Comments by "" (@manofsan) on "Two Bit da Vinci" channel.

  1.  @andrewjohnson6716  - that sand stores energy by reaching very high temperatures. I don't think you want it directly in your floor, but rather at a safe distance where you can only tap what you need. But there's no reason why that energy can't be used for heated flooring, using a heat exchange loop.
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  2. Can this be practical for off-grid homes? I'd really like to know.
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  3. What are the tradeoffs with this technology? What are the pro's and cons? It seems very interesting, and I'd hope it could be useful for off-grid rural homes. But where are the weaknesses? I'd really like to know.
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  4. Why even use electrical resistive heating? Why not just directly use solar thermal and channel that thermal energy directly into the sand battery for thermal storage?
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  5.  @bzuidgeest  - what about if you're living off-grid, in some remote or rural area? Couldn't this technology be a relatively easy solution for that circumstance? Just have some sand silo absorbing solar thermal heat, and tap it for energy when you need it.
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  6. ​ @Shitin A.bucket - actually, a large curved/parabolic mirror might be even cheaper and more cost effective. That could focus and concentrate the solar energy onto the sand battery quite efficiently, without suffering the losses from PV panel conversion efficiency. What do you think about that?
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  7. I've read that heat damages regular solar panels and reduces their efficiency over time. Why wouldn't the high temperature from heating the sodium also similarly damage the photovoltaics?
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  8. And sand is way the hell cheaper than Li-ion. Need to get back more electricity? Just add more sand. If your sand battery was stored underground, then it wouldn't even be taking up useful space.
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  9.  @jacobframe8769  - what about using large Fresnel lens for concentrated solar heating? Could that work better?
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  10.  @klepow  - okay, instead of Fresnel lens, why not curved/parabolic mirrors to concentrate solar and heat the sand battery to high temperature for maximum storage?
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  11.  @klepow  - yes, but that setup has many reflective mirrors all concentrating their beams together. I'm talking about something much more modest, barely over 1000 C and not multiple thousands of C. We'd be limited by what the sand can tolerate.
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  12. Nah, sorry - electricity is fungible, whereas hydrogen is not. Electricity is already produced from a variety of sources, unlike hydrogen. You could have a solar-powered carport that could recharge your car, but hydrogen won't be easily showing up at your home.
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  13. Wow, so can this be useful for off-grid homes? I'd really like to know. 🤑
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  14. Okay, but how powerful and relevant is this photomolecular effect against the backdrop of thermal evaporation? Does it work only on liquid water, or can it even sublimate ice?
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  15. Why is electricity even needed for this sand battery? Why not just use solar thermal instead of solar photoelectric? There'll be less losses, with nearly all the heat being channeled into the sand battery for storage.
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  16. ​ @Shitin A.bucket - what about using large Fresnel lens for concentrated solar heating? Could that work better?
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  17.  @shitina.bucket9699  - do you think the sand battery can be used for off-grid homes in remote or rural areas? Or is it only worth doing for community power grids? Like is there some minimum size/scale required for it to be worthwhile?
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  18.  @loneIyboy15  - so where's the best place to use the solar-heated sodium? On the rooftop to power your home?
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  19.  @loneIyboy15  - so I find this interesting. Solar concentrators are a different approach to increasing energy yield, by concentrating the solar flux onto the PV cell instead of having a bigger PV cell. But this sodium thing is an alternative to fiddling with the PV bandgap, since instead you're just harvesting the heat (from sunlight or whatever) and converting it into monochromatic light to target a specific bandgap. If only we could find some sodium alternatives that produce monochromatic light which matches the exact bandgap of silicon, then we could boost the PV efficiency with the cheap silicon. (What PV material is LightCell using, anyway?)
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  20. I've read that heat damages regular solar panels and reduces their efficiency over time. Why wouldn't the high temperature from heating the sodium also similarly damage the photovoltaics? :body-blue-raised-arms:
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