Green To Brown

It was interesting to see that an Electrician's Union (Local 7) is putting up solar panels to power their meeting lodge in Springfield.





The guy working on it looked pretty busy, so I didn't want to bother him. But I would've liked to know about how much panels like that go for nowadays, and how much electricity they generate.



How cost efficient are they nowadays? Are they any better than the ones made during the short solar panel boom of the 70's, that quickly petered out? Here's a clip from a report from 1998 about their energy collecting capabilities:

It is interesting to compare the availability of sunlight in space with that on Earth. A solar panel facing the sun in near-Earth space receives about 1400 watts of sunlight per square meter (130 watts per square foot). (Of course, only a fraction of this is usable due to conversion inefficiencies.) On Earth, the day-night cycle cuts this in half. The oblique angle of the sun's rays with respect to the ground (except at noon in the tropics) cuts this in half again for a typical spot on the Earth.

So that comes out to about 10 or so watts of energy collected, per square foot of solar panel. That must be why they're so huge. That must be why their so expensive. That must be why they haven't caught on yet. But won't it be great when they do...

Autumn is on the march, let's check out the colors, so far...

These trees along Walnut St. in Springfield are getting a little tennis-ball colored...



Elsewhere, the golds and reds are just about ready, but not quite at full vibrancy yet...







Green is holding on tenaciously, to it's title as primary color of the forest.





The next step; bare stems, bare limbs...





Late Sunday we noticed for the first time this season that we can see our breath in the chilling air. (can't see it in this pic, but trust me)...



Most of the birds that are going have feasted, and are just about gone.



These plants were still going on Sunday; I wonder if they've survived the near frost temps the past couple of nights.







Yep, the cold months are coming, for us to weather through once more...