Peter Hun
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Posts posted by Peter Hun
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If someone asks me to nail £14,000 of fragile glass to my roof and connect it up to a load of fragile electronics, I would want to see one hell of a return guaranteed.
Solar panels are backed onto aluminium, not glass.
A 4.2Kw set costs around £5K for the actual panels plus a £2k for a grid tied inverter. http://www.affordable-solar.com/store/solar-inverters-grid-tied_2/fronius-inverter-ig-plus-5-0-1
£14k is a hell of a profit margin for a couple of days installation work.
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Again, what's that got to do with anything? You are making a Bugatti/Polo comparison. Nanosolar's panels are very thin, there's a big lump of uranium in a nuke. So what? Nanosolar's materials have to be astonishingly pure. Nanosolar says "Our proprietary approach to printing CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium, Selenium) .... Our printed CIGS solar cells and panels can reach efficiencies competitive with crystalline silicon panels in the next several years"[my emphasis]. So yes, Nanosolar's thin film panels are thin, but they also have poor efficiencies today . Also ultrapure In, Ga, Se require hellacious energy inputs to obtain.
If they require a lot of energy to produce, the cells would not be economic to purchase. But they are and they are getting much cheaper - opposite to fossil fuel production. So that relationship cannot be true.
Sure, they are still basically ultra pure rare elements deposited on glass. So basically fossil fuel energy sprayed onto the glass. And what percentage of PV installations currently are thin film? Quite low I think, but I'm not sure. As you say, I'm out of date. But reading around the subject it seems thin film is far from dominant in the marketplace.
Thin film is extremely cheap, less than 1euro per watt and falling fast, it will soon produce electricity cheaper than coal, which is about $1/watt.Absolute efficiency only matters if you are bothered about the amount of space its takes up, nanosolars idea is to print onto standard roof tiles. They are aiming for billions of watts production per year using high speed (1meter x 100meter/second) ink jet printer
Although not the cheapest panels (thick film), this 4200w pack comes in at $1.85 per watts, which is £4.7k. Obviously VAT, shipping and inverters (£1500+) are on top of that. Its rewires 30 sqm of roof space.
The amount of electricity generated is dependant on your location, there are online calculators that will give you the payback time
Here a map of sunshine hours
Doesn't necessarily make me wrong though
A friend of mine has the phrase "it's come around again on the Carousel of Bad Ideas". I think solar PV is on that carousel.Its come down it price hands over fist while all other energy prices have shot up. It will continue to come down until its the cheapest method of electricity generation. Why is it a bad idea?
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Basically semiconductor solar panels are made out of fossil fuels. The energy input to make them is enormous.
The energy production from the active solar power generating material used by nanosolar, for example, is equivalent to Uranium used in a nuclear plant. Weight for weight it produces the same energy, thats impossible for fossil fuels to get anywhere near that energy input. The most energy expensive materials are glass and aluminium, who 'massive energy requirements' allows us to dispose of, after consuming the fizzy drink they contain .
So the price of solar panels roughly tracks fossil fuel prices. Unless there is a breakthrough in efficiency (no sign of it yet) or a move to plastics panels (plausible, but decades away) solar will always be the ugly duckling.
Hello, thin film solar panels are plastic panels printed with the solar material. Where have you been?
I was in solar 20 years ago, it was 5x the price of fossil fuel back then. Fast forward 20 years, what a surprise, it's 5x the price of fossil fuel.
You are obviously stuck in time, 20 years ago.
The real economic price of solar power, based on the average amount of radiation per square meter per year, based on the funding cost over a 25 year period is already cheaper than nuclear power in many countries and approaching being cheaper than gas in many countries.
Location is obviously the key.
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Great news. Thanks for the post.
About the FT subscription, I heard you can access individual articles directly via Google?
That trick no longer works for me. I only get the cropped version.
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All very interesting Peter, and progress is always welcome when it comes to energy.
However, I would add a note of caution to this tale.
The problem with all renewables is that the industrial application is limited by the location of the resource and the location of the need.
Eg. Not a lot of wind/sun/tidal power in Birmingham/Sheffield/Swindon, yet that is where a large amount of industry is based. Therefore before this kind of technology can be practical the UK (and other countries) will need a radical overhaul of the transmission and distribution system of our electricity grid. This would take a truly, stagggeringly massive investment, which would take decades to ROI.
I can't see many governments taking multi-generation long view right now, can you?
That's exactly what they are doing. Why do people keep making statements like this in stead of investigation what is happening in the real world?
EU countries are building a extremely high voltage (HVDC) network all around Europe. Eventually UK could send wind power to southern Europe and we can get solar power back. Transmission losses are tiny compared to conventional power transmission, a couple of % loss per 1000km.
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US solar power nears competing on price
By Ed Crooks in New York
Published: June 8 2011 22:35 | Last updated: June 8 2011 22:35
US solar power will compete on price with conventional generation within three years without subsidy thanks to plummeting costs, industry leaders say.
In a breakthrough for renewable generation that will lessen the dependence on fossil fuels, the cost of solar power in California is near that of gas-fired plants at times of peak demand.
Subscription required.
http://solarbuzz.com/facts-and-figures/retail-price-environment/module-prices
Europe is cheaper than the US. In some countries , like Italy, solar may already be cheaper than conventional electricity.
Not surprisingly, sales are rocketing
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What a complete scrounger!
Oops, I've identified £581.39 a month in money this chav could spend on her debts. I WILL NEVER VOTE FOR ANY PARTY, CONSERVATIVE, LABOUR OR LIBERAL,THAT PERMITS THIS FRAUD TO CONTINUE.
Neither of the couple are able to work due to medical problems, so they maybe wasting money but its not simply being lazy scroungers.
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Of course, the very best rates and protected deposits were last seen in Iceland, 3 yeas ago.
In a bank, not a government. They were protected in Iceland, all retail depositors got their money back almost immediately.
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"They have, in effect, become a form of welfare for upper income savers," said the bank
Whereas banks rely on government welfare to pay their bonus's, not just 'in effect', its a direct funding.
A less direct form of subsidy is low interest rates which are not passed onto borrowers, so the banks get Welfare from their customers and the government.
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"They have, in effect, become a form of welfare for upper income savers," said the bank
Whereas banks rely on government welfare to pay their bonus, not just 'in effect', its a direct funding.
A less direct form of subsidy is low interest rates which are not passed onto borrowers, so the banks get Welfare from their customers and the government.
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Is anyone buying silver/gold who didn't already have a big stash bought at cheap(er) prices?
I'm thinking of buying a significant amount in order to avoid my savings being eroded, but scared of getting burned since it seems that both are looking a bit bubbly.
Not looking for massive profits, just want to beat inflation!
Why not buy in NS&I index linked bonds. 0.5% real return. The argument that gold is an inflation hedge is bull, its a highly speculative investment.
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ERRANTA can someone ban his **** please? How many threads does he write absolute jibberish in?
He is probably mentally ill, hopefully he will get section before the voices tell him to kill.
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Public debt is the total amount of money owed by the government to creditors. It is usually presented as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Total debt for OECD countries went from 76% of total OECD GDP in 2005 to almost 96% in 2010 (projected). Individual countries within the OECD ranged in 2009 from a low of 18.2% of GDP in Luxembourg to 192.9% in Japan.
By Tina Aridas – Project Coordinator: Alessandro Magno
Look here
The UK looks comparativly frugal..
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Built in 1880 at a cost of £2,600, Failsworth Town Hall
and refurb recently for £2.2M!
Seems about right.
Clapham common bandstand was built for about £1000 in 1890 and refurbished recently for a cost of £1million.
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the cost of the house in 1880 was 2600 pounds i.e. 2600 sovereigns
whether you are pro, anti or neutral gold, you must avoid comparing apples with oranges
therefore, it makes sense to equate the price in 1880 to the currency then and adjust for today
I don't know what you are talking about. I am simply pointing out that the inflation adjusted price of gold is £93 per oz. Gold is supposed to be a universal standard, always reflecting 'true' worth is it not?
The obvious fact is that houses have increase in value far more than gold, if this house is now worth £2.5million. However Gold has outpaced inflation.
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Very good p.p., but your working is unnecessarily long, so I have to dock some marks.
Could just times the price of a sovereign by 2600:
£223 x 2600
= £579,800
I used the sale price, if I use spot it would be:
£206 x 2600
= £535,600
In short though, 1880's pound has been devalued by over 200 times thanks to money printing. For those that don't know, a sov was the original 1 pound, back in the day.
CPI just in today, up to 4.5%. Just ignore it, trust the paper!
Nope.
according to BoE who measure these things, the devaluation is 93 times..
£2600 is now worth £243,929.78. Inflation average: 3.5%
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/inflation/calculator/flash/index.htm
See my previous post as to why he has made assumptions with this calculation. But I agree that the gold price is lower than it should be now relative to fiat debasement, otherwise I wouldn't be invested for the future.
So a sovereign is now worth £226, well inflation adjusted it should be worth £93. So Gold is over valued by 143%
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redwine is a bit erratic at times, but he posts interesting and valuable information.
So please, just ignore him if you have a hyper sensitive disposition.
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There is no logic. It does say something about the mind set of people who are buying and selling on there though. I have been there and done that. It is a small time dealing room and nothing else.It can be fun.It gives us the thrill of the auction rooms...its delusional though, if the reason to buy is for investment or to cover the potential losses from holding fiat or other investments.
Thats why ebay is an auction house, auctions make people overbid. I seen PC's go way over retail at auctions.
You don't buy Silver or Gold as a hedge against paper money falling in value, there is already a 90% fall built into the shiny metals prices.
Its all about speculating on further rises .
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If they were going to buy they'd have done it already, at significant discount to the market value.
significant??
Right to buy discount is capped at 18k, which is hmm.. 6% on a average one bed London flat like mine. Less than a discount you could haggle on the free market.
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I'm not sure if it's 700,000 unsold holiday homes or just 700,000 unsold homes in general. Plenty of crap was built all over Spain without any apparent intention of selling it at all. Nobody knows what is illegal and what isn't - if the state starts enforcing new laws retroactively like Spain has done then in theory any property can be deemed illegal at some time in the future.
There are something like 1.6million unsold properties in Spain, and repossessions exceed sales.
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TBH, this minor dip in YoY mortgage approvals and today's Nationwide fall in prices of -0.2% look more like furniture rearranging than signs of an accelerating crash
Its an erosion of confidence.
Until people have the idea that you can't lose money on "Bricks & M" erased, prices will stay high. You have to have patience, its going to take 8-10years to the bottom of the market.
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Remember to not tell them anything about yourself or how you know about it, it could come out.
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Sounds lovely
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrtle_Beach,_South_Carolina
"Myrtle Beach Bike Week, also called "Harley Bike Week" is a week-long motorcycle rally "
The highest concentration of Doctors, Lawyers and Dentists in the country. Harley riders are notorious for being rich middle class posers who turn up with the bike towed in a trailer. I've seen bikes that are several years old advertised for sale with less than 100miles on the clock.
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Some of the yields of around 20% look good on US properties but I don't know enough about the property taxes to know if there are hidden costs.
And surely the glut of properties will force rents down?
Yes, beware of community fee's of $10-20-30k in Florida
They can skew the economics completely, should be posted on the adverts though.
Us Solar Power Nears Competing On Price
in House prices and the economy
Posted · Edited by Peter Hun
Solar panels come with at least a 25 year guarantee, are made of aluminium, don't have seals and don't have fancy circuits inside. They also don't produce electricity at 4x the price of fossil fuels. You really are totally out of date, wake up you been in a coma for twenty years.
Because you don't store it, you transmit it everywhere within 1000miles via a HVDC power network, which is under construction