James Shaw

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I've heard of commercial solar collectors where say a bird flies thru and gets fried like an ant under a magnifying lens. Not good for that bird.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Gee, I wonder who owns stock in solar?
The huge solar "farms" in the California desert are upsetting many greenies also and some types are being accused of killing wildlife.
So the wind farms put birds through a blender, and some of the solar concentrators are frying them. Plus the greenies found out that the solar farms don't produce at night (duh!!!) and there are gas generators to produce electricity after dark and on cloudy days so the power company doesn't have to shut down service to their customers.

I just read that the best solar panels are aprx 22% effective. If we can develope panels that are 2,3 or 4 times that and a simple, safe way to store power for night etc then I might consider solar. As it is with the shape of the roof of my house even the solar people told me I didn't have enough room to install a full array.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

Some solar power is made by reflecting light from a curved mirror into a 'collector'. The curved mirror multiplies the light energy and so yes wildlife can get fried if it passes through the sharp end of the light. Flat panels on the other hand absorb light at almost ambient external temperatures.

The UK boasts that 'alternative' power now is greater than Coal fired - but we started shutting down coal fired generation in the 1970's as Nuclear came on line and Acid Rain caused problems in Scandinavia . Foley generated electricity using oil waste from petrol production. We still import power from France's Nuclear plant.

The US has a greater ability to be self sufficient with alternative power supplies than the UK - more usable landmass and beneficial areas of prime climate. It should achieve this quicker than we will. Whether it will depends upon Politics....However as small domestic plants are becoming cheaper it could spell the end of National Grid use in many areas.

Watch this space 'as they say'.

DonB Loc: Port Royal , Tn

Wonder which kills more wildlife, including birds, wind turbines, solar collectors etc, or cats left out to roam?

James Shaw

Good point. Cats love to kill birds, and some just for the fun of it that are not hungry.

WB9DDF Loc: Knoxville, IL

Sunlight provides about 1000 watts per square yard. According to my back of the envelope calculations, 22% translates to around 200 watts per square yard of collector. That is around a Kilowatt Hour per day per square yard of collector. That's not too bad. How many KWh do you use per day? Storing it for evening and night time use is the biggest problem.

James Shaw

robertjerl wrote:


Sufficient energy from the sun that falls on the earth for one hour is sufficient to supply man's current energy needs for one year. So, agree, we currently have a sun-energy storage problem not an energy problem.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

From 25-60 depends on the day, how many of the five of us are home etc. But the south side of our roof has two large flat areas, one with a weight limit because it is one of those prefab rooms and a total of three areas that would have to have their own control sets etc. And aprx 50% of the area where they can be installed is shaded by the second floor from morning until afternoon.
A complicated expensive install and then not up to total efficiency.
Our house was built in the 60s and the homes in the whole area built by the same company all have basically the same pattern. The second floor only covers about 2/3 of the ground floor and for some reason they put a peaked roof over the garage but a flat roof over the dining/fireplace room behind it. The houses on the side of the block where they face south have all sloped roof facing the sun, but those that installed, it looks like crap from the street, no way to hide it from view.