

  (Source: Clean Technica)

  (Source: China Digital Times)
Will cut the use of coal and carbon emissions







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RE: 12,000 Shanghai homes
By Spuke on 7/22/2010 11:56:20 AM , Rating: 2
Solar panels are getting cheaper by the minute not more expensive. I've heard as cheap as 99 cents per watt although I've never seen those. I have seen $1.40 per watt.

RE: 12,000 Shanghai homes
By sebmel on 7/22/2010 6:43:29 PM , Rating: 2
Solar panels aren't the only solar collectors.

I think there's a more important future for solar collectors to warm water. If you live somewhere cool you need evacuated tubes... if it's generally warm you can make do with flat panels.

As for electricity generation I thing turbines run using some form of liquid heated by reflectors in the Nevada desert seems to me a cheaper way to convert the sun's energy.

Those needing air conditioning in low rise buildings should be using plants, like passionfruit vines, that don't stick to the building. Grow them up vertical wires, or cord, 1m apart and fixed 80cm away from south facing walls (if you're in the northern hemisphere). The gap allows the wall to dry. Obviously you don't grow them in front of windows.

I've achieved mid-summer reductions in internal ambient temperature of 15 degrees Celsius in that way. That takes you from unpleasant 35 degrees Celsius to very pleasant 20 degrees. Choose a vine that suits your climate. Grapes might suit you better but they shade less and grow more slowly.

Passionfruit covered a three storey wall in a single growing season where I did it at a latitude of 10 degrees. Fertilise with banana skins (they like plenty of potassium) and go easy on nitrogen if you want them to flower and fruit.

Passiflora alata in some varieties is very attractive and not eaten by caterpillars. Its flowers are very attractive but so large they hang downwards and not so easy to see. Passiflora edulis edulis is self-pollinated. Passiflora caerulea is one of the most cold tolerant types and will fruit in the UK. Many varieties are pollenated by bumble bees.

Passionfruit flowers are not wind pollinated so they don't cause asthma. The pollen is sticky and heavy, designed to stick to a bumble bee's back, or humming bird's head.

Vines are usually replaced every 3 or 4 years in commercial situations to maintain fruit productivity.

No need to waste electricity on AC.

