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#solarpower

27 posts24 participants2 posts today
Public
Mike Prior-Jones

I have a new preprint out, which is about choosing the right solar regulator for solar-powered instrumentation.

doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025

Hope it's useful! #fieldwork #solar #solarpower #polar

doi.orgSolar power systems for polar instrumentation: why night consumption mattersAbstract. Autonomous instruments, powered using solar panels and batteries, are a vital tool for long-term scientific observation of the polar regions. However, winter conditions, with low temperatures and prolonged lack of sunlight, make power system design for these regions uniquely challenging. Minimising winter power consumption is vital to successful operation, but power consumption data supplied by equipment manufacturers can be confusing or misleading. We measured the night consumption (power consumption in the absence of sunlight) of 16 commercially available solar regulators and compared the results to the manufacturers' reported values. We developed a simple model to predict the maximum depth of discharge of a battery bank, for given values of regulator and instrument power consumption, solar panel size, location, and battery capacity. We use this model to suggest the minimum battery capacity required to continuously power a typical scientific installation in a polar environment, consisting of a single data logger (12 mW power consumption) powered by a 12 V battery bank and 20 W solar panel, for eight different models of solar regulator. Most of the tested solar regulators consumed power at or below the manufacturer's reported values, although two significantly exceeded them. For our modelled scenario, our results suggest that the mass of the battery required may be reduced by a factor of 26x by exchanging a solar regulator with high night consumption for a more efficient model. These results demonstrate that a good choice of solar regulator can significantly increase the chances of successful year-round data collection from a polar environment, eases deployment and reduces costs.
Public
Eric Sparks

Solar has long been: 1. Individual homeowners investing $10k-$30k in rooftop systems, or 2. large utility-scale solar farms.
Does it have to be that way? Are there other options? in this podcast episode I discuss another way.

Listen on Spotify:

#solarpower #renewableenergy #sustainability #powergrid #electricalgrid #electricalutilities #sustainableenergy #sustainablefuture #sustainablepower #solarenergy

open.spotify.com/episode/5L6e8

SpotifyRooftop Solar by Electric Utility CompaniesSparks Sustainability · Episode
Public
Inglesport

1️⃣ Dawn brew, solar‑charged. Earth Day 2025 rings the bell: TRIPLE RENEWABLES by 2030 earthday.org/our-power-our-pla ⚡🌍

2️⃣ Sunshine’s half the story. We also funnel funds to Ocean Kabooms; home‑made river booms that rope in tyres & bottles to block plastic heading for the sea patreon.com/oceansavingkabooms 🌊

3️⃣ Energy sorted, oceans guarded. Got a micro‑habit that saves watts or water? Reply and brag.

A blue hiking rucksack with a solar panel attached to it sits on grassy moorland, next to a steaming blue enamel mug, with the soft golden light of sunrise or sunset casting warm tones over the scene; in the background, the distinctive flat summit of Ingleborough rises against a clear sky in the Yorkshire Dales. Bold cream-coloured text over the image reads, "Our Power. Our Planet. Earth Day 2025."
#earthday#earthday2025#yorkshiredales
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