Re: Global Cooling..


"Scotty" <nobody@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:cfq8v4dqa9j7hg7l3sp8oa2gdupa7984s2@xxxxxxxxxx
On Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:54:32 +1000, "Adam Whyte-Settlar" <ador@ble> wrote:

It is all about Watts, the product of Amps and Volts. This is middle
school
stuff, not even high school... If you are an example of the much vaunted
Scottish education system, then Dog help Scotland.

Want to see the solar power system I designed and built for my housebus
from
scratch? Under normal sunny conditions it keeps me supplied perpetually.
If I do have to recharge them I can pump in 60 amps. It takes four hours
to
charge them from 'flat' to a point where I can use them to power
everything
I need for ten days.
Lets see the system you built smartarse.

If we are talking about 60 amps of SOLAR current then you would have
approximately 8 average sized panels? 720 watts worth of solar panels, if
you have a 12 V system, I would have assumed that your bus would have
been
built on a truck chassis and have 24 V batteries. In which case 60 amps
would be approx. 1400 watts.

I have a bank of eight Trojan T105 6volt deep-cycle golf cart batteries
that, when charged gives me 440 Amphours at 24 volts.
If I need 240 volts (for the microwave for example) I run it through the
inverter. At the moment I only have enough panels to keep it 'ticking over'
with carefull use - but it perfectly possible to mount another six panels
and get over 40 amps of a charge. Which ultimately is what I intend doing.
It's just I have this phobia about paying retail prices for anything and I'm
waiting to take advantage of some poor desperate slob to get a bargain.

But you missed my point again as usual.
What I was getting at is that the bigger the bank of batteries the faster
(ie higher ampage rate) you can pump into them. I was trying to illustrate
that battery-powered electric cars with large battery banks can be recharged
much more quickly than most people realise. A few hours not overnight.

And the other point about solar panels on a roof to recharge electric cars:
I've no idea where you got that figure for the enormous number of panels
that would be required to recharge a car. Eight at about 160 watts would do
it for a small car on average mileage.
Some people are already doing it for themselves. (see examples below) Also
you seem to be ignoring the fact that the panels go on producing electricity
all day from dawn to dusk whether you are using it or not and the power can
just be 'stored' on the grid til you need to take it out. You can take it
from the grid at pretty much any rate your car batteries can handle.
Certainly fast enough to recharge in about 4 hours.
So not only are you getting free clean power for your car you are getting
paid for the electricity you feed back into the grid. I am not suggesting
that you plug the car directly into the solar panels and then hang about
hoping it stops raining FFS! That isn't how it would work. That's not how it
already DOES work.
Even if you are in a remote area not on the grid the excess can be stored in
batteries and fed rapidly back into the car via an inverter. Seeing as the
electricity is free and clean 'waste' isn't an issue.
Look, I know there are big problems such as the high cost of panels (falling
all the time) and the recycling of old batteries and so on. But there are
problems with the other fuel sources - say - Canadian sand-oil with it's
footprint that is three times the size of even crude oil. It's unsustainable
in terms of carbon emission obligations.
There is a long way to go with electric and electric/hydrogen cars but if
the political will was there we would have been halfway there by now
As for oil companies being 'fuel companies' well that is techincally true as
I've already granted you - in fact my solar panels ARE BP's solar panels.
But to put it into perspective, your very own Exxon Mobil made 40 billion
dollars profit in one year recently. At the time it was the largest ever
profit made by any single corporation.
Of that 40 billion they invested 100 million in 'alternative fuels'
research. Although 100mill is a lot of dosh and better than nothing, on the
grand scale of things it's still pretty much a-load-of-bollox-as-usual from
the oil companies.

By the way - you keep expanding and diverting the topic on to WAY too big a
spread. I just don't have the time. I was trying to illustrate one small
point: that it is a perfectly feasible and viable proposition to run small
cars on average city commutes using the power generated by solar panels
mounted on the rooftops of the average suburban house - and it is. Next
thing you are ranting in about the entire USA energy budget. Good grief. OK
I'll try to sort that out after dinner. But let's just get these cars
running today for the moment..
I'm just an average joe with an average house at about 150 M2. I could
EASILY produce more than enough solar power electricity to power a small car
on that area of solar panels. Probably next-doors too.

These articles below are pretty much of the 'First three hits on Google"
variety but they seem fairly sane and they repeat almost exactly what I've
been saying. Please note especially the line: "....6 hours of bright sun
[from an area the size of a small garage roof] should be enough to give a
Chevy Volt 40 miles of travel..."
The average car journey in the UK is 6.8 miles. In the US it is 11 miles. As
you seem to doubt my ability. YOU do the maths.

___________________________________________________
Above:canopy [picture of solar array roof about the size of a small garage]

"...Plug in electric cars are the future of the automobile industry.
American car companies and the nation should embrace that reality now. By
combining solar energy with electric cars we can drastically reduce our
dependence on foreign oil and other fossil fuels. The technology for solar
powered electric cars exists and is market ready. What is lacking, like
usual, is the political will and vision.

New Solar Technology

Solar technology has been around for decades. It keeps improving. A new
design for capturing solar energy has been developed. The manufacturing
company Romag has developed a solar charging canopy called the PowerPark. It
is a lightweight canopy that sits in any driveway or parking lot. Romag has
already built and installed the devices in their own facility parking lot
and has plans to install them throughout the UK. Other solar technologies
could be adapted in similar ways across the United States.

The canopy is capable of generating 1.5 kilowatts. Even in sun deprived
Northern England the company estimates each parking space could generate
about 1,100 kilowatt hours of electricity annually. At these rates 6 hours
of bright sun should be enough to give a Chevy Volt 40 miles of electric
diving. In sun drenched cities the production would be even more dramatic.
The cost of installation and materials would vary based on volume and
location. Pricing is said to be competitive with typical solar panel
installations. The price would decrease with a nationwide rollout of these
canopies.

Asphalt parking lots filled with spaces could be covered with these devices.
The canopies would be effective in supermarket chains, schools, airports,
train stations, hospitals and commercial office buildings The solar panel
roof of the canopy will generate energy that can be used to charge the car.
When cars aren't plugged in energy can be contributed to the grid.

Having easily reachable electric-car-recharging stations around the country
has been an issue hampering the adoption of electric cars. These solar
canopies can help the transition to electric cars as the nation builds more
charging stations to serve the electric cars on the road. At night, plug-in
electric cars can usually be charged in a garage or driveway. The US would
be an excellent market for the canopy.

A free daytime source of energy which creates no additional strain on the
grid is just what we need. One of the great criticisms of electric vehicles
is the power they rely on often comes from fossil fuels. A solar approach
helps electric cars become even more green. Solar canopies can lead to
broader acceptance of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles..."

http://topicsofconversation.com/my-plug-in-electric-car-charged-by-the-sun-is-waiting-for-me



------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chicago unveils solar-powered recharging stations for electric cars

April 20, 2009 With the Tesla Roadster and other plug-in electric vehicles
hitting the road, so demand is growing for readily accessible refueling
points to recharge them. Carbon Day Automotive has now demonstrated a
solar-powered recharging point, known as the Solar Plug-In Station, which
lets motorists easily charge their cars using electricity that has been
generated without any environmental emissions.The Solar Plug-In Station thas
gone on show in Chicago as part of the city's bid to host the 2016 Olympic
Games. According to Carbon Day Automotive, the solar-powered recharge
station is part of the vital infrastructure required for electric vehicles
in Chicago and was the focus of a recent visit by the International Olympic
Committee.

These solar-powered electricity points will be used daily by Chicago to fuel
the city's electric vehicles with power from the sun. While the the electric
vehicles are driven by solar energy, their carbon imprint isn't completely
removed but rather relocated to the power plant where the electricity was
generated. But by generating the electricity from pollution-free solar
cells, the C02 emissions are reduced to zero."Solar energy and electric
vehicles are an inevitable partnership that is one more step to reducing our
dependence on foreign oil," says Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb
Technologies.

http://www.gizmag.com/solar-powered-recharging-station/11499/



-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fill up your car free with solar-panels.

May 2006 [earlier this century]

EIGHT Solar Panels on the roof put out 160 watts each.The Mazda's Electric
car 15 batteries are re-charged by the solar panels and wind turbine on the
roof. This is where I dump the excess electricity during the day so I can
drive gas free. Hook up a $100 inverter to the hybrid electric car and use
the power to run appliances in the house at night or when power goes out
during a storm. I also dump the extra electricity into a bank of deep cycle
batteries so that when the power goes out i am the only one within miles
with lights and power. I added a second hot water heater and changed the
wiring from 220 to 110 and dump excess power into the hot water heater so i
don't have to pay for hot water, which is the largest expense during the
winter. I also am changing the wiring from 220 to 110 on the main hot water
heater so i can use free solar 110 volt power. The Zantrex sw 4048 inverter
can be programmed in about 5 minutes to sell electricity to the grid, plus
it also starts a gas generator automatically if you program it to do so or
it will automatically connect to the grid if power is available. The Zantrex
sw 4048 can be use on or off grid.

http://www.solar-electric-car.com/solar.htm











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