News Two new solar arrays coming online in 2023 will double Walt Disney World's solar capability

TikibirdLand

Well-Known Member
It'll last until the first big hail storm. Texas hail storms are nothing to sneeze at and can be deadly.
Don't I know it! I've got some "dimpled darlings" in my driveway right now. My neighbor down the street has the Tesla solar roof installed. Impressed with how it held up to our spring hail last year.
 

networkpro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Don't I know it! I've got some "dimpled darlings" in my driveway right now. My neighbor down the street has the Tesla solar roof installed. Impressed with how it held up to our spring hail last year.

I've got a class IV hail roof on the house and our vehicles are under a steel roofed shed at the ranch and still thats not enough for some storms.
 

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
I've got a class IV hail roof on the house and our vehicles are under a steel roofed shed at the ranch and still thats not enough for some storms.
Ahh, are they FM 4473 or UL 2218 class 4? Big difference but not that much between classes in each group, just 1/4 inch diameter
 

networkpro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Ahh, are they FM 4473 or UL 2218 class 4? Big difference but not that much between classes in each group, just 1/4 inch diameter

UL 2218 GAF Timberline because the insurance company prefers them. So its steel ball vs ice ball, not much of a difference. Its the fracturing of the asphalt matrix thats the main residual problem to deal with long term, the short term is just dont punch a hole in my roof please!
 

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
UL 2218 GAF Timberline because the insurance company prefers them. So its steel ball vs ice ball, not much of a difference. Its the fracturing of the asphalt matrix thats the main residual problem to deal with long term, the short term is just dont punch a hole in my roof please!
If you are cold but Texas? I know it snows there but when it hails. It sounds more like a selling point but whatever. I wouldn't have anything less than architectural in asphalt but metal is the gold standard.
 

No Name

Well-Known Member
Lots of people here seem to think they’re primarily doing this as some kind of “virtue signaling” move but really it’s simply to save money on energy costs. If they were primarily interested in the optics of it, they’d build a small section over a parking lot, and not a big section in rural areas that most people will never see or hear of.
 

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
Lots of people here seem to think they’re primarily doing this as some kind of “virtue signaling” move but really it’s simply to save money on energy costs. If they were primarily interested in the optics of it, they’d build a small section over a parking lot, and not a big section in rural areas that most people will never see or hear of.
I think it is more than the visual impact to those who see it but Disney can put this in the corporate bio as one of their green initiatives and tout it that way along with the wildlife fund and other efforts to be a good corporate entity
 

networkpro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
If you are cold but Texas? I know it snows there but when it hails. It sounds more like a selling point but whatever. I wouldn't have anything less than architectural in asphalt but metal is the gold standard.

Yes Texas. Worst hail storms are Spring and Summer and its due to geography. You're away from the coast so no moderation from that thermal mass (but gulf moisture is what triggers them), its flat (no mountains to mess with cloud formation) so supercell thunderheads grow really tall (like up to almost 70,000 feet) giving ice balls plenty of time to form.

Metal has issues like noise, it aint purty when it gets dented, and every few years you have to get it tightened.
 

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
Yes Texas. Worst hail storms are Spring and Summer and its due to geography. You're away from the coast so no moderation from that thermal mass (but gulf moisture is what triggers them), its flat (no mountains to mess with cloud formation) so supercell thunderheads grow really tall (like up to almost 70,000 feet) giving ice balls plenty of time to form.

Metal has issues like noise, it aint purty when it gets dented, and every few years you have to get it tightened.
Today's metal is different than your daddy's metal, no noise and only rescrew every 25 years. It's my choice today
 

No Name

Well-Known Member
I think it is more than the visual impact to those who see it but Disney can put this in the corporate bio as one of their green initiatives and tout it that way along with the wildlife fund and other efforts to be a good corporate entity
No doubt they’ll squeeze every inch out of it. It’s just not the main reason behind doing it.
 

networkpro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Today's metal is different than your daddy's metal, no noise and only rescrew every 25 years. It's my choice today
It wasnt ours. We're in Parker county and have more tornados than average (not as bad as the panhandle) so the surface area of a metal sheet vs a shingle works against its utility for storm resistance. We had a small EF2 pass over which flipped off a few squares over a corner of the house (rated for 140 MPH) and was easily repaired in a few hours.
 

Next Big Thing

Well-Known Member
This project is two arrays covering 1000 acres. The largest parking lot is MK at 134 acres, so to get the same size they would need cover numerous parking lots. Still a better idea in my eyes, but it would add to the overhead.
What if they covered cast parking too, though? The cast parking lots are huge for MK and Epcot specifically.
 

danlb_2000

Premium Member
What if they covered cast parking too, though? The cast parking lots are huge for MK and Epcot specifically.

Cast parking lots aren't actually that big. Here is the largest contiguous lot I could find and it's only 27 acres.


1649589773073.png
 

GimpYancIent

Well-Known Member
Cast parking lots aren't actually that big. Here is the largest contiguous lot I could find and it's only 27 acres.


View attachment 632199
Sooooo much selectivity with parking lot's. Cover Them All and the roof tops of those warehouse sized building too. If you are going to do something allegedly green then do it! No half stepping, no here but not there, do them all then a real statement is made. Right now it's all show. A show with very little real green benefit.

Leave the natural green spaces alone.
 

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
Sooooo much selectivity with parking lot's. Cover Them All and the roof tops of those warehouse sized building too. If you are going to do something allegedly green then do it! No half stepping, no here but not there, do them all then a real statement is made. Right now it's all show. A show with very little real green benefit.

Leave the natural green spaces alone.
This money you want to do all this? It grows in the green spaces? What is the ROI on a solar array? I know at my house it is longer than I will be around so a no go.
 

GimpYancIent

Well-Known Member
This money you want to do all this? It grows in the green spaces? What is the ROI on a solar array? I know at my house it is longer than I will be around so a no go.
If the Disney Co. is the perpetual money making machine management claims it to be then it can afford it.
 

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
If the Disney Co. is the perpetual money making machine management claims it to be then it can afford it.
Why would they want to spend huge on a capital outlay for this? What you are proposing is an investment on the order of a new park. A prudent board would return the money to the shareholders rather than do a feel good project that returns an unmeasurable amount of customer satisfaction and PR value. Keep dreaming, its what Walt would do.
 

GimpYancIent

Well-Known Member
Why would they want to spend huge on a capital outlay for this? What you are proposing is an investment on the order of a new park. A prudent board would return the money to the shareholders rather than do a feel good project that returns an unmeasurable amount of customer satisfaction and PR value. Keep dreaming, its what Walt would do.
Following that logic and reasoning then this solar array project is just an expensive P.R. exercise and should be cancelled. The funds returned to the share holders, I am sure the share holders will not object.
 

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