Nicolas Cretton is a teacher in Lugano Switzerland, near Milan.
He sent the following links to work done by his students. (Italian Swiss):
http://www.nicolascretton.ch/LM/LAM_Grueninger_Kunnakatt_Marcotullio.pdf
http://www.nicolascretton.ch/LM/LAM_FINALE_12_2_2014_finale.pdf
http://www.nicolascretton.ch/LM/LAM_Bizzozero_Casiraghi_Keller_2015.pdf
June 3 2024
Hello George,
yes, I did send this at the time. You are welcome to use these links, they are publicly available on my website.
You are absolutely right about the challenges outdoors: indeed I had to replace the mylar already once, because after a few years, it oxidized and became white, not reflecting the light as before.... I'll have to do it again after only 2 years after the last change...
A few months ago the motor I have been using died and I have to replace it.
Although I painted the wood structure with a water resistant paint + a coat of waterproof vernice [varnish?], it is now full of little black dots (mould I guess)
So all in all, if I think of all the work, it would have been much easier to install photovoltaic panels, which require zero maintenance and we could have used them also for heating the house, since we have an electric heat pump and we could have sold the excess electricity in the summer. I already have 15m2 of vacuum tubes for hot water (shower) and a bit of heating. I could send you pictures of the installation, after 10 years, to see how the degradation took its toll... thanks Nicolas
I remember that when I started this work, solar PV cost $8-10 per watt.
What a different situation now!
Thank you for your interest
George Plhak
Lions Head, Ontario, Canada
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