Indoor Solar Cells? A 500 Megawatt Proposal

[maynardr6]

My keyboard runs on gasoline.

[isawanangel2]

this is great, just think BIGGER

[ArchNME]

umm... yeah, so then I can leave my lights on all the time so my TV will turn on when I press the remote. Sounds like a brilliant plan to save electricity...

[etzel33]

cells to replace every tv standby to save 2w/unit.... and how much energy to create each cell set that would save this 2w/unit? Payoff when? Lifetime of cell? Is this a real solution or just a convenience/ alternative to batteries??? eh... maybe.

[Craigipedia]

sooo... all of our appliances could have those tiny little strips of photo cells like our calculators have for a generation and we can remake the electric grid? Where was this guy for the past 10 years! Let's do this tomorrow. Cut a deal with Sony and Vizio and Samsung and make this happen

[rollsthepaul]

When the death grip of the Zionists, Illuminati, Freemasons is broken, the planet will advance and give much autonomy.

[ssmith73]

@rollsthepaul It must be great to be crazy...

[peppeddu]

It's easy to do it, and you can save money right now.

Install power strips with a switch everywhere in the house.

When you're done watching TV / using the computer, etc, I just flip the switch and turn the power off.

Works like a charm and depending upon how many appliances you have, you can save anywhere between $10 to $50 / month.

I know it saves me money.

[jetboyJ22]

It's always going to be more efficient to just put the solar panel out in the sunlight, where the power density is greater, rather than putting it on a TV, where it might get a tiny bit of solar and artificial light. In other words, if we took every solar panel that he is planning on putting on TV's and other appliances, and instead just put them out in the sun, we would generate far more than 500 Megawatts. This is especially true if those panels are in a place like the Mojave Desert.

[CharBroiled04]

@jetboyJ22

What you say makes sense, jet. But is a slightly false dichotomy: why not put solar panels on the roof or in the desert... and build them into all our electronics? Why waste any of the energy you could be harvesting from indoor light (regardless of whether you have panels outside or not)?

[jetboyJ22]

@CharBroiled04 "why not put solar panels on the roof or in the desert... and build them into all our electronics?"

Because the indoor solar panels cost the same amount as the outdoor ones, and don't produce as much power. Electronics will waste energy either way- the indoor panels *don't* make electronics more efficient, they just add new energy to the system. The new energy can come from anywhere- the indoor and outdoor panels are the same, except that the outdoor ones work better.

[frankroto]

The proposal makes no sense. American TVs are always on, never on standby.

[swinewarrior]

so switch it off

[ad2181]

Another snake-oil Cailfornia sales man, short G24 Innivations! But that light comes from internal lighting, which is from the grid. Why do we need your stupid answer? So I can get rich of you fools.

[CharBroiled04]

@ad2181

The internal lighting is going to be on anyway though. Right now it's going to complete waste bouncing off walls and being absorbed into your floor as heat or whatnot. Why not re-use some of that spent energy? And your nigh-on-conspiracy-theorist argument doesn't address, for example, the convenience of smaller, more lightweight appliances which will not require batteries.

[1RadicalOne]

Now what do I do if I want to work in the dark?

[Asiablue]

Apollo 13 was saved when someone figured out how to save 4 amps of power as the endangered astronauts turned their gear back on. This guy sounds like he can figure out how to do that for the country. Pun intended: more power to him!

[anikinippon]

Nuclear powered houses is the real solution, not running out of power until 1000 years later.

[crowdeg]

@anikinippon

Unpowered houses last longer.

[anikinippon]

@crowdeg You couldn't type that if your place was unpowered so you obviously don't take what you said seriously and i don't either.

[drealm]

@anikinippon yeehaw!

[marcmerlin]

So, let me get this straight, the standby power requirements of television sets - many sitting in dark, unlit rooms - are going to be met by photovoltaics? Applications that use already-on indoor lighting I understand. This particular one I don't. Will people have to turn on an overhead light to turn on their TV?

[blackiron60]

Just another salesman telling you that you can save the world if you only buy his product.

[lancerhammer]

@blackiron60 Doing his best sales pitch, indeed!

[molesticles]

1:12 .............FTW!!

[ndyt]

And if we get enough solar to charge our electric cars we don't need much oil anymore!

[thesparitan]

interesting.

[Mackaframmalamma]

awesome

[DackIsBack]

We should have solar powered roller blinds by now, Roll them down when you're out..

Enough power to run a laptop or a fluorescent light at the very least per blind with regular size(UK) windows, 30-100watts cheap and easy...

[Th3Wab3]

@DackIsBack great idea although i think things that run on solar energy in the UK are dubious, given that the sun for whatever reason shuns the UK

jk :-)

[DackIsBack]

@Th3Wab3 LOL, That's true for most of the year...

It would literally save lives in 3rd world Africa tho.