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We're almost at the end of the first month of the Volkswagen scandal, which now includes 11 million cars and Leonardo DiCaprio. VW's US boss has testified to Congress, blaming a few rogue software engineers. All the while, questions have raged about VW Group's future: which projects are safe, which ones are on the chopping block, and how exactly will the company recover from this?
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VW's board has finally started to answer some of those swirling questions. For starters, there's going to be much more emphasis on electrification. Electric vehicles and hybrids have played more of a bit part at VW, compared to Toyota, GM, and domestic rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz. That's going to change with a standard electric architecture that can be used across multiple vehicles and brands.VW Group isn't devoid of hybrid and EV know-how. Audi's Le Mans program has taught it a lot about high voltage automotive systems, and Porsche has a wealth of experience from the 918 Spyder, Panamera Hybrid, and even the 919 Hybrid racer. VW would be smart to leverage all these programs.
VW is the largest car company in Europe. This is what sudden, disruptive technological change looks like.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 16 2015, @08:21AM
There are some generosity in your estimates. Quite a bit actually.
There is roughly half the houses that have their roofs facing east west rather than north south. Now you might think this is an advantage, because you could harvest early morning and late evening sun. But invariably one side is shaded, and evening.morning sun is still no match for half the area of daytime sun. So you lose half the roof tops before you even get started.
Then subtract at least the winter months of all those houses north of some arbitrary latitude where it just wouldn't pay to put in panels at risk of winter snow and ice.
Then you have to subtract the number of families that life in apartment buildings. You could turn around and add all the commercial buildings with big roofs, but those are a small fraction of any metropolitan area.
Still it would probably generate all the power we would need (In the US). Even with those limitations.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday October 16 2015, @01:49PM
The photovoltaic panels need not conform to the shape of the roof. No matter whether your roof faces N/S, E/W, or some angle in between, you can use the entire surface area of your roof to get sunlight. Putting struts under your panels may be less eye appealing than screwing them down on the roof directly, but you can angle those panels whichever way you need them to face. In fact, you might even put up more square feet of solar panel, than you have roof, if you allow them to overhang the roof some. Not to mention, any east, south, or west facing wall can support yet more panels. And, if that isn't enough, you can always put some free-standing panels over your driveway, part of your yard, or whatever. Erecting the struts and beams to support all of this may make the panels less economically attractive, but I'm pretty sure that they'll still pay off in the long run.
Why restrict yourself to the roof dimensions and contours?
“Take me to the Brig. I want to see the “real Marines”. – Major General Chesty Puller, USMC
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 16 2015, @05:42PM
Why restrict yourself to the roof dimensions and contours?
Because: WIND.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday October 16 2015, @05:55PM
That reason is inadequate. Especially since I mentioned walls that face other directions than north. Wind isn't even a factor with those.
“Take me to the Brig. I want to see the “real Marines”. – Major General Chesty Puller, USMC
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 16 2015, @06:22PM
Wind is a factor any time you start mounting panels on struts.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by TrumpetPower! on Friday October 16 2015, @02:40PM
All of your objections are why the envelope only assumes five hours per day of noon-equivalent insolation. With perfectly-aligned panels on a tracking mount and in a climate with no clouds, you'd get almost twelve hours per day; my assumption is that you'd only get 40% of that with fixed panels in typical US climactic conditions.
And, yes. There're places that won't even do that well. But there're just as many places that'll do better. The worst places in the Lower 48, in the Pacific Northwest, are still no worse than half as good as it is in the best -- and, to boot, better than the average in Germany. As I noted in another post, I've got somewhere between a third and an half of my own modest home covered in panels and it's enough not only for all my current electricity needs but for an EV as well. If I teleported the house to Seattle and covered the entire roof with panels, I'd still meet all my needs, plus those of an EV, plus a surplus. Indeed, I'd have a generous surplus...far and away my biggest usage is in cooling from May through October, including at least a few months where the overnight low hovers around 90°F and the daytime high rounds to 110°F. Seattle isn't going to need anywhere near as much energy to maintain a livable indoors temperature.
Cheers,
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Friday October 16 2015, @09:41PM
Snow is a problem, but it's not a show-stopper. I live in central NY state, and we get plenty of snow, but I still see solar panels all over the place. The panels are tilted, and they're mounted where the sun shines - so the snow melts, sublimates and/or slides off pretty quickly. Also, the snow season doesn't last that long - 4 months at most, usually 2 or 3. And those are the months with the shortest days, so you're not losing that much sun, anyway.
Which brings me to the real problem. On the winter solstice, we only get 9 hours of daylight, so we can't rely too heavily on solar. We'll always need something to supplement it. Unless we store the excess power during the summer, and use it in the winter, but that's not feasible at the moment.