[Greenbuilding] is it ever sensible to use PV to heat water?

[Steven Tjiang]

We store potential energy in reservoirs for years.

There are always losses in any storage system.

---- Steve (KZ6LSD)


On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 11:47 AM, Reuben Deumling <9watts at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 11:32 AM, Steven Tjiang <steve at tjiang.org> wrote:
>
>> Reuben, why are virtues of banking deceptive?
>> I understand the grid issues but in my opinion, we are no where near
>> having enough PV to have those problems.  when we get there.....that's a
>> good problem to have (and solve).
>>
>
> The scale is a secondary matter. I don't like sleight of hand when it
> comes to the subjects we cover here on this discussion list. If someone
> tells me (as Martin Holladay just did) that PV heated water is 'better'
> than solar thermally heated water because it is 'cheaper' then I want to
> know why he thinks it o.k. to think of the grid as a battery when it isn't.
> It doesn't store solar energy for six months or even six minutes. It is a
> trick that generally works fine in the summer (especially in places with
> summer peaks) but not in places that are cloudy during the winter peak.
>
> ... pumped storage is clever, but that is not what we're doing, and it is
> itself costly and not without losses. When someone (Holladay) says 'the
> grid' he is not talking about pumped storage. Besides pumped storage
> doesn't solve the six months lag I'm interested in in this context, though
> it is great for diurnal fluctuations.
>
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