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Answer by manu r
You’ve probably seen calculators that have solar cells — calculators that never need batteries, and in some cases do not even have an off button. As long as you have enough light, they seem to work forever. You might have seen more massive solar panels — on emergency road signs or call boxes, on buoys, even in parking lots to power lights. Even though these more massive panels aren’t as common as solar powered calculators, they are out there, and not that hard to spot if you know where to look. There are solar cell arrays on satellites, where they are used to power the electrical systems.
You have probably also been hearing about the “solar revolution” for the last 20 years — the idea that one day we will all use free electricity from the sun. This is a seductive promise: On a bright, sunny day, the sun shines approximately 1,000 watts of energy per square meter of the planet’s surface, and if we could collect all of that energy we could easily power our homes and offices for free.

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Answer by doane_nut
Impractical, they would have to much too large.

Answer by sd3r
the San Diego Trolley (independently powered traction trucks) requires 500kW to accelerate, 130kW to maintain speed. typical solar panels output ~120 watts per sq meter. do the math.

Answer by billrussell42
You would need more panels then you could fit on the roof. Even if you used the roofs of all of the freight cars.

Typical power is 3000 HP or 2.2 MW.
Solar panels are about 10 watts/square foot, so to get 2 MW, that is
area = 2 MW / 10W/sq foot = 200,000 square feet.

Area of the top of the locomotive is about 6×70 or 420 square feet.

so we are short by a factor of 200,000/400 = 500

And, trains cannot operate only when the sun is out, so they would need lots of heavy batteries to store energy for when the sun is not out, and that means the area would be 5 to 10 times more massive than listed, so the factor changes from 500 to 5000.

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Answer by mugikuyu
Its very simple but the entire process is quite lengthy. You will need to buy some materials and then assemble everything according to the instructions in this ebook http://bit.ly/hlMb5u. There are also instructions for wind power as well. I found it very useful.

Answer by roderick_young
For solar electric panels, there is generally no money to be saved by making your own. A homemade panel can’t legally be connected to the grid in the US, and you would end up using batteries instead, nullifying any cost advantage.

If you want to do it just for fun, think about buying solar laminate like this http://sunelec.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=47 rather than soldering together your own cells. If you watch for sales, it sometimes gets down to $ 1/watt.

Also, there is no need to pay anyone for an e-book on how to make panels. places like this http://www.mdpub.com/SolarPanel/ give you all the information free.

Answer by Rami C
Now it’s easier than ever to build your own solar panel and wind turbine with materials you can find at any hardware store. No special tools or expertise needed, anyone can do this. Just click the source below if you’d like to know how to do it!

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Now taking into account the fact that solar do sent work during storms or night and greatly reduced during winters, what % do you think would be needed to supply a “majority” of our power needs as a nation?
*Mispelling*
Now taking into account the fact that solar “does not” work during storms or night and greatly reduced during winters, what % do you think would be needed to supply a “majority” of our power needs as a nation?

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Answer by hipp5
While I think efficiency is one aspect of the equation I think cost and finding a decent storage medium will be much more important. No matter how efficient solar panels are, they simply cost too much right now. Add to that the need for reliable power at all times of the day and you have got some hurdles to overcome. I think as hydrogen energy matures it’ll become a great storage medium for solar energy and we will see a lot more wide-scale solar.

Answer by Starbuck
Supplying the entire nations power grid by solar could not be accomplished with this centuries technology. Solar power will be a minor energy producer for decades to come and comes with much drawbacks on environmental costs of production, battery systems and many other issues not resolved.

Answer by g.aidonopoulos
I believe the question should be put as: What should be the price of solar panels in order to replace coal.

If the price go down enough then there will be no problem with the commercial efficiencies already achieved.

The huge challenge for the solar industry is to achieve the famous grid – parity. We should notice however that the grid parity will not come at the same time to all countries in the world since there are several irradiation levels and electricity prices as well.

As so the answer to the altered question is that very soon (2-3 years) if the solar industry continue to expand at this day rates we will achieve the grid – parity at many places in the world

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Answer by Eugene N
There is no easy way. You will have to purchase relatively costly cells made out of silicon and then add a power inverter to turn the DC current out of the cells into alternating current to run things in your home. It’s not a cheap venture.

Answer by Peter K
Its much easier and you get more energy with a water heating system. You can make this out of old water radiators boxed in with a glass lid. However, commercial water heating systems will out perform anything that you can make.

Electrical solar panels are really an industrial process if you want more than a few milliamps.

Answer by StanleyB51
If you want to feel superior about yourself, you can definitely do this kind of project. Keep in mind however that your payback will take a very long time. Solar panels are rather expensive. Let’s assume for a moment that you are running 50 W fan. This means that you need a solar panel with the area of about 700 Square inches. It will set you back about $ 300 or more. This panel will have to be exposed to full sun light. Solar panel however produces only DC current. You will need one of two things; fan with special motor or DC to AC inverter. Add another $ 50. 00. If you run the some fan on the grid power you will use 1KWH of energy in 20 hours. Average cost of 1KWH in USA is about 10 -12 cents. You will have to run your fan for over 3000 Hrs. in order to brake even. Keep in mind that you also need wires, some kind of mounting bracket etc. to make you project work.

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Give your own answer to this question below!

Thank you!
P.S. Any science fair related tips are also greatly appreciated!!!

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Answer by R
you can purchase those solar lights in home depot and demonstrate them?..

Answer by richard
in PHOTOVOLTAIC they have taken an ordinary home fly and removed it’s eyes… and put it on a DIE with 8 other fly eye lenses … coated in metal and will be used to amplify the light .. they have discovered that a fly eye receives and processes light superior than we can and thru mimic of nature we will get a more productive pic solar cell

Answer by xpatinasia
Photo-voltic arrays are low in efficiency, and use toxic chemicals to fabricate them. You could study the efficiencies of different methods of generating power.

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Give your own answer to this question below!

700 MCA
85 Amp Hour
It’s 12 volts

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Answer by campbelp2002
The solar panels have to put out more voltage than the battery for them to charge it. You did not state what the voltage is. And they should not put out too much or it will damage the battery. You can monitor the voltage and current manually with a multimeter, but really you need a charge controller Between the panels and batteries to automatically control it. You really need to know some electric theory. At least Ohms law, V=IR. And know how to use a multimeter.

Answer by Shut r down
12-volt panels actually put out 14 to 17 volts which is necessary to charge a 12-volt battery. If you are using 12-volt panels and 12-volt batteries, the panels should NOT be in series unless the batteries are also in series and the charge controller is rated at 24 volts. Two non-similar batteries in series might not work well together.
Power (watts) = amps X volts, so an 80 watt 12-volt panel puts out 80/12=6.67 amps which should charge a battery overnight.

Answer by roderick_young
If you are sticking with the panel you have, then about all you can do to charge faster is track the sun with it, as opposed to just laying the panel at one tilt all day long.

If the battery has not charged noticeably in two days, I would get a voltmeter/ammeter and make sure that everything is working. An 80-watt panel ought to be able to put something on there in a day.

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Answer by Difdi
I did a swift google search for the words Portland, Oregon and the phrase “solar panel”, and this came up in the first ten links.

Answer by Harry
You might want to check the following offers (direct link to product page):

Answer by Bob Westwood
You can build your own! I used this guide and it worked great, actually a fun tiny project!

http://fourgreensteps.com/marketplace/Creative-Science-Homemade-Solar-Cell-Plans-US-Patent.html

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Answer by Vincent G
440 Volts at 100 Amperes implies 44000 Watt.
Since the solar constant is around 1000 Watt per square metre, that solar panels capture about 1/4 of the energy, and that the Sun is not always directly overhead, that there are clouds and night (so the flow is not constant) and that there are efficiency losses during conversion, you would need 500 to 1000 square metre of solar panels to get that kind of power. As for the batteries, you need to figure out how long you want the system to be capable of being powered when the Sun is not there, but it would have to be a big bank of batteries at any rate (plus the ondulator to turn the DC in AC, so that transformers could step up to the required 440 V)
At that level, the type of battery is selected from a pure cost / watt-hour ratio.

If you are trying to embark on something of that magnitude and are asking questions as basic as that one, you clearly lack the expertise to do it on your own.

Answer by lee26caloo
Equipments need:
[1] 230V DC to 440V AC converter rated 50,000 watts. Like produce sine wave rather than square wave.
[2] 19 pieces 12.6 volt acid lead battery rated 250AH or higher.
[3] Solar panel output 260 volts rated 25 amperes or higher.
[4] DC current meter 30A.
[5] Fuse or breaker box and high current switch 200A or relay with START AND STOP CONTROL.
[6] 2 ohm variable resistor rated 3000 watts to control the charging current.

Connection:
Charging…..
Solar panel + ——- switch —– 25A fuse —— 2 ohm variable resistor —- DC current meter —- battery + (put 19 pieces batteries in series to make about 230V ).
Solar panel ” – ” ——— battery pack 230V ” – “.
440V generate…..
Battery 230V —– switch —- 250A fuse —– converter —> 440V out —- 100A fuse —- air conditioner.

Answer by billrussell42
This is huge. 44000 watts. Solar panels provide about 10 watts per square foot, so you need 4400 square foot, or an area 66 feet by 66 feet.

But the sun only shines a fraction of the time. If we assume 6 hours worse case, you need 4 times that plus extra for losses. State 22000 square foot, or an area 150 feet by 150 feet.

The batteries are the other completely not practical requirement. A massive lead acid battery, about $ 300, stores about 1 kW-hour. To provide 44000 watts for 20 hours, you need a storage capacity of 900000 watts, and that would require 900 batteries.

Imagine the space that 900 massive batteries would take, and the maintenance costs.

My estimate at overall costs is US$ 1 million.

Another problem is what to do that power when the AC is not running.

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In addition would being able to use government tax credits, be an additional incentive to invest in a solar co-op?

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Answer by worldemperor
I would purchase crude oil shares because it’s profitable =)

Answer by Marty
the huge thing here in Texas,is wind generators

Answer by Andrew O
If I was already committed to the idea of using solar to power my home then sure I would join a collective. I might even go that route anyway since that way you avoid doing the maintenance on the system yourself. That is worth $ to me to not have the hassle.

If you REALLY want them on your home get elected to the Board for your local community and change the CCR’s so that solar panels are allowed. You just need to convince enough people it’s a good idea. Democracy in action!

Tax credits for solar always make it more attractive, whether they be for the individual, the co-op or a major energy company.

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