Transform2942 comments on Switzerland’s solar railway has been a success. What happens next?

[–] Transform2942@lemmy.ml 9 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I agree we should be putting solar panels on roofs. I disagree that this railway solar idea is impractical. If this article is to be believed they have already demonstrated effective operation at pilot scale. They mentioned some challenges specific to this application, but they also seem to have compensated for them

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[–] warm@kbin.earth 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

The challenges are what makes them impractical. The company has investment it needs to repay, so it obviously wants to tell you it's not a big deal. It's much more cost efficient and solar efficient to install them on roofs of homes and building, create shelters from them, or simply just make a field of them. Things like "solar railways" should be a last resort, after we have already covered the obvious solutions.

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[–] Transform2942@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 months ago

I don't think it's a slam dunk case. There's lots of costs associated with installing solar on a roof that may not apply here. I think someone would have to do a comparative lifecycle analysis

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