A week or two ago I read an article in the Sydney Morning Herald which said the solar panels being installed on Sydney Town Hall are new technology that is cheaper and more efficient. Can anyone clarify this? I'm thinking seriously about putting PV panels on my roof but would hate to think that I'd be installing old technology which was superseded the following week.

Link to article.

Maybe someone can ID from the picture the make and model.

Background stuff.

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Making the world a better place just makes sense.

Thanks indianasolar. I thought this was an Australian forum (as you know I only just joined), otherwise I'd have put some more information myself!

This makes me laugh. First read the article and pay attention to this part:

The council was yesterday installing 240 cutting-edge solar panels on the roof, capable of producing up to 48 kilowatt hours of energy. That is enough to supply the Town Hall, the council chambers and the council offices next door.

Sounds wonderful and promising doesn't it. Now read the background report and get the truth. The system only provides 4% of the energy for the buildings. 48 Kwh per day is just a drop in the bucket for what the building needs.

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Dereck, PE, MSEE
Moderator

I dont know what the situation in the US is, but in Australia, the Media have an abysmal understanding of electricity basics, and even less of what the units mean.

A very common media report is when a new Renewable Power Station (usually wind or solar) is built, is that this new Power Station can produce enough electricity to supply so many thousand homes.
What they seem to mean is that the total energy produced over a long time frame, usually a year or more, is equal or greater to the total number of KWH that the so many homes might consume.
Where the homes get power from at night or when the wind aint blowing seems completely lost to the Media.

I actually put this question to a talk back radio show commentater, when this type of issue was being discussed, and after a brief period of deathly silence, his answer was, "Its OK, it comes from somewhere else."

I am all for putting up solar panels and what not to help get off fossil fuels, and I understand that some of this information may seem hard to understand to someone who is only trying to fill a 3min time slot in a news show, but come on. Have we gotten to the point where reporters no longer care to know what they are talking about? Or has this always been the case and I've just never noticed it before?

Good question, and the answer is you just noticed.

I do not know where you are at, but here in the USA the main TV networks for news (ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN), has in many ways become editorial or commentary and lack journalism. They mostly lean to the far LEFT, and promote their candidate who shares their ideology.

As an example back in the 2004 presidential election campaign, CBS fabricated a story to embarrass President Bush and get their candidate (Kerry) into office.



In the 2008 election process all the major networks spent most of their time giving Obama Kudos (78% according to stats), while most of McCain coverage was negative.


If I were to say when and where activism journalism got its start, I would say it was in the 70's with Walter Cronkite on CBS covering the Vietnam war. .

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Dereck, PE, MSEE
Moderator

well, quite a majority of reporters often appear like they don't quite know what they are talking about. no wonder - and thanks technology - we have all these forums where we can exchange information

They look like standard 36-cell modules, either single or poly crystilline.

At 48 KW-h per day, assuming 3.5 sun-hours per day, that equates to about 60 Watts per panel. At 1.2 square meters module area, that equates to 5% efficiency. Probably the numbers are wrong and they are more like 10% or 12%. That makes them normal rather than cutting-edge. I think they are just normal modules that have been hyped.

Maharg, I think you are safe going ahead with your plans.

That kind of technology already known since 2007, and it's not going well..