Without celebrating the climate progress that we've made we send a signal to young people that we've not been trying to address the problem and that's a problem.
Already, the rollout of clean generation, led by solar and wind, has helped to slow the growth in fossil fuels by almost two-thirds in the last 10 years. As a result, half the world’s economies are already at least five years past a peak in electricity generation from fossil fuels.
Researchers use reflectors underneath solar panels to boost solar power by 4.5%
"The University of Ottawa in collaboration with National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed an add-on to solar panels that increases their energy output by 4.5%"
Stating what should be obvious, but is too often ignored in calls for solar farms - we have plenty of existing infrastructure on which to be installing solar.
We don't need to centralize nor overrun more habitat.
Less than a year ago, in August 2023, we installed a 4.8kWh Solar Battery at a cost of £2,900. Whenever I talk about the upfront capital costs of solar power, people rightly want to know what the payback period is. Well, after less than 10 months, the battery has given us 1MWh. To put that […]
Less than a year ago, in August 2023, we installed a 4.8kWh Solar Battery at a cost of £2,900. Whenever I talk about the upfront capital costs of solar power, people rightly want to know what the payback period is.
Well, after less than 10 months, the battery has given us 1MWh.
To put that in to context, the average UK household uses about 3MWh per year. So (again, very roughly) over a third of our electricity use this year has come from the battery.
But where does the battery get its energy from? We have two sources.
First is solar. When the sun is shining, our solar panels produce electricity. That flows down from our roof and into our mains wiring where it is used by the home. If we are using less electricity than is being produced, the electricity flows into the local grid and we get paid for selling our surplus.
Our battery has sensors attached to the grid connection. When it detects surplus generation, it starts charging. By constantly monitoring our overproduction, it can charge up with free solar power.
But the sun doesn't always shine (ain't that the truth!) so there are days when our solar production is less than our usage.
In these cases, the battery charges from the electricity grid. We have a smart tariff which changes price every 30 minutes. The battery knows the day's prices and can predict our daily usage. If it can see that electricity is cheap at 3am and expensive at 4pm, then it will charge up during the early hours of the day and discharge at peak time.
The battery occasionally sits idle. Mostly when it has fully charged but knows an expensive period is coming up later.
What does that mean for money?
Well... it's complicated! When the battery charges from solar, is the electricity free? No! If we were to sell that surplus electricity to the grid, we would be paid 15p/kWh.
When the battery charges from the grid, is the electricity expensive? No! Because we are on a dynamic tariff, we occasionally get paid to use electricity! Our provider has paid us up to 5p/kWh to charge!
When the battery discharges, how much does it save us? Again, complicated! Because we're on a dynamic tariff our prices change every 30 minutes. Sometimes the rates are as high as £1/kWh, other times they're 1p/kWh. Generally speaking, the battery only discharges if the price of use is higher than the cost of acquisition.
So... I've fudged the figures! For the first year of operation, energy prices have been high. Based on a back-of-a-fag-packet calculation, I reckon the battery saves us an average of about 31p/kWh. Call it about £360 per year in savings.
That gives us a payback time of about 8 years.
Of course, if electricity prices spike, payback will be quicker. If they crater, it'll take longer. If we switch to electrical heating or get an electric car, the savings will be greater.
Domestic battery technology is still a bit of a tough sell. The batteries are large and their fans are noisy. The cost of materials and installation is high and their capacity is relatively small. But the technology behind them is sound. With a dynamic energy price tariff, they're one of the best way to reduce utility bills.
#Solar panel with USB A connector is plugged into the #lilygo#tbeam USB micro power in port. The tbeam has a 16850 3400 mAh Li-Ion 3.7 V battery. The panel & tbeam are behind a velux roof window angled at the sky. The sun is shining well today, no clouds. The t-beam shows 4.2 V plugged in symbol in the #meshtastic app. When unplugged from the panel, the t-beam shows 100% charge.
solar panel https://www.botnroll.com/en/solar-panels/3244-monocrystalline-solar-panel-5v-1a.html
This is test to see how long this lasts - there is no power management circuit.
I decided to roll the dice, that my CV joint on my car wouldn't blowup, for a run up north out of city lights to see the aurora--& I'm so glad I did! Two shots from northern California: First is from Doyle & the second is from Frenchman Lake. What an amazing display! For a time the aurora covered a 180 degrees from east to west & was overhead & could be seen in the south! I shot these photos with a 15mm f/2.0 30sec ISO400.
Now that's fascinating. While everyone's talking about all the active #Solar activity, I just worked PJ2/W4IPC on 28.012.1 MHz CW. #AmateurRadio#HamRadio
Space Weather Message Code: WARPC0
Serial Number: 100
Issue Time: 2024 May 11 0206 UTC
WARNING: Proton 100MeV Integral Flux above 1pfu expected
Valid From: 2024 May 11 0205 UTC
Valid To: 2024 May 11 1200 UTC
Warning Condition: Onset
Potential Impacts: An enhancement in the energetic portion of the solar radiation spectrum may indicate increased biological risk to astronauts or passengers and crew in high latitude, high altitude flights. {See attachment}
If you have a solar filter or glasses left over from the eclipse in North America and Canada, go check out the sun right now! Amazing cluster of sunspots visible!
Managed to catch a just-shy-of-X1-class flare a few hours ago when I put my scope out on the deck.
The complex chaos of magnetic fields — that is much, much larger than the size of Earth — designated as Region 3664 and Region 3668 (center right sunspot smudge) has been spawning a great number of flares recently, flinging an truly stupendous amount of energy and relativistic particles out into the solar system.
This one took weeks to write. It's about me finding a way to significantly reduce the power consumption of a Raspberry Pi Pico W working as a weather station, collecting environmental data.
I am also writing about powering the Pico using solar panels, and this time it's a success, my weather station can now run indefinitely, powered by the sun!
In some ways the green transition is already happening: it now looks like last year the world overall managed to supply around 30% of electricity through renewable energy (primarily wind & solar).
And solar continues to be the fastest growing renewable energy source, now (for the second year) being the most used source across the world.
This does offer some hope that (albeit late in the day) we are seeing a shift in energy generation!
Growth in #solar & #wind power pushed #renewable generation to a record 30% of global electricity production in 2023, putting a global target to triple renewable capacity by 2030 within sight, Ember find https://buff.ly/44zrTER
Not able to use a typical AC-powered fan, used a 12V car/truck radiator fan, a DC17-55V to DC12V adapter, and a PWM motor module as both a power switch and speed regulator, 4 14x20 inch MERV13 filters and some old 2x2s to build the frame.
It moves a LOT of air at full power (~120W), but very much on the noisy side!
Can you spot the difference? Yes, the day is finally here (well, technically it's not yet, the electrician is coming out to do the interconnect with Georgia Power tomorrow)! I'm so excited that GeorgiaBright (free loans for solar installs if you're below a certain income threshold so you don't have any upfront payment) made this possible for me, I never thought I'd be able to do it!