this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2024
1 points (100.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26890 readers
1658 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected]


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Covering large parking lots with solar panels is an idea that goes back decades but in America at least it's an idea that has never really taken off.

What is the reason for that? Is it due to the overall cost or is there something else that keeps Walmart, Target, Costco, Sams Club, Malls, etc. from covering their parking lots with these panels and selling the power?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Installing and maintaining solar panels costs a lot. Perhaps the businesses found that not profitable.

In Hong Kong, we have a "install solar panels on your roof" project, and the electricity company buys the power you generate at approx. 5x market price. It sounds great at first, but people quickly realized installation and maintenance cost so much, you can only get back what you paid for after 10 years.

This may not be relevant to the discussion because we are talking about big space, and HK houses are small area-wise.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

you can only get back what you paid for after 10 years.

Another way to look at it: It used to be 20-25 years, so 10 is probably the best it's ever been for ROI.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Isn't 10 years around the expected lifetime of a panel?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

They're usually rated 20-25, but I think I read recently that some are still producing useful power after that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Read an article on an early adopter that had over 30 year panels. They reported it was still producing around 70% of its original rated power.