zlacker

>>bookof+(OP)
So living on a narrowboat in the UK this is something I have experience with. We have a 335 W panel with an MPPT connected to a 200 Ah 12 V flooded lead acid battery. The battery in reality has a capacity of half that and in the 6 years of seasonality it has probably halved.

A few things :

* you don't need a fridge in winter so you can just turn it off. * charging battery banks / laptops in sunny periods results in the battery bank being useful in times when the weather isn't so kind. * no amount of solar is enough in the deep of winter. * any amount of solar is too much in the height of summer. * pubs are great for charging devices. * lead acid batteries last substantially longer if you only let them drop to half their true capacity and regularly charge them. Yes alternatives exist but there's something to be said for making what you have work for as long as possible.

>>marksb+ll
> no amount of solar is enough in the deep of winter

> any amount of solar is too much in the height of summer

I totally agree. I can't understand how it why solar is promoted, when the winter is when you need more energy as you're in more, heating your house, etc. You can't store your summer's energy till the winter.

>>verisi+Co
Winter energy could be done on a (smaller) community basis ... if it constructs a large enough, well-insulated thermal mass, or is lucky to live by one. I grew up in a place where, each winter, a large lake was covered-over by a couple of feet of ice. (Often covered by snow.) The water beneath stayed liquid. A heat-pump under the ice could draw on that source.

Worldwide, the ground itself, a few feet down, stays at about 50F year-around ~~ regardless of outdoor temperature. Locally, summer heat-pumping could be directed underground in some places. Reverse in winter.

Pumping heat from where it's stored is a lot less expensive than transporting and burning fuels. We do need to get better at it.