BF2S Forums Interesting soloution to evergy crisis.

Power loss is one thing.

Plus, do you really want everything in the world running off a single grid? On the basis of the maintenance in some countries, I would prefer not.

mtb0minime wrote:

Electricity can run out and doesn't just magically appear either. You need coal, gas, water, uranium to create that electricity and supply it to the grid.

Oh, I was assuming what he meant was everything in the world is connected to some central powerplant complex or something.

And yes, electricity demands unceasing 24/7 production.

dark110 wrote:

Why dont we just have everything run off eletricity ( the one power source that wont run out) and connect it to a central grid? We then us power sources we know wont be gone soon, such as nuclear, wind or solar to transmit into the grid. Grid is really just a fancy word for eletrical lines and such, although, these sysmtems would have to be made much more reliable.

I understand your logic here, but Spark's right.  Also, think of the security concerns.  We're already vulnerable enough when it comes to electricity.

The ideal situation would involve every home having a backup power supply via something like solar energy, just in case the grid goes down for one reason or another.

acEofspadEs6313 wrote:

Lynx14 wrote:

Solar is a good power source. I heard somewhere that if you had x amount of sq. miles of solar panels in the desert you could power the whole United States. Would think more if you had more sq. miles of solar panels.

Hail ftl.

I thought most solar panels nowadays did fine against hail?

Yep, they are quite tough.

Can the modules withstand high winds and hail?
The panels are supported by our roofer-designed mounting system that has been tested to withstand 125 mph (200 kph) winds and can work on almost every type of roofing material. Our modules can withstand one inch (2.5 cm) hailstones at 50 mph (80.5 kph).

Last edited by Spark (2008-07-20 00:33:08)

acEofspadEs6313 wrote:

Spark wrote:

acEofspadEs6313 wrote:

Hail ftl.

I thought most solar panels nowadays did fine against hail?

Yep, they are quite tough.

Can the modules withstand high winds and hail?
The panels are supported by our roofer-designed mounting system that has been tested to withstand 125 mph (200 kph) winds and can work on almost every type of roofing material. Our modules can withstand one inch (2.5 cm) hailstones at 50 mph (80.5 kph).

Learn something new everyday.

However, the main problem with solar power is that panels are pretty inefficient in relation to their size. IIRC, they're, on average, about 10% efficient for every square meter. I don't remember the exact ratio of kW:m² but it wasn't much.

IMO (and after doing a research project on renewable, clean energy for an engineering class not too long ago), wind energy should be the next big thing. We're already using it pretty effectively, but there's so much energy out there to be had from wind. Not to mention it's extremely easy and relatively cheap to set up the windmills and find places with good wind. Only problem is clearing it with land owners (who usually get paid a share of what their windmill generates) and confronting environmentalists who claim windmills uglify anything they're near (you want clean energy to stop polluting the earth or you want an empty landscape? can't have both).