Thursday, October 03, 2013

Annals of perplexing decisions: Ikea Edition

People, Swedish mega-retailer Ikea is going to start selling solar panel in their stores.......

but only in the UK.

CRIKEY!

Thats kind of like opening a ski shop in Oklahoma, innit?

All the government subsidies in the world won't help you if the sun never lights up the damn panels.

Maybe from the viewpoint of Sweden, England is a sunny tropical paradise?


6 comments:

Pelsmin said...

When it comes to challenges with weather, those government subsidies are the only way we can fight back!

The UK's cities average 3 or 4 hours of sunlight a day. That may be low compared to, say, Phoenix, at 11 hours/day. But compared to Seattle or Fairbanks -- it's still low. They get about 5 hours a day of sun. The improvements in solar panels are measured in painstakingly earned efficiency gains of 4 or 5%, but here they are deploying in a place that gives up 70% of the energy source from the start, versus a more appropriate location.

How much additional coal will need to be burned to generate enough commerce to replace the wealth destroyed by subsidizing this foolishness?

Anonymous said...

You're overlooking the fact that Britain has no electrical grid. These poor people have no choice but to either wait for the intermittent flow of solar energy or sit in the dark and watch their food spoil without refrigeration. I would thank you not to mock them.

Hasdrubal said...

Maybe it's a test market? "If it can be profitable _here_ it can be profitable _anywhere!"

gcallah said...

Sockholm is significantly sunnier than London.

Angus said...

great comments. thanks for playing.

pinefly said...

"Maybe from the viewpoint of Sweden, England is a sunny tropical paradise?"

Exactly. The NE corner of Scotland is "Sutherland," South Land. For, the Norse, it was Miami.