Friday, December 23, 2011

Sunrise, Sunset

On the shortest day of the year, the sun cooperated and we were able to get an accurate measure of sunrise and sunset at the cabin.

Standing on our porch looking due south, this is what we saw. The sun rose above the ridge and treetops at 9:45 a.m, and it promptly set behind the trees surrounding our neighbour John's bay at 11:43 a.m.

That's a little less than two hours of direct sunlight, if it's not a cloudy or stormy day.

That doesn't make our solar system work very well. No wonder our poor batteries are struggling. When we first got our cabin, we had four hours of sunlight in winter. But the trees have grown taller in the last ten years. Good thing we have a little wind and thermoelectric power. Even so, our backup generator has to help us out. -- Margy

2 comments:

  1. Now that is a short day! I've never made it to the Hole in the Wall - in fact I didn't get up the Lake at all this year.

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  2. Out here on The Lone Prair-ee, I forget about the shorter days in the valleys of BC. Less than two hours from treetop to treetop is definitely bad for a solar system. Kudos to you and Wayne for having it, however. You'd think there would be more solar panels on roofs out here in the sunniest part of Canada but, no way. One of our neighbors has solar panels on his south side. I must ask him how it's doing, as he hasn't had them very long.
    My parents had solar panels in San Felipe years and years ago, but they've never caught on here because Medicine Hat makes electricity by using natural gas. Yep, natural gas. So we live off the provincial grid, but the gas under the city won't last forever.
    Sigh.
    VERY interesting post, Margy. Makes me want to stomp up and down and make a fuss, but no one would listen to me.
    K

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We welcome your comments and questions. - Wayne and Margy