A recent report said the Space Staion had 240 sq ft of solar panels. They said it was enough to supply 40 average homes with electricity. Frige, TV's, air conditioning, lights and heat. 40 homes! 240 sq ft! That means a 6 sq ft solar panel on my roof should do the job I'm paying the electric co. hundreds a month for. What gives?
2007-06-14 10:16:16 · 7 answers · asked by Don S 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
Those solar panels are the most efficient in the world (at about 30% efficiency), but they also cost millions of dollars. Yeah, if I had an extra million I might buy enough to power my house.
PS. they are made by Emcore, right here in Albuquerque.
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2007-06-14 10:23:38 · answer #1 · answered by tlbs101 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are thousands of satellites in space with solar panels, but none of them are designed as power stations. Transmitting power using radio frequencies would be profoundly inefficient. A string of satellites orbiting the Earth would be incredibly expensive. Even if solar power were to reach economic viability, we would put them on the ground where we could use them. Given the amount of advanced renewable sources of energy already being developed there is absolutely no reason to launch a power plant into space. Wow - watched the youtube video... that is possible the worst invention ever and I hope it never catches on. The last thing we need are retards who are too lazy to plug in their phones wasting electricity on highly inefficient wireless transfer when many parts of the world are facing energy shortages. Regular chargers are already bad enough because they constantly drain electricity even when not in use. I am definitely not an environmental saint but this thing is just stupid.
2016-05-20 04:38:43 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Presently all are encourage to exploit solar energy. Photovoltic cells are available for the purpose of residential use also. But the overall cost of electricity generated by them is higher than that of electricity supplied by grids. The solar cell needs further development to be economic . This is main reason of their rare use in households sofar .
2007-06-15 02:52:00 · answer #3 · answered by Swapan G 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you have NASA's budget you can have them.
If used in an environment where they get sun an average of 6 hours a day instead of 24 hours a day and the life is less than 10 years due to weathering, I think you will see the problem.
2007-06-14 10:22:14 · answer #4 · answered by Philip H 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Build Home Solar Power : http://SolarPower.duebq.com/?GoK
2017-04-01 03:45:30 · answer #5 · answered by Marguerite 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Number one; they have sunlight all the time. Consider Vermont in January. The cost of installing solar in an average home is $50,000 which is not pocket change. I believe they have 2400 square feet by the way
2007-06-14 10:22:13 · answer #6 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
24 hours of direct sunlight of course! No atmospher, no clouds and rain and even no night time to deal with.
2007-06-14 10:24:55 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋