Space Lynx
Astronaut
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2014
- Messages
- 16,671 (4.64/day)
- Location
- Kepler-186f
![www.techspot.com](/forums/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.techspot.com%2Fimages2%2Fnews%2Fbigimage%2F2024%2F06%2F2024-06-16-image-6.jpg&hash=3eec07cf871833550cd700ac97040af3&return_error=1)
Solar panels installed in France in 1992 found to retain a remarkable 79% of original output
In 1992, a small 1-kilowatt solar array called Phébus 1 was connected to the French grid by Hespul, a nonprofit renewable energy association based in Lyon, France....
![www.techspot.com](/forums/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.techspot.com%2Fimages%2Fts3mobile-badge-196.png&hash=8a1ad0673d8c104f645961f064c93493&return_error=1)
According to this article here, even after 31 years solar panels retain 79% of their charge, and I can only assume that has even improved since then. As a supplemented measure of electricity, feeding the grid, it makes so much sense. Even in the United Kingdom when driving around I was surprised by how so many houses had solar panels, for such a cloudy country. Take for example the midwest in the USA though, true its cloudy most of winter, but when is electricity needed most? In the summer months when air conditioners are cranked, and the sun is damn near 24/7 in the summer months. If solar panels were feeding into the grid it would take so much relief off customers bills in the summer and not strain the system at peak times.
I would need to see some strong evidence that 31-40+ years of a single solar panels benefits are outweighed by the carbon damage it causes to make it... I find that really really hard to believe. Hell, imagine if we had spent 7 trillion Covid money on building a giant solar panel making factory in Nevada where the sun never stops shining, and solar panels ended up powering the factory over time (this is not far fetched, many factories in Nevada run on solar power only already). We could have literally solved climate change fast, solved the EV charging overloading the grid problem fast (although I still believe cars like Aptera with 1000 mile range and 40 miles of charging per day from the sun will change the world for a lot of people in certain sunny regions anyway), and the list goes on and on.