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Forum Index : Solar : solar carport or greenhouse
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yahoo2 Guru  Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
Wondering how far away is solar cells integrated into household structures. I see that some Japanese farmers around the radiation areas of Fukushima have been given permission to install panels over their land for the first time. They are on a tall frame so a tractor and implement can work beneath them and the panels are spread to let 60% of the light past. It got me thinking about solar panels replacing shade or roofing material. carports, pergolas, green house, garden shed, verandas. There is an advantage of less shading of the panel compared to ground mounts due to the extra height. And the structure can be designed around the panel instead of some of the half baked retrofits I see on house roofing. Is there a place for something like this in Australia? Or is it like high quality insulation, triple glazing, wooden I-beam joists, Beco wallform and high efficiency whitegoods where our market is just to small for any supplier to bother to spend the ridiculous money to work through the Australian standards maze? I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
Don't get me started on this Panasonic have the worlds most efficient side by side fridge. Can you buy it in Australia, answer is NO. I used to work for a Xerox dealer, at conference a dealer complained about why they would not do this and that. A yank from head office got up and said do you realize we sell more copiers to the Boeing Corporation in Seattle then the entire Australian market! We are just a drop in the ocean. Also white goods etc sell cheap here compared to Thailand at least, they don't discount. Price is RRP , particularly on more upmarket goods. One advantage of having panels mounted away from the roof a bit is that air can flow behind them to keep them cooler. This wouldn't be an issue on carports etc with no lining behind it and free air flow. Would not be too hard to make a frame system that is water tight and configurable to suit panel sizes. There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| M Del Senior Member  Joined: 09/04/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 155 |
Madness, I used to work for a major tyre manufacturer, once a month a container of tyres would be sent to the US. We could not buy these particular tyres, they did not meet our crazy standards. But they came back in on US models being imported. They did not meet our standards but were allowed if fitted to an import. Also the dealers could sell/fit them as OEM. We are a drop in the ocean, but like iTunes cost double the US price here and the rest of Asia seems to be at the US price we are being ripped off. yahoo2, I am planning to use panels as the northern roof part of a veranda/pergola, there seems to be more hassle from changing panel sizes than council regs. The council guy questioned the safety of the glass in the panels(but clear laserlight was good enough?) till I mentioned windows and sky lights in large shopping centres. I was going to use 200w panels but they are now 250w and the size is slightly different. So currently thinking that one over. I also remember someone doing a roofing tile replacement with cells in them that you fit to a new house or retrofit. It made a splash and then quietly vanished, maybe it went overseas? Mark |
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norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
The concept of printable solar panels which commercially are not available yet, if and when these become available will make carport, greenhouse, building etc outer cladding and roofs with such printed on them common place down the track a bit. Can only imagine, but think about cutting a cladding section to fit, then passing such through a printer to imprint the panels on the outer surface. Bit like out ink dot printers. Imagine our caravans clad on walls and roof with such. Todays science fiction tomorrows future perhaps. How I wish I have a crystal ball and could look ahead a century. Back a century or so we used to burn coal in our houses to keep them warm in winter, then along come electricity and the more efficient and less polluting coal fired power stations (compared to individual fires) and electricity supply grids. Perhaps these printed on any surface panels will help replace those power stations. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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wallablack Senior Member Joined: 10/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 164 |
I am actually considering building a solar panel veranda when we build our own place... I have always thought that a round pergola on a giant slew ring (Lazy Susan style)with a built in solar tracker on it...the roof of course would be a solar array of some description...payback period = a lifetime! Foolproof systems do not take into account the ingenuity of fools. |
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KarlJ Guru Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178 |
right now solution is regular racking with a folded U shape aluminium piece between the panels to channel the water and some silicone between the smaller gaps on other panels...... different STDs for integrated PV panels and simply not cost effective. REC make one for the French market but they dont sell it here in Aus as impossible to justify the cost of certification given the small demand for that type of thing. kARLj Luck favours the well prepared |
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fillm Guru Joined: 10/02/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 730 |
Hey Karl, Good to see you back here, is it a bit quiet in the solar warrior world??  PhillM ...Oz Wind Engineering..Wind Turbine Kits 500W - 5000W ~ F&P Dual Kits ~ GOE222Blades- Voltage Control Parts ------- Tower kits |
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