Comments on: The First Solar Panel Garage Door?

By: Chrispjy

Chrispjy — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:42:21 +0000

There are more than a few chalenges with this idea
1 Depending on the roof overhang-you may not have any available solar gain on summer on a south facing door. Sun is high in the sky.

2 Most all EV’s need 110 or 220 AC.
That means you’ll need an inverter.
How will you run DC power to the inverter, especialy when the door opens

3. The figure of 1kw per square meter is for direct gain….like for a tracker.
Fixed array facing horizon would be only a third of that or so …. Over the calendar year

By: Martin

Martin — Sat, 09 May 2009 20:52:36 +0000

Well, isn’t there an obvious problem with this? The car is used the most for transportation back and from work, and the period we are at work just happens to coincide rather unfortunately with the period that the sun is up and at its brightest – effectively giving you roughly 1-2 hours of quality sunlight (if you live close enough to the equator) per day!

You might actually be better of convincing your boss to install a solar panel on the top of the building where you work!

By: Uncle B

Uncle B — Sat, 09 May 2009 19:09:06 +0000

Once we get away from the “Prius” model, the current standard, and go to an ultra-light, carbon-fiber bodied two seater at half the body weight, and twice the “Parkability” how far will it go? I never go to work with five people in the car, so why do I have to pay to cart around a five-seater car? Give me two seats at most, rocket-like acceleration, power-regenerating stopping, and make my ride to work a grid-lock free blast every time! If we get the size and cost of running down, and the cost to purchase down too, we could have two or three of these things per family. Huge convenience! The “American Family Sedan” needs to die! The American family it was modeled for is long gone, yet we hang on to this tradition, and even encourage other countries to adopt it! It was dead in the Fifties! We need commuter cars that make sense in the computer age, the 21st Century, not the old black and white movie days. Change is coming, revolutionary change, more change than Obama ever imagined, and we want universal health care too, dammit!

By: Trinity Garage Doors

Trinity Garage Doors — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:11:54 +0000

Wow!! What a great idea! This could be a great way to further explore the potential of alternative energy sources. How hard would it be to have the door power a garage door opener, I wonder?

By: Nanda

Nanda — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:30:21 +0000

Great idea!!! I modelled up something in Google SketchUp earlier today, then did a quick web search and found this post….great minds….

Here is what I drew up:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spincyclz/3329759132/

By: Painted Pony

Painted Pony — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:01:11 +0000

I just had this great idea! Glad to see someone else thinks this is cool. If—–they can be made to look “architecturally pleasing” —-it would be a great and EASY way to jump into solar. Count me in!

By: Michael Pfeiffer

Michael Pfeiffer — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:43:13 +0000

This is very sharp – what a great blend of the garage door and the electric car.
How much weight did the solar panels add to the door? Were additional strut braces needed to keep the door from bowing down when it was in open position – one last question did you replace the springs or add more turns?

Thanks for posting this – all the best.

By: Ron Gross

Ron Gross — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:12:53 +0000

I have a south facing that, even in the middle of our cold Western New York climate is often very warm to the touch. The solar panel garage door is something I would be interested in. It makes perfect sense.

Thanks for a great idea!

By: Norman P Flout

Norman P Flout — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 03:47:30 +0000

How far along are you on the solar garage door concept? I have a south facing garage door and wanted to know if you guys are ready to go to market.

Thanks,