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2nd hand knowledge is better than false advertising?

I was just taking an environmental engineering course, and the Prof. discussed alternated energy systems. He did a case study on his own house a few years ago (so keep in mind costs have gone down constantly). To get completely off the grid, he estimated:

- 150 m^2 of panels are needed (basically, his whole backyard)
- $120,000 CDN capital cost, including PV cells, battery storage system, and associated power conversion equip.
- Lifespan of the cells were quoted as 20 yrs, upon which replacement would be likely be required.

(Based on monthly energy bill is about $80 CDN/mo, or 1250 kWh/mo.)

Anyway, aside from that, some problems are:
1) Amount of sun in southern Ontario area is only good Mar. - Sept.
2) Heating reduces the efficiency of the cells
3) Voltage - Amperage curve is not ideal - you can't have high value of both at the same time (thus max power is limited to a specific ideal condition)

It didn't seem like a feasible or economical thing to get completely off the grid, but he found it did have it's uses to supplement power demand. There are a number of smaller applications that PV fit very well.


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