Log in
Register
Menu
Log in
Register
Home
What's new
Latest activity
Authors
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
Latest activity
Members
Current visitors
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
General Topics
Members Lounge
The Meeting Place
Efficient Solar Energy Utilization
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Huevos" data-source="post: 635256" data-attributes="member: 301161"><p>Solar water heating is more efficient than photo-voltaic without question. Let's just have a quick look at the facts. Energy from the sun is arriving at about 1.3 kW per square metre. When you take into account day/night, angles of attack, atmospheric losses, etc you are down to an average of about 200 watts per meter if it is a cloud free day. Taking into account that a panel is about 10% efficient you will end up harvesting about 0.5kW/h per metre per sunny day. My personal use is about 16kW/h per day so going by this I would need 32 square metres of panels, more in winter when the days are shorter and the angle of attack is lower. This is about right too because a neighbour of mine who is not on the grid has 40m2 of panels and has to be very careful in winter. If they use the 42" tele they run at a defecit and have to use the 25" instead. BTW we have about 2000 hours of sunshine annually.</p><p></p><p>As for saving the planet the most cost effective thing you can do is put some insulation in. Have a read of this (Solar panels take 100 years to pay back installation costs but have a maximum lifetime of 30 years): _http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/solar-panels-take-100-years-to-pay-back-installation-costs-917202.html</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Huevos, post: 635256, member: 301161"] Solar water heating is more efficient than photo-voltaic without question. Let's just have a quick look at the facts. Energy from the sun is arriving at about 1.3 kW per square metre. When you take into account day/night, angles of attack, atmospheric losses, etc you are down to an average of about 200 watts per meter if it is a cloud free day. Taking into account that a panel is about 10% efficient you will end up harvesting about 0.5kW/h per metre per sunny day. My personal use is about 16kW/h per day so going by this I would need 32 square metres of panels, more in winter when the days are shorter and the angle of attack is lower. This is about right too because a neighbour of mine who is not on the grid has 40m2 of panels and has to be very careful in winter. If they use the 42" tele they run at a defecit and have to use the 25" instead. BTW we have about 2000 hours of sunshine annually. As for saving the planet the most cost effective thing you can do is put some insulation in. Have a read of this (Solar panels take 100 years to pay back installation costs but have a maximum lifetime of 30 years): _http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/solar-panels-take-100-years-to-pay-back-installation-costs-917202.html [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
General Topics
Members Lounge
The Meeting Place
Efficient Solar Energy Utilization
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn more…
Top