Advantages:
• Clean, non-polluting.
• Renewable, endless supply that belongs to no one.
• Works best in the sunniest, often the poorest, parts of the world.
• Dovetails with other clean systems.
• Flexible and modular - systems can be resized.
• Safe.
Disadvantages:
• Some research and development not funded.
• Electricity produced is more expensive.
• Cannot be used as the only system in cloudy places.
• Energy has to be stored in batteries, hydrogen, water or other matter.
http://www.netpilot.ca/aes/solar/ad.html
http://www.netpilot.ca/aes/solar/dis.html
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Basic/General Facts about Solar Energy
General facts
-Solar Energy is better for the environment than traditional forms of energy.
-Solar energy has many uses such as electricity production and heating of water through photovoltaic cells and directly for drying clothes.
-Solar energy can also be used to heat swimming pools, power cars, for attic fans, calculators and other small appliances. It produces lighting for indoors or outdoors.
-You can even cook food with solar energy.
-Solar Energy is becoming more and more popular. The worldwide demand for Solar Energy is currently greater than supply.
Facts about Solar Energy usage:
-Solar Energy is measured in kilowatt-hour. 1 kilowatt = 1000 watts.
-1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) = the amount of electricity required to burn a 100 watt light bulb for 10 hours.
-According to the US Department of Energy, an average American household used approximately 866-kilowatt hours per month in 1999 costing them $70.68.
-About 30% of our total energy consumption is used to heat water.
Facts about Solar Energy systems:
-A home solar system is typically made up of solar panels, an inverter, a battery, a charge controller, wiring and support structure.
-A 1-kilowatt home solar system takes about 1-2 days to install and costs around US$10,000, but can vary greatly and does not take into account any incentives offered by the government.
-A 1-kilowatt home solar system consists of about 10-12 solar panels and requires about 100 square feet of installation area.
-A 1 kilowatt home solar system will generate approximately 1,600 kilowatt hours per year in a sunny climate (receiving 5.5 hours of sunshine per day) and approximately 750 kilowatt hours per year in a cloudy climate (receiving 2.5 hours of sunshine per day).
-A 1-kilowatt home solar system will prevent approximately 170 lbs. of coal from being burned, 300 lbs of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere and 105 gallons of water from being consumed each month!
-About 40 solar cells are usually combined into a solar panel and around 10-12 panels mounted in an array facing due North to receive maximum sunlight.
-The system usually comes with a 5-year warranty, although the solar panels are warranted for 20.
-Relying on the battery back up, a solar energy system can provide electricity 24x7, even on cloudy days and at night.
-Solar panels come in various colours.
-Solar energy can be collected and stored in batteries, reflected, insulated, absorbed and transmitted.
Other Interesting Facts about Solar Energy:
-Da Vinci predicted a solar industrialization as far back as 1447.
-In one hour more sunlight falls on the earth than what is used by the entire population in one year.
-A world record was set in 1990 when a solar powered aircraft flew 4060km across the USA, using no fuel.
-Fierce weather cost the world a record $130 Billion in the first eleven months of 1998- more money than was lost from weather related disasters from 1980 to 1990 ($82 Billion).
-Researchers from the Worldwatch Institute and Munich Re blame deforestation and climate change from Earth warming for much of the loss. The previous one-year record was $90 Billion in 1996. Source - Associated Press, November 28,1998.
-About 2 billion people in the world are currently without electricity.
-Accounting for only 5 percent of the world's population, Americans consume 26 percent of the world's energy.
-Electric ovens consume the most amount of electricity, followed by microwaves and central air conditioning.
-Third world countries with an abundance of sunlight and a population currently without electricity, represents the fastest growing market for solar energy, with the largest domestic market being the utilities sector.
-Shell Oil predicts that 50% of the world's energy will come from renewable sources by 2040.
http://www.facts-about-solar-energy.com/facts-about-solar-energy.html
-Valentia
-Solar Energy is better for the environment than traditional forms of energy.
-Solar energy has many uses such as electricity production and heating of water through photovoltaic cells and directly for drying clothes.
-Solar energy can also be used to heat swimming pools, power cars, for attic fans, calculators and other small appliances. It produces lighting for indoors or outdoors.
-You can even cook food with solar energy.
-Solar Energy is becoming more and more popular. The worldwide demand for Solar Energy is currently greater than supply.
Facts about Solar Energy usage:
-Solar Energy is measured in kilowatt-hour. 1 kilowatt = 1000 watts.
-1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) = the amount of electricity required to burn a 100 watt light bulb for 10 hours.
-According to the US Department of Energy, an average American household used approximately 866-kilowatt hours per month in 1999 costing them $70.68.
-About 30% of our total energy consumption is used to heat water.
Facts about Solar Energy systems:
-A home solar system is typically made up of solar panels, an inverter, a battery, a charge controller, wiring and support structure.
-A 1-kilowatt home solar system takes about 1-2 days to install and costs around US$10,000, but can vary greatly and does not take into account any incentives offered by the government.
-A 1-kilowatt home solar system consists of about 10-12 solar panels and requires about 100 square feet of installation area.
-A 1 kilowatt home solar system will generate approximately 1,600 kilowatt hours per year in a sunny climate (receiving 5.5 hours of sunshine per day) and approximately 750 kilowatt hours per year in a cloudy climate (receiving 2.5 hours of sunshine per day).
-A 1-kilowatt home solar system will prevent approximately 170 lbs. of coal from being burned, 300 lbs of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere and 105 gallons of water from being consumed each month!
-About 40 solar cells are usually combined into a solar panel and around 10-12 panels mounted in an array facing due North to receive maximum sunlight.
-The system usually comes with a 5-year warranty, although the solar panels are warranted for 20.
-Relying on the battery back up, a solar energy system can provide electricity 24x7, even on cloudy days and at night.
-Solar panels come in various colours.
-Solar energy can be collected and stored in batteries, reflected, insulated, absorbed and transmitted.
Other Interesting Facts about Solar Energy:
-Da Vinci predicted a solar industrialization as far back as 1447.
-In one hour more sunlight falls on the earth than what is used by the entire population in one year.
-A world record was set in 1990 when a solar powered aircraft flew 4060km across the USA, using no fuel.
-Fierce weather cost the world a record $130 Billion in the first eleven months of 1998- more money than was lost from weather related disasters from 1980 to 1990 ($82 Billion).
-Researchers from the Worldwatch Institute and Munich Re blame deforestation and climate change from Earth warming for much of the loss. The previous one-year record was $90 Billion in 1996. Source - Associated Press, November 28,1998.
-About 2 billion people in the world are currently without electricity.
-Accounting for only 5 percent of the world's population, Americans consume 26 percent of the world's energy.
-Electric ovens consume the most amount of electricity, followed by microwaves and central air conditioning.
-Third world countries with an abundance of sunlight and a population currently without electricity, represents the fastest growing market for solar energy, with the largest domestic market being the utilities sector.
-Shell Oil predicts that 50% of the world's energy will come from renewable sources by 2040.
http://www.facts-about-solar-energy.com/facts-about-solar-energy.html
-Valentia
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Why is there a need for solar energy?
There are lowering rates of non-renewable energies such as coal, natural gas and oil. These are said to run out within the next hundred years they are millions of years in the making and hundreds in the breaking. This is the reality that human society must face and find another option for a power source of energy to live on. The need for solar energy stems from the world’s need for electricity and when there are no fossil fuels left there will be a need for renewable energy such as solar power. The renewable energy sources are environmentally friendly and this is a very needed aspect in our energy sources. Carbon dioxide emissions have contributed to global warming, which in the long run will melt the polar ice caps and flood the continents. Carbon dioxide has also contributed to putting a hole in the ozone layer and therefore there is a higher risk of skin cancer within Australia. There is hope though, if people reduce their energy intake and wake up to the fact that their home (the earth) is dying.
http://www.annesley.sa.edu.au/amep/energyconservation_solarenergy/need.htm
- Yu Zhen
http://www.annesley.sa.edu.au/amep/energyconservation_solarenergy/need.htm
- Yu Zhen
Saturday, March 15, 2008
What is a proton
Under the photon theory of light, a photon is a discrete bundle (or quantum) of electromagnetic (or light) energy. Photons are always in motion and, in a vacuum, have a constant speed of light to all observers, at the vacuum speed of light (more commonly just called the speed of light) of c = 2.998 x 108 m/s.
Basic Properties of PhotonsAccording to the photon theory of light, photons . . .
Basic Properties of PhotonsAccording to the photon theory of light, photons . . .
- move at a constant velocity, c = 2.9979 x 108 m/s (i.e. "the speed of light"), in free space
- have zero mass and rest energy.
- carry energy and momentum, which are also related to the frequency nu and wavelength
- lamdba of the electromagnetic wave by E = h nu and p = h / lambda.
- can be destroyed/created when radiation is absorbed/emitted.
- can have particle-like interactions
http://physics.about.com/od/lightoptics/f/photon.htm
- Valentia
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Methods
The four main methods used for the direct conversion of solar energy into electricity are related to photovoltaic power conversion, photoemissive power conversion, photogalvanic power conversion, and photomagnetic power conversion. Indirect conversion methods involving a heat stage are also considered, taking into account the conversion of solar energy into heat, the conversion of solar heat directly into electricity, and the indirect conversion of solar heat into electricity. A description is presented of approaches involving the conversion of solar energy through a mechanical stage. The conversion of solar energy through a chemical stage is potentially also feasible. Attention is given to primary photochemical processes for the conversion of solar energy and basic concepts regarding a solar energy power system
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1977see..book..305K
- Yee Ting
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1977see..book..305K
- Yee Ting
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Operating Principles
A schematic of a "screen printed" silicon solar cell, the cell presently produced in the highest volumes, is shown in Figure 1. Sunlight entering the cell is converted to an electrical current which flows through any electrical load connected between the cell terminals on the front and those on the rear of the cell. Albert Einstein's Nobel prize winning work on the photoelectric effect provides the basis for understanding the quantum particulate behaviour of the incoming light. Each photon in the sunlight is ideally converted into an electron within the semiconductor material forming the cell. The positive-negative (p-n) junction within the cell ensures that these light generated electrons flowing unidirectionally to the cell terminals and hence through the electrical load connected between them [Green, 1982].
http://www.atse.org.au/index.php?sectionid=391
- Xin Yun
http://www.atse.org.au/index.php?sectionid=391
- Xin Yun
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