Solar Energy

I’m doing a science report on solar energy, but I’m having a hard time finding information on more recent advances and developments in the area of harnessing solar power or putting it to use.
Also, how do solar chargers for cell phones, etc, work? Do they usually hook directly up to a solar panel, or do they connect a solar panel to a small solar cell, or…?

one simple device i’ve seen is a solar collector designed to heat water for residences. one variety consists of a piping or tubing laid out in a spiral shape or a rectangular panel, facing south to harness the sun’s rays to heat the water. it’s the same principle, as the ’sun shower’ used by outdoors enthusiasts.

some examples…
http://www.solardirect.com/swh/swh.htm
http://www.azsolarcenter.com/technology/solarh20.html
http://oscarsolarwaterheaters.com/

I need some information for my negative debate speech. The subject is "Should the American goverment support solar energy?" If you could help it would greatly appreciated. Thanks!

the cost

What are engineering challenges to develop solar energy for comfort/home uses?

Solar is an old technology now and is fairly developed. Cost is a bit of a barrier but that is coming down quickly. Production scale could also be considered a barrier, as the industry can’t yet make enough solar panels to satisfy demand. The panels themselves are limited in how much energy they can take out of the sun’s rays, but they are getting better at this. Materials are a big thing now, mostly in trying out different materials and structures in the cells to bring down the cost and boost the efficiency.

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.

Perhaps you could scale that answer to your situation.

I saw an episode in extreme makeover home edition were they built a house for a family and they used solar energy to power the house I like that not just because is good for the envirorment but because I think is better for us too, If we take care of the Earth we live in I think is going to last more.

Hurray for caring about Mother Earth. The cool thing about converting to solar energy is that you can do it a little at a time if you want to. One of the best sources in checking out all the options is the magazine Mother Earth News. This magazine has been around for as long as I can remember and have hundreds if not thousands of articles about solar energy projects. A good library will probably have back issues and I imagine you can go on line and get some article straight from the source if you are so inclined. As with any project it is the proper installation that is key in making the project worthwhile. So you either do it yourself, right, or hire people who have many years of experience in doing these types of installations. You might also be interested to know that the government gives very nice tax right offs for folks who convert to solar energy and some states can be very generous indeed. So check out all your different sources both on line and at the library to get the best information you can. Enjoy the process it is really fascinating overall.

How solar energy can be produced at competitive cost for the welfare of people at large?Presently what is the status of its use in india?

Professor Andrew Blakers from The Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems at the Australian National University will today report to the Greenhouse 2000 Conference in Melbourne that photovoltaic (PV) solar energy conversion can be cost-competitive with any low-emission electricity generation technology by 2030.

His paper describes how extrapolation of the huge economic and technical gains made by photovoltaics over the last 15 years gives confidence that a dramatic shift in electricity generation technology over the next quarter-century is possible.

Worldwide photovoltaic sales are growing at 40 to 50% per year. Government research & market support for photovoltaics of around $400 billion spread over the next 25 years can deliver the technology required to eliminate electricity production as a contributor to climate change. This is a large sum of money – similar to the cost of the Iraq war – but it is dwarfed by the $23 trillion expected investment in oil exploration out to 2030 or the $24 trillion investment in PV systems required to generate half of the world’s electricity by 2040.

Professor Blakers will also describe Sliver solar cell technology, which was invented at Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland, by Dr Klaus Weber and Professor Blakers in 2000 while attending a conference. Origin Energy, one of the sponsors of the Greenhouse 2000 Conference, is commercialising Sliver technology in Adelaide.
Work at ANU shows that Sliver solar cell technology can achieve electricity costs below retail electricity costs within five years, with the right investment. Explosive growth in sales in the commercial and residential sector will then follow.

Professor Blakers said that Sliver solar cell technology "can go all the way."

"It’s not difficult to envisage Sliver based technology delivering electricity at a cost that matches wind energy, zero-emission coal and other clean energy technologies. No leap of faith is required; just careful engineering and adaptation of existing techniques from other industries," he said.

Dr Weber added that it is essential to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel based electricity generation in order to limit climate change. The cost of doing this with advanced solar technology will be far lower than the pessimistic forecasts advanced by some analysts.

"The key to a clean energy future is the setting of clear and challenging targets and the provision of reliable, long-term support to the solar industry. The industry will respond and deliver the required technology," Dr Weber said. Recent solar and fuel cell articles

Organic solar cells will help spur viability of alternative energy October 10, 2005
Imagine being able to "paint" your roof with enough alternative energy to heat and cool your home. What if soldiers in the field could carry an energy source in a roll of plastic wrap in their backpacks?

Harvesting tornadoes as power plants; renewable wind vortex energy October 9, 2005
Engineers are working to use artificial tornadoes as a renewable energy source according to an article in last week’s issue of The Economist. Storms release a tremendous amount of energy. Hurricane Katrina, a category 4 hurricane, released enough energy to supply the world’s power needs for a year, while the typical tornado produces as much power as a large power station.

Danish researchers develop hydrogen tablet; stores hydrogen in inexpensive and safe material September 21, 2005
Scientists at the Technical University of Denmark have invented a technology which may be an important step towards the hydrogen economy: a hydrogen tablet that effectively stores hydrogen in an inexpensive and safe material. With the new hydrogen tablet, it becomes much simpler to use the environmentally-friendly energy of hydrogen. Hydrogen is a non-polluting fuel, but since it is a light gas it occupies too much volume, and it is flammable. Consequently, effective and safe storage of hydrogen has challenged researchers world-wide for almost three decades. At the Technical University of Denmark, DTU, an interdisciplinary team has developed a hydrogen tablet which enables storage and transport of hydrogen in solid form.

High oil prices make Asia pursue green energy September 9, 2005
For energy-hungry Asian governments, the answer could literally be blowing in the wind. Across the region, renewable energy such as solar, wind and geothermal power is gaining ever greater credence as a way to curb the region’s appetite for oil and cut runaway import bills. With oil prices near $70, and expected by many analysts to stay over $50 through the end of 2006, governments believe alternative energy will help keep their economies growing.

Cockroaches and rats used as batteries? August 24, 2005
An article in today’s Manilla Times highlights some local research into using common household pests as energy sources. A group of scientists from Feati University recently devised a biological fue

Solar cells convert the energy of incoming light to electric energy; a good quality cell operates at an efficiency of 15%. Each person in the United States uses energy (for lighting, heating, transportation, etc.) at an average rate of 11 kilowatts . Although sunlight varies with season and time of day, solar energy falls on the United States at an average intensity of 200 W/m^2.

Assuming you live in an average location, what total solar-cell area would you need to provide all of your energy needs with energy from the sun?

The correct rate is 11kWhr per day. 11kw would be a horrendous amount of power.(maybe Al Gore uses it at this rate)

I will calc it at your rate for problem sake. (this is not real life by the way, there are lots more variables, length of day, etc)

200W/m^2 * 15% = 30w/meter

11kw / 30w/meter = 366m^2

On a side note I think mastering physics is a crappy program, made for lazy physics teacher that dont ever care about application of knowledge.

I have a research paper due and I have no idea how to answer this question?

Please be Pro Solar Enegy.. I based my whole research on the pro causes of Solar Energy.

When it comes to solar power systems, you need to have two basic components which are a PV panel and a storage system. The function of the PV is to generate electricity and the storage systems are used when you aren’t using all the solar energy generated. In other words, the system stores the electricity for later use.

The storage system will consist of batteries which are placed in a vented room such as a basement. You don’t need to have batteries but they’re recommended for those who want to be completely independent in terms of energy production. Batteries will allow you to do this and they’re the most common way of storing solar energy.

Although batteries are typically used for solar energy storage, there are also two main types to choose from. These are lead acid and nickel cadmium.

Due to their low cost, you will find that lead acid batteries are the most common when storing solar energy. They’re very similar to the type of battery you have in a car. The terminals are positive and negative and they have leads attached to them which contain metal plates that in turn connect to terminals. These plates sit in a solution of sulphuric acid. When there is a reaction between the lead plates and the sulphuric acid you will find that this is how electricity is produced.

This is pretty much how a nickel cadmium battery work too however these batteries are a lot more expensive. The benefit of paying more for these batteries is that they function much better. Not only to the discharge more electric current before they require recharging but they also last a lot longer than lead acid batteries.

Because of the way solar panels work the battery will charge up when the solar panels are not getting any light. This is why they’re so important so that you can still run electrical devices in your home no matter what amount of light is currently hitting the solar panels.

The problem with batteries is that they can become drained or can be overcharged too many times. This why charge controllers are used as they stop this from happening. If the batteries become fully charged the controller prevents any more charging from happening. You will find that lead acid batteries are meant to be discharged at about 50% of their capacity allowing you to extend its life.

Solar panels normally last for about 20 years but batteries only last for about half that time. This is why it’s so important that you understand you need to factor this into the cost of your solar system. Replacing your batteries can be fairly costly and shouldn’t be ignored when making your solar purchase.

Who stands to benefit the most if Obama wins and gives tax credits for purchasing solar energy products?

No disrespect, but the capless solar tax credit extension already passed as part of the bailout bill.

To me, the most compelling case for solar (both water heating and electricity) is on individual homes, as when that is done, it displaces retail energy. If one makes a giant solar power plant, the energy must be sold wholesale, and transmitted to another place.

So to have a solar boom, individual homeowners must be swayed. There is a large initial investment, so solar might not do very well in a down economy. People will be more worried about their next meal than energy efficiency. Also, the initial cost of a solar array is like a car. And if you look at the impact that tight credit has had on car sales, there is another potential problem.

But after all this, if you’re looking for long term investments, I think solar will do well. There are few barriers to entry on the installation business – I think it will be hundreds of small businesses that benefit, not one large one, any more than one company dominates roofing or electrical work nationally. AKNS is the one large installation company, but I personally would not invest in them, because of the lack of barriers to entry.

As far as photovoltaic panel makers, the largest ones are in Asia – Sharp, Kyocera, Suntech, Sanyo, Mitsubishi. There are also literally dozens of small fry, who will probably get killed or absorbed in the next year or two. In the USA, there’s First Solar (FSLR) of course, which I think is overvalued, Sunpower (SPWRA), same opinion, and other places like Energy Conversion Devices and Evergreen, that I don’t know much about.

I need some information for my negative debate speech. The subject is "Should the American goverment support solar energy?" If you could help it would greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Keep in mind I like solar energy, but I’ll give you some points.

1) It costs more
2) panels degrade faster than other energy sources equipment
3) They consume arable land
4) they consume natural habitat to set up
5) They can be unsightly (visual pollution)
6) Higher upkeep costs
7) Can be a hazard in high winds
transimssion issues getting energy from collection point to use point
9) energy only available in good weather
10) seasonality to its generation makes it an irregular energy source

There are good arguments in reply to all these points, but you wanted some negative debate points.

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/