flacaltenn
Diamond Member
I think that the best use of solar power can be made if the collectors are used as stand alone units which charge up batteries which in turn can be inverted to a suitable appliance running voltage and the enrgy from the batteries can also be used to directly power low voltage/low energy lighting such as LED lamps.
I also think that people need to concentate more on energy saving as well as how the energy is produced, a little bit of research does go a long way. Although I do not have solar panels for electrical generation I do use solar tubes for heating water/central heating and a couple of small wind turbines for almost all my electrical needs, this is only posible through use of low energy lighting and careful insulation etc. I understand that wind turbines as a stand alone setup would not suit everyone but solar panels do offer a great opportunity to rid yourself from the rat race of energy supply companies when used as stand alone independant units, the idea of feeding into a grid is a bit pointless imo plus there will be no energy loss as a stand alone generating system.
When we get power failures here in Ireland which is quite often I still have my lights on whereas most others are sitting in darkness waiting for their freezers to thaw out, this is another advantage of a stand alone system.
If EVERYONE (or a large percentage) choose to have a 1/2 ton of batteries in their basement -- that wouldn't be very ecologically sound would it? Depending on charge/discharge rates and numbers of cycles they have a limited lifetime. That's a HUGE toxic recycling wastestream every 6 to 8 yrs (at best). A supermarket would require a trailer load of toxic batteries just to make it thru the night. Not to mention that OVERSIZING the solar PV installation to scavenge excess during the day is MUCH more expensive than overscaling for wind.
And don't feed me this malarkey about the reliability of wind in Ireland. Maybe in the pub. The Danes also have a favorable wind pattern and here's what their daily production charts look like..
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