Solar panels, snow and dust

I've been thinking of solar panels for a while now and now I'm getting a little turned off on them. I had read that dust and bird droppings on the panels can decrease the output of these panels and with all the snow we've been getting I wondered how they performed in the winter. Turns out - not so good according to CNET.

In general, solar photovoltaic panels don't need a whole lot of maintenance as there are no moving parts. They usually have warranties good for 20 or 25 years. Cleaning off built-up dust and pollen in the spring or summer is a good idea because that film cuts out a little bit of light from hitting panels, reducing the amount of electricity they make.

But snow is a completely different story. A thick blanket of snow--and we've seen many of those this winter--can all but eliminate electricity production. Sure, some light can penetrate through but the panels produce just a fraction compared to their potential.

Solution? Gotta get a roof rake.

Dryerless

We got a new dryer delivered last week ahead of the snow storms. We had been without one for almost 2 weeks only because Sears was unable to deliver it earlier. It turned out better than I had expected mainly because I did feel like I had to do the wash, dry and fold all at once. Plus, I did smaller loads over the course of the week instead of putting it all in one day. Fortunately, we were not doing towels or anything heavy so that was the main reason why it worked out.

More snow!

Near whiteout conditions today and it's been nice to be able to just watch it snow. The news about collapsed roofs and power outages has only made me anxious and it would have been better not knowing and just enjoy.

CWG reports that we are close to breaking the all-time record for snowiest winter (and this is even before the March storms that we sometimes get). The last snowiest winter was 2002-2003 and I remember thinking that I should have gotten a snow blower. But I'm just not into tending mechanical things which in a way is a pity. I really should know more of these things. But I have not found myself wishing for a snow blower this season. Perhaps its because it's okay now to relax and take it easy and not have to hurry and hustle to shovel so that I can get to work by 9 am.

Justine Picardie had some lovely photos of snow in Scotland when Europe was getting walloped back during the New Year.

Prius recall

Via Yahoo (AP) Toyota has announced a Prius recall (so far the 2010 models only). Our experiences with it so far has been noted here and here. I was not too impressed with its in-town mileage and have experienced the so-called sudden acceleration on our 2007 model. It's not so much an acceleration but whenever I go over potholes (and not always) I feel a sudden flutter or a jerk forward and notice that the ABS light goes on. It's happened while accelerating or decelerating and even while trying to park. It even happened on a test drive which the salesman waved off as my driving "style".

My feeling is that this more than just an accelerator problem but a real design problem. It is also possible that it is my driving style. I have been more used to a stick and have noted that the gas pedal on automatic cars in general seem not to be as responsive. In any case, our next car will not be a Toyota nor will it be a hybrid. I have a feeling that this problem is pervasive across all hybrids as well and not just Toyota.

Update: MR reminds me of the sudden acceleration incidents with Audi which resulted in a finding of driver error. My recollection of those incidents was that NHTSA was not as vocal in their criticism of Audi as they are currently with Toyota. Perhaps this is just a sign of the current administration's stance on regulation per se and not of Toyota specifically but it's hard to tell.

On the uselessness of Twitterati

There was a celebration of the use of Twitter to organize a 2000 person snowball fight on Dupont Circle. This utter uselessness of Twitter never ceases to amaze me yet the generation that uses it is enthralled by it and swears by its ability yet at the same time the same generation complains and whines about uncleared sidewalks. I'll be impressed by the power of Twitter when it is actually used to do good.

Let it snow

First there was Snowpocalypse then there was Snowmageddon which we are still recovering from and next up is Snoverkill. This time I did not shovel the sidewalk until well past the snow storm except now the next snow will undo all of that work.

The one thing that I dislike most about the snow is the fact that I spend way too much time shoveling and not enough time just enjoying it. I imagine myself curled up with a hot cup of tea reading. Maybe now that I'm nursing a cold I can do that.

We also got some mini snow last weekend which closed school on Monday (which seemed highly unnecessary because the roads were cleared by then) and before Snowmageddon the school had planned to dismiss early on Friday which I thought was a good plan. Unfortunately, it employed a trigger strategy of following Arlington County schools which decided on a highly unnecessary pre-emptive closure. From the looks of it the kids are going to be out of school all week this week so there were some lost school time that could have been avoided.

I'd have to think that school authorities are being risk averse since the 24-hour forecast has been very accurate this winter in terms of getting a good timeline down.

On another note, all the snow-packed roads reminded me of New England and Rochester where driving on this less than ideal condition was the norm for the winter. I'm not looking forward to the melt either.

Yesterday we watched as two bulldozers danced and pirouetted their way down our street systematically picking up snow and dumping them on our lawns.

Now another storm and more shoveling to look forward to. Yay!

Jerking my knee

I had a knee jerk reaction when I saw this link on MR which was listed as Which country showed the most spending restraint during the financial meltdown?

It showed bailout money as a percent of GDP and that the U.S. was the largest while France was the smallest. The link to it was titled When Sh*t Hit The Fan, France Stuck To Its Ideals While The U.S. And U.K. Became Socialist Monsters.

My knee jerk reaction was duh! The graphic shows nothing. A country like France with larger government spending the either the U.S. or U.K. would be more constrained in being able to spend more. Duh!

On more careful reflection my reaction is the same. Only this time, a more careful examination resulted.

1. Bailout/stimulus spending really should be as a percent of GDP as already depicted but also government spending should be a percent of GDP and also be depicted and thus a more instructive graphic could be ratio of total government spending (including bailout/stimulus) to GDP.

2. Some googling brought me to the following link which tabulates government spending as a percentage of GDP. France is 7th at 61.1 while U.S. and U.K are 19.9 and 50.0 respectively(ranked at 50th and 37th). So the hypothesis that France is more constrained bears out.

3. More googling lead me to believe that perhaps the numbers above aren't correct. This link has U.S. government spending at 46 percent. Another MR link also has U.S. spending at roughly 40 percent. Calculations using FRED data series FGCEA and GDP is roughly 9 percent (1,200/14,000). The CBO numbers seem to be in accord with #2 however, while here NIPA numbers show it to be around 35%. So perhaps it's all a matter of definition.

4. Which leads back to the graphic which isn't clear at all as to what constitutes stimulus and bailout spending. Do I really believe that Nigeria tracks bailout and stimulus spending separately?