And after all, <you're> my Powerwall!! Musk gives away more patents.

[Red Squirrel]

Is there a reason the deserts here are not completely filled with solar panels that have their power distributed across the nation? I know there are some, but I thought it would make more sense to just cover the entire area.

I know solar panels are less efficient in high heat, I wonder if it's so bad in the desert that it's not worth it. Not sure what kind of drop it is though. I imagine a large array would still produce quite a bit, and it's not like anybody actually wants to live there anyway so may as well use that land for something useful that is also not really impacting on the little nature that might exist there.

I've been reading up a lot on solar, and bought a little 30w panel for a small project and to experiment with and they were on sale at Canadian Tire, and I'm actually starting to wonder if it would be viable to go solar even here. Our summer days are very long, and our winter cold period tends to be sunny, and the panels would be running very efficiently during that time and the bonus is when it's -30's it does not really snow. They may not be producing every day but when they would be producing it would probably be decent output. I have to do much more research of course such as how much sun we actually get in a year and so on.

 

[BUTCH1]

Yeah this is mostly for Kalifornistan. Charge at off-peak price, discharge during peak price. Probably save some money there.

I watched the Keynote, he's a visionary, but I wasn't impressed.

You can only charge (if your using solar) during daytime. I get it that you could charge it at early AM hours (from the grid) and then re-sell it but is there THAT much of a difference to make up for the cost (and installation cost) of it?.

 

[Accord99]

Is there a reason the deserts here are not completely filled with solar panels that have their power distributed across the nation? I know there are some, but I thought it would make more sense to just cover the entire area.

Just because it's a desert, doesn't mean there aren't animals and fragile ecosystems in them.

And there are numerous solar plants built/building in the SW deserts, but even there solar is expensive, land intensive and small scale. Based on the Topaz Solar Farm, to cover annual American usage you would need 110,000 km^2 of land and spend $11 trillion dollars. And that's just for the plants.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Solar roadways would fix that!

 

[manimal]

Solar roadways would fix that!

Dude you should patent that



Transparent aluminum solar panels



I could see putting one in a airsteam and dump all the old wiring and batteries.

Wonder if guys will mod these into cars so they can use subs large enough to hover off the ground.

 

[manimal]

wrong thread

 

[lxskllr]

You really bought his pathetic sales pitch?

:biggrin::biggrin:

I didn't watch it. My comment is based on what he's done, and what he has planned. Who else has the balls to go to space, and then make it happen? Not the US government; anymore...

Anyone who doesn't think Musk is impressive doesn't know what impressive is. Probably the same people who jerk off over America's heros; cops, while condemning Snowden, a real hero, as a traitor :^S

 

[Vdubchaos]

I didn't watch it. My comment is based on what he's done, and what he has planned. Who else has the balls to go to space, and then make it happen? Not the US government; anymore...

That's because it's a waste of time and money.

What exactly has he done? Guy is a business man trying to sell you more crap.

Watch the video!

 

[lxskllr]

That's because it's a waste of time and money.

What exactly has he done? Guy is a business man trying to sell you more crap.

Watch the video!

I'm currently out of network capacity. My most hated computer(my phone), has become my primary computer. How's that for a first world problem? All this is to say I try to keep high bandwidth consumption down when on mobile, so that means no videos.

All I'll add is Musk makes things happen. No whining, no "it can't be dones"(read "it'll fuckup next quarter's profits for shareholders"). He's pushing us ahead instead of dragging us down with unsustainable historical inefficiencies.

 

[Vdubchaos]

All I'll add is Musk makes things happen. No whining, no "it can't be dones"(read "it'll fuckup next quarter's profits for shareholders"). He's pushing us ahead instead of dragging us down with unsustainable historical inefficiencies.

ANY business (especially one that's trading)= unsustainable

Producing batteries is FAR FAR FAR from efficient or environmentally friendly.

 

[John Connor]

You've got decent power then.

- I grew up in a rural area. All the power lines had to travel through wooded areas. Severe ice storms would usually cause outages, but it was overall pretty stable, surprisingly enough.

- I now live in the suburbs of a small city. You'd think that the electric situation would be better.
The power goes out for >1h at least every 2 months. I don't know for sure, as it usually happens during the day when I'm at work; the only evidence is how much my freezer defrosts, and how quickly the refrigerator contents age. A gentle breeze will sometimes do it, a strong wind, a bird fart, ice, lightning, pleasant sunny days...
I think my TWC Internet connection is more reliable than the electric, which is almost surreal.
Maybe the power company also runs the municipal water supply. Every 3-5 months there's a water main break that knocks out my water for as little as 2hrs if I'm lucky, or sometimes for close to a full day.

Do you live in Afghanistan?! WTF!

I'm into police scanners and I listen to the power company when the power goes out and it seems it's always a breaker or something like that.

 

[John Connor]

Ya Musk has a greatness about him. Love his approach and ability to do multiple projects at once and having the vision to trust his teams.


Generational guy.

When I read the title I thought it was about perfume. :awe:

 

[John Connor]

I just want a bunch of these. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator

 

[manimal]

When I read the title I thought it was about perfume. :awe:

well im sure he smells rich.

You gotta love Elon though. Its nice that he doesnt fall into the robber baron category or the greed is good slick hair guys.


I bet it would be fun as hell to travel into outer space with him dont you? If he asked you to fly to space would you say no?

 

[TwiceOver]

You can only charge (if your using solar) during daytime. I get it that you could charge it at early AM hours (from the grid) and then re-sell it but is there THAT much of a difference to make up for the cost (and installation cost) of it?.

In Kalifornia? Probably. Their energy costs are ridiculous.

 

[Brovane]

What exactly has he done?

Well he did found a launch provider that is now a multi-billion dollar corporation that employees over 3,000+ people.

Has brought the launch of commercial payloads back to US shores since ULA had abandoned the market since their launch vehicles couldn't compete.

Same company has made a total of 7 cargo deliveries to the ISS and is the only way currently to bring back to Earth significant down mass from the ISS.

Same company developed a completely new LOX/RP-1 rocket engine in the Merlin 1 and produces the engine in-house.

Same company has secured a multi-billion dollar contract with NASA to transport US astronauts to the ISS and back to Earth.

Developed and launched the first privately funded liquid propelled orbital launch vehicle.

Took a small startup EV manufacturer and developed it into a multi-billion dollar corporation that now employs 10,000+ people and is now nearing a production rate of 1,000+ cars a week.

So what have you accomplished lately besides acting like a little bitch on the Internet?

 

[Brovane]

ANY business (especially one that's trading)= unsustainable

Producing batteries is FAR FAR FAR from efficient or environmentally friendly.

Depends on how you produce the batteries and recycle them. There is to much variability in how batteries are produced and used to sum up everything in one blanket statement.

 

[manimal]

Well he did found a launch provider that is now a multi-billion dollar corporation that employees over 3,000+ people.

Has brought the launch of commercial payloads back to US shores since ULA had abandoned the market since their launch vehicles couldn't compete.

Same company has made a total of 7 cargo deliveries to the ISS and is the only way currently to bring back to Earth significant down mass from the ISS.

Same company developed a completely new LOX/RP-1 rocket engine in the Merlin 1 and produces the engine in-house.

Same company has secured a multi-billion dollar contract with NASA to transport US astronauts to the ISS and back to Earth.

Developed and launched the first privately funded liquid propelled orbital launch vehicle.

Took a small startup EV manufacturer and developed it into a multi-billion dollar corporation that now employs 10,000+ people and is now nearing a production rate of 1,000+ cars a week.

So what have you accomplished lately besides acting like a little bitch on the Internet?

10/10
would read again

 

[senseamp]

Interesting for those who have solar and don't have to buy a separate DC-AC inverter for this.
My concern would be fire safety of batteries when charging. I think I'd mount it in a metal shed outside.

 

[Ns1]

So what have you accomplished lately besides acting like a little bitch on the Internet?

uhhh you didn't see that epic ISIS parody video he made and put on youtube? Oh right, of course you didn't cuz the man took that shit down. The man and his bullshit copyright laws always holding vdub down.

 

[Darwin333]

Interesting. So it's a UPS, psuedo-generator, and possibly a low power energy source in off peak times? Wonder if it qualifies for the solar power credits from the feds.

It absolutely will if installed as part of the solar system. If installed afterwards or on it's own, I'm not really sure.

 

[Darwin333]

Interesting for those who have solar and don't have to buy a separate DC-AC inverter for this.
My concern would be fire safety of batteries when charging. I think I'd mount it in a metal shed outside.

Naw, you still need an inverter but you can get an inverter and charge controller (for the batteries) in a single unit.

 

[Darwin333]

That's because it's a waste of time and money.

What exactly has he done? Guy is a business man trying to sell you more crap.

Watch the video!

Founded a company that in a very short amount of time has become a major competitor to the likes of Boeing in space flight? Same company researched and built an entirely new space vehicle to bring people into space while NASA, you know the people that pretty much invented manned space flight, is begging the Ruskies for rides into space and won't have a manned vehicle for more than a decade?

His resume is pretty solid, imho, what's yours look like?

 

[Ns1]

Don't forget that whole paypal thing.

 

[natto fire]

Founded a company that in a very short amount of time has become a major competitor to the likes of Boeing in space flight? Same company researched and built an entirely new space vehicle to bring people into space while NASA, you know the people that pretty much invented manned space flight, is begging the Ruskies for rides into space and won't have a manned vehicle for more than a decade?

His resume is pretty solid, imho, what's yours look like?

You'll have to forgive Vdub, apparently a battery murdered one of it's family members, and will use any thread available to decry energy storage in battery form. It also trolls the electric car thread on this grudge.

Luckily, there are optimistic engineers working on the battery problem, and making great strides, if cordless tools are any indication.

I am pretty sure Vdub just hates batteries, but it might be Tesla as a company. I couldn't care less since it's pessimistic trolling is usually ignored, and never based in facts.