Solar hot water or photovoltaic. Lots of homes have solar power to assist what is already there. It doesn’t take a lot to have water hot enough to do a bowl of washing-up / have a bath. Technology for photovoltaic is going to improve in the next 5 years. Thirty or forty years ago, who would have thought mobile phones would have been possible or as common.
Solar only makes sense when the solar output can be reclaimed on a constant basis. In the US, even, this is only possible in the most Southern and Western states. Too much cloud cover does not enable the current solar voltaic converters to produce enough energy in the majority of the population centers of America. While it is true that some spectrum’s of solar energy can penetrate cloud cover, todays cells are not currently efficient enough to warrant their cost. It is true that great strides have been made recently in the efficiency of these collectors/converter cells, and in a few years there may be a system efficient enough to recover and convert cloud penetrating radiation into viable amounts of electricity. Just don’t hold your breath waiting for this to hit the market. Legislation can’t convert blocked sunshine into electricity.
2 responses to When should ‘new build’ residential & industrial roofs have solar power for homes?
There is not enough sun in the UK to make it economically viable. So probably never.
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Solar only makes sense when the solar output can be reclaimed on a constant basis. In the US, even, this is only possible in the most Southern and Western states. Too much cloud cover does not enable the current solar voltaic converters to produce enough energy in the majority of the population centers of America.
While it is true that some spectrum's of solar energy can penetrate cloud cover, todays cells are not currently efficient enough to warrant their cost. It is true that great strides have been made recently in the efficiency of these collectors/converter cells, and in a few years there may be a system efficient enough to recover and convert cloud penetrating radiation into viable amounts of electricity. Just don't hold your breath waiting for this to hit the market.
Legislation can't convert blocked sunshine into electricity.
References :
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