunny days and low temperatures. The netmeter tracks total energy use, energy put back into the grid, and the difference (the net). TECO credits us with the net and pays out the remainder once a year. We still have to pay $19.99 in energy fees and such.

So far the solar panel payments + fees are about $20 less than our average bill last year. Most likely the net now will cover the summer months when it rains more and we use the AC. So in terms of cash, we'll probably save $240 for the year and we essentially got a $12,000 15 month loan because the tax credit was part of our tax return and we have to pay it back within 18 months of installation. All and all, I'm happy we did it. It's not a huge amount of direct savings, but it's a little bit and the tax credit helps us pay off some debts and get started on other home projects.
Click to expand...

How about a four year follow-up? How are the solar panels doing four years after installation?
 
Deaconblue said:
How about a four year follow-up? How are the solar panels doing four years after installation?
Click to expand...

I am one year out from solar panel installation that we intended to cover about 80% of our electricity needs. We put the panels on the horse barn about 100 meters behind our house because it had a south facing roof with not shading. Out side of a underground wire failure that had nothing to do with the solar panels but limited power delivery to the grid for 2 months, our electric bills dropped at least $140 per month. No issues with the panels them selves.
 
Kinetic sidewalks generate electricity
https://dcist.com/story/16/11/18/new-electricity-generating-sidewalk/

The park features sidewalks that use technology called Pavegen pavers, a flooring material made from recycled polymer and truck tires that converts energy from pedestrian’s footsteps into electricity. The energy from the pavers is stored in batteries, which power LED accent lights in the park at night.
Click to expand...

IMHO, stuff like this and the Solar Roadways need to be in EPCOT - Experimental Prototype Community of Tommorrow. We are on the cusp of a lot of cool scientific breakthroughs, and EPCOT was designed to feature future technology. Instead, it's become an eat-drink-around-the-world Busch Gardens experience. There is a lot of cool science that could be brought to the masses here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top