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%"
As I suspected, the flare came from AR3664, which has nearly rotated out of view of Earth. Probably aren't going to see any aurora from this flare. X8.8 is still impressive though. I wish the sun had been clear for me to see it (and take pics of it).
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.
If you wonder why medium scale solar farms don't multiply much quicker than they do, maybe the reason is in this post: the paperwork seems to be very, very complicated if the bureaucrats don't want to make it easy.
I'm puzzled why so many identity documents are 1) needed and 2) even exist!
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.
@blog I'm anticipating going down the solar panels + battery route at some point in the next 6-18 months, and one of my concerns is that a lot of these systems advertise an app for monitoring/management --- and that seems like something that might go unmaintained relatively swiftly, specially if hosted cloud facilities are involved.
Do you happen to know whether your system, at least, can operate independent of any cloud service and provides a general-purpose API?
@dwm@blog
My system is, sadly, cloud tied. That was a significant concern for me but sadly couldn't be avoided.
It will continue to work when disconnected from the Internet - albeit not as efficiently.
I have some confidence that the company will open a local API if necessary. But, at the time, I couldn't find any purely local solutions that I was happy with.
#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.
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}