Solar Energy

ok, so I’m preparing a speech on renewable energy. Primarily solar energy. . . . can anyone give me some facts and figures to incorporate, perhaps some angles I havn’t thought of yet? I plan on appealing to the emotional side of saving the environment and the logical side of saving money on your monthly energy bill (it’s to be a persuasive speech) . . . so perhaps the efficiency rating of solar panels, or that average energy produced by wind? or even better if someone has some figures on the california rebates given for solar panel installation. Thanks for the assistance
Solar Cell – Renewable and Cleanest Energy Source:

Solar cell is a semiconductor device that converts the energy of sunlight into electric energy. These are also called ‘photovoltaic cell’. Solar cells do not use chemical reactions to produce electric power, and they have no moving parts.

Photovoltaic solar cells are thin silicon disks that convert sunlight into electricity. These disks act as energy sources for a wide variety of uses, including: calculators and other small devices; telecommunications; rooftop panels on individual houses; and for lighting, pumping, and medical refrigeration for villages in developing countries. In large arrays, which may contain many thousands of individual cells, they can function as central electric power stations analogous to nuclear, coal-, or oil-fired power plants. Arrays of solar cells are also used to power satellites; because they have no moving parts that could require service or fuels that would require replenishment, solar cells are ideal for providing power in space.

A. Most photovoltaic cells consist of a semiconductor pn junction, in which electron-hole pairs produced by absorbed radiation are separated by the internal electric field in the junction to generate a current, a voltage, or both, at the device terminals. Under open-circuit conditions (current I = 0) the terminal voltage increases with increasing light intensity, and under short-circuit conditions (voltage V = 0) the magnitude of the current increases with increasing light intensity. When the current is negative and the voltage is positive, the photovoltaic cell delivers power to the external circuit.

B. Characteristics of a Solar Cell - The usable voltage from solar cells depend on the semiconductor material. In silicon it amounts to approximately 0.5 V. Terminal voltages is only weakly dependent on light radiation, while the current intensity increases with higher luminosity. A 100 cm² silicon cell, for example, reaches a maximum current intensity of approximately 2 A when radiated by 1000 W/m². The output (product of electricity and voltage) of a solar cell is temperature dependent. Higher cell temperatures lead to lower output, and hence to lower efficiency. The level of efficiency indicates how much of the radiated quantity of light is converted into useable electrical energy.

C. Cell Types: One can distinguish three cell types according to the type of crystal: monocrystalline, polycrystalline and amorphous. To produce a monocrystalline silicon cell, absolutely pure semiconducting material is necessary. Monocrystalline rods are extracted from melted silicon and then sawed into thin plates. This production process guarantees a relatively high level of efficiency.

The production of polycrystalline cells is more cost-efficient. In this process, liquid silicon is poured into blocks that are subsequently sawed into plates. During solidification of the material, crystal structures of varying sizes are formed, at whose borders defects emerge. As a result of this crystal defect, the solar cell is less efficient.
If a silicon film is deposited on glass or another substrate material, this is a so-called amorphous or thin layer cell. The layer thickness amounts to less than 1µm (thickness of a human hair: 50-100 µm), so the production costs are lower due to the low material costs. However, the efficiency of amorphous cells is much lower than that of the other two cell types. Because of this, they are primarily used in low power equipment (watches, pocket calculators) or as facade elements.

D. Efficiency: Solar cell efficiencies vary from 6% for amorphous silicon-based solar cells to 42.8% with multiple-junction research lab cells. Solar cell energy conversion efficiencies for commercially available multicrystalline Si solar cells are around 14-16%. The highest efficiency cells have not always been the most economical — for example a 30% efficient multijunction cell based on exotic materials such as gallium arsenide or indium selenide and produced in low volume might well cost one hundred times as much as an 8% efficient amorphous silicon cell in mass production, while only delivering about four times the electrical power.
To make practical use of the solar-generated energy, the electricity is most often fed into the electricity grid using inverters (grid-connected PV systems); in stand alone systems, batteries are used to store the energy that is not needed immediately.

E. Advantages of solar energy: Solar cells are long lasting sources of energy which can be used almost anywhere. They are particularly useful where there is no national grid and also where there are no people such as remote site water pumping or in space. Solar cells provide cost effective solutions to energy problems in places where there is no mains electricity. Solar cells are also totally silent and non-polluting. As they have no moving parts they require little maintenance and have a long lifetime. Compared to other renewable sources they also possess many advantages; wind and water power rely on turbines which are noisy, expensive and liable to breaking down.

Rooftop power is a good way of supplying energy to a growing community. More cells can be added to homes and businesses as the community grows so that energy generation is in line with demand. Many large scale systems currently end up over generating to ensure that everyone has enough. Solar cells can also be installed in a distributed fashion, i.e. they don’t need large scale installations. Solar cells can easily be installed on roofs, which mean no new space is needed and each user can quietly generate their own energy.

F. Disadvantages of solar cells: The main disadvantage of solar energy is the initial cost. Most types of solar cell require large areas of land to achieve average efficiency. Air pollution and weather can also have a large effect on the efficiency of the cells. The silicon used is also very expensive and the problem of nocturnal down times means solar cells can only ever generate during the daytime. Solar energy is currently thought to cost about twice as much as traditional sources (coal, oil etc). Obviously, as fossil fuel reserves become depleted, their cost will rise until a point is reached where solar cells become an economically viable source of energy. When this occurs, massive investment will be able to further increase their efficiency and lower their cost.

For further information please refer
http://www.environmentengineering.blogspot.com

How much, roughly, does solar panels cost to install for hot water for a house? Just looking for a rough idea without having to go through rigmarole of signing up to loads of different contractors before getting a quote.

i asked about 4 years ago and they said £7000! then i found out they don’t work very well anyway. save yr money.

I can’t afford solar panels; but I can, for example, afford to open my blinds during the day.

Do you know of any creative ways of harvesting the sun’s energy?

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/

Hi!
I actually asked the same question a while ago.
Someone showed me http://www.buildsolarpowerkits.com and there is some good info there about building your own solar power system. I actually built a solar power system just recently and it is so nice to be a bit more self sustaining.
My props go to the website.

good luck!

What enviromental problems are caused by Solar Energy and what is the idea for the cost of say, one solar panel?

The pros of solar energy are abundant; here are a few from Natural Home magazine. Solar power can be ties to a grid or stand alone and it increases the home’s value. Not only does it have moveable parts, but also emits no waste. There are tax incentives that are widely available and experienced installers readily available nationwide.

A few of the disadvantages of solar power are trees, and location. If you or your neighbors have mature trees that shade your roof, solar power panels may be difficult.

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/

countries like usa and european ones. are they building wind farms and that. what ones?

and also what is the highest renewable energy source for one country?

Yes, a lot of countries are wasting money on wind and solar.

The only ‘renewable’ sources of power that are actually reliable enough to be worth having or hydroelectricity and geothermal power but not all places have the geology needed for them and hydro has something of a bad reputation (well deserved given the environmental impact and what happens when dams fail).

As for who uses the most renewables, Norway has a lot of hydro and Iceland uses geothermal extensively. Denmark has managed to get about 20% wind capacity but hasn’t even shut down any coal power plants and at the moment pretty much just sells the wind power to Norway really cheap where it’s used to pump water uphill.

OMG
I am gobsmacked and in utter disbelief at the absolute naive, half-baked, already-invented-and-implemeted, cost prohibitive crock of ideas I have found on YouTube as entrants for "Google’s 10 to the 100 project".

Quickly - Google is wanting to spend US$10m in developing up to 5 ideas the public have for helping change the world. Categories include helping via education, community, energy, housing, health etc. Entry is via submitting a form explaining your idea and if you wish, a 30 sec video on YouTube to accompany it. BTW it’s hilarious to see people say at the 28 sec mark after a lengthy suck up to Google "so my idea is…" BZZZZ. Too late. 30 secs is up buddy…

I entered the search terms "google 10 project" and started looking at some ideas.
Truth be known I was hoping I’d find loads of excellent ideas and videos to scare me out of doing my own for my idea.

OMG. I have yet to find ANYTHING that is remotely inspiring or indeed evidence that brains inhabit these people’s heads. Honestly, try yourself by looking some up on YouTube.

A brief run down of the ideas I’ve seen so far. Remember the key points when considering the vaibility of these ideas 1. $10m is not the prize to the person with the best idea, it is funding to get up to 5 ideas off and running.
2. It is for UNIQUE ideas not ones that have already been tried or are in the process of being implemented
3. Consider the costs:

1. Put satellites in the sky and send messages to satellite dishes so that people can communicate all around the world.
2. Get rid of obesity. That was the whole idea. Just get rid of it…
3. Use all the left over food from schools and restaurants and give it to homeless people.
4. Google should get everyone to send in their old computers, they will fix them up and sell them to 3rd world countries for $20 each
5. Build a city on water
6. Build a car that runs on water
7. Every family in the west adopts a family in poverty and helps pay for things for them
8. Put solar panels on everyones roofs and then they can sell the excess energy to the electric companies and get paid instead of paying
9. Google should invent a game to teach people that giving is better than taking. Do a giving action - you get points. Do a taking action - you lose points.
10. Fill jet engines with water and "some sort of coolant" so that when it runs it produces "some sort of cool air" instead of creating heat
11. Use the science behind "rubbing your hands together creates heat which is energy" to power the world (granted this was a teenager, so I’ll forgive the lack of science/energy transference knowledge)
12. Wind turbines on Jupiter
13. Replace all pavements and roads with removeable panels so that road works don’t distrupt traffic while they break up the concrete to fix pipes etc
14. Google should get companies to pay them for every click from a Google website and that money should go to charities.
15. People should have funraisers (sic) and give the money to help turn cloudy skies blue

The only decent ideas I have found so far are an online/interactive Google University with recognised degrees utilising all of Google’s products. FLAW I think more than $10m is going to be needed to even get this off the ground and there are a lot of online universities already, albeit not on the scale of this person’s idea.
The other idea is a light bulb that utilises LED’s to reduce energy useage by 80%. FLAW energy efficient light bulbs have been invented, the problem is the cost efficiency to produce them, the cost for people to buy them and the fact that electric companies (and this addresses the flaw in some of the ideas above) are often a huge source of income for governments and surprise, surprise if they are private, they kinda like making money! So turning our world into a "free power" world is going to take a lot of persuasion, a looooooooooong time, a hell of a lot more than $10m and perhaps some peace-love-and-mung-beans type drugs to induce philanthropy.

Yes, yes I know a lot of you are saying - hey I don’t you see you trying an idea.
Well actually I do have an idea and I’m going to do my video and entry this week. I am truly motivated after what I have seen today!

Now I’ll be interested to read people’s comments and see how many think the above ideas I knocked the crap out of are actually brilliant and worthy of the Google project.

And how many don’t know what sic means grammatically.

My god, there’s a list of total rubbish for you. Wind turbines on jupiter for $2m? ROFL.

Good luck with your idea. At least you understand the guidelines.

I need to know how much money it would cost to supply the entire united states with kinetic, wind, solar, and hydro-electric energy THANKS!!!!
Concentrating solar energy collectors with liquid salt heat storage for nights and cloudy days would need to cover about a 100 mile square area in a desert location to power the entire US including transportation. The total estimate for that to be built is around 10-12 trillion $$. If you figure we buy 100 billion $$ worth of oil each year from foreign countries, spent upwards of $1 trillion on a useless war in a region rich in oil (don’t tell me oil had nothing to do with our being there, I don’t believe that) and will spend another $1 trillion paying for the health care of those wounded in that war, made enough enemies so we will have to spend another $1 trillion over the next few years fighting the muslims in the mideast and destroying our environment while making millions sick at a huge cost to the economy by continuing to burn coal I think $10 trillion would be a pretty good bargain.

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/

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/

I was thinking about adding a solar heater to my swimming pool. The panels seem very affordable, but is this something I could install myself with no experience or do i need a professional?

Not hard. This web site provides you a step by step process to build a devise that generates solar and wind energy. Not only will it provide electric for your pool, but can lower your utility bill. The cost to build this generator is under $200.