Royals Install Solar Panels at the K

Really love the idea, though I do worry about the glare issue.

4 months ago Freneau 49 comments 0 recs |

Comments

Eh....

I don’t really see any glare issues until they install the Commissioner’s Trophy in Kaufman for our 2012 World Series Title.

by MVP-Gordon on Feb 1, 2012 4:02 PM EST reply actions

I hope the K is not runned exclusively on solar panels

otherwise night games will be a bitch

by Chiefshero on Feb 1, 2012 9:05 PM EST up reply actions

already commented on this

solar panels aren’t cheap… i’d rather commit whatever money this is to players

Todd Haley's kids know more swear words than I do.

by kcisbetterthanstlateverything on Feb 1, 2012 4:11 PM EST reply actions

won't they save money in the long run?

and did KCP&L chip in (lower the prices, for instance) for the publicity?

Kila's slash for Apr 20 to May 4, 2011, right before he was sent down: .276 / .344 / .448

by SagehenMacGyver47 on Feb 1, 2012 7:12 PM EST up reply actions

Between tax credits, government incentives

And the amount of energy they will pump back in to the grid (assuming they keep the panels on all of the time, like normal people) the panels will pay for themselves, probably within the next decade.

We should trade for Vance Worley.

by JKWard on Feb 1, 2012 7:22 PM EST up reply actions

I'd say less time than that although I don't know

Do we have any way to know how much energy each produces and the cost at which they were put in?

PineTarPress

by 306008 on Feb 2, 2012 8:56 AM EST up reply actions

Español did this a couple of years ago

when they built their new stadium in Cornellâ. The solar panels store up energy and light up the place. The extra energy generated from the solar panels goes into the electrical grid. I don’t know much about energy, but this seems like something that might pay for itself in the long run.

"That fucking fucker of a general swears too fucking much." --Unnamed soldier about Gen. George Patton, 1943

by Juancho on Feb 1, 2012 4:22 PM EST reply actions

Good to hear.

Frankly I’m a little surprised teams don’t take more initiative on stuff like that.
Take the parking lots for example, huge open areas that would be perfect for some wind turbines. Replace a bunch of the lights with them and suddenly you’ve got a ton of electricty without a lot of extra renovation.

"We don’t have guys with a long history of being effective in the seventh and eighth innings."
~Trey Hillman, master of understatements.

by RoyalPug on Feb 1, 2012 4:29 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

Hopefully Dayton Moore's successor won't remove them

like when Reagan removed the panels Carter put up.

"There is nothing shrewd about running a red light and later finding out it kept you from being hit by an asteroid." - philofthenorth

by KeepItCopacetic on Feb 1, 2012 4:40 PM EST reply actions

Carter's solar panels

About half are still in use, providing power to a cafeteria at Unity College. I think at this point that would be free energy.

by 390 on Feb 1, 2012 8:13 PM EST up reply actions

At least Carter got 1 thing done.

by hawkinscm87 on Feb 1, 2012 8:25 PM EST up reply actions

Just another data point David Glass is a hippie, sandal wearing lib

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Feb 1, 2012 5:03 PM EST reply actions

Welcome to Obama's America

What’s next? Putting Jarrod Dyson on a treadmill to power the champagne refrigerator in Glass’s luxury box?

You may know me as NYRoyal.

by Scott McKinney on Feb 1, 2012 5:15 PM EST reply actions

birkenstock night.....granola trailmix instead of peanuts

by DickHowser4ever on Feb 1, 2012 6:29 PM EST up reply actions

1. Put Jarrod Dyson inside a spherical hamster wheel
2. Put up steal sign
3. ???
4. Practical Dyson Sphere powering the energy needs of the whole world

I am probably the only Royals fan in Hong Kong?

by Yamfun Cheng Kamfun on Feb 1, 2012 11:50 PM EST up reply actions

You mean like Lance Armstrong at the ESPN studios?

PineTarPress

by 306008 on Feb 2, 2012 8:58 AM EST up reply actions

Good move

Keeps the stadium up to date as I am sure future stadiums will have more energy efficient items and try to be LEED accredited. I am guessing this is a phase of construction on the renovations we had a few years ago or curious how it was paid for. It will be a money saver in the long run though.

by RoyalsnMN on Feb 1, 2012 6:50 PM EST reply actions

Dumb publicity stunt,

For the all star game. They will be replacing these far, far before they recoup what they paid for them in energy savings. But hey, it’s green baby!

by slayor on Feb 1, 2012 7:31 PM EST reply actions

Why would they have to replace them any time soon?

We should trade for Vance Worley.

by JKWard on Feb 1, 2012 7:49 PM EST up reply actions

This

Putting them in is going to be a sunk cost, and they won’t be losing any extra money by keeping them there. They’re not going anywhere.

"There is nothing shrewd about running a red light and later finding out it kept you from being hit by an asteroid." - philofthenorth

by KeepItCopacetic on Feb 1, 2012 7:52 PM EST up reply actions

Probably not real soon, but I've heard solar panels start losing efficiency after a few years.

by hawkinscm87 on Feb 1, 2012 8:27 PM EST up reply actions

Significant loss?

"There is nothing shrewd about running a red light and later finding out it kept you from being hit by an asteroid." - philofthenorth

by KeepItCopacetic on Feb 1, 2012 8:29 PM EST up reply actions

It can be...

I will admit everything I know on the issue is based on stuff done 10-12 years ago. But Solar Panels can lose about 60 percent efficiency around 10-12 years (give or take), Ideally they’ve paid for themselves by then and everything else is gravy.

I’ve heard stories of people spending something like 500K on solar panels just to save something like 300 dollars a month in electricity and they never paid for themselves… I highly doubt this is a problem anymore.

The amount of research that goes into this stuff is pretty crazy, before wind turbines go up there is usually 3 years of wind data collected just to maximize the positioning of them.

Since 2005: Royals win% = .4100, Chiefs win% = .4095
Mitt Romney is a serial killer.

by averagegatsby on Feb 1, 2012 9:11 PM EST up reply actions

Solar panels are much, much better now.

A simple household system could cost 20,000 and basically replace all your incoming electricity.
and the newer panels only really need to be replaced every 20-25 years as long as they are cleaned.

"We don’t have guys with a long history of being effective in the seventh and eighth innings."
~Trey Hillman, master of understatements.

by RoyalPug on Feb 1, 2012 9:30 PM EST up reply actions

I remember SimCity 2000

where power plants would automatically blow up after 50 years or something.

"There is nothing shrewd about running a red light and later finding out it kept you from being hit by an asteroid." - philofthenorth

by KeepItCopacetic on Feb 1, 2012 9:34 PM EST up reply actions

The nuke plants were a bitch.

Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.
Rock Chalk Talk

by Warden11 on Feb 2, 2012 8:17 AM EST up reply actions

Their maximum efficiency will never be very good though.

They are probably a pretty good move at a place like the K. But for large scale serious sustainability they require MASSIVE plots of land. I had a class where we tried to design a self sustaining plant that used solar power to produce ethanol… And it required something like 50 acres worth of land just for the solar panels.

Do you know how much cleaner the process for making solar panels have gotten?

And by judging from your numbers, and the data in the article. It said that the panels could operate 4-6 residential houses. So is it safe to say that these panels cost less than 120K? If that is the case, why don’t more teams do this just for the PR?

Since 2005: Royals win% = .4100, Chiefs win% = .4095
Mitt Romney is a serial killer.

by averagegatsby on Feb 1, 2012 9:41 PM EST up reply actions

Well the system I quoted is mostly homemade and requires a lot of knowledge

A commercial system like the one in the K is probably $400,000. Still not a huge amount.

I don’t think the process for making them has gotten a lot cleaner but there have been a couple of breakthroughs in the last year that look like they could make solar panels actually useful. The biggest one is some high school kid figured out a microscopic 3 dimensional structure that basically doubles the amount of energy the panels can absorb. The problem stems from the lack of places that could build panels like that.

Honestly I think that solar energy will be a novelty until we have really good 3-D printers.

"We don’t have guys with a long history of being effective in the seventh and eighth innings."
~Trey Hillman, master of understatements.

by RoyalPug on Feb 1, 2012 10:40 PM EST up reply actions

Oh man...

I’ve done a lot of 3D Printing (rapid prototyping). And just the advances made in that technology in the last 6 years is amazing. My school had one that made things out of sawdust and glue, and now they have one that uses water soluble support structure.

I got an A in my Masters project class because of the things I could do with rapid prototyping, I essentially was able to make a working model… Just made of plastic instead of metal… So all I would have had to do was make a mold with it… AND BAM!!!

Since 2005: Royals win% = .4100, Chiefs win% = .4095
Mitt Romney is a serial killer.

by averagegatsby on Feb 1, 2012 10:47 PM EST up reply actions

I know, I'm really excited for 3d printing

I figure in another 10 years there’s a decent chance that we’ll all have 3D printers in our houses and if we want to buy something we’ll just punch a code into the printer, wait an hour and it’ll pop out.

"We don’t have guys with a long history of being effective in the seventh and eighth innings."
~Trey Hillman, master of understatements.

by RoyalPug on Feb 2, 2012 12:27 AM EST up reply actions

thepiratebay has added a search option for 3D printing files

Since 2005: Royals win% = .4100, Chiefs win% = .4095
Mitt Romney is a serial killer.

by averagegatsby on Feb 2, 2012 3:59 PM EST up reply actions

Money

"There is nothing shrewd about running a red light and later finding out it kept you from being hit by an asteroid." - philofthenorth

by KeepItCopacetic on Feb 2, 2012 5:33 PM EST up reply actions

so, the high school kid is about to be very very rich?

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Feb 1, 2012 11:41 PM EST up reply actions

Unfortunately I don't think so

I think he entered it into some contest where you had to make it public domain to win.
So i think he got like $10,000, which is a lot for a high schooler, but I don’t think he’ll get the money for his innovation.

"We don’t have guys with a long history of being effective in the seventh and eighth innings."
~Trey Hillman, master of understatements.

by RoyalPug on Feb 2, 2012 12:25 AM EST up reply actions