New House Thermal

Ah, the good old days when you could legally fly over French
Nuclear power stations; now they were really good reliable
thermal sources! Nowadays rumour has it that some sites have
ground-to-air missiles as part of their defence; they all have
exclusion zones.
The reason why so little coal is burned in France is that 85+%
of French power is nuclear (that's what it says on my electricity
bill). The only reason that some power is solar/wind generated
is that the French do not want to be seen as the most non-
Green country in Europe. France has the capability to be 100%
nuclear, it just doesn't want to be as not everyone is convinced
that Nuclear is Green/Renewable.

I will try the Vinon solar array, never noticed it to be good or
reliable but that's probably just my crap thermal technique.
When ETA gets going there might be a huge exclusion zone
down there to spoil the fun.

And here's yet another reason to be anti-nuclear power: being
mostly on rivers I'd guess they are near impossible to defend
against terrorists.

How much wood could a wood chuck chuck?

Good question, Mark. I often ask similar questions of people who hoot
about their electric cars.

On 6/27/2017 8:29 AM, wrote:
Question: How much energy does it take to produce a solar array (Aluminum mining, refining, manufacture, Silicon panel manufacture, etc.)? How does it compare to the energy output of the array over its life?

--
Dan, 5J

I flew a lot above big PV plants in southern France, also above the mentioned new ones on the plateau of Valensole. I didn't find more or better thermals there than elsewhere. A big factor in the development of a thermal is moisture, and there is for sure more of that in the surrounding forest than in the PV area.

I'm also not promoting PV but Bert is right about the energy payback being about 2 years. Of course that depends a lot on the region. Electric cars and gray energy is a different story...

wrote on 6/27/2017 7:29 AM:
Question: How much energy does it take to produce a solar array (Aluminum mining, refining, manufacture, Silicon panel manufacture, etc.)? How does it compare to the energy output of the array over its life?

It varies with the location (the amount of sun, basically) where the panels are
used, the kind of panel, etc, but the current range is 1 to 4 years. That's a big
improvement compared to 20 or 30 years ago, due to using much thinner silicon
wafers, fabricating higher efficiency solar cells, and other manufacturing
improvements.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Dec 2014a" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm

http://soaringsafety.org/prevention/...anes-2014A.pdf

On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 4:23:32 AM UTC-4, wrote:
The Treasure Coast Soaring Club will soon have a new house thermal. Florida Power And Light is in the process of building a 400 acre solar power plant within 3/4 mile from our airport. Heat from this type of farm should make for a great house thermal. Anyone out there with experience flying over solar farms? Thanks, Bob

I think that this would depend on several factors specific to your location.. Two being: 1)intensity of solar radiation 2)Surface air temperature in the adjacent area.

Try it and let us know.

So, when will we see solar powered solar cell factories?

On Friday, July 21, 2017 at 4:14:17 PM UTC+3, wrote:
So, when will we see solar powered solar cell factories?

A great question for @elonmusk

Oh, I am a fan of solar energy, but not without examining the actual costs involved.

On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 4:23:32 AM UTC-4, wrote:
The Treasure Coast Soaring Club will soon have a new house thermal. Florida Power And Light is in the process of building a 400 acre solar power plant within 3/4 mile from our airport. Heat from this type of farm should make for a great house thermal. Anyone out there with experience flying over solar farms? Thanks, Bob

Flew over the two massive projects yesterday and the panels are about ready for installation. Certainly looks impressive with the layout of the panel frames and other equipment. Bob

At 11:12 22 July 2017, wrote:
On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 4:23:32 AM UTC-4,
wrote:
The Treasure Coast Soaring Club will soon have a new house thermal.
Flori=
da Power And Light is in the process of building a 400 acre solar power
pla=
nt within 3/4 mile from our airport. Heat from this type of farm should
mak=
e for a great house thermal. Anyone out there with experience flying over
s=
olar farms? Thanks, Bob

Flew over the two massive projects yesterday and the panels are about
ready=
for installation. Certainly looks impressive with the layout of the
panel
=
frames and other equipment. Bob


Long discussion in the UK forum a while back about whether solar farms were

thermal sources. Seemed inconclusive. Remember they are designed to turn
solar energy into electricity' not heat. And although the panels are black,
they
are also pretty reflective. My theory, but not proven in flight, is that
they
should be good late in the day having warmth trapped beneath the panels.
Anyone prepared to share personal experience of using, or trying to use
them
as thermal sources?