Solar Heating System To Be Built Into Housing In Canadian Community....

Q: when is the uk government going to lay down adequate energy requirements in the uk..... i hear our socialist government is claiming to provide 1 million houses for ownership..... if it is not more bullshit....then here be a real opportunity to do something useful and serious.... http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/30220/story.htm "Under the scheme, solar panels mounted on garage roofs will collect energy from the sun and store it underground. Come winter, the thermal energy will heat homes through a central district heating system." regards...

A: The current government is far more concerned with car hatred than it is with genuine environmental concerns. There are *so* many obvious ways to cut pollution etc. (compulsory recycling for one), but the only thing the government does is try and tax people out of their cars. I'd happily pay some money towards 'cleaning' my car - LPG or whatever; but the government needs to provide an incentive at the top: - start building an infrastructure for alternative fuels; - introduce solar panels (as you detailed) - start the development of new Nuclear Power Stations - Fund research into greener technologies (seriously rather than paying lip-service)... - etc.. carbon dioxide is around 27% carbon by mass and so this saving equates to around 71 tons of coal per year i.e. 1.4 tonnes per household. Bearing in mind the apparent sophistication of the system the materials used etc. one is entitled to question the energy "payback" of the system. One must of course realise that nature herself provides her own gigantic solar panel in the form of the oceans from which billions of tons of water are lifted every hour. This water returns via the rivers. One would intuitively think that if a way were to be sought as to how to utilise all this energy then this might be the obvious route. Perhaps they work better in drier climates than here. I have a relative that had a two panel system installed during the 80's. They are of course on the roof (still!) not the most convenient place to service them. If you want to provoke him into foul language, just ask him how his solar panels are performing! We all know how quickly windows get dirty. Window glass is generall positioned vertically. These things are positioned at a 50 degree slant to the horizontal (ideally) They pick up dirt even quicker. Beyond that the odd bird dropping provides an excellent fertilising medium for green algae. The performance tapers off rapidly after installation or cleaning. This pair of panels are now not used at all.

Discuss It!

Most Popular Articles

More