Solar Lights....?

I have had solar lights. They do have a battery in them. But the battery does not give the light by itself. The lights are suppose to take in the sunlight for approx 24 through 48 hours before turning them on. If you use lights on the side with out sun light you may want to use a different method of light for that side.

1. If solar prices will be dropping in the future, doesn't it make sense to not subsidize solar now?

The costs of global warming will not be dropping. They will increase faster than any decrease in technology - up until the point where demand/need for the technology will drive those costs up also

2. How can i caculate when a total solar and lunar eclipse will occur at my location?

There are many astronomical softwares which can be used to calculate Lunar &Solar eclipse. Nasa/eclipse page will give you the details of eclipse in different years. Jean Meeus has written books how to computer for astronomical calculations. Also astronomy with your computer.Both explains calculations. Free software named mooncalc is available on internet to download and can be used to find eclipses.

3. Is the "solar wind" an actual wind? ?

The solar wind if a stream of particles from the Sun. And it does not blow away the probes because it's just not strong enough!

4. solar energy question!?

haha, you would pay about 10,000 just to get that stuff, but it may be a good investment if you are not in a consistently cloudy area. Do not worry about "going green," its all a money-making scam and a fad, it will wear off eventually.

5. Amount of solar panels needed to run a/c and pool pump?

Solar panels are not going to be able to run a pool pump 24/7. They will only produce their rated electricity for 4 to 8 hours a day. For the balance you will need a grid connection or a battery backup. Running the AC would require different power levels depending upon humidity, outside temperature levels, solar gain for the house, and insulation levels. An underground house in Maine will be much easier to AC than a Glass house in Arizona. First find the power requirements. If you had the existing equipment they will have a label with the power requirements or the minimum breaker required if nothing else. For example the pool pump may require a 10 amp 240 breaker while the AC may require a 30 amp 240 breaker. That would be 2400 watts for the pump and (30 x 240) 7200 watts for the AC or a total of 9.6kW each hour of operation. (max) You will next need to find the rated capacity of the solar panels. If each panel were rated at 300 watts then you would need 32 panels for the daytime use and perhaps more to fill in a battery backup. All the numbers are very rough estimates.

6. anyone else found solar power companies that lease panels for your roof a little flaky?

I've found lots of companies everywhere of all kinds to be flaky. And you could probably have an interrupt circuit installed to your solar system, depending on the local laws where you live. Some places do not even allow them because of the risks, but that even applies to generators.

7. solar powered home is US?

You might check the website below - I did not look around, but it is a good website

8. solar panels and electrocution?

solar panels are usually 12 or 24 volts for the smaller ones, and those voltages are pretty safe. larger arrays can be connected in series or parallel, depending on the battery configuration. It's likely for a large installation to produce 48 volts or even higher, and those voltages can be dangerous. Higher voltages are used on large installations to cut down on the cost of the wiring. But, any solar array has an inverter somewhere, running off a battery, and that will output 120 or 240 VAC, and that is definitely dangerous. So this raises an interesting point. Should all solar panel installations include a cutoff switch accessible to fire fighters? It looks like they should. The switch has to cutoff the voltage from the array, and also turn off the inverter. edit: but switching off the voltage from the array is not enough, as the array is still putting out power (assuming the sun is shining). One possibility is to use a multiple pole relay located very near the array to open both and - leads from the array. Thus there is no path for the current to get to ground. If water got everything wet, the array would short across itself but still be isolated from ground. But what if the relay fails? Max, you seem to have the idea that it takes a lot of current to be dangerous. No, 20mA can shock you, 50mA can kill you, and there are a lot of arrays that can put out 48 volts at many amps. edit2: "edit: you could place a normal off switch on the solar array and hook it up to the fire alarm for industrial systems, the switch should open even when power fails. And you are correct in saying that it is the current that kills, but you still have to have enough volts to get a decent current trough a human (no mater what the max current output is). The real question is then do solar panels have a fixed current output (then its dangerous) or a fixed voltage (then with max 50 volts is even wet not a problem)" sorry, 50 volts IS a problem, lots of people have been killed from 50 volts. I admit it is not as likely as with 100 or 200 volts, but it is still possible, specially with a lot of water around. I do not remember the UL spec offhand, but I think it is somewhere around 20 volts. solar panels have a variable voltage, dependent on the amount of light on them. You have to plan on the highest possible voltage. The current output is usually in the tens of amps or higher, more than enough to kill, so it is the voltage that will determine the current through your body. edit3: dividing up the world into constant voltage sources and constant current sources is meaningless, as neither exists in real life. All voltage sources are a imperfect voltage source or an imperfect current source or something in between. .