Sweets and solar power
Jun. 10th, 2023 10:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyornToday I had three friends over, to talk about small photovoltaic systems that can be run on a balcony. Those systems are not expected to do much more than to cover your base electric power use during the day: The things that are always on, like fridge, phone/router, and whatever else is plugged in and on standby. But even that adds up.
Gwydion has become quite an expert in these things, setting up a medium small system, including storage (you store the power you don't need, you do not have to deal with bureaucracy), from scratch, with used parts and do-it-yourself attitude.
I lack the expertise, (and skill!) but I plan to set up a prototype on the balcony (on a standing frame, not hanging on the outside, as the latter could cause trouble with the owners association, which is an entity I do not want to interact with -- it is no fun seeing one's neighbours at their worst) to see what is required for it and what it can do.
So does A---, and so we had a meeting at my place today, me, Gwydion, A---, and A---'s girlfriend whose interest was strictly academic as her balcony faces north.
I had invited, and so I had made Apfelstreuselkuchen (apple crumble cake?) and Black Forest tiramisu (with chocolate cookies, cherry compote, and cherry brandy), which all turned out fine.
The discussion was lively and not always on-topic, I again had to out myself as the person always the worst in class when it came to arts and crafts (this has been so since kindergarten, I hated crafts and art and textile work, because it meant turning promise (shiny pretty colourful raw material) into junk, and getting a well-deserved failing grade for it). I had also forgotten how to calculate sun angles, and even some basic trigonometry. Really embarrassing. (It's come back to my now.)
But we got the basic design for my project (especially "how to set up the panels on a free-standing frame"), next steps will be a parts list and then finding out where to get the parts.
For decades, private solar power in Germany was possible only for people who owned a house, and the basic assumption was that the owners saw it as a business. Which IMO misunderstood the motivation of people who considered setting up private solar power. Everyone I talked to or listened to for the last three decades wanted to save money (not make money, and yes, that is a difference -- I bake cake because that's cheaper than buying, but not to turn a profit!) and/or feel more independent. Which is hard when the rules and regulations are aimed a businesses!
But it's getting better now, and quickly. Only the FDP (liberal party, and no, not what US Americans might think when they hear that!) and the AFD (let's not go there) hate it -- the latter on principle, because they hate everything, the former because some wealthy person's property might be disfigured by some plebs putting ugly stuff on their rented balconies, and this is all overreaction anyway, as technology would save us all. ("Giovanni, I sent you two boats and a helicopter!")
According to my calculation, my first try is unlikely to amortise over 5 years. But, prototype.
So: Let's see how this turns out!
Gwydion has become quite an expert in these things, setting up a medium small system, including storage (you store the power you don't need, you do not have to deal with bureaucracy), from scratch, with used parts and do-it-yourself attitude.
I lack the expertise, (and skill!) but I plan to set up a prototype on the balcony (on a standing frame, not hanging on the outside, as the latter could cause trouble with the owners association, which is an entity I do not want to interact with -- it is no fun seeing one's neighbours at their worst) to see what is required for it and what it can do.
So does A---, and so we had a meeting at my place today, me, Gwydion, A---, and A---'s girlfriend whose interest was strictly academic as her balcony faces north.
I had invited, and so I had made Apfelstreuselkuchen (apple crumble cake?) and Black Forest tiramisu (with chocolate cookies, cherry compote, and cherry brandy), which all turned out fine.
The discussion was lively and not always on-topic, I again had to out myself as the person always the worst in class when it came to arts and crafts (this has been so since kindergarten, I hated crafts and art and textile work, because it meant turning promise (shiny pretty colourful raw material) into junk, and getting a well-deserved failing grade for it). I had also forgotten how to calculate sun angles, and even some basic trigonometry. Really embarrassing. (It's come back to my now.)
But we got the basic design for my project (especially "how to set up the panels on a free-standing frame"), next steps will be a parts list and then finding out where to get the parts.
For decades, private solar power in Germany was possible only for people who owned a house, and the basic assumption was that the owners saw it as a business. Which IMO misunderstood the motivation of people who considered setting up private solar power. Everyone I talked to or listened to for the last three decades wanted to save money (not make money, and yes, that is a difference -- I bake cake because that's cheaper than buying, but not to turn a profit!) and/or feel more independent. Which is hard when the rules and regulations are aimed a businesses!
But it's getting better now, and quickly. Only the FDP (liberal party, and no, not what US Americans might think when they hear that!) and the AFD (let's not go there) hate it -- the latter on principle, because they hate everything, the former because some wealthy person's property might be disfigured by some plebs putting ugly stuff on their rented balconies, and this is all overreaction anyway, as technology would save us all. ("Giovanni, I sent you two boats and a helicopter!")
According to my calculation, my first try is unlikely to amortise over 5 years. But, prototype.
So: Let's see how this turns out!