if solar energy can run the space station ,why can’t it power your home?
with the high cost of energy,$300.00 a month light bills and natural gas prices for the homes in the winter time going through the roof,why shouldn’t people be able to buy solar energy systems at an affordable price.Only the people who can afford to pay the high cost of heating an Air Conditioning can afford solar energy.Who and what is keeping this price of this technology out of the hands of the average person ? Why is the price so high ?If the price was lower more people would buy it and they still could make lots of money because of the large numbers of sales.It would also save a larger value of natural gas for future use in other places.
Well ,sorry to inform you ,but anybody and everybody and his little brother knows that there is no way to hookup utilities to the space station.In this age of people’s exposure to high technology ,I looked for more answers that made sense.People who can afford it have already proven that it can work in homes so that isn’t what I am looking for in an answer.The biggest problem with solar energy is that it is too expensive for the average person to put into their homes.The heart of the question is ,What and who is keeping this technology from being used,The price of energy is sky high and we are useing it up.We need to save on energy/ natural gas and we need to cut down on the use of coal because of polutions.Cannon E and peter J,stop looking at the question as if you think its a stupid Question(its not) people asking Questions is the way all problems are solved.
You Absolutely completely can! The only limiting factor is the amount of energy your house uses. It would take 7 to 10 thousand dollars (which is not a huge expense if your building a home) to make enough power to run an average home.
But if your willing to make a few minor adjustments to your lifestyle, you can be extremely efficient and get buy on just a few 75 watt panels.
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The space station people called to see about a natural gas hookup, but it wasn’t available in their neighborhood yet.
The space station is in Space. There is no weather disrupting their reception of solar energy, and there’s one other thing. There are no other options.
When a hookup to a public utility is available, it’s the cheapest energy there is.
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The space station is an extremely expensive project, and the cost of hauling fuel up there is prohibitive to say the least–you need some sort of renewable energy. Of course, I’m sure that solar panels in space would be much more efficient without all that atmosphere to get in the way. These facts make the space station a poor candidate for comparison to a household.
I think that the market for solar energy will grow as panels become less expensive. At this point it rarely makes economic sense for an individual to install them, so they usually don’t.
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1. Have you seen the size of the solar panels needed to run the ISS? They would take up my whole yard.
2. Efficiency in space is much higher because there is no atmosphere or clouds.
3. NASA has a budget of billions of dollars and spends several hundred million just to fly people up to the ISS.
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You Absolutely completely can! The only limiting factor is the amount of energy your house uses. It would take 7 to 10 thousand dollars (which is not a huge expense if your building a home) to make enough power to run an average home.
But if your willing to make a few minor adjustments to your lifestyle, you can be extremely efficient and get buy on just a few 75 watt panels.
References :
There are a few problems to overcome, although many homes can be powered by either solar power or a combination of solar and wind power. As was mentioned in earlier answers, the space station can get more power from solar panels because there is no atmosphere to reduce how much light gets to them. The first problem with using them on the ground is that even on a clear day the atmosphere reduces the amount of light that will reach a solar panel at ground level. The second problem is that weather conditions can further reduce the amount of light getting to the panels. Both of these problems can be overcome by two things. First, put up more panels and use a larger battery bank so you can make it for a few days with minimal sun. Second, make sure your appliances, light bulbs, etc. are efficient and then don’t leave them on when you’re not really using them. Also, simple things like adding insulation to your house and installing high efficiency windows will help. The second part is a good idea even for people who plan to stay on the grid just because their power bills will be smaller.
There is another problem that is harder to overcome. If you live far enough away from the equator that you don’t get a lot of sunlight, you may never get enough light for solar power to be a financially viable solution. Granted, with solar panels becoming cheaper and more efficient there are fewer and fewer places where this is the case, but there are still areas where solar power just isn’t the answer.
For a lot of these areas, wind power may be better answer, or a combination of solar and wind power, or one of a number of less popular alternative energy sources. One great heat source that is a lot more efficient than conventional ones like gas or oil is geothermal. It’s also generally cleaner, since nothing is burning. One great example of the less common energy sources is a prison I read about a few years ago on Africa. They were using some of the human waste (read as sewage, turds, or however else you want to phrase it) to create methane gas and then using the gas to run generators. Sure it was a more work-intensive process, but the fuel was pretty basically free, they were greatly reducing the amount of waste they created, and methane is a lot cleaner to burn than other fuel sources such as gasoline, diesel, or coal.
Is solar power the best answer for everyone? No, but there are a lot of areas where it is a good answer. Are there other options that people could use for creating much cleaner and cheaper power? Yes, where solar isn’t the best answer there are a lot of other options that most people either don’t know about or just don’t choose to use often enough.
I don’t think you asked a stupid question, and I hope I have given you a few more things to think about.
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Solar electricity already presents a financial advantage for some people. As you mention, energy prices go up with time, and as they do, solar will make sense for more and more people.
We have solar panels. In our neighborhood, they would make sense for most people. However, here’s what I see as the problem: lack of rational, long-term thinking. Yes, solar is expensive - $10k, maybe $20k up front. But that’s not an insurmountable sum. People who are far from rich spend that on cars. This is the same reason that so few regularly save for the future - they’re focused only on the present, instant gratification.
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