"For every problem there is a solution which is simple, obvious, and wrong."— Albert Einstein
Taking this as an example of a solar-powered mole scarer, it consists of a plastic spike, an aluminium stake, a plastic head, what looks like a crystalline silicon solar panel and an unspecified 'sonic device'. It also probably contains a rechargeable battery, as moles are crepuscular, but I'll ignore that as unknown.
Unfortunately the manufacturer doesn't specify the dimensions or weight, so I'll just do a finger in the air guess.
Assuming that it's around 200 mm long, 150mm of 25mm aluminium tube is around 100 grams aluminium (0.6 kg/m for 25mm tube). The plastic I'd estimate at 100 grams, and the solar panel around 80mm square. The sonic device is assumed to be a wound copper speaker or motor rather than piezo electric, given that it's producing subsonic frequencies, probably around 25 grams.
Taking embodied energy as 300 MJ/kg for aluminium, 100 MJ/kg for plastics, and 100 MJ/kg for the sonic device (copper and plastic).
The total energy requirement to produce a PV panel is 1,060 kWh/m², though that is for full systems, and we've already accounted for the plastic case, so assume 600kWh/m² = 2.16 GJ/m².
Item Unit Energy Quantity Energy
Solar cell 2,000 MJ/m² 0.0064 m² 14 MJ
Plastic body 200 MJ/kg 0.1 kg 20 MJ
Aluminium stake 300 MJ/kg 0.1 kg 30 MJ
Sonic device 200 MJ/kg 0.025 kg 5 MJ
Total 69 MJ
At the moment, none of this embodied energy is likely to have been generated by solar power.
A solar cell that size will deliver around 1.5 watts maximum, and assume a seven year lifecycle and, since we're in northern Europe, a 10% duty cycle ( assuming half the hours a year it averages 20% full power ).
1.5W × (60s × 60 × 24 × 365 ) × 7 × 0.10 = 33MJ
For most small devices which aren't in use every day, a solar panel is closer in net effect to a battery which only works when the sun is shining rather than a power source - like a chemical battery, it has energy put into it in manufacture, and you get the same amount of energy back over its lifespan.
I haven't considered end-of-life costs, but already only a third of the 100MJ energy for the solar powered mole scarer is solar.
Is the demand enough to justify mass manufacture of these devices?
ReplyDelete- solar pv panels analyst
Not really, no.
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