A rolled-up solar panel

One green energy proponent, Kammie Harris, thought she told a joke at Annapolis last Friday, talking to graduates in electrical engineering how they were going to produce energy with wind and solar, and even combat power by the same. Then she quipped, "do you think a marine would rather have batteries in her backpack, or a rolled-up solar panel?" Nobody laughed but Kammie.

Nope, not just a bad joke, but a useless joke. That's the difference between actual electrical engineers and a life-log politician. The latter think they know everything, knowing, in actuality, nothing but convincing people to vote for them. Why would that marine be walking with a backpack, during the day, with a solar panel rolled-up in it? What's she going to do, take the collector out at night? Gracious, what a dummie. Kamie, not the marine. The marine would have seen through that futile exercise, but Kammie has never hauled around a solar panel in her life, day or night.

I am aware. But, aren't the panels a but useless if rolled up?

Not if you're stationed out at a FOB for 30 days.  The least useful part of it is that you have to remember to keep changing the angle towards the sun every hour to get a max charge.

....and of course it, they are much less effective in consistently cloudy places.  When invading London or San Francisco, stick to generators.

I suspect being on site for 30 days means one has emptied their backpack. No, Kammie is clearly talking about being on the move, thus, her incompetence on display.

Come on Mr Faux.

That was blatantly anti-dem and missing the point for the sake of it.

I could remind you of  Brain of Americas, household disinfectant, anti-covid suggestion.....But I won't.

More interestingly..... The assumption was, that Marines would generally  be operating (meddling) in sunnier areas of the world.

Who cares where marines are? The fact is, which Kammie missed, is that a solar panel rolled up in a backpack is as useless as a dead battery. Got to take it out in sunlight, and then it must be connected to whatever it is supplying power. While that marine is hiking along with the rest of the company?  Sure. 

Would they need solar panels for their smartphones?

Shouldn't they be concentrating on where they are going?

I think that what "Kammie" was saying, was that modern solar panels would be  easier to carry that batteries.

Your still suffering from post election angst Mr F.

I think what Kammie was missing is while carrying a rolled up solar panel, during the day, it is not deployed for use. What will it collect at night? Starlight?

Because batteries are heavy and we can fit more of other things in our packs if we need to carry less batteries.

Obviously, yes, I get that. But, what good does a solar panel serve rolled up in a backpack, during the day? Not a bloody watt is going to be drawn from a rolled solar panel when it is needed and deployed at night. Does no one get that? Seems more than Kammie are dim bulbs.

Look, people, I get all the arguments that carrying a solar panel rolled in a backpack is easier to cary than batteries. 

My argument has been from the beginning that, during the day, which is when most troops are mobile, getting from A to B, the solar panels are rolled up in their backpacks, and, therefore, are not deployed to collect sunlight. Therefore, when the company arrives at B, if it's still daylight, they can deploy and gather sunlight for a brief period until the sun sets. If that's a short amount of time, without an added battery pack [which must also be carried] to store the sunlight-gathered power, that solar panel will not collect star or moonlight and will not produce wattage to use. It's dead. So, why deploy it at night? They won't, but they also have no power. One way or another, they're still carrying batteries unless they hike at night and camp during the day. 

I have a 39-panel array on my roof; I get how solar panels work, and also why they don't at night, but somebody has a disconnect.

Sometimes in the military we have to move from one place to another. That is easier to do if we put things in our packs rather than holding it all with our hands. Most things we can't use while they are in our packs, that is why we take them out when we stop moving.

Let me ask you a simple question. Look at the following idea:

"Items that are useless while in a pack and useful only while not in a pack should not be packed into packs"

Do you think this idea is a good one or a silly one?

My argument has been from the beginning that, during the day, which is when most troops are mobile, getting from A to B, the solar panels are rolled up in their backpacks, and, therefore, are not deployed to collect sunlight.

1) How many hours on average does the sun shine each day?

2) How many hours a day do you think we spend walking?

I suspect you will ignore one or both of these questions but if you want to surprise me now is the time to do it.

I get that this is not about the technology and is actually all about politics, if a republican tried to upgrade our armed forces combat capability you would be all about it but a democrat trying to upgrade our combat capability triggers your BLUE BAD reaction. Watching people pretend to know what they talk about in military matters amuses me though, so I will play along for now. Please bestow onto us your vast strategic and tactical wisdom.