this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2026
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Solar thermal is kinda obsolete I thought, now China is churning out PVs for pennies.
Solar thermal has some distinct advantages when you start talking about really big instillations. Especially when considering power storage, molten salt systems can store heat and allow the generators to keep working even at night. Much cheaper than batteries at very large scales.
Thermal solar systems are generally very efficient when the goal is heating something, not just generating power. So say, you want to run an ammonia plant without burning natural gas, or if you want to melt down metals for recycling. There are so many industrial applications where it’s a better way of doing it than using an electric heating element.
But t solar boiler can still be useful in some cases. Where heated water in "solar" on the roof is used immediately for shower etc.
Modern solar into a modern heat pump is gonna be more efficient than heating water. It's also more versatile and convenient, cause it maintains that efficiency when you pull power from the grid at night. And of course lets you use the power for other purposes.
I agree. But installing a waterboiler on a roof right above a shower is a lot simpler and probably still cheaper, for example in a camping hut situation, so off grid
Lots of huts probably have an ac or heater. This could all be the same device, at which point it'd definitely be easier than running the pipes for water and maintaining pumps and a dedicated tank.
Don't see a reason you couldn't have a simple ac window unit that also has a warm water port, which you plug a single cable into going straight to your pannels on the roof.
Edit: And once batteries are more affordable (or if you have a few grand to burn) you can then plug in a battery pack conveniently on the indoors side of your window unit.
The indoors side can just have a few regular outlets you can extension cord around to where you need them.
I mean it seems the more complex solution in deployment for sure, but its design could still have use in low heat industrial uses (sub 250°C, e.g. food prep, textile, sanitation etc.) where it is used heat -> heat rather than heat -> electricity -> heat. Maybe these replace thermal collectors eventually.
But that is not the point of this meme at all, just my thoughts.
IDK, heat pumps are basically multiplying the electricity they use.
Only with small temperature differences, the higher the difference the lower the COP.
You need a giant asterisk there. That "small temperature difference" is -40° to 120°F
I really don't get where those temperatures come from? I was referring to something like this. The higher the temperature difference between cold and warm side, to worse the COP gets. If you wanted to go from ambient to 200°C, the COP would drop lower than 1 and you'd be better off using an electric boiler.
For heating I'd guess it can still be relevant. As a means of producing electricity though? Yeah