Sun - Power Please.

[stateman]

Between 1 and 3 pm, the water coming out of my shower is at about 34 - 36 C with the heater off. This is because the water pipe feeding it runs along the wall of an open storm drain for about 150m and gets warmed by the sun.

This is great for saving electricity, but no good if you fancy a cold shower at that time of day.

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I value taking hot showers.

1. I picture running copper coils exposed to the sun. This coil system is similar to those in the back of your refrigerator and car radiator, except it now collects heat rather than dissipates it. Install a "hot" water tank to store hot water. I haven't figure out if this is the same one as below or a 2nd one.

Someone showed me his hot water system in Nevada, where there is a slow pump circulating hot water in the entire system every so often. This will keep the water in the entire system with a decent consistent temperature. This gives 'almost-free' hot water (operation-wise).

You may have a hot water heater, If you want to ensure larger hot water supply. This is optional and cost money to operate.

As JetsetBkk posted above, you have decent hot water for taking showers.

For retirees who lives in Thailand, a adaptation of above may work? One can schedule the time of day to take the daily shower. Mostly for free. But also have additional hot water for other use.

I'd like to hear comments about this thought.

Cost and ROI - I have no clue. Anyone?

[MrSquigle]

I know a guy in iceland that setup a solar hotwater and electric system...melted his house.

[Samuian]

I know a guy in iceland that setup a solar hotwater and electric system...melted his house.

Solar, haven't they got enough subterranean hot water there? Visit Website

[naka]

Between 1 and 3 pm, the water coming out of my shower is at about 34 - 36 C with the heater off. This is because the water pipe feeding it runs along the wall of an open storm drain for about 150m and gets warmed by the sun.

This is great for saving electricity, but no good if you fancy a cold shower at that time of day.

---------

I value taking hot showers.

1. I picture running copper coils exposed to the sun. This coil system is similar to those in the back of your refrigerator and car radiator, except it now collects heat rather than dissipates it. Install a "hot" water tank to store hot water. I haven't figure out if this is the same one as below or a 2nd one.

Someone showed me his hot water system in Nevada, where there is a slow pump circulating hot water in the entire system every so often. This will keep the water in the entire system with a decent consistent temperature. This gives 'almost-free' hot water (operation-wise).

You may have a hot water heater, If you want to ensure larger hot water supply. This is optional and cost money to operate.

As JetsetBkk posted above, you have decent hot water for taking showers.

For retirees who lives in Thailand, a adaptation of above may work? One can schedule the time of day to take the daily shower. Mostly for free. But also have additional hot water for other use.

I'd like to hear comments about this thought.

Cost and ROI - I have no clue. Anyone?

As a Brit who moved to the tropics as a child, I do not "value" a hot water shower, yuk ! ... and can not imagine

any local would do so either !

Hot water is good for washing the dishes

Naka.

[chownah]

There is a company that just shipped its first product recently....$1 per watt solar panel material...a new technology....the panel material is made by printing the active stuff (not silicon) on thin aluminum....very much like printing with ink I guess...so its really cheap to manufacture....I think the comapny is called Nanosolar...supposedly this is a major advancement.

Chownah

[SamuiBond]

There is a company that just shipped its first product recently....$1 per watt solar panel material...a new technology....the panel material is made by printing the active stuff (not silicon) on thin aluminum....very much like printing with ink I guess...so its really cheap to manufacture....I think the comapny is called Nanosolar...supposedly this is a major advancement.

Chownah

Now that every country aknowledges the climate issue, its sure there's goin to plenty of advancement on this area and product prices will fall for sure and get better as well.

"About Nanosolar Nanosolar is a global leader in solar power innovation. Nanosolar's solar electricity panels deliver unparalleled cost efficiency, enabling customers to use green power without paying more. With its proprietary nanoparticle ink and fast roll-printing technology, Nanosolar owns the processes and designs to produce the world's most cost-efficient solar cells and make them available in many versatile product forms. The company's headquarters are in Palo Alto, California, with European operations based in Berlin, Germany. More information on Nanosolar is available on the Internet at www.nanosolar.com. "

[Naam]

There is a company that just shipped its first product recently....$1 per watt solar panel material...a new technology....the panel material is made by printing the active stuff (not silicon) on thin aluminum....very much like printing with ink I guess...so its really cheap to manufacture....I think the comapny is called Nanosolar...supposedly this is a major advancement.

Chownah

manufacturing might be cheaper this way but the total setup -including storage batteries and inverter- is still prohibitive expensive for areas where a normal electrical grid is available.

[lannarebirth]

There is a company that just shipped its first product recently....$1 per watt solar panel material...a new technology....the panel material is made by printing the active stuff (not silicon) on thin aluminum....very much like printing with ink I guess...so its really cheap to manufacture....I think the comapny is called Nanosolar...supposedly this is a major advancement.

Chownah

manufacturing might be cheaper this way but the total setup -including storage batteries and inverter- is still prohibitive expensive for areas where a normal electrical grid is available.

Here's my suggestion. For each solar system you buy, buy 100 shares of the company's stock. That should cut the time of system payback to 1 year:

http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=FSLR&...id=p98806924036

[chownah]

There is a company that just shipped its first product recently....$1 per watt solar panel material...a new technology....the panel material is made by printing the active stuff (not silicon) on thin aluminum....very much like printing with ink I guess...so its really cheap to manufacture....I think the comapny is called Nanosolar...supposedly this is a major advancement.

Chownah

manufacturing might be cheaper this way but the total setup -including storage batteries and inverter- is still prohibitive expensive for areas where a normal electrical grid is available.

The company is suggesting that complete systems can be built (and I'm assuming they also mean installed but not sure on this) for $2 per watt which they claim will edge out new coal fired systems which they estimate at $2.1 per watt. Given that the coal system has a continuing cost of fuel while the pv solar does not this would seem to mean that pv solar should be definitely cheaper than new coal fired facilities....of course this doesn't take into account depreciation on the equipment I suppose.

Seems like this technology could be used to make roofing material which would definitely put it over the top....so to speak.....

Also, this news won't benefit any of us any time soon because their entire production for the first 18 months is already sold to large projects.

Chownah

Edited December 23, 2007 by chownah

[MrSquigle]

As a Brit who moved to the tropics as a child, I do not "value" a hot water shower, yuk ! ... and can not imagine

any local would do so either !

Hot water is good for washing the dishes

Naka.

As a brit you would have valued not taking showers at all right ??

As an Aussie living in the tropics for years than not, I still love a hot shower.

I would be keen to hear from Sunthai for a cost comparison these days of a soalr setup for a house, the savings etc compared to the cost of normal grid power setup and costs etc

In other words....whats in it for us to do it now ???

[mogoso]

Hi all, just my 2 bits. I live in Hawaii, (lots of sun) in a subdivison that doesn't have electric to all lots yet. I bought a lot with a small house on it, I installed a small solar system. 2500 watt true sine wave inverter, 8 golf cart batteries, and 4- 35 watt solar panels. Total cost $5,000 usd. I have propane stove and refer, no dryer, and the system probably saves me 30-40 usd a month. So about 10-12 year pay back. the batteries I just replaced were 5 years old, so will probably need to replace these in 5 years. It is a headache checking water level,and starting generator when batt. run out. I figure right the system costs me a little money. However I like the Idea of using sun power, as fuel prices rise maybe they will become more cost effective.

I am a plumber, so I also install solar hot water systems. These do pay for them selfs over about 4-5 years if you count state and fed rebates, and I have seem systems working after 20 years. For cheap hot water systems I have seem people use black water pipe laid either on the ground or on the roofs. You will only have hot water for about 3 hours after the sun goes down, but they are cheap.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm, I am such a slow typer, a post this long takes me forever to write, so I better go now. JMO, Chris.

I've looked into living on the big island. Many of the homes are off grid. A home I looked at had a solar system used in conjunction with a wind turbine and a gasoline generator. You always had electricity, but a bit of maintainance. The water catchment system also took a bit of work, but in total the amount of self sufficently you gain by living there is great. A good garden and skills at relieving the sea of a few fish makes for an active and healthy retirement.

[SamuiBond]

The source added that the government would provide incentives for the purchase of power generated by renewable energy such as tax credits and privileges, and capital subsidies.

Wouldn't this mean that foreign building projects could also receive these incentives when their do their new projects around Thailand (Sunthai)?