Solar Energy

Google is being a crappy helper.

Solar thermal can be used to generate electricity in large power plants, or can be used to capture heat for water and space heating. Here’s a good site on solar thermal electricity, http://www.ecoworld.com/energy-fuels/solar-thermal-power.html. I’m using solar thermal in New England to heat my domestic water for showers and washing, as well as to heat my house. Here’s a description of it, http://www.altestore.com/gallery/Amy-Beaudet-gallery/v/9358727169/amys_water/. It can be used to heat the water for radiant floors, or heat the air in forced hot air systems.

Solar thermal is used all around the world. China is the largest user of solar water heating, with Japan, Germany, Israel all closer behind. It is now required by law in Hawaii for new construction to install slar water heating, since it saves so much power instead of using electricity to heat water.

A little detail on the answer would be nice. To whom ever answers this THANK YOU very much!

Well, Solar Radiation, is a radiation that consists of Neutrinos. A neutrinos is an particle traveling almost the speed of light and can pass through anything. Thermal radiation is heat given off by particles.

Are they the same thing? Is there a different way the energy is gathered and used? Or are they 2 parts of a whole method of gathering solar energy? Inquiring minds want to know.

Photovoltaic converts light directly to enerhy using the photo-electric effect. Photothermal energy converts light directly into heat – eg. wearing black clothes on a sunny day – the black clothes will get hot quickly.

Photothermal energy can be used as a heating source to heat hot water like in solar hot water panels and hteat water or oil to pipe round in radiators. It can also be used if concentrated by mirrors and lenses to boil water to make steam which can power a steam engine to create electricity.

A.mechanical energy.
B.chemical energy.
C.nuclear energy.
D.kinetic energy.
E.thermal energy.

B – chemical energy

Any salt can be used but a mix of sodium and potassium nitrate is best used commercially (otherwise used as a fertiliser)

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usually solar energy is used to heat water(or any other liquid with heat transfer characteristics)

so for example ,solar thermal power plants,they use sun to heat the water till it becomes steam under high pressure to turn on turbines which generate electricity.

Also thermal water heaters in homes use the same idea where sometimes vacuum tubes are used where water passes through them,These tubes are designed such that they absorb the solar energy (photons with energy transformed to heat) but in the mean time they dont dissipate heat back to atmosphere

Those and other power generation methods will certainly play a big part, but I think that our entire power grid is an antique. If we updated that then we will be much more efficient and wont need to produce as much electricity. A lot of power is lost on long power lines. I also think that many smaller power plants would be a good idea. There are many small irrigation and flood control dams that have no power generators in them, we should make use of them since they are already there.

Solar energy (thermal and photovoltaic) Diferences between the conditions in North and South europe

I need to do some report about the differences between the conditions for North and South Europe to use the solar energy.

All data, like the energy at places, the advantages, everything is welcome.
Send me links, or other things.

Thanks

There are maps to show how much solar energy is available on average per day for the planet. Solar energy return is also dependent on tracking the sun. Tracking can be applied on solar thermal and photovoltaic. Solar thermal is more economical when scaled up in MW. Solar thermal can also provide night time energy using salt ponds for heat storage.

These are well-established concepts, but I’m amazed that people are not doing this combination more often.

One square meter of sunlight is equivalent to about one horsepower. Reflectors can be used to heat a moving tube of water. Heat storage can be in an insulated underground tank of water without energy conversion losses.

Water can be used to heat homes and heat water.

Why isn’t everyone doing this now given the high cost of energy?

Like moving to more fuel efficient vehicles, consumers need to really feel the pain before they adjust their habits.

There’s a desperate hope that energy prices will come down. When people realize they won’t, then alternatives like you suggest will be popular.

how electrical energy is made from alternative form of energy
(wind,solar,geo-thermal)

For alternative energy that comes from something that moves like geothermal, hydro, wind, tidal, you say that the stuff flows through a turbine, which has blades like an airplane propeller, and that turns a generator, like the one on your bike that runs the light. There are several kinds of solar, and some heat water to drive a turbine. You don’t have to explain how solar cells work – you can point to a solar calculator, and say that this patch produces electricity, and it can be done with really big patches.

Fourth graders know how to do math, like multiply and divide. That’s pretty sophisticated.