New Mars Forums

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,372

Re: Going Solar...the best solution for Mars.

Is Making Your Own Solar Panels Worth It?

You can buy a stack of standalone solar cells on Amazon for around $15.  which in turn generates an electrical current. 60 of these cells adds up to a 400 watt solar panel, which can provide enough electricity to power small devices and appliances in ideal conditions.

SUNYIMA 10pcs Mini Monocrystalline Solar Cells Solar System Kit 50mm X 50mm/1.96" X 1.96" 2V 160MA for DIY Charge Solar Panels

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,372

Re: Going Solar...the best solution for Mars.

New chemical synthesis technique could improve organic solar cell efficiency

https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orgel.2024.106995

How Batteries Can Unlock the Full Value of Your Solar Panels

Modern lithium batteries are temperamental to heat and cold, but if they are kept under stable conditions, they hold up much better over the long term than the flooded lead acid batteries of generations past.

Fishman said she's been using batteries with her 2.4-kilowatt home solar system for over a decade. She opted to install more batteries rather than double or triple the amount of panels.

"They're still going strong after 13 years. We don't have any degradation on the batteries," she said.

According to FindEnergy.com, as a rule of thumb you should expect to pay around $1,000 per kilowatt-hour of a battery's capacity.

You can find batteries from as little as a few hundred bucks on up to $15,000 per battery. The average amount spent on batteries is in the top half of that range. Fortunately some of this cost can be offset by a 30% federal tax credit and other incentives.

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 18,525

Re: Going Solar...the best solution for Mars.

The article at the link below reports on the success of Chinese owned companies in the US market.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy … 024-07-17/

It seems to me that the Chinese (taken collectively) have figured out how to do capitalism better than the US.

All the hand wringing about subsidies is beside the point. The US is a corporation, and China is a corporation.

The US has embedded ideas about how to do capitalism, and the Chinese have effectively adopted the best of capitalism while exploiting their management systems to maximum effect.

I suspect that the size of the populations of the two countries is a factor.  The Chinese have been pumping out highly trained engineers at a rate far greater than the US, and the quality of the training has been steadily increasing while some in the US have been skeptical of Chinese capability.

The rapid development of AI and robotics in the  US may provide a solution to the problem of insufficient person-power, but the Chinese are hard at work in both those areas as well.

(th)

Void

Member

Registered: 2011-12-29

Posts: 7,550

Re: Going Solar...the best solution for Mars.

Poking my nose into this, I have to note that whatever any entity may develop per solar power may eventually end up on Mars, humans and their machines get to Mars.  So, just as the modification of technology such as cars seems to have been a long term positive, it seems likely that those Chin Engineers will produce desirable effects in the long term.  In the short term, however they may scare the children.

I read once somewhere that an Arab had said something like: "Arab Said the Arab has the power of the tongue, the Chin the power of the hand, and the Frank the power of the Mind ".  Curious that the main ethnic group of China is called the "Han".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franks

But the peoples surrounding China have hands also, and perhaps I bit more tongue and mind than the Han, I am just throwing a guess for.

We will want to utilize all of these skills to work with Mars.  Computers and robots are perhaps equalizers for each group.

The problem of America at this time is it's two souths.  (My opinion only).  Actually, I am quite impressed with the old south at this point.  I am sure that some of the things I might like the taste of will remain, but they seem rather sensible as far as I can see just now.

The New South are people with recent 2-3 generations ago immigration to this country.  Dublin, London, Paris, Rome, Athens>>>
It is not proper to call certain places as North anymore in dominance, because of that influx.  For the moment this causes an imbalance in the USA, in my opinion, as these people and their heritage are from the European South.  Taken away from their roots they seem to have become rather liberal in my opinion.  At least that is my perception.

But we need minds and hands as well as tongues.  I believe that a rebalance is probable.  The hostility that is exhibited towards Russian and China are in part perhaps a reaction to the New South not respecting the North, and the Old South.  The Maga.

The Club Med, (Which I consider includes Dublin and London), have repeatedly though history pushed against the North in Eurasia.  Not saying that Russia and China are not to be considered a problem, but history is history.

While the Arab saying seems to leave the Arabs and the Chin without brains, I think perhaps something is lost in translation.  The Tongue has a mind behind it and the Hand has a mind behind it.

In the USA, the Old South and the New South historically both have a contempt for those who work with the hand.  But technology is more of the hand and the eye than of the Tongue and Ear.  But our universities are much more about the tongue, and ear than hand and eye.

Hand and Eye people are usually seen as lowly servant people by the Elites of the Old and New South.

So, big surprise, not so many engineers.

A rebalance is probably in progress, and I mapped out some aspects of its progression a long time ago.

Done

While nincompoops may quickly see their chances for a stupid binary civil conflict, I will note my opinion about the differences between Rome and Greece.  If you study Greece now it is a Club Med Country.  Ancient Greece had Exposure to the Black Sea and what was beyond.
Rome only had periodic refreshments from the North and the East.

The whole notion of democracy is claimed from these, but Iceland has had a republic for 1000 years or so, with one break of 50 years while occupied.  Greek Democracy was very tentative, and Roman was periodic.  Both had slaves.  And by the way often slaves came from the Slavs, which would have offset the excesses of the Club Med to some degree.  I believe that when cut off from the North and East of Eurasia, both Greece and Rome degenerated.

The New South loves the word Democracy, as it is easy to corrupt.  But we are a representative Republic/Republic(s).

It is well worth repairing.  It may do pretty good, if it can maintain itself in the "Kingdom of Balance".  Having all three assets, Tongue, Mind, Hands, it may well be able to go to Mars with anything that the Tongues, Minds, and Hands have developed anywhere on this planet.

Done

Ancient Greece: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece
Image Quote:

It can be seen that the unlike the Romans the Greeks had a better balance of Club Med and the Black Sea (Eurasian Influences).

Under Alexander, they even went into India for a time.

The Romans even at their greatest expanse had less of a balance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire
Image Quote:

Someone may say well, the Italians do have impressive technology.  Well, the north of Italy was settled by Franks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Po_Valley

Greece having been a nexus of collection of things from the ancient world, at least of Eurasia, Club Med, and perhaps India, to a small degree, no wonder it was a center of development for a time.

India and the USA being somewhat balance, no surprise, that for the moment at least representative government of some degree is practiced.

Europe has tried balance but made the mistake of trying to rape the East again.  It has not gone well.

South America has hopes.

Done

Last edited by Void (2024-07-18 08:59:06)

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