General Questions

[SolidSnake15]

Huh. Never would nave guessed. Good job testing it thoroughly. Wait, did you use the scientific method?

I always said the hell with the scientific method... Probably why I always got C's on science projects.💡

 

[V1P3R]

Well... my car isn't a box... it's a wedge. Does that help?

In the meantime I'll just keep tailgating a truck or box car. xD

 

[BayConRong]

Well... my car isn't a box... it's a wedge. Does that help?

In the meantime I'll just keep tailgating a truck or box car. xD

that's what i always do, then i laugh at those morons going 70-80 mph on the freeway.

 

[Joey D]

Huh. Never would nave guessed. Good job testing it thoroughly. Wait, did you use the scientific method?

Yes, of course, I have to use it when I do my fieldwork.

 

[Rykon Zero]

Oh, good. I was planning on whipping out my WRONG! button.
Edit: How long does it take a person's mouth to recover from being brutally tortured by braces and rubberands? I just got rubberbands installed into my mouth.

 

[Joey D]

Well... my car isn't a box... it's a wedge. Does that help?

In the meantime I'll just keep tailgating a truck or box car. xD

What do you drive? I find SUV's and hatchbacks not to fair as well as cars do. I'll be curious to see how the MINI does but right now I'm getting better mileage with the A/C over the windows down...but the whole damn side of the car is a window.

 

[BayConRong]

he drives a bread box AKA Element

or a Toaster aka scion Xb

 

[V1P3R]

I don't really want to say... It's a wannabe Hachi Roku. 85' Corolla SR5...

 

[Joey D]

It's a Jim Prower-esque Chevy Nova isn't it ...I kid.

I say your best bet to figure it out is to drive one tank with the windows down a majority of the time and then one tank with the A/C on. It's really the only way to figure it out. If it's close I would just do whatever makes you feel the most comfortable in the vehicle.

 

[BayConRong]

well i know for a fact that it dramatically kills the MPG of a Pious if you lower the windows

 

[V1P3R]

It's a Jim Prower-esque Chevy Nova isn't it ...I kid.

I say your best bet to figure it out is to drive one tank with the windows down a majority of the time and then one tank with the A/C on. It's really the only way to figure it out. If it's close I would just do whatever makes you feel the most comfortable in the vehicle.

It's not a nova... Well it won't break down like one anyway... xD

Well... see the problem with that is I ain't gonna drive 65mph the whole time for a full tank of gas. It takes a week or week and a half to fill up too.

 

[Sage]

I believe Aaron Robinson of C/D did this test a few years ago. I’m going totally off of memory here, but I *think* that he tested a BMW 5-series, and found that the transition from windows-down-is-better to a/c-is-better was somewhere around 50–60mph.

 

[TB]

Also from memory, I think MythBusters said it was around 40mph. Something tells me they weren't using a 5-series, though.

Edit: found it:

"Urban puzzle": it is more efficient, on a hot day, to run with the A/C on and windows up than to run with windows down (b/c of increasing car's drag).

Computer-based mpg measurements: * 11.7/11.8 with A/C on and windows up * 11.7/11.8 with A/C off and windows up * 11.3 with A/C off and windows down

So, according to the computer, it's better to use A/C with windows up.

This was too quick and easy for TV, so they decided to stage a seven hour marathon, race-til-you're-empty duel, with Jamie driving an SUV with A/C on and Adam driving an SUV with windows down. Though, once the safety inspector intervened, it was no longer a seven-hour marathon, it was a bit slower (45mph instead of 55mph), and a lot shorter (only 5 gallons each).

Jamie's A/C car ran out of gas first -- Adam's windows down SUV ran for another 30 laps -- completely contradicting the computer mpg estimate. Computer estimate based on air flow into the engine, so it would appear that it is unable to properly model the difference between A/C and windows down.

 

[V1P3R]

It was two Ford Expeditions. If I could only remember things as good as I do cars. lol

 

[niky]

At 45 mph, it's likely that windows down is more effective.

Most effective is windows up, AC off and vents on. If you've got a sunroof, like me, just crank it a little let air out.

 

[V1P3R]

I don't have one... I wish I did.

Getting too damn hot for windows up, a/c off, and vent on.

 

[BayConRong]

Lol, I can say that the best thing about my Tortoise is that it has really good A/C and heating.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Lotion hasn't helped, but running my .. erm, penis.. under cool water makes it feel fine.. until I take it out.

My apologies, but when I read this, I lol'ed

 

[BayConRong]

Wow, no that doesn't sound weird at all.

I remember one about using soap as a lube and the skin peeling off. who said that one?

Edit: i just read the posts surrounding it and i want to ask: how do you urinate unconventionally?

 

[kikie]

I don't know if this question will be answered.

Are solar panels cost effective?

 

[Diego440]

I have the source for all of your questions, kikie:

Here and here

For anything you cannot find in either of those, feel free to ask here.

 

[kikie]

Thanks Diego! 💡

 

[Philly]

Are solar panels cost effective?

That will depend on where you live. If you're in Arizona, you'll probably save quite a bit. If you like here or Alaska or in West Michigan, you probably won't save any money. I don't know how cloudy your area is.

 

[ExigeEvan]

I don't know if this question will be answered.

Are solar panels cost effective?

General rule, no. But most renewable energies done on a domestic scale aren't.

 

[Sureboss]

That will depend on where you live. If you're in Arizona, you'll probably save quite a bit. If you like here or Alaska or in West Michigan, you probably won't save any money. I don't know how cloudy your area is.

They still work in overcast conditions, don't they? Just nothing like as effective. As UV still gets through the clouds.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Yeah they do, but they're not as efficient. Also, in countries like Britain where we don't tend to have air-con in homes the extra energy produced in the summer is abit pointless compared to the extra energy we need during the winter.

 

[superberkut]

I have the source for all of your questions, kikie:

Here and here

For anything you cannot find in either of those, feel free to ask here.

But all sorts of crud end up on those websites' results. I looked up a plant cell once; one of the components was listed as a, "Ghetto Boooty". And, inappropriate phrases against homosexuals were in the Toyota Highlander article on Wikipedia. At least that's why I don't particularly trust Wikipedia, along with many other gross inaccuracies...

On a set of aircraft engines facing opposite each other (as on the Dornier Do 18), would both propellers, facing away from each other, turn in the same direction, or would they turn in opposite directions? Would both arrangements work? (My grasp on basic aerodynamics is weak)

 

[Duke]

Sometimes they share a driveshaft, in which case, one would run backwards (relative to its propellor) and one would run forwards.

However, more often they do not share a driveshaft, in which case they both run in the 'normal' direction and the rotational torque from the pusher engine cancels the torque of the tractor engine.

 

[Diego440]

it's just that 90% of the questions asked here are easily researchable and the results given in both those websites I linked to are usually better sourced and more precise than anything any of ous could say on the subject.

I'm not the first one to say this either.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

I don't know if this question will be answered.

Are solar panels cost effective?

Current solar technology is quite good for water heating, but if you don't spend much heating water, your scope for return on investment is quite limited.

Electricity generating solar panels offer much greater scope for ROI since you can get registered as a generator, change your house's connection to the utility power, and put power into the grid when your generating ability exceeds your house's consumption.

To do this, you typically need around 5kW of panels, since your house's "resting" rate (what it consumes while you're out during the daytime) shouldn't be more than around 3kW. In the UK at least, current tax breaks allow the cost of panels to drop to around £0.05/W, or £25,000 for a 5kW array.

I'm paying around £75 per month for a well-connected house. That's £900 per year. If I spent £25,000 on a 5kW system, it would take nearly 28 years to pay for itself, assuming the £75/month figure remains static.

You really need to be able to be paid as a generator to make solar panels work for you, because otherwise you're looking at payback times far in excess of the amount of time you can forsee being in any given property.