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Since solar power produces the most power when we need it the most

Where I live (central Finland), there is darn little sunlight for PV in winter, and guess when we need electric power the most. Yep, in winter, when it's not just cold, it's damned dark. Actually, in December the insolation here is 0.06kWh/m2 per day, but it's 5.36 in June. Pity those who live in Rovaniemi and further north - they get exactly 0.0 in December.

56 degrees north is another beast entirely. Here's a Sun chart for København, Denmark - http://www.gaisma.com/en/sunpa...

Winter = 8 hours of sunlight
Summer = 18 hours of sunlight

Not only is the amount of time the Sun is shining much higher during the summer, the tilt for the panel is only 58 degrees so your average roof angle would do nicely during the summer. In the winter though things change radically, the optimal tilt angle goes down to 10 degrees and the insulating factor goes way up... nearly 14x less light penetrating during December than in July. You would do well to have a 2 part system that you can move around manually - during March to Sept: first part facing WSW and the second part ESE at 34-58 degree tilt. Come September, change the configuration so both parts are facing due south at a 10 degree tilt.

Where I am (44N) it's 10h/16h, 22-70 degree tilt, and only a 5x insulating factor difference. We just set it around a 40 degree tilt (or less? can't remember exactly) to maximize winter time collection - some is lost in the summer as a result but there are more producing days in winter (due to summer storms) and we found that, since we're in a field, the reflection from the snow would actually increase production. The snow covered field effectively acts like a giant reflector so it generates even on overcast days.

While it may be a bit extreme, I think the ideal solution is to start the workday a couple hours past sunrise in the winter and a couple hours before sunrise in the summer. You'll be active during the warmest hours of winter and cooler hours in summer, you'll have free time during daylight hours year round, you'll commute to work in bright sunlight during the winter, and you'll avoid staring into the sun while commuting most of the year.

Hmm, if you do that, I'll move to Michigan in the winter, but go south in the summer.. It only gets about 9 hours of daylight then. Seriously, what you're proposing would amount to folks at northern latitudes going to work at like 10AM in December, but like 4AM in June. Are you crazy?

And what about folks further south? Puerto Rico doesn't even do DST, because its sunrise/sunset vary by about 1hr end to end.

I hate missing sunshine in the winter, going to and coming from work in the dark. I personally would rather they just do year-round DST so I can at least get some sun on one end of my day. And, added bonus, I wouldn't have to dink with my clocks twice a year.

While it may be a bit extreme, I think the ideal solution is to start the workday a couple hours past sunrise in the winter and a couple hours before sunrise in the summer. You'll be active during the warmest hours of winter and cooler hours in summer, you'll have free time during daylight hours year round, you'll commute to work in bright sunlight during the winter, and you'll avoid staring into the sun while commuting most of the year.

Hmm, if you do that, I'll move to Michigan in the winter, but go south in the summer.. It only gets about 9 hours of daylight then. Seriously, what you're proposing would amount to folks at northern latitudes going to work at like 10AM in December, but like 4AM in June. Are you crazy?

And what about folks further south? Puerto Rico doesn't even do DST, because its sunrise/sunset vary by about 1hr end to end.

I hate missing sunshine in the winter, going to and coming from work in the dark. I personally would rather they just do year-round DST so I can at least get some sun on one end of my day. And, added bonus, I wouldn't have to dink with my clocks twice a year.

Actually, dawn breaks even earlier at times. With DST even.

Not only that the blanket keep shrinking in the wash anyway, so moving the end around doesn't matter as the blanket will be too short in any direction in a few weeks anyway.

http://www.gaisma.com/en/dir/001-continent.html

No its not. In all places except the equator the length of sunlight changes slightly every day. The arctic and antarctic circles describe the latitudes at which the sun actually doesn't set one day per year.

If you go north of the arctic circle (or south of the antarctic circle) the effect gets greater and greater. This doesn't make them uninhabitable areas but it does mean that you can have weeks without a sunset (or a sunrise in the winter). A good example is Tromsø in north Norway. Its a fairly significant place, with a population of 60,000+ and a university. Yet they get a month of sunshine (and the same of darkness) every year - see http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/tromso.html. And Tromsø isn't even all that far north.

Hell, even where i am (a couple of hundred km short of the arctic circle) it doesn't really get dark during the summer. The sun "sets", but it only just dips below the horizon and so the twilight is extremely bright. Indeed, it can be brighter at 1am on a clear night than at midday with heavy clouds.