Happy winter/summer solstice, everybody!

[RobertSmalls]

Metro, I guess you'd better fire up your human-powered, bicycle based electric generator. Or could you use the ForkenSwift to transport electricity from your grid charger at home to your workshop on cloudy days?

[Xringer]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...winter solstice = longest shadow (to go along with the long winter nights).

That's right. That's why it's the best day to pick out a spot for mounting your solar panels..

Check out the long shadows in my pics above..

[Piwoslaw]

You want long shadows? Here is today's view out of my window at noon:

[Xringer]

I don't think that I could live that far north.

For sure, my wife wouldn't like Polar bears frolicking in the backyard.


Instead of solar panels on the roof, you put them on the south facing walls??

My half-sister lives in Anchorage. So, I guess it's possible for a Texan to live
in the far North, because, she seems to like it up there..

Happy Holidays!

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by Xringer

Instead of solar panels on the roof, you put them on the south facing walls??

Actually, yes, I've seen it done:



Having the Sun this low would be great for solar gain, only that there is only 7h40m from sunrise to sunset today, and even when it does shine (last December during a 3 week period we had a total of 2 hours of direct sunshine) it's only worth something like 200 watts per sq. meter.

[euromodder]

Rather weird to see PV panels at 90° angles

Is that heat-collecting piping along the walls ?

[Xringer]

I guess us Bostonians are lucky today..
Sunup 7:11 AM with 9.1 hours of sunlight, then sets at 4:15 PM

I do see a blue spot between the clouds, so we might actually get some sun!

That's a neat looking house. I wish we had some bigger windows facing south.
Until summer that is..

When we first moved into this house in 1973, it had big cloth awnings above each
of the southern & western facing windows.

They only lasted a few more years. We ordered Low-E glass in the replacement
windows, only $20 more per window. But, got plain glass instead..

After seeing how quick and easy replacement windows go in, I realized
that I should have done the job myself.. And got the glass I wanted..

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by euromodder

Rather weird to see PV panels at 90° angles

Is that heat-collecting piping along the walls ?

Yeah, those are evacuated-tube solar collectors doubling as balcony railings. In many designs the tubes can be rotated by a few degrees to slightly compensate for the angle at which the whole array is mounted.

I think northern areas are where vampires like to spend the winter: You get up - it's dark. You leave for work/school - it's still dark. You leave work/school - it's dark. If you know when to look out of a window, then you'll see that sometimes it goes from dark to grey. Sometimes even light grey, light enough for the street lamps to turn off.

[MetroMPG]

On the bright side... (literally) the further north, the brighter (duration if not intensity) the summers!

[Xringer]

That's for sure. In the early spring, during my first evening in Bergen Norway,
I was totally amazed when the sun set about 10PM.. I can't imagine midsummer!!