Solar Energy

What is the amount of solar energy required to drive a 250 pound cart with a 250 pound person 10 miles? How many square feet of recharged paneling would be required?

If you are willing to go slowly enough, all you need from the solar panel is enough to overcome static friction to get the cart started.

I do know that a cyclist cruising along at a moderate speed (say, 10 miles an hour) is expending about 1/10 horsepower. That’s 80 watts. So on flat ground, a 100-watt panel push them over the 10 miles in an hour. Such a panel, if square, would be 2 to 2.5 feet on a side, if made with typical contemporary materials. If the terrain is more than gently rolling hills, more power would be needed.

I came accross a new, proven and tested home made wind power system and solar power system which eliminates our electricity bills. It was written by a Renewable energy enthusiasts Michael Harvey the diy called Earth4energy. You can get your copy to save energy and help environment while eliminating your power bills. Get it from here:

http://how-to-build-cheap-solar-energy.blogspot.com/

We are all seeing rather less of the Sun, according to scientists who have been looking at five decades of sunlight measurements.
They have reached the disturbing conclusion that the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth’s surface has been gradually falling.
We are all seeing rather less of the Sun, according to scientists who have been looking at five decades of sunlight measurements.
They have reached the disturbing conclusion that the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth’s surface has been gradually falling.

Paradoxically, the decline in sunlight may mean that global warming is a far greater threat to society than previously thought.
The effect was first spotted by Gerry Stanhill, an English scientist working in Israel.
The weight of the snow and ice on the top of the earths wobble would help the ball wobble I guess. When the ice melts and flows evenly around the ball of the earth… the earth would turn around without a wobble. OK, thats the ticket I think. (smile) Of course I guess at most things in my mind ….. where am I?

So when the water flows evenly around the earth we no longer have a wobble. So the sun would shine on the earth in only the southern areas of the earth…. is that right?

So it seems if that is correct… the Northern Hemisphere would be dark… losing the Light to the Southern Hemisphere. Leaving the North in total darkness for thousands or millions or forever.
Jesus describes his future public return in these words,

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Matthew 24:29-31

Our planet has a wobble in it’s rotation mainly due to it’s large moon. Planets like Mars and Venus have much more stable rotations due to negligible effects from a moon. So, I don’t know where you heard this smooth water flow stuff at, but it has nothing to do with that.’

Moreover, the warming phase we’ve had is natural due to increased solar activity. The temperatures even rose on Mars which demonstrates global warming has forces beyond man made changes. The sun is currently emitting much less radiation, which in time will produce cooler temperatures.

As far as the lights of the sky being darkened. In the trumpets (Rev. we have large swaths of the earth burned by fire in trumpets 1 and 2. That will naturally put a lot of smoke in the sky, and that’s why the fourth trumpet shows the lights of the sun, moon, and stars diminished by one third.

In the fifth trumpet in Rev 9:2 we read, ". . . the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke. . . ."

Why is it that our commonwealth govt seems to see it as appropriate to sell one form of energy, but not safe and environmental energy sources? Umm, could there be any right wing liberal voters interests at heart?

Why sell the cow when you can profit from the Milk? or something like that…

I’m taking a poll on the attitudes of consumers towards alternative energy, namely solar energy. A photovoltaic system converts sunlight into electricity. At current, the efficiency rating of most commercially available panels is somewhere between 15-19% depending on the type you buy. An efficiency rating is a measurement of how much of the available sunlight a pv panel is able to convert into electricity. (NASA uses panels with a 40% efficiency rating)

My opinion is they are great. Who cares what the efficiency rating is etc. Those kind of numbers just confuse people. Here are the numbers that are important to me. My system cost $26K I got a $10K rebate from my utility and a $2K fed. tax credit. My system offsets at least $2K per year of my electricity costs. I will break even in my 6th year. Electricity rates increase an average of 5% annually, in my area it has been more like 7% for several years. I will save over $50K with less than a $16K investment over the life of the panels. In about 15 years we will be paying double the rate we are paying today for electricity. Without the system that would mean a $200 dollar increase in my summer rate, instead it will mean a $20 increase.

I’m working in IT Helpdesk field and no longer interested in this kind of work. I can’t stand sitting at a desk in an office answering phones, e-mails and helping others with their technical problems.

I am very good with technology/computers and want to start a career in the solar energy field, preferably as a technician working with solar heating and energy.

How can I make this start?

What kind of salary would I be making?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090326171405AAE6JTP

Are you going to make solar panels from scratch? Good luck.

The rest of the answer depends on your application. For example, if you are going to use the power right away, then you hook it up to your device. But if you need to power stuff at night – like lights, then you need a battery, a way to prevent the solar cells from draining the battery, like a diode, a way to turn on the device, like a timer, and so on. Match the solar cell out put to the battery.

If you’re going to power your house, and you want excess power to go to the grid, you need significant converters to get the power into whatever is common for your house, like 120 volt 60 Hz A/C, and converters to the grid. These are expensive, i hear.

I want to do a science project where I create my own solar panels out of different materials to see which one will produce the greatest amount of energy. Is this a realistic topic if it has to be done before Thanksgiving? If so, how do I make the solar panels? How do I measure/convert the energy? Please help!

Your best bet is making solar water heating panels. You could make them out of copper, PVC, and garden hose, and compare which gets hotter. Check out this site for ideas. http://www.builditsolar.com/

Avoid the scams out there saying you can build your own panel for $200 to power your whole house. You can’t. There are some free instructions on the You Build It site that are legit.

I know that solar energy is energy from the sun converted into elctrical energy and all that great stuff, but if you heat a sheet of flashing copper, put it in the sun and it makes a little more energy than it did in the shade, is that thermal or solar energy
OK I think the real question I’m asking is how is thermal energy converted into elctricity

Solar energy is energy from the sun.

There are many forms of energy.
- Plants use photosysthesis to convert solar energy into chemical energy.
- Solar cells convert solar energy into electricity.
- Evaporated and condensed water, thermals, and winds convert solar energy to mechanical energy.
- Copper flashing, like most things sitting out in the sun, convert solar energy to heat.

So, its solar energy until it is absorbed by the copper, then it is thermal energy (heat).

Edit: I know 2 ways to convert thermal energy to electrical. First is a thermoelectric generator. These tend to be costly, delicate, and have low efficiency. Check out the links below the article, especially the HZ-14 one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect

2nd way is to use an engine or turbine. Concentrating sunlight with mirrors onto a small boiler creates high pressure steam. It is used in a turbine to make electricity. Some experimental units have actually been deployed by utility companies in sunny areas. While they depend on government subsidies, with enough emprovement, the technologies may stand on their own. You can also use solar energy to heat air or other working fluid inside an engine to convert the thermal energy to mechanical motion that drives an electrical generator. The most efficient such engine is called a carnot engine, which is unfortunately impractical to make economically.

Finally, things like windmills and waterpower actually convert solar to mechanical power, which is then used to drive generators. These are actually variations of the 2nd point.

BTW, if you’re asking how to make a simple solar cell from copper, see link: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Apf5WS6KKGtoGDDSwRyFbIsAxgt.;_ylv=3?qid=20080520203652AAT6UzD

I need specifications, catalogues, wiring diagrams, manufacturing/retails outlets,

This is not a simple thing that a do-it-yourselfer can just do without a lot of study and work. Your best bet is probably to contact a solar installer near you and ask them for a free quote. In fact, contact several, and get competitive bids.

If you are still intent on trying it yourself, try Googling "photovoltaic documentary" , or maybe "solar panel self install".

And how do they make that energy into something we can use for power? What instrument do they use to do this? I am really curious.

Waterfalls – Hydro energy
Water falls from a great height, as it falls potential energy are converted to kinetic energy which den drive the turbine of an electric generator, producing mechanical power.

Solar Energy
Light from the sun are discrete packet of energy. When the light shone on the solar panal which is a p-n semiconductor, electrons are excited by the sunlight, producing an electron-hole pair. these electron-holes pair will den act as a charge carrier conducting electricity. When potential difference is applied, the charge carriers will flow in a specific direction generating electricity and hence power.

Hope this helps