Comment on Sweden is testing a semi-truck trailer covered in 100 square meters of solar panels
1984@lemmy.today 1 year ago
Good idea, it’s wasted space anyway so may as well use it.
Comment on Sweden is testing a semi-truck trailer covered in 100 square meters of solar panels
1984@lemmy.today 1 year ago
Good idea, it’s wasted space anyway so may as well use it.
nous@programming.dev 1 year ago
It is also added cost, added weight and complexity. It is only a good idea when those factors are outweighed by the benefits it brings - which is increased range? Or would it be better to put those solar pannels in stations alongside the road where trucks can go and charge up again? Then you can better place the panels to make more effective use of the sun rather than only having maybe half of the facing the sun at a time.
There are trade offs to everything and even if it is just wasted space does not make it a viable solution. We have seen foolish tests before - like the various companies trying to put solar panels under roads which has been a utter failure every single time they have tried - expensive, less efficient, and quickly needs to be replaced due t all the ware. Vs doing the saner thing and putting them above the traffic or in car park roofs…
1984@lemmy.today 1 year ago
Sure but why would you assume it’s not taken into account?
nous@programming.dev 1 year ago
With all the solar roadways test projects that have been done over the years that every time the experts say is a complete waste of time and then end up failing completely - I don’t assume that everything is taken into account any more. This seems like one of those ideas were the resources could be better spent on a different design.
Though I have not run the numbers - I am just skeptical of this solution. Not saying it wont work - just I don’t have high hopes for it to be a good solution at this point in time. It seems to me that solar panels in static places are still needed and are more efficient and can feed into the grid when not feeding a battery. And we should be questioning if this is actually a good idea. We seem to have a lot of ideas that sound good on the surface until you actually run the numbers - yet projects like that still get funding. Especially around supposably greener technology solutions.
1984@lemmy.today 1 year ago
Fair enough. I haven’t followed this development nearly at all myself. I’m hoping to buy solar panels for my house in the future but I want their efficiency to improve.
CaptPretentious@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Because the people who greenlight these projects are usually just idiots in charge of things. This will waste a bunch of money but will give the appearance of trying to do something. They’ll make a bunch of money, and they look good doing it. When it fails they will pass the blame to someone else.