Effects of Headlights on mpg: 6%?

[nateman2007]

I think a practical application of solar would be DRLs front and back.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by nateman2007

I think a practical application of solar would be DRLs front and back.

I know what you mean is something driven from a battery charged by solar power or similar but I immediately had the joke about solar powered torches come into my mind. You know, kind of like the gas leak device detection device which is illuminated by a candle.

I think I read somewhere that in Germany someone had worked out that the grant for solar power generated by a home was so much higher than conventional grid power than you could earn an income by powering solar panels in your home using bulbs powered from the mains.

[ShadeTreeMech]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

I think I read somewhere that in Germany someone had worked out that the grant for solar power generated by a home was so much higher than conventional grid power than you could earn an income by powering solar panels in your home using bulbs powered from the mains.

The trouble with grid power is that it is heavily subsidized (at least in the US) which means that it is partly paid for by taxes. And to me it seems justification for bigger gov't, a trait the colonists of 1776 wouldn't have approved of.

[gone-ot]

...it takes gasoline to make the HP necessary to spin the alternator to produce the electricity needed to illuminate the lamps.

...and each "process" along that path is always less than 100% efficient.

[ShadeTreeMech]

this is true.

But my question is, in the scenario Arragonis mentions, the gov't subsidizes part of the electric from the grid. The question is, what is the efficiency of an alternator compared to the gov't?

[Weather Spotter]

since when does the government subside the utility s to make power? they regulate the cost of power but they do not subsidize it. If you know of a place where they do I want to see it in writing.

they subsides renewable energy (solar and wind) if they do any other is is counter productive to increasing the renewable power.

[daring4]

I work for the power company here and would know first hand if Obama was helping us along. He is not! The corperation comission regulates prices at the state level. Of course we do have SRP, which is helped by the gov't and wouldn't you know it, they charge more per kilowatt than the public utility!

[bestclimb]

Originally Posted by Weather Spotter

since when does the government subside the utility s to make power? they regulate the cost of power but they do not subsidize it. If you know of a place where they do I want to see it in writing.

they subsides renewable energy (solar and wind) if they do any other is is counter productive to increasing the renewable power.

I don't have a bill in front of me because I moved out of bushy AK, but the FEDGOV and AKGOV subsidizes the electricity out there a lot.

[EdKiefer]

Any lessening of the load on the alternator will help .

If not car makers like Honda would not engineer dual load alternator outputs (low/high output - ELD ) .
Honda drops the voltage to like 7v for DRL using the high beam bulb .

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

I think I read somewhere that in Germany someone had worked out that the grant for solar power generated by a home was so much higher than conventional grid power than you could earn an income by powering solar panels in your home using bulbs powered from the mains.

LOL

Over here in Belgium, the return for 1000 kWh solar energy produced is 350 euro (and is even higher for those who installed solar power before 2010).
That's effectively double the all-in cost of 1000 kWh electricity bought commercially from a green electricity supplier (180 euro on the residential market).

Downright ridulous, but hey, amongst other things, my employer makes much of the silicon for photovoltaic cells