Renewable Energy Universe

admin answers:

Hi Kate,

As I am from the states it took me a bit to figure out just what is a “Bach.” I have had some embarrassing difficulty with other words when I was in New Zealand so I am not surprised. We might call it a “trailer home” or a “mobil home” but I like your word better.1

At the risk of giving you more information than you wanted: “Solar panels” can come in many different dimensions and sizes. But first you should know that there are solar photovoltaic panels that are used to produce electricity and while experimentally they have achieved efficiencies around 40% what you can buy will be around 14% efficient. Because of the reduced efficiency you have to use more of them. This site gives you some information about sizes and prices. 2

I have a small one (about 25cm by 35cm) that was shipped with a car to keep it’s battery charged from the factory to the dealership. It produces a “trickle charge” of just over 12 volts DC and is meant to plug into the cigarette lighter. If your Bach were only going to use 12 volt DC power with batteries for night time use then the connections would be simpler but if you needed the standard New Zealand voltage of 230 volts at 50 cycles AC you would have to use an inverter to change the power from 12volt DC.

But there is also another kind of “Solar Panel” and that is the Solar thermal panel. This is a much older technology. Because it is used to gather heat from the sun it is much more efficient. Around 60 to 80% efficiency is possible. It is a good idea to take a lot of the load off any photovoltaic requirements by first installing solar thermal panels. This is a way to keep the cost at a minimum. Solar thermal applications can be used for heating Hot Water, space heating, and even air conditioning and producing electricity. The panels available can be used on colder and cloudy days as well. (vacuum tube collectors)

Good luck with your project.

admin answers:

Your math is right. Solar today is not going to be cheaper powering just your gaming computer, compared to grid electricity.

A modern computer is a special case, because it has a switching Power Supply generally capable to accepting a wide range of input voltages. So if you had an array putting out 150 to 330 volts DC, you could probably hook your computer up to it directly, no inverter required. The problem is, to get up to that voltage, you’d need maybe 6 modern panels, and that has a cost running into the thousands, as you say.

admin answers:

No matter where you are getting your electricity something has to be manufactured to create it. It isn’t as if we have enough plants currently to satisfy demand. By building and installing solar we can reduce the number of coal or natural gas burning plants that need to be built to supply our growing demand. There is a lot of evidence that the large grid system that we have leaves us more vulnerable to disruption due to attack or natural disaster.

From a personal point of view, it is more cost effective to produce my own electricity using solar panels. I will break even on my system in about 6 years, my system is guaranteed for 25, so I’ll be getting free electricity for 19 years, plus I won’t be affected by the rising cost of energy.

admin answers:

Solar panels come in all sizes, from one that is in your calculator to 10 or 20 feet on a side.

Link has several examples with size and power.

If you want more, search google for “buy solar panel 100w” or 200w or 50w to get a list with prices.

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admin answers:

Depends on the technology you intend to utilize. Single crystal cells are quite expensive. Amorphous film panels are pennies per linear foot.