WEBVTT - TechStuff Shines Light on Solar Panels 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.200 Get in touch with technology with text stuff from how 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:13.680 stuff works dot com. Hey there, everyone, and welcome to 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:17.239 tex Stuff. I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm la and both 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:19.959 of us have a sunny disposition today because we're talking 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.640 about solar panels. Lauren is already shaking her head into 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:28.200 the appointment. It's a Thursday, all right. So this actually 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:32.760 comes to us as a suggestion from listener Kirk via Facebook, 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:36.199 and the request is not sure if you've covered this 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:38.720 particular technology yet and one of your podcasts or that 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.279 and forward thinking it's an excellent show you should all 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.040 be watching that. That's that's that's a little aside from me. 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:47.639 But since it just it's just getting turned on near here, 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:49.879 and I've heard seeing this technology has been used in 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:51.640 northern Europe some time, I thought it would make a 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:55.920 pretty cool podcast, and then sent us a link to 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.959 an article about a solar thermal farm that's being set up. 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.680 So we thought, you know what, it's been a while 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.920 since we've done an episode about solar panels. Yeah, since 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:08.800 August two thousand eleven, I believe, in fact, back when 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:10.760 Chris Palett was on the show. Yep, So we did 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:13.440 an episode back then, and we thought we would update it. 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:15.760 So here's the update. We're going to start off with 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:18.920 a little bit of background on how those solar panels 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.760 actually work. Your basic solar panels tend to be made 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:27.679 out of silicon, and the dope silicon dopey, impure, purposefully 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.480 impure silicon. Right, that silicon is dope, you know. So 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:34.479 uh and there's another Oh, I got the hands over 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:37.960 the face this time, guys. Awesome, that's a that's our 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:41.680 pure wind. No, okay, so silicon. The reason why we're 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:45.080 using silicon in solar panels is that, you know, if 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:49.360 you remember your illustrations of atoms, they have the electron 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.240 shells on the outside of the atom, and those electron 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:54.760 shells can hold a certain number of electrons depending upon 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:58.840 what which energy shell you're talking about. Now, silicon has 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:03.040 some free A electrons in its outermost shell, meaning that 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:06.440 not every single space that can hold an electron has 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:08.400 an electron. And when I say space, I just mean 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:12.320 the number of electrons that can inhabit at outer shell. Uh. 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.960 Since they're they are free, then silicon can bond with 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:19.760 something else like other silicon atoms. So if you can 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:21.840 have it bond with lots of silicon atoms, you then 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:26.560 create a silicon crystal. If you then bombard this silicon 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.720 crystal that has been doped in various ways, either with 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.200 ions that have a negative charge or ions have a 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:37.679 positive charge, you can then induce electrons to flow. Now, 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:40.200 in our article on how stuff Works dot Com about 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:43.799 how solar panels work, there's an helpful analogy there. Right. 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:47.320 It's about uh kind of talking about hills, right. It's 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:51.080 saying that essentially when when you create when you create 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:52.880 one of these cells with a with the negative side 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:55.919 and a positive side, it's going to create an electron 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:58.919 flow that's downhill, right, meaning that like if you were 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.320 to have a rock and you pushed it down the hill, 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:03.480 it would roll down the hill, but it wouldn't roll 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.639 back up the hill. There there'd be that blocking mechanism 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:08.920 to keep it from going up the hill. Uh. The 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:13.600 in the case of silicon based solar cells, the photon 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:16.840 is kind of that initial push that gets the rock rolling. 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.440 So if the photon is strong enough to push the 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:23.600 rock and get it moving, everything's cool. You're actually you're 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:28.200 gathering energy through solar power. So the photon hits the 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:31.560 silicon crystals that are doped so that you're it's not 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.640 just a pure silicon crystal all the way through. That 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:39.160 gives energy to allow electrons to break clear of what 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:42.200 is called the band gap. That allows the electrons to 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.120 break free of their bonds and flow through a pathway. 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:50.600 Now they want to get to the negatively charged electrons 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:53.960 want to get to a more positively charged environment. But 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:56.000 if you have a barrier there so that they can't 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:59.720 just crossover, they you know that you get this potential 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:01.480 in your g but you don't have any real energy. 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:04.480 But if you make a pathway from negative to positive, 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.560 then the electrons will travel that pathway to get to 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.320 that positive site because that's really really want to be. 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.680 That's that's the awesome place for them. And if you 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.479 make them do work along the way, you get a 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.520 benefit from it. So like that work might be lighting 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.000 a light bulb, or it might be opening the doors 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.520 on the enterprise. I've been reading a lot about star 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:28.400 Trek recently. Um anyway, the work could be whatever you 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:32.360 could imagine an electronic circuit, and the electrons are going 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:33.800 to go and do it because it means they get 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:35.760 to be on the positive party on the other side. 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:37.760 It's just like me. If you tell me there's a 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:39.719 positive party on the other side, I'm willing to do 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:41.680 a lot of work to get there. I'm not on 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:45.440 a lot of lists anyway. So this is the basic 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:49.120 premise of a solar panel. You have the photons providing 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.719 the initial energy. Now, not all photons are created equally. 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:56.000 We have lots of different uh frequencies of light, right, 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:58.159 and so some photons have a really low amount of 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:00.479 energy and are only going to be able to excite 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.360 certain types of electron. Maybe maybe they can excite an electron. 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:08.040 If they don't have enough energy to equal what that 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:11.080 band gap energy is, then they're not going to have 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:13.440 the push needed to get the electron to break free. 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.040 They might in fact flow right past that electron, which 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:19.680 will come in handy later on. Um. But but high energy, 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.560 high energy photons can either at a certain point no 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:25.840 matter how much energy it has, you can't. You're you're 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:29.360 gonna lose a little bit if if it's got more 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:31.719 than it needs. Right. Yeah. So for example, the the 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:33.640 example I used in the old podcast, if you want 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:35.680 to go back and listen to that, is that let's 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:38.840 say that I'm capable of lifting a hundred ten pounds. 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:41.440 I'm actually able to lift more than that just then, 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:44.480 you know, but for the purposes of this example, hundred 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:46.960 ten pounds of my limit. If you put a hundred 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:48.720 pound weight in front of me, no problem, I can 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.279 lift it up. You put to one pound weights in 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:53.240 front of me, I can lift one or the other, 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:55.880 but not both at the same time. However, you know, 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:57.400 you sit there and you look at that from an 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:00.919 energy perspective, I'm capable of lifting a hundred ten pounds. 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.000 I lift a hundred pound weight. That means ten pounds 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:06.680 of my lifting power are going to waste. I can't. 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.680 It's not being utilized. I'm not capturing it in some 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:13.960 useful way. And in the case of traditional photovoltaics, if 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:16.599 Jonathan were that photon and you put to fifty pound 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:18.719 weights in front of him, he wouldn't be able to 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:22.120 lift them both, only one. Yeah, So we have to that. 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:23.560 This is where we're starting to get into some of 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:27.479 the challenges that we face with solar power. The big 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:31.920 one there is efficiency. Uh, Maximizing efficiency in solar panels 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.560 is no easy task, and in fact, it's something that 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.039 we've seen. If you were to look at it from 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.120 a big picture perspective, it looks like really minor increases 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:43.320 over the last couple of decades. But in fact, every 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.240 tiny increase means that you get quite a bit of 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.200 return on your investment, simply because when we're talking about 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.000 solar panels, were usually talking about big arrays of solar 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.720 panels where a little improvement means a lot of output 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.360 in the in the long run, and they've been so inefficient. Uh, 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:04.000 you know, je early about five of the potential energy 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:06.839 of the sun is captured by them. In fact, according 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:12.120 to some sources, your typical commercial solar cell will get 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:16.840 you about nineteen return. So of all the potential energy 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.360 you could be gathering based upon the photons that hit 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:23.040 that panel is what you're actually capitalizing on. Right, the 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.360 theoretical maximum for silicon wave for cells is about fifty 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:29.960 percent efficiency, right, we just don't get there. In fact 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:32.840 that the current world world record in a lab is 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:36.880 only forty four point seven percent efficiency, reached just this 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:40.440 year by German and French researchers with a four junction 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:44.000 cell and more on multijunction cells later on in the podcast. 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.600 But but that's but that's an elaborator. That's a lab, 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.040 which means it's not it's not sunlight that you're doing. 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:52.960 You're bombarding that with specific kinds of light to check 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.680 on its on its efficiency levels when you get into 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:59.960 the field. Sometimes literally in the field, it's much lower 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:03.960 in a field, not the field. Well, you know, in 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.800 my mind, there's there's one field and everything else is 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:12.040 just a pathetic copy. I'm talking about a field of dreams. 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:14.240 What I'm not sure what I built it. They came, 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.720 that's all I'm saying. So then, uh, yeah, that so 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:21.480 we're talking about really low efficiencies when it comes to 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:23.680 how much energy is hitting it versus how much you 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.680 are actually gathering. On top of that, you have to 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:30.480 talk about the actual financial cost of solar cells. Right, 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.080 They're traditionally pretty expensive, and I think that you and 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.960 I both managed to compile completely different figures because there's 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:39.600 there's a few different ways that people talk about the 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.760 cost of solar panels. You've got the pure manufacturing before 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.920 they go into use, and then you've got the installation costs, 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:49.800 and then you've got maintenance costs. Yeah, there's there are 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:52.480 a lot of different costs associated with it. I was 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:56.360 going from a report that m I T created about 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.559 some improvements that people at m I T had made 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:02.760 to solar panels. And that report, they said that solar 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:06.400 panels cost about seventy five cents per what of energy 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:10.320 UH and that in order to be UH to be 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:13.360 competitive against fossil fuels, it needs to be closer to 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.960 fifty cents per what. Now, that's just one method of 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.320 figuring out the expense. And and in fact the report 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:25.320 did not say, like what which factors they took into account, 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:29.360 whether that also includes installation in there and maintenance as well, 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:32.720 or if that was purely from a manufacturing standpoint, The 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:37.480 point being that creating silicon based solar panels is not cheap. 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:41.520 It's getting less expensive over time. We're seeing improvements definitely. 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:43.600 So some numbers that I was saying, we're talking about 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.200 the pure manufacturing is of two thousand nine being over 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:50.600 a dollar per what um as maybe fifty cents per what. 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:56.040 So then you've got a and moving moving towards to 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:59.520 something like thirty six cents per what. Right, And we're 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.040 also going to talk about some alternatives that might get 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:06.200 that even lower. But we're seeing, we're seeing the cost 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:09.839 of solar panels drop year over year, and that's, uh, 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.079 that's because of a lot of different factors. One is 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:14.840 that the materials are getting less expensive. We're getting better 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:17.120 at making them. We're getting better at making them with 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:20.079 cheaper materials, We're getting better at installing them. I mean, 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:23.600 it's become more business as usual, and so more companies 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.080 are more used to installing these for people. Therefore, you know, 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.480 we have people with expertise in the field now that 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:31.280 we didn't have five years ago because it was really new, 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:36.080 and the manufacturing processes have become uh more streamlined over time. 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:38.160 It's just kind of the same with what we saw 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:42.160 with the computer industry and microprocessors. Initially. When you when 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:45.880 a new microprocessor hits the market, it tends to be 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.920 really expensive. And part of that is because the manufacturing 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.280 cost to create something brand new that has a brand 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:57.360 new architecture, it's using super sophisticated electronics that you know, 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:58.880 to pay off for that, you have to have a 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.400 pretty high price on your product. But as you get 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.320 more money, you can invest more in the manufacturing process 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:07.839 make things more streamlined, you increase efficiency on the back end. 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.640 That means that you have lower costs. So then you 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:13.840 can actually lower the cost of the final product. Same 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:16.000 thing we're seeing in the solar panel industry. Yeah, and 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:17.679 I did want to put in that those numbers. If 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.600 if you have yourself installed any kind of solar panels, 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:23.600 you are saying a dollar per what I wish, um. 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:26.880 And that's because for private use, installation costs will cost 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:31.200 anywhere from like three to six bucks these days. And 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.360 per what per what? Right? And and that's um, that's 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:36.080 a huge improvement over the eight to ten that it 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:39.319 was a few years back. But in fact, I remember 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:41.840 seeing one report and it was based out of the UK, 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:44.800 which is already kind of interesting because the UK is 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:48.160 not necessarily the ideal spot to have solar panels. They 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.360 don't have as much it's a little bit cloudier general, 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:53.040 they can get a lot a lot of cloud cover, 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:55.800 just that's the climate in that region of the world. 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:59.120 But the report found that after about seven years of 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:01.960 use the a seven years, you would essentially be offsetting 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.040 that cost of installation. After the seven years, you would 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.760 essentially have recaptured those costs, and apart from maintenance fees 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.960 for whatever purposes you would need, your energy production at 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.840 that point forward would be free, so you would then 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:19.120 you know, be be at a surplus, which is fantastic 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:22.280 and the same thing is generally true throughout the world. 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:26.440 Um And as we see these costs go down, both 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:30.920 installation manufacturing, both all of the costs installation manufacturing and 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:34.280 maintenance going down, then that will mean you don't have 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:37.480 to wait as long for this investment to pay off. 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:40.760 Part of this is depending on the market. Currently there 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:44.560 is more supply than there is demand for photovote takes 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:47.880 and that's only because it has been so expensive. And 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.480 so I think that as this price comes down, it's 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:52.559 going to be interesting to see how the market adjusts 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:56.720 and whether we're going to see a flattening, a plateau 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.240 prices or or what's going to go on. And also, 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:01.240 I mean this also has to do with rare and 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.920 toxic materials, which you know, rare earth metals are a 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:09.559 big component and component and China is the chief producer 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:11.439 of rare earth metals. We've talked about that in a 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:15.400 previous episode of tech Stuff as well about you waste right, yeah, 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:17.560 well e waste yes, that was one of the yeah 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:19.880 in particular was the waste but rare earth metals and 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:22.520 I think We have a specific episode just about rare 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:26.320 earth metals because we we wanted to explain what what 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:28.880 they were, why they're important, and why is it that 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:31.800 China is the main producer. And the main reason that 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:35.400 China is the main producer is because it's super cheap 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.640 to get it from China, because China does not I'm sure, 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:41.520 I'm sure they have fewer. The problem with bare earth 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:44.920 metals is that they all contain certain radioactive elements, and 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:49.640 also getting them out can um can release a lot 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.840 of toxic stuff and there, and in general, if you're 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:56.600 doing that, you tend to incur lots of expenses, except 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:58.600 in China where they don't care as much. Yeah, if 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:01.000 you have fewer regulations, the it's a lot cheaper, but 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.040 a lot more dangerous for the people who are doing 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.640 it and for the environment, because, as it turns out, 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:08.839 there are other places on Earth that are rich relatively 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:11.160 speaking in rare earth metals. But it's the term rare 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:13.640 earth metals doesn't mean that there are very few of 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:15.800 them in the earth. That generally means that there are 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:18.760 very few of them concentrated in a single area, right, Yeah, 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:21.160 So the mining process is very different than you know, 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:25.000 striking a vein of say iron and being able to 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:27.480 mind it. So and of course that's going to play 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:29.640 into the other podcasts that we're going to record next 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.440 but has already published, I believe. So if you've listened 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:34.920 to our Minecraft episode, just know that we haven't recorded 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:38.880 it yet. You yeah, you're you've actually traveled. I don't 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:42.160 even know where you are now anyway. So we've got efficiency, 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:44.720 we've got cost, we have the fact that there's these 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:48.480 rare materials toxicity those that's another challenge. Uh And another 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:50.640 one is just the and we talked about this briefly 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:54.040 with the UK. It's just the how how practical is it? 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.960 Is it practical depending upon where you are in the world, 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:58.880 because if you are someplace that does not get a 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:01.840 lot of sun exposure, then you're not going to reap 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:04.840 the benefits of solar power. However, if you live pretty 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:07.600 near to say, the Majabi Desert, you're in a decently 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:10.720 good spot right exactly. And you know, I've that we 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:13.520 live in Atlanta, and I've seen homes in Atlanta that 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:15.520 have solar panels. In fact, there's some that are very 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.800 close to where I live that have solar panels installed. Uh, 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:21.040 and it's something that I've thought about too, But it's 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:22.720 another one of those things where I would really need 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:26.600 to have a kind of study done about how much 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:29.840 sun does my home really get? Would I would I 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:31.840 be doing? Would I be getting a good return on 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:35.720 my investment, Meaning that if it's going to be one 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:38.800 of those things where I'm only barely offsetting my energy costs, 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:41.240 I might be doing more harm than good by adding 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.480 solar panels, especially when you figure in maintenance fees and 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.880 all that kind of stuff in the in the process. So, uh, 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:50.280 you know your mileage will vary depending upon how much 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:53.640 sun you get. So those are the basic challenges. Now 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:57.520 what's great is about solar panels is that we see 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:01.720 lots of different companies and engineer and scientists looking to 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:05.200 address these challenges in different ways. So people are coming 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:07.960 at this problem from all different directions, not just from 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:12.640 solar panels, but from huge collections of solar panels. Yeah, 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:16.600 that's speaking of the Majave Desert. Actually, there is a 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:21.080 large solar thermal farm being built in California right near 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:24.440 the Nevada border called ivan Pa. I didn't look up 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:27.560 the pronunciation. We're going to go with that. Um. But 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:32.800 so it's like ivan ho. Yes, Um, it's on some 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:36.200 four thousand acres, which is about sixteen square kilometers, which 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:38.560 is something like six square miles for anyone else who 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:43.880 doesn't know what on earth an acre is and what's hecktears. No, 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:48.800 I'm just kidding. Um. And so solar thermal farms, as 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:52.840 opposed to classic solar farms, which are just large collections 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:56.280 of these photopol take plates, use mirrors a k. A 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.440 heliostats if you want to use the technical science term 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:03.360 for it, um to concentrate sunlight into a tower, which 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:07.400 then boils water to create steam to turn a turbine 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:12.880 to create power or not create power, I'm sorry, generate energy. Yeah. 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:17.280 And this, this particular Ivan Pope is using some one 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:21.119 D seventy thousand mirrors in fact, to concentrate the sunlight 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:27.360 onto three large like fo a k at seven towers. 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:33.399 And yeah, it's it's pretty impressive. They it's set to 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.359 turn on this year. They first tower just went through 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:40.560 a power power cycle test and they green lit it. 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:43.960 They said good to go. So that's exciting. As at September, 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:49.480 we are recording this. On October something something there you 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:52.399 go dates numbers only because it was right there on 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:57.679 my screen. I guess it's online too. That's great. Um, 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:01.440 But yeah, but coal ocation this is this is an 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:05.080 idea that we see in lots of different power strategies, 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:09.320 where almost in almost everything we talk about when it 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:11.000 comes to power. In fact, I'll go so far as 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:13.800 to say, in every form of power we're talking about, 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:16.720 heat is one of those factors that if you can 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.880 harness the heat as well as whatever it is you're 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:22.280 doing to generate the power in the first place, then 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:25.160 you can end up generating more power that way than 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:27.720 you would if you just let that heat dissipate into 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:31.440 the atmosphere. Sure, and these these thermal farms are a 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:35.120 little bit a little bit tricky in that you have 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:37.240 to have a really good location for them. I mean, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:41.639 it's there aren't that many sixteen square kilometer areas just 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:43.760 kind of hanging out where people are willing to let 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.560 you completely disrupt an ecosystem in order to put down 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:48.399 a whole bunch of mirrors and a whole bunch of 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:52.399 really hot water towers, um, in order to generate energy. 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:55.400 Deserts are pretty good candidates, although part of the two 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.640 point two billion dollar cost of building this thing out 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:02.960 was a very expensive move of a threatened species of 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:06.760 desert tortoise from this area to to a safe place 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:10.719 where they wouldn't be boiled. Um. Yeah, yeah, I can 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:12.919 see where that would be a concern. I mean, you know, 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:16.760 it's we often will think about things like desert environments 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:20.760 as being practically like but now it's not like. It's 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:24.320 not like tattooing or Mars or Mars. Yeah, now, solar 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:28.159 solar farms on Mars, solar Mars will not be hurting 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:30.880 for that although they don't know you don't know about 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:33.800 the Martians. Well, also I don't know about the storms. 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:35.720 So the storms could also really block a lot of 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:37.600 the soul. Now that I think about it, you know, 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:40.679 maybe I shouldn't make such sweeping statements. But you know, 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:44.080 there are of course, they're already solar panels on Mars. Yes, 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:47.440 that's thanks thanks to a couple of rovers out there. Um. 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:49.440 But yeah, this, this particular one is is set to 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:52.960 deliver some three and seventy seven net mega watts of 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:57.000 power in uh as opposed to the three two it's 0:19:57.000 --> 0:19:59.800 capable of total You're you're always going to lose some 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.159 in a system like this, and which is about the 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.040 same as a medium sized fossil fuel plant, it's kind 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:08.960 of sort of and yeah, the two of the towers 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:10.359 are going to be selling to p G and E 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:13.000 and the third is going to be selling to southern 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:15.960 California Edison And supposedly the whole system is going to 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:20.400 power some hundred forty homes. Right. So here we're looking 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:22.679 at a system that, while it does have a huge 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:26.159 initial cost, Uh, they are going to be able to 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:29.040 start selling to customers. I don't know how long it 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:32.119 will take them to recapture the costs of building that place. 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:34.160 I mean that's gonna take a while. You're two point 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:37.120 two billion dollars. It's no chump change, right. Yeah, they 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:40.680 had the investments from people like Google, and they were 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:43.320 working partially on a federal government loan. So some of 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:46.000 that some of that is offset. Some of the offset sure, 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:48.520 and then uh, but on top of that, you're looking 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.760 at a much lower environmental impact in the long run 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:55.400 compared to the carbon dioxide emissions you would get from 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:57.720 from a fossil fuel plant. Right. And there has been 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:01.680 some research on the brook Haven National Laboratory released to 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:05.159 study saying that UM, regardless of the technolog of the 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:09.600 specific technology being used in photovoltaics, they generate fewer harmful 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:15.199 gas emissions, like some fewer UM than anything fossil fuel related. 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:19.480 So well, and related to this is the concept of 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:22.159 solar trackers. This is something else that you can find 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:25.560 at solar farms where uh, in this case, I'm talking 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:29.240 about your more traditional solar panels that are using photons 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:32.120 to convert it to electricity as opposed to this approach 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:35.040