Harnessing Photosynthesis for Power/Food Production

[vampares]

Any idea how much time cow have to think. Maybe they could write books or something. Do my taxes.

yes i know ,that was my point.

And the concept fails because...

I think the hesitation to use the kelp is that it is sort of messy and you needed a lot of it perhaps, and well?

I've read on early solar panels. There are several methods that would allow for the production of electricity with or without silicon. If you look at this from that stand point, yeah, it sort of "cheap", sort of "easy" -- if it works. Edited April 30, 2013 by vampares

[krash661]

out put or the work energy is the problem.

it's difficult for solar array to gather enough power to move a car or such.

[vampares]

out put or the work energy is the problem.

it's difficult for solar array to gather enough power to move a car or such.

Compact car or mid-size sedan. Mid-size sedan might be under powered.

 

The problem with solar panels is that dense energy production is pricey and so while there are enough places to put these things, what would that look like?

 

On most buildings half the "energy" is the savings you would get on AC.

 

So going the cheap route with more collector area -- where would you put this thing and how cheap is it?

 

Probably not all that bad. Copper oxide is expensive when it is made on a sheet of copper. With some polymers and "nanotechnology" (I have not crashed them on the wherewithall), it would be a lot cheaper and you could probably just roll these things out.

 

The circuitry inside of your standard keyboard is an illustration of about what I am thinking here. Idea would be to just "print out" rolls of this stuff and try to make it look nice. I think the aesthetics aspect of the proposal is the speed bump.

 

 

That concept is hard to beat. Probably because building materials are increasing made of synthetics. It would be difficult to get a kelp array onto a roof. It could probably float however.

 

And there is the degradation issue. Kelp has the advantage of being rather biodegradable, even salable in any circumstance. The degradation of a polymer panel array may not lend itself to ease of disposal and must be replaced.

 

I'm not even sure kelp would work. How long would it last? If it did work, the industrialization is sort of an on sight sort of a thing maybe. External panel material could be reusable.

 

Even so, exposure to solar radiation in something like vinyl siding usually needs some sort of protection. Thinking titanium oxide and zinc oxide. Otherwise the lifespan of the panel is limited.

 

Silicon panels made with glass should function indefinitely. This is rather attractive from a life investment standpoint.

 

out put or the work energy is the problem.

it's difficult for solar array to gather enough power to move a car or such.

It's difficult for a solar array to gather enough power to move a car if that solar array is the surface of the car.

 

Otherwise it is something like 4000 watts for 8 hours to power the Volt. Design an array around this. The charging of the car is an aspect. Takes time. We would have to store the energy perhaps somewhere other than the car. That energy system would then need to discharge about 4000 watts. That's a bit hefty.

 

But something in the range of 14 foot x 14 foot array is about what we would be looking at. Power supply twining, less than perfect yield estimations -- I like the sound of 15 x 60.

 

Yeah that's just one car traveling 30-40 miles a day. So you might be looking at architectural redesign before this is going to take hold. Premising me you'd get more technology in there to start. Then you eat the Feng shui.

 

Roofing is about the only opportunity you're really going to get as far as sky facing mounting surfaces go. Otherwise these panels are going to need backing support and if this is 15 foot x 60 foot array, the surface area will take a rather large amount of force from even light winds. Practically speaking it would require what is in essence the equivalent to modern structures like steel buildings. So, market leverage is going to make the free standing array increasingly expensive.

Edited April 30, 2013 by vampares