Re:Chasing utopian energy: How I wasted 20 years of my life
by dpierce9 on Thursday June 23, 2022 @03:22PM
(#31853996)
If nuclear plants were twice as efficient that would be great too. They aren’t.
Land use isn’t relevant for rooftop solar. There is basically no opportunity cost.
Everything becomes less efficient over time. Sunpower warranties their panels for a 20% decline in performance over 25 years. That means a 20% efficient panel is warrantied to be 16% efficient after 25 years in the field. To put that in perspective, panels made 15 years ago were around 16% efficient. There isn’t a cliff and they are still useful.
Suppose you abandon the system for whatever reason. You go back to the steady state of not producing power on that site. There is again no cost.
I am not saying nuclear is bad. I am outright rejecting the claim that solar panels are inefficient on any dimension that counts. I think this argument about degradation is beyond silly. I also think you are an astroturfing troll.
Land use isn’t relevant for rooftop solar. There is basically no opportunity cost.
Everything becomes less efficient over time. Sunpower warranties their panels for a 20% decline in performance over 25 years. That means a 20% efficient panel is warrantied to be 16% efficient after 25 years in the field. To put that in perspective, panels made 15 years ago were around 16% efficient. There isn’t a cliff and they are still useful.
Suppose you abandon the system for whatever reason. You go back to the steady state of not producing power on that site. There is again no cost.
I am not saying nuclear is bad. I am outright rejecting the claim that solar panels are inefficient on any dimension that counts. I think this argument about degradation is beyond silly. I also think you are an astroturfing troll.