This strikes me as a clever plan.

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura) 01/10/2020 at 15:47 • Filed to: None

1

14

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/10/2020 at 16:10

3

I wonder about the economics of putting solar panels on school bus roofs. Large surface area, parked outside... They'd basically become mobile power banks.

facw > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/10/2020 at 16:11

2

The thing that bothers me about this is this bit:

They are idle at precisely the times when energy demand is at its peak — midday and during the hottest summer months.

This is of course true, but when school is in session they also still need range for their afternoon runs, after having been partially depleted for the morning runs. It seems like this means you either have to significantly over provision the buses so they have extra range, or you won’t actually be able to pull much power from them until they get back in the afternoon, so you miss that peak.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/10/2020 at 16:22

1

The Nissan Leaf has much the same capacity.

WRXforScience > facw 01/10/2020 at 16:26

0

You’re just using the batteries to help balance the load, so you only draw on them for short periods of times for limited amounts of charge. Usually you can set the amount that can be drawn (typically the last 20% of the battery since the last 20% is the least efficient to charge up and the longer the batter is charged at that state the faster it degrades).

The bus batteries can keep you from having to start up another power plant (typically gas or coal and the least efficient types of power plants since they trade efficiency for quick turnaround).

WRXforScience > BaconSandwich is tasty. 01/10/2020 at 16:27

3

There aren’t many reasons not to put solar roofs on them, but the area is still relatively small for solar panels and definitely wouldn’t be enough to power the bus (but it’ll help).

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > WRXforScience 01/10/2020 at 16:29

0

Sounds like you’re on board. I am. I also used to drive a school bus almost 40 years ago.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > facw 01/10/2020 at 16:31

0

They’d be fine. Think of them as being a tool for load smoothing within a supply network . Especially given there’s so many of them. Unless there was a massive load nearby to deplete them then their individual capacity is unlikely to be diminished.

South Australia has a battery bank supplied by Tesla and operated by Ancona(?) that does just that. It smooths out loads in the grid both on the supply side (when the wind farms are doing well) and the demand side (when everybody's ai con is on but the wind isn't blowing; or the interconnecter between South Australia and Victoria has broken again)

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > facw 01/10/2020 at 16:31

0

They’d be fine. Think of them as being a tool for load smoothing within a supply network . Especially given there’s so many of them. Unless there was a massive load nearby to deplete them then their individual capacity is unlikely to be diminished.

South Australia has a battery bank supplied by Tesla and operated by Ancona(?) that does just that. It smooths out loads in the grid both on the supply side (when the wind farms are doing well) and the demand side (when everybody's ai con is on but the wind isn't blowing; or the interconnecter between South Australia and Victoria has broken again)

Cash Rewards > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/10/2020 at 17:23

1

That’s my school district/energy company. I heard about this a little while back. Our kids walk to school anyway, but still. Neat

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > WRXforScience 01/10/2020 at 17:25

1

But if you use solar power the roof will no longer be yellow and children will die, plus the solar panels collect the sun and could cause sun stroke, plus electro magnetic radiation will caused brain cancer like WeeFee does, plus mercury is involved trust me I’ve researched it. Think of the children!!!!!!!!

I think I covered every bull shit solar conspiracy. 

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Cash Rewards 01/10/2020 at 17:56

1

I think it’s one of the coolest renewable energy schemes I’ve heard yet.

shop-teacher > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 01/10/2020 at 18:54

1

The roofs are often white ;)

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > shop-teacher 01/10/2020 at 19:01

1

Damn it wild conspiracies don’t have time for you and your facts. 

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > facw 01/10/2020 at 21:37

1

given the massive glut of solar during the day that might not be a bad thing.