[ExI] Small scale solar payback time (was Re: Planetary defense)

[Eugen Leitl]

On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 11:40:08AM +0930, Emlyn wrote:

> If the tech is improving at a good clip, then the idea of short

The thin-film technology does improve at a speed fast enough
to postpone the purchases. Especially, as the global solar market
has been overheated for many years -- thanks to FITs in
some countries.

> payback time, disposable cells (hopefully recyclable) might be highly

Polymers are not recyclable. You can burn them, or you can use
thermal depolymerisation, or make synfuels from them.

> preferable to long lasting tech; you don't want those cells up on your
> house for 40 years if 5 years after you install them, they are an
> order of magnitude worse than the new cheap stuff in the shop. Sort of

Order of magnitude improvements (not in efficiency or durability,
but in price) are more like 20 years.

> like, who is currently using a 40 year old computer, or even a 10 year
> old one?

I'm writing this on a keyboard from 1984 (IBM Model M, the rare
Spacesaver). I've been looking at new keyboards, and all modern
ones (including clones, and Cherry MX gold crosspoints) are 
distinctly inferior.

And of course modern computers break sooner, even server grade
components.

And as of 10 years old computers, how about 10 years uptime?

Host ID:150

Owner:mosaic

Description:WVNET VMScluster with both VAX and Alpha systems

Current Uptime:10 Years 181 Days 19 Hours 18 Minutes

OS:OpenVMSClust V7.3-2

CPU:alpha

CPU Load:59.78

CPU Idle:85.82

Total Uptime:10 Years 181 Days 19 Hours 18 Minutes

Max Uptime:10 Years 181 Days 19 Hours 18 Minutes

Average Uptime:10 Years 181 Days 19 Hours 18 Minutes

Min Uptime:10 Years 181 Days 19 Hours 18 Minutes

Last Report:Wed Jul 05 04:33:24 UTC 2006

Also see http://neil.franklin.ch/Usenet/alt.folklore.computers/20000717_Longest_running_computer

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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