The total area of solar panels it would take to power the wo

[Graham Kennedy]

Nevertheless....you are probably right about fusion being the way to go, solar energy plants by definiton would be more dezentralized and folks don't like that.

Right now solar is very decentralised - people are starting to cover their roof with solar panels and sell electric back to the companies during the day. That's starting to upset the big generator industries, and some are pushing for legislation against it.

[Atekimogus]

Nevertheless....you are probably right about fusion being the way to go, solar energy plants by definiton would be more dezentralized and folks don't like that.

Right now solar is very decentralised - people are starting to cover their roof with solar panels and sell electric back to the companies during the day. That's starting to upset the big generator industries, and some are pushing for legislation against it.

Well, that is what I meant with folks, big energy.

Even with the current shitty effectivness I remember reading a study how much energy could be produced in middle europe just be making it a requirment for new homes and buildings to have a photovoltaic on the roof.

If I had my way, I would make THAT a legislation.

[Graham Kennedy]

The worst aspect of that is that the peak generating time for solar is the afternoon... which is the time of minimum demand for electricity in the home. By the time domestic use peaks in the evening your solar is pretty useless.

I suspect it would be better to push for every factory and office space in the country to have solar panels all over them. At least then you're focusing on the people who actually use power in the day.

[Tholian_Avenger]

In America, you could cover automobile parking lots with solar panels to provide shade and collect power...

[sunnyside]

I suspect they've got some way to go with hail proofing before solar panels on buildings are going to be a good idea in most of the places I've lived. If they've got it sorted out they aren't advertising it.

[Teaos]

Heavy duty PVC?

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Heavy duty PVC?

That'd get dented and scratched up and torn and messed up. It'd be easier to replace, but it'd still need to be replaced.

[Coalition]

Heavy duty PVC?

That'd get dented and scratched up and torn and messed up. It'd be easier to replace, but it'd still need to be replaced.

Cheaper than replacing the panels though.

Just have a bunch of PVC panels stored on site, and when the hail is over you send out a bunch of people to replace them (free coffee and sandwiches provided). The damaged/broken panels then get loaded into a series of trucks, and sent back to a factory for reuse. Find the right plastic so it is clear, easily remeltable, no chemicals special features, and you could even reprocess the panels on-site. Just have a team of people go out, bring in the old panels, and stack them near the melter. Another team takes the panels, and loads them in the melter. A third team takes the redone panels out, and stacks them for replacing. A fourth team then reinstalls them. If you need to keep the panels covered, you'd have extras that are initially taken out, while the melter gets warmed up.

[sunnyside]

I haven't heard of a solution like pvc being proposed. One thing to note is that a lot of the energy coming from the sun isn't within the visible spectrum. While I don't know the optical properties of PVC, I do know that glass tends to absorb UV and higher frequencies and sometimes infrared and lower. Broad spectrum transperancy might actually be pretty rare.

[Tsukiyumi]

Some of the flexible, roll-out panels I've seen are hail-proof.

http://www.siliconsolar.com/flexible-solar-panels.html

[sunnyside]

Some of the flexible, roll-out panels I've seen are hail-proof.

http://www.siliconsolar.com/flexible-solar-panels.html

Searching that particular sight for hail didn't find anything, so maybe they don't make the claim. I suppose I could see flexibility and a soft backing being a way to achieve hail resistance, though that depends on maintaining flexibility at very cold temperatures.

[Teaos]

Global warming is a long term solution to hail I suppose...

[Graham Kennedy]

In the end, fifty years from now we will be generating electricity from a combination of fission (or hopefully fusion) along with wind and solar. Maybe a few surviving coal and oil plants around the place.

[Teaos]

Fifty years I am not even going to guess, anything beyond 10-20 is pure guess work.

[Mikey]

I unfortunately believe that in 50 years, the nutjobs that have all the major fission support projects tied up in spurious litigation will have spawned a new generation of like-minded nutjobs.