Comment on Switzerland’s solar railway has been a success. What happens next?

dadarobot@lemmy.ml ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

• Transform2942@lemmy.ml ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  This idea makes a thousand times more sense because they’re not trying to replace the load-bearing surface with an expanse of expensive and delicate glass, they’re just filling in otherwise unused space

  original

  • warm@kbin.earth ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    You know what makes more sense? Putting them on homes.

    original

    • Transform2942@lemmy.ml ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I agree we should be putting solar panels on roofs. I disagree that this railway solar idea is impractical. If this article is to be believed they have already demonstrated effective operation at pilot scale. They mentioned some challenges specific to this application, but they also seem to have compensated for them

      original

      • warm@kbin.earth ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        The challenges are what makes them impractical. The company has investment it needs to repay, so it obviously wants to tell you it's not a big deal. It's much more cost efficient and solar efficient to install them on roofs of homes and building, create shelters from them, or simply just make a field of them. Things like "solar railways" should be a last resort, after we have already covered the obvious solutions.

        original

        • -> View More Comments
    • theneverfox@pawb.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      This one makes a lot of sense though. You have a built in way to clean the panels through the trains, the panels are protected by the rails, and theoretically nothing should be putting weight on them (in practice the weight of a human or maybe a cow - at most)

      Plus railroads last a very long time. Basically until we rip them up

      We don’t need a solution to transition away from fossil fuels, we need lots of solutions. We really should be putting up solar panels anywhere and everywhere they will survive for at least a few years. Even if it’s 70% as productive as a properly angled panel, so what? We don’t need to min max here

      We need production ramped up and capacity online as fast as possible. If solar railways become a new source of demand, that means more investment in both

      original