Musk's Powerwall

[choff]

I've heard of the idea of putting the panels under the equivalent of Gorilla glass on suburban streets, that would help with the rooftop shortage while remaining proximate enough.

[paperburn1]

the glass roads is a no starter, i will see if i can find the paper about the why nots.

[choff]

There's a good discussion on the Tesla system on WUWT, with a link to a Forbes article. A lot of discussion about lead acid batteries in the Navy or used on railroads lasting decades.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopher ... en-people/

I don't have a Facebook account so I can't see your greenhouse setup, have you tried using Fogponics with it? I just picked up on this a month or two ago, they were talking about combining fish farming with hydroponics(aquaponics) or using ultrasound for fine particulate nutrient mist on the root systems. The talk was 2% water usage compared to traditional farming, how a restaurant and market were being supplied by a greenhouse on the rooftop.

[paperburn1]

I use this method
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/hawaii/down ... ettuce.pdf
but I grow all types of leafy greens and kale crops.
I have seen some stuff of fogponics . I would love to have some sort of setup for fresh greens in the winter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LTq3WKxYV0

[choff]

If this 3rd agricultural revolution spreads, famine should be a thing of the past barring nuclear winter. On a side note, had my first Saskatoon Berry Jam yesterday, tastes sort of like pie cherries, looks related to blueberries, can grow under otherwise lousy conditions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier_alnifolia

[Tom Ligon]

If this 3rd agricultural revolution spreads, famine should be a thing of the past barring nuclear winter. On a side note, had my first Saskatoon Berry Jam yesterday, tastes sort of like pie cherries, looks related to blueberries, can grow under otherwise lousy conditions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier_alnifolia

My wife just put that on our "must try" list, for when we are out there later this year.

[hanelyp]

If this 3rd agricultural revolution spreads, famine should be a thing of the past barring nuclear winter.

Famine is already vanishingly rare outside of locations with messed up social/government conditions. New agricultural tech may allow more to be grown with finite resources, but is won't fix corruption stealing from the farmer.

[Maui]

the glass roads is a no starter, i will see if i can find the paper about the why nots.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/05/1 ... 35171.html

[JoeP]

the glass roads is a no starter, i will see if i can find the paper about the why nots.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/05/1 ... 35171.html

Interesting link. Pretty dumb idea though...just a few objections...

• gets muddy, dirty or covered with snow/ice, garbage, chewing gum, etc
  chemicals from cars/salt
  damage from vehicles/sand/abrasion
  shading from vehicles/vegetation/buildings..on and on
  inefficient/angles to solar source will almost never be optimized
  maintenance!?!
  massive expense compared to just about any other solar tech

More rooftop installations or having canopies over huge parking lots (or even roads) with panels on the roofs makes a lot more sense. And even that is debatable because of huge cost.

[Skipjack]

Thunderf00t has a pretty good debunking of the solar roadways thing. Some people would go as far as to call it a scam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H901KdXgHs4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzzz5DdzyWY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocV-RnVQdcs

[choff]

The problem remains, to make the Solar a viable replacement for the typical suburban dwelling, you need more panels than you have rooftop, and they have to be proximate. The street is not an option unless you put a roof over it with the solar panels on top, maybe proximate windmills to help generate even more electricity, Powerwall is still nothing more than niche technology

Basically Musk is selling fantasies to Greenie politico's in return for rocket contracts, his real ambition.

[Maui]

Powerwall is still nothing more than niche technology

... but if that niche is big enough to max out the Gigafactory, from Musk's perspective... who cares? (But $7000 install cost according to that link? Ouch...)

...and maybe it's not quite as niche as you think.

[KitemanSA]

Any technology that adds 10 to 12¢/kWhr is not nitch, its nuts.

[hanelyp]

I see the nitch for powerwall being where utility power is unavailable or unreliable. The price needs to come down a lot before it can work with solar or wind to replace conventional baseload supply.

[Skipjack]

There are people that have to pay 10,000 USD or more just for getting a connection to the grid. I think they are going to be among the early adopters.
Oh and I still disagree on the roof surface thing. I showed an example earlier, of a pretty average installation. It is not THAT huge. Of course it depends on your roof... Sky scrapers are going to have more problems with that, since they have comparably little roof area compared to the amount of power they need.