“Mrs Foster and her son, Ken Harcombe, have built a house at Whangateau, near Leigh, which is completely self-sufficient in energy with a windmill, four photovoltaic solar energy panels, a solar water heater and a woodburning stove. The house cost only $200,000. But the windmill cost just over $2000, the four solar panels cost $2000 each plus $4000 for an “inverter”, which allows them to run normal appliances, the solar water heater cost more than $3000 and the wood stove, $12,000.”

A Total of $29k for self sufficiency, no grid power connected at all since it was going to cost $20k for the line. The article points out that a cheaper stove could have been chosen. What the article dosnt say though is what lifestyle choices had to be made to accomdate this situation nor what the running and maintenance costs might be.

On the surface this looks a great arrangement and goes a long way to proving that NZ can avoid problems with energy shortages that have
plagued us since before the second world war. While this lifestyle will not be everyones choice I am sure the reduction of the domestic component it could provide would go a long way to reducing the demand currently on our generation resources.

Even if only solar water heating was used by all new domestic buildings (and smaller commercial buildings) the demand reduction would be
significant, but is the Govt (or the energy companies) considering this, no and NO, and why not? Because they lose too much!

Utilizing the power of the Sun to provide energy for homes has developed into a fine art. This month, Energy Awareness Month, the American Solar Energy Society is coordinating the opening of hundreds of private homes across the country for public viewing.

People will be able to tour more than 800 homes and businesses powered by solar energy in 44 states and see first hand the benefits of the clean, nonpolluting power of the Sun.

The home and business owners will explain to visitors how photovoltaic cells for electricity and passive solar energy systems for heat work. Some homeowners will explain how they can sell electricity generated by their solar installations back to their local utility through a process known as net metering.

Especially in California, dealing with its energy crunch, the idea that sunny days can be turned into electricity is appealing. California Energy Commissioner Robert Pernell said, “Photovoltaic panels, small wind turbines, and fuel cells can be installed in existing structures or incorporated into new construction. These tours are a good way for homeowners who are interested in learning more about this type of energy technology to see the systems working, ask questions, and find out which system best suits their needs.”

This coming weekend, Oct. 13 and 14, the public is invited to visit private homes throughout Los Angeles that use solar technology. Solar homes in Santa Monica, Culver City, and Hollywood will be open on the Real Places For Real People tour, sponsored by the solar and renewable energy nonprofit organization Global Possibilities.

Casey Coates Danson, founding president of Global Possibilities, said, “The homes on this tour are making a great contribution to mitigating climate change by using solar energy. It will take the participation of many more individuals like these to make a substantial impact on climate change.”

Danson’s own 4,500-square-foot residence, a highlight of the tour, is the largest private residence in Los Angeles using solar technology.  Also on Oct. 13, solar homes farther north in California will be open. Tours sponsored by the Northern California Solar Energy Association offer 35 sites in the East Bay, Silicon Valley, Contra Costa, and Santa Cruz featuring solar power, photovoltaic systems, solar water and space heating, passive solar, and green building materials.

“This is a great opportunity for the public to see how solar power can maximize home energy efficiency and why a home with renewable energy
is a good investment,” said Ed Nold, owner and founder of Green Home Design, a consulting firm specializing in putting environmental commitments into practice in residential construction projects.

California Congresswoman Jane Harman, a Democrat and a Venice Beach resident, recently added solar panels to her home. “It was not a tough
choice,” she said.” I live on the beach and the sun beats down on my roof almost every day. Photovoltaic technologies convert that energy to usable electricity with no polluting byproducts. Hopefully more people will choose clean, efficient solar over antiquated fossil
generation.”

Pernell assures interested people on a tight budget, “Many renewable technologies that are available today for California homes and businesses are also eligible for a state rebate.”

Opportunities abound in other areas of the country. Near Chatanooga, Tenn., the Sequatchie Valley Institute is inviting people to tour its facilities, which model environmental sustainability. They feature hand-crafted passive solar buildings that utilize solar and wind-powered electricity. Surrounding the Center is a permaculture farm with edible landscaping integrated into the forest ecosystem.

In the nation’s capital, the Potomic Region Solar Energy Association is hosting the solar tour in cooperation with Sierra Club, Virginia Solar Council, and American Solar Energy Council. The tour will include the home of Mike Tidwell and Catherine Varchaver, which was featured in a Washington Post article on Oct. 6.

Even in cold North Dakota, a solar home will be open near Carson to display a solar-wind hybrid system. The tour is hosted by Dakota Solar Electric, which designs and installs solar-powered water systems for ranchers in North Dakota.

In conjunction with the Denver self-guided solar home tour, the National Renewable Energy Lab in nearby Golden, Colo., is hosting an exhibitor showcase featuring 25 local companies and organizations that provide renewable energy and energy efficiency products and services.

Whenever settlement of the outer solar system is discussed in this ng, it’s always assumed that it will be done using fusion power to provide energy, with an “edge of sunlight”, beyond which solar photovoltaics which cannot be used, around 3 A.U.

The edge of sunlight, commonly put at 3 A.U., could possibly be extended to hundreds of times that by using extremely thin mirrors to concentrate the attenuated solar light.  The mirrors could be aluminum a few tens of atoms thick, and an array of flat mirrors could be aimed with a support structure to focus this for useful solar energy and/or light.

To supply 1 gw. of electrical power at earth orbit using the best photovoltaic cells available (~ 30% conversion efficiency), an area of 2.38 x 10^6 square meters is required.  For getting the same electrical power at distances further from the sun, an area of mirrors is required amounting to

   Area = A_e x Distance^2 / E

where

   A_e = area at earth orbit = 2.38 x 10^6 m2
   Distance = distance in A.U.
   E = efficiency factor based on the reflectivity of the mirror,
          and how well the light reflected hits the photovoltaics
          due to possible aiming problems or mirror deformation.

and

   Mass = Area x T x M_sp x Factor_s

where

   Mass = entire mass of mirror system (kg)
   T = thickness of mirror (m)
   M_sp = mass density of mirror material (kg/m3)
   Factor_s = factor for extra mass required for the support structure
                 for the mirrors.

Using an efficiency factor of 50%, a thickness of 40 nm, a mass density of 5 gm/cm3 (= 5000 kg/m3) (I don’t know the density of aluminum off-hand so I used this), and a support structure factor of 2, one gets                          

     distance  area required  mass required
                              (A.U.)    (m2)           (kg)

orbit of Pluto                35        5.83 x 10^9    2.33 x 10^6

current outer
edge of the Kuiper belt       70        2.33 x 10^10   9.32 x 10^6

furthest orbit of Sedna,
inner edge of the Oort cloud  900       3.86 x 10^12   1.54 x 10^9

These could be made from chunks of aluminum only 10, 16, and 83 meters across respectively.

Problems erosion of the mirrors by dust and meteorites damage by the solar wind and/or cosmic rays reflectivity being obscured by dust particles or organic matter collecting on the surface solar sail effect which makes the mirror system(or what it is attached to) move  manufacturing the huge mirrors in the first place

Solutions?

 Give the mirrors a static charge so they might have net mass collecting capability instead of mass loss.

 Attach the mirror system to its space settlement and orient it so that the settlement slowly spirals down toward a more desirable location closer to the sun.

Other possibilities

 Instead of using mirrors, use photovoltaic cells themselves.  Assumes an extremely cheap way of manufacturing them of course.

 Have mirrors with a reflector made from organic materials (if there are any), which would make it lighter than an aluminum    one and from more common organic elements.  Or make a concentrating lense instead of a mirror.

Have there been any studies done on this subject?  I think it’s very worthwhile looking at, given how much time and trouble we’ve had getting controlled fusion power to work.  Also a space settlement out there in the Kuiper belt might want to save their deuterium for more useful things like propulsion, self-defense, etc.

The amount of solar energy that strikes the Earth is irrelevant. Superman only has access to the energy that strikes Superman.  That gives him access to the energy of a single solar panel, or a small bush.

It shouldn’t be necessary to do the math.  Anyone who spends 5 minutes outside should have a rough idea of how much energy strikes a human
being.  (Were you instantantly incinerated?  No?  Can Superman incinerate a large boulder with heat vision?  Yes?  Gee, wouldn’t it take at least a few weeks to accumulate that much energy?)

But let’s do the math anyway:

At this distance, the sun provides about 1353 W/m^2 of power in space. On Earth, you have to divide by 4 because about half the energy is
reflected by clouds, and another half is lost at night.  Toss in a reasonable estimate of 100 cm^2 for the surface area of Superman’s face and hands (which are the parts he normally exposes), and you get 33.8 Watts.  Call it about 30 Watts if you want to account for the fact that Superman must reflect *some* light, or he’d be jet black.

So the next time you see a 30-Watt light bulb, just think: that’s how much power Superman has access to.  If he stores it like a battery, he should be able to lift a 1-ton car a couple of hundred feet into the air once per day, or a major feat (such as the ship he lifted in MOS #2) once every 20 years or so.  Logically, Superman’s batteries should have been depleted after his first week on the job.

In the case of Spider-Man, I’m torn.  On the face of it, spider venom shouldn’t have any more connections to a spider’s abilities than, say, snake venom.  So why didn’t Peter get snake powers instead?  The whole bit about “it was a spider, therefore you get spider-like powers” does have a hint of sympathetic magic about it.

Frankly, I find it hard to be too worried about it.  As far as I’m concerned, Spider-Man’s origin has nothing to do with how he got his powers — the spider bite is the McGuffin part of the story.  His *real* origin is when he found out who murdered Uncle Ben.