Chuck, true cost renewables

[Robertbarlage]

Please chuck send a picture of your solar panels so I can confirm your not full of shit and the fans running and your off the grid .

[furrowtickler]

Please chuck send a picture of your solar panels so I can confirm your not full of shit and the fans running and your off the grid .

I might be able to stop by there and see for myself.... I’m curious lol

[checking]

cc. is legit. So are his family solar panels. I think they used up his Jan-Feb power generation just turning on the fan to his 24% moisture wheat. lol

I say thank you to the oil industry for the three phase infrastructure of our area.

If you keep your eyes open before k-line strips the transformer for SP's use somewhere else, you can tell Sask Power that you will take over the oilfield meter at farm monthly rates for a bin yard, and save yourself tens of thousands to redevelop 30 minutes of salvage destruction.

Now that is a positive reason for saying oil is not all bad.

[blackpowder]

Numerous neighbors are using propane for drying and propane/diesel for electrical supply. Access to cheaper and eco friendly cost prohibitive.
This is where the rubber hits the road.
It's like paying $5/l for gas so electric cars can be driven by %5 of the population.
Completely stifling.

Natural demand for R&D has been replaced by whimsy.
Giving your sovereignty away really.

[Guest]

I might be able to stop by there and see for myself.... I’m curious lol

Youre driving right by lol

[fjlip]

Pictures please...

[tweety]

You see guys .... strip mining and leveling mountain is ok though for rare earth minerals needed for solar panels.... it’s all optics and following the money as many have said here before.... SFA to do with the environment or climate

Silicon is used for PV, not exactly rare earth. 1/4 of the earths crust is silicon and found in most minerals.

[ALBERTAFARMER4]

The best use of solar power right now is to displace gasoline burned in a car.
Soon it will be used to displace gasoline/diesel burned in a pickup truck.
Later it will be used to displace diesel in a highway tractor.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

The best use of solar power right now is to displace gasoline burned in a car.
Soon it will be used to displace gasoline/diesel burned in a pickup truck.
Later it will be used to displace diesel in a highway tractor.

Last I checked, truckers were concerned about weight, since every additional pound their truck weighs, is one less pound they can haul.

Li-ion batteries have an energy density of 0.3 MJ/kg. Diesel has 46MJ/kg. So to replace the 1000L (2000lbs) fuel tanks on your truck with the energy equivalent batteries would weigh in at 337,333 lbs. That doesn't leave a lot of room for freight, considering the max registered gross weight is only 63,500kg.

Efficiencies will improve that somewhat of course.

Edit, perhaps you are referring to powering them directly with solar panels, in which case, I will defer to Chuck to do the math on that, since he is the foremost expert on such matters.

[chuckChuck]

cc. is legit. So are his family solar panels. I think they used up his Jan-Feb power generation just turning on the fan to his 24% moisture wheat. lol

I say thank you to the oil industry for the three phase infrastructure of our area.

If you keep your eyes open before k-line strips the transformer for SP's use somewhere else, you can tell Sask Power that you will take over the oilfield meter at farm monthly rates for a bin yard, and save yourself tens of thousands to redevelop 30 minutes of salvage destruction.

Now that is a positive reason for saying oil is not all bad.

Thanks checking. It was only 15-16% wheat. But unsettled weather pushed me to do some at 18% too. Which is higher than I want, but waiting for it to dry in the field could be a long wait.

3 phase if definitely the way to go. Using abandoned oil field sites is a good idea. Roads and electricity already installed!

Sizing solar systems to cover the large loads of aeration fans that only run for a few weeks per year on most farms would not be a good investment at this point. But it looks like 25 kw will come close to covering my average annual usage of around 35000 kwh. A wet fall will drive the annual usage up alot.

[Tucker]

I currently have 18 hp of aeration fans running during a sunny day and still producing extra electricity.

There is an environmental impact to everything. Fossil fuels have a bigger impact. Especially coal.

I am glad that you are all concerned about the environment.

BULLSHIT!!!!

To give a simple answer to a complicated question, 1hp = ~745w. 8.5x745 = ~6.3kw. Depending on location etc, you'd need ~8kw pv array.

Panels put out ~150w/sq.meter. 8000/150 = 54 square meters. A common mount would be ~2m high, so ~27m long (roughly 7' by 100' array).

This is just to give you a sense of the order of magnitude solar array involved.

18Hp?? Still extra left over???? You have 700 sq ft x 18? 12 600 square feet of solar panels?? You should be able to see a solar array that size from space. **** you 'chuck. Or are you 'averaging' and using the rest of our paid for grid as your battery over a year? Which is it?

Edit: the 8.5 in the calculation is running one 1hp motor for only 8.5 hours a day. That's only when it's sunny. Good job grain doesn't need to be dried the other 15.5 hours a day. On this site we ****ing obey the laws of physics 'chuck.

[Guest]

Climate change earth muffins never do