[tomtom]

Our road. Normally full of Residents cars - and despite being a cul de sac - with a nearby mosque a regular stream of cars coming and going.

For the last 3-4  weeks it’s been blissfully quiet - and yesterday (most) of the residents got together and moved their cars somewhere else so the kids could use the road for their bikes/scootering 👍👍

[ben]

https://www.iflscience.com/environment/himalayan-peaks-visible-parts-india-first-time-decades-thanks-covid-lockdown/

[lagerstarfish]

What we've been doing on our street

[Oldmanmatt]

What we've been doing on our street

I’d join in, but there really isn’t enough beer available here, not to mention that, if I’d had enough to join in, I wouldn’t be able to join in...

[i.munro]

Here in France they just announced that the road death figures for March are the lowest for decades. I guess the numbers of people dying from air pollution will be similarly reduced.

Did you watch Macron's address this evening? It seems that France has an adult in charge.

Sorry only just spotted this one! I;ve seen a few now. He can certainly deliver a speech well but that seems a pretty low bar for a politician. Performance-wise I'm less-impressed. Death figures in France are still higher than the UK (ok largely because they're being more honest about the numbers  as far as I can tell) but being slightly less incompetent than Boris Pfeffel Incompetence-is-my-middle-name Johnson isn't saying much either. I lived in London when he was mayor so I'm well aware how toweringly, monumentally incompetent he is.

[SA Chris]

https://time.com/5824644/germany-coronavirus-solar/

Does anyone feel things might be lining up for a major paradigm shift? I realise great weather is a factor too

[abarro81]

There are upsides and downsides for solar from covid-related effects. As a very brief summary: who the hell knows. For solar:
Upsides
- PV panels are mostly bulk materials costs nowadays. Global recession probably means lower commodities prices. Cheaper aluminium, silver, copper, oil-derived chemicals etc = cheaper solar panels
- Economic stimulus packages may favour renewables


Downsides
- Lockdowns have logistics effects that reduce short-term demand, especially in the residential market. Major downturn in residential right now. Global PV installations this year likely to be down on last year (this is a rare occurrence)
- Lower power prices in play into models for how profitable projects will be. Minor effect unless you think it's a long-term thing as these are 25+yr assets anyway.
- Economic stimulus packages may not favour renewables (e.g. US one recently went through but the solar lobby failed to get extension for tax credits attached)
- Recession normally means strong $, which makes finance harder in developing countries
- Project finance may get harder to obtain in a recession (especially in some markets, e.g. tax credits may become less appealing)

Overall I'd day 2020 is likely to be weak for solar investments, 2021 onwards is v uncertain and will depend a lot on stimulus packages

[gme]

What we've been doing on our street

That’s great. Say hi to Charlie and joe from me. Know them for years and had no idea you lived on the same street. If you could bottle her energy we wouldn’t need oil anymore.

[tomtom]

I could imagine a brash shouty person from some think tank or other rattling off that précis on wake up to money etc... 😂

Maybe I’m being optimistic - but people might actually choose renewables more having enjoyed the 3-6 months of a cleaner quieter world that we’re all living in at the moment.

[abarro81]

Mine? Ha. Probably not written in my normal "that's a load of bollocks and you're all morons" style as I'm in work territory here - forecasting the cost of PV panels is about 50% of my job

[lagerstarfish]

That’s great. Say hi to Charlie and joe from me. Know them for years and had no idea you lived on the same street. If you could bottle her energy we wouldn’t need oil anymore.

I will.

They are across the road from us.

 

[rich d]

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_S_GKvHO5Q/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Not sure about inserting videos, so it's just a link,but this is something we put together for our karate friends, reached out to different clubs and friends and then we put it together. Made us smile anyway when we can't be training together.
Cheers Rich

[Offwidth]

There are upsides and downsides for solar from covid-related effects. As a very brief summary: who the hell knows. For solar:
Upsides
- PV panels are mostly bulk materials costs nowadays. Global recession probably means lower commodities prices. Cheaper aluminium, silver, copper, oil-derived chemicals etc = cheaper solar panels

For bulk electricity generation the efficiency of the PV systems also matters and as per any electrical systems the economies of scale as production grows (ditto for wind). The recent cost drops for equivalent /kWh bulk generation have been massive and don't look to be slowing to a stop any time soon. Another key cost factor for bulk solar (and wind) is energy storage due to the fluctuations in output (the cost of battery or equivalent storage systems). This really is a game changer in the coming decade as oil and gas simply look increasingly uncompetitive, except for fast grid balancing.

https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-power-cost-decrease-2018-5?r=US&IR=T

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source

There are some nice visualisations here:

https://ourworldindata.org/renewable-energy

[Duma]

Sorry for continuing the ot, but prompt power is what I do. Large scale oil is not a thing in this country, and hasn't been for a decade. Gas will be around for a decade at least as a big contributor.
Grid scale battery tech will change everything. Once that scales there'll be a step change

[Fultonius]

Sorry for continuing the ot, but prompt power is what I do. Large scale oil is not a thing in this country, and hasn't been for a decade. Gas will be around for a decade at least as a big contributor.
Grid scale battery tech will change everything. Once that scales there'll be a step change

Heard an interesting talk from the head of development at National Grid last year, she was pointing out that while there are technical issues to solve with integration of lots of electric vehicles, there's also a huge potential (60 to 70kwh per house as easily tapped storage). Obviously, this mainly only serves the short term storage issue. It's the longer term storage that was (is) the tough nut to crack. The scale of storage required for 4 or 5 days of low wind in the UK is pretty huge. Again, more interconnection to bulk solar would help.

[petejh]

Gigantic solar ships, moored offshore? Could also have turbines on their hulls?

[Paul B]

Gigantic solar ships, moored offshore? Could also have turbines on their hulls?

We got asked to look at a floating array on one of our schemes but the company quickly revised that when it turned out that their first attempt sat just at or below the water level and the birds weren't seeing it. Carnage.

[petejh]

Gigantic solar ships, moored offshore? Could also have turbines on their hulls?

We got asked to look at a floating array on one of our schemes but the company quickly revised that when it turned out that their first attempt sat just at or below the water level and the birds weren't seeing it. Carnage.

Also thinking about it a massive floating offshore solar array would probably quickly turn into a massive floating guano-covered solar array offshore. Although you could employ a couple of Peregrines to conduct combat air patrols.

[teestub]

Perfect for the roped access industry!

[36chambers]

I've finally thought of a positive thing, for myself, from the lockdown.

I have spent my entire adult life wanting a moustache, but I never knew if I could actually grow one.

After 5 weeks of isolated effort, I now know the answer!

[tomtom]

I've finally thought of a positive thing, for myself, from the lockdown.

I have spent my entire adult life wanting a moustache, but I never knew if I could actually grow one.

After 5 weeks of isolated effort, I now know the answer!

:D I did a (related) first yesterday. For the first time in my 50 years I trimmed my beard!!

[SA Chris]

I'm contemplating a Travis Bickle cut for a laugh for a few days, might see how much I can raise for charity..

[teestub]

After 5 weeks of isolated effort, I now know the answer!

Don’t leave us hanging without a pic!

[Will Hunt]

After 5 weeks of isolated effort, I now know the answer!

Don’t leave us hanging without a pic!

I gather that the null hypothesis could not be rejected.

[lagerstarfish]

An unexpected consequence of this virus situation - the resurgence of the mountain bike drug dealers in town centres.

Dealers in cars soon run out of credible "essential travel" excuses for hanging around town, but someone on a bike is harder to intercept and can repeatedly claim that they are out to get their daily exercise.

Obviously, drug dealers are not a good thing generally, but I like the retro feel of seeing them wheeling about town.