-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Alternative Energy Powered
- Thread starter Daniel Scherer
- Start date
Nice! The solar panels, red door and trellis sets off your house. The Tesla does as well! Have any of your neighbors followed suit yet or do they think your strange? My friends and neighbors get it but won't make the move towards energy independence even when I prove it has a fast payback.
- - - Updated - - -
Honeybug, your photo did not post.
- - - Updated - - -
Honeybug, your photo did not post.
We had our solar panels installed in June of 2001 and they are still going strong. At the moment we generate about half of our yearly usage. Obviously that won't hold up when our Model S arrives in April. We're considering adding additional capacity before that. I'm looking forward to posting a picture that includes the car!
I know it's ridiculous, but Lloyd's picture made me curious.
Scenario:
1. Start with a Model S
2. Attach a (3rd party) tow hitch
3. Build a trailer no wider then the Model S
4. Cover the trailer with commodity solar panels
5. Attach trailer to Model S tow hitch
6. Set cruise control to 55 mph
How long would the trailer have to be to drive continuously with full daylight?
Make whatever simplying assumptions you'd like.
Assume 300Wh/mile - slightly higher than nominal consumption of the model S, but almost certainly not enough to overcome the extra drag of the trailer.
So 300Wh/mile * 55mph = 16.5kW
Assume a commodity panel is 1m x 1.65m when mounted and generates 250W fully illuminated (see http://www.samsung.com/)
You can comfortably fit the long dimension of the panel across the width of the trailer (model S = 1.96m), which gives a nice simple 1m trailer length per 250W rated panel output, or 4m per kW. Assuming the fully-illuminated output seems highly optimistic for any real application, but that's what you called for. Probably need some kind of tilting mechanism to follow the sun, but that's not impossible within these dimensions.
So, your trailer needs to be 4 * 16.4 = 66m long. It could of course be several trailers linked together for articulation.
You might just about get it registered as a RoadTrain in Australia, but sadly impractical elsewhere. To put it another way, you need to be towing nearly twice the number of panels in Lloyd's photo!
On the other hand, this says that a practical trailer the same size as the Model S (but much lighter) generates 1,25kW nominal. So it's about equivalent to towing your own 120V outlet around with you (on a sunny day).
You are probably better off building a trailer that carries lots more panels stacked on top of each other, and just unpack (unfold?) them when you are parked, and do your driving at night.
We are likely to have the first waterfall powered Model S. We are moving to upstate NY in the summer where our house is next to a 60-70ft waterfall. We are working on installing microhydro turbines, for which there is some state financial support. Its how the first car should have been powered. Oddly my wife and I are named Eve and Adam. Electric paradise!
http://www.designboom.com/technology/v3solar-spin-cell-rotating-cone-shaped-solar-generator/
20 times more efficient than static flat panels! And aerodynamic!
20 times more efficient than static flat panels! And aerodynamic!
Raffy.Roma
Rome (Italy)
Not just yet but it's coming. It's a unique approach they take getting the efficiency increase. The link I provided should get you to their website. Another company is claiming 50% panel efficiency by tapping into all the wavelengths of light with multilayer cells. It's exciting times we live in.
rlpm
S P85 | Sig X _P90D_
Installation of our 9.6kW ground-mounted PV system (30 SunPower 320 panels) started yesterday. It's currently just 16 steel pipes in holes, sistered up for the county building inspector who came by today to ensure the holes were deep enough. Seriously.
Tomorrow they'll pour concrete to set the pipes. The framing, panels, inverters, etc. will be installed next week. Then we get to wait for the local electric company to take their sweet time inspecting it and installing the reversible meter & separate REC meter (double dipping!). Then wait again for the county inspector.
It won't be too long now…
Tomorrow they'll pour concrete to set the pipes. The framing, panels, inverters, etc. will be installed next week. Then we get to wait for the local electric company to take their sweet time inspecting it and installing the reversible meter & separate REC meter (double dipping!). Then wait again for the county inspector.
It won't be too long now…
rlpm
S P85 | Sig X _P90D_
Here it is:
For a sense of scale, each panel is just over 1m x 1.5m.
Not everything is hooked up yet, but it won't look much different when it's done (other than the trench being filled in).
Note the "hole" in the bottom left corner is because our power company considers anything over 10kW business class, and the inverters need pairs of panels -- two more panels would have put us over 10kW.
For a sense of scale, each panel is just over 1m x 1.5m.
Not everything is hooked up yet, but it won't look much different when it's done (other than the trench being filled in).
Note the "hole" in the bottom left corner is because our power company considers anything over 10kW business class, and the inverters need pairs of panels -- two more panels would have put us over 10kW.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
I've never believed their claims. At any point in time about half the panels will not be facing the sun. I call BS on this one.
Not my system but Sam Simon, Simpson's co creator and TV writer, has a large solar array on what I believe is a grid independent high efficiency home. He has a Roadster, don't know if he has an S. Sam Simon's house (Google Maps) - Virtual Globetrotting
Last edited:
