Sustainable Living Stack Exchange
Sustainable Living Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [solar-power]

Electric energy produced from sunlight. This could be via semiconductors, in [photovoltaics]; or through the concentration of solar heat to drive a turbine, as in concentrating solar power [solar-thermal].

Solar power is electric energy produced from sunlight. This could be via semiconductors, as in , or through the concentration of solar heat to drive a turbine, as in .

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Should solar panels be installed before or after re-shingling the roof?

My roof will likely need new shingles within the next few years. Should I consider getting solar panels installed now, or should I wait until after the roof is taken care of?
Stephen Ostermiller
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What's needed to set up a personal solar power system?

I'd like to set up a solar power system to power a small house, say 20 kWh per day, 600 kWh per month. What equipment do I need to make it happen? Production and storage are both important. I'm looking for a full shopping list and ways of…
Laizer
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What is the state of "artifical photosynthesis" technology, as at March 2014?

I've been hearing a lot in the news about artificial photosynthesis processes that can use energy from sunlight to split water and produce synthetic fuel. Sounds pretty exciting, but being a non-physicist, I'm having some trouble separating the…
Yumecosmos
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How can I cheaply evaluate how much solar energy I can collect?

I'm nearing the end of the life of my asphalt shingles on my house (the inspector estimated 2yrs left when I bought the house 2yrs ago). Since my house is 100% electric and my state (Nebraska) offers Net metering (but no other incentives), I'm…
kinar
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Are there solar panels that can survive extreme temperature changes?

I want to look at getting solar panels for my home. Unfortunately, one thing that I need to resolve first is whether or not they will work / last while in the temperature extremes - anywhere from -40 C to +40 C. My question is, are solar panels…
Canadian Luke
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Establishing a Small Commercial Solar Plant

This question may be outside of the scope for this forum, but I'm having a hard time finding good information, and thought asking here might be worthwhile. I started looking into farm-scale solar here in Oregon, and found that we just don't have…
J.D. Ray
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Can we build a very effective cooling system for house or apartment using solar or wind power?

I ask this question all the time. I am living in Southeast Asia & the temperature there is always 30-32 C in almost every day of the year. So, houses in Southeast Asia normally are pretty hot. However, people there tried many way to make their home…
Tom
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How to set up grid-tied photovoltaics without feed-in?

In my current place (Morocco), the electrical utility operator does not allow feed-in. How can I create a photovoltaics installation that respects this rule? I would like to create a grid-tied installation so that grid power can be used when locally…
tanius
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Is creating hydrogen fuel for the fuel cell from the solar panel worth considering?

Does creating hydrogen from solar energy provide a lesser amount of energy than is extracted from the Sun? Isn't it more efficient to use the electricity being generated by the Solar resource itself?
vortex_sparrow
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Cost-effective way to solar charge proprietary LiPo tool packs having AC chargers

I'd like to go solar with a couple of our battery-powered tools without a) charging the batteries with DC directly, as they're expensive batteries with their own fancy AC chargers, or b) spending money on other expensive solar batteries to power…
Woahdae
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Are there advantages to putting solar panels on individual homes rather than in large solar farms?

Suppose 10 million new solar panels will be installed in some country this year, and there are two options: A: the solar panels go onto the roofs of 1 million individual houses B: the solar panels go into 1 thousand large solar farms With option A,…
Mark Eichenlaub
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PV and Battery circuitry for DIY off-grid solar power

I am in need of setting up an off-grid power supply for a 10k btu air conditioner (plus some extra power for light use, like laptop charging). The AC runs at 7-8 amps 110v, but I'm unsure of it's initial load amperage or exact wattage (somewhere…
Eric_B
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Solar UPS with Priority of Power Sources

I would like to add solar to my energy mix. For context, my grid supply is unstable. Currently I have a UPS which switches to Batteries when grid goes down. I have been researching products which can prioritize use of energy in this order: Solar…
bhains
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Determine the solar installation size based on W/m² solar irradiance data

I have access to live solar irradiance data (in W/m²) at each minute of the day in my location. How do I make use of these datas to determine the solar installation size (in kW)? I guess what I don't really understand here is what really happens…
ttinggggg
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Why are solar panels different colors?

Black, Blue, Light blue. I have noticed different colored solar panels everywhere I go. I have a black solar panel that is installed on a solar flash light I also look on other people's houses to see a blue colored solar panels. Every time I ride…
Ethan
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