Re: Solar for EV charging (was: Who Elected These People?!)

["Jon \"Sheer\" Pullen" <sheer@sheer.org>]

Just out of curiosity (and it's blatently off topic - feel free to toss me
answers 'offline' and redirect me to the appropriate list) has anyone else
played with thermal power generation using solar? Specifically, I'm curious
as to whether anyone found a source of prefab turbines, and what generator
you coupled with them..

I got some halfway decent results using some very odd materials that make me
beleive that someone who actually knew what they were doing could get a
better power to square foot ratio than solar panels, and possibly a
considerably lower cost for medium to large installations.

(Before going the turbine route, I tried seeberg (peltier) devices, but
found their ability to capture heat as electricity somewhat wanting - and
their tendancy to melt down when their hot side gets too hot extremely
frustrating. Not to mention their grr low voltages)

<begin token on topic comment>

anyone who wants to see my honda in various states of dissasembly can go to
www.sheer.org/ev/pics - I also will post some snippets of the source code
monday, I'll let the list know a URL then, but it shouldn't be too hard to
find.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Hawkins" <n4mwd@amsat.org>
To: <ev@listproc.sjsu.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2001 4:10 AM
Subject: Re: Solar for EV charging (was: Who Elected These People?!)


>
> It depends on how you look at it.  A commercial grid has a lot of
> overhead that has to be added to the cost of generating electricity.
> As a result, it will become practical to have 100% solar powered
> homes long before it is practical for commerical power plants.
>
> Nevertheless, if you amortize the high cost of solar panels over 20
> or 30 years, they break out about even with commercial grid power at
> TODAY'S RATES.  However, I suspect that with the price of oil
> reaching record highs, solar panels will pay for themselves sooner
> than that.
>
> Then again, if you live in California, you can convert your house to
> solar electric at practically no cost thanks to all the rebates they
> have.  Some of the CA rebates are $4-$5 per watt and the current cost
> of solar power is about $4.75/watt.  I certainly know what would be
> on my roof if I lived in California.  They would break even in about
> a week.
>
> Dennis.
>
>
> On 30 Mar 2001, at 18:27, BillDube@killacycle.com wrote:
>
> > Charging from the grid will always be cheaper than solar power.
> >
> >   It has to be if you think about it.
> >
> > If solar power were to become less expensive than other methods, the
> > power companies would use it.
>
>
> Dennis Hawkins (n4mwd@amsat.org)
>