What is the best solar technology for your home, community, business or farm?
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Post time:03/13/2012
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Because of all the media attention about solar power, most people think of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels.
Because of all the attention of the media on the solar energy, most people thought photovoltaic (PV) solar. People are in the margin of the energy company clean could know about the ' Chinese called "dumping" of low-cost photovoltaic panels in the U.S. market.UU., on how schools and universities are the installation of photovoltaic panels to save on their electricity bills, but also to educate the future of tomorrow's decision, and on how the California solar manufacturer Solyndra panels filed for bankruptcy after receiving a donation of US $500 million from the Department of energy (DOE). Many of these stories even of network television news headlines, but is very poorly understood.
What is solar energy? What are the differences in different types of energy technology in existence today?
Solar energy, simply, is the energy that comes from the Sun. (Simple.) But now there are many types of solar energy technology focused on make use of this energy and convert it into usable electricity or heat (or both).
The scale of ranks of power generation of the water heater in your home to serve 100,000 homes +. Below is a summary of forms of solar energy, beginning with solar hybrid, since it is the least understood and made public.
Solar Hybrid
By definition, the "hybrid power" includes the combination of clean sources of energy, such as solar, wind, or geothermal heat pumps, in combination with the engines or generators. Many in operation are do-it-yourself projects for use outside of the network. SunWize (CA) combining solar photovoltaic and diesel, while N. Arizona Wind & Sun incorporates two solar and wind energy sources. Cogenra solar leverages the inefficiency of the photovoltaic solar panels (between 15-20%) and capture the lost heat to heat water, which results in 4-5 times the amount of total energy in comparison with independent photovoltaic systems. Its maximum expression "cogeneration" customers are industries or institutions where significant hot water is needed.
SunScience hybrid solar Energy Management System
Another hybrid solar energy company is SunScience, whose Energy Management System integrates
both a concentrated photovoltaic (PV) capability (for electricity) and a thermal component (for hot water), on a compact footprint. Its systems architecture incorporates data from a network of sensors that measures temperature, humidity, and other environmental elements. Proprietary software monitors—and controls—the elements of energy output, storage and environmental elements for total systems management. SunScience’s first application is “controlled-environment agriculture” within greenhouses, to achieve year-round farming in cold climates. Technological “proof of concept” was achieved at a formal “harvest” event late January.
Photovoltaic (PV) panels. This is what most people think of to lower their electricity bills
Traditional photovoltaic panels
or provide clean energy to communities. Examples of large companies solar photovoltaic are (CA) Sunpower and SunTech (China). Glenn wrote a post in September about how photovoltaic solar panels work, and Wikipedia has a lot more on this technology decades, but essentially photovoltaic panels are made of semiconductor Silicon in solar cells that convert sunlight (photons) into electrical energy (electrons). National laboratories scientists are experimenting with organic materials and "quantum dots" to this process, but most of the photovoltaic panels are still being with crystalline (or wafer) Silicon, with manufacturing now dominated by China. The cost per watt is falling below $1.00, but efficiency is still only 20% +, which results in large areas of land necessary for the production of significant electricity. Photovoltaic roof panels are predominantly for use in home technology, while large multi-acre photovoltaic array are required for projects of great utility, especially in remote locations.
Thin-Film photovoltaic. Una_vez_que promotes itself as the next generation of PV from a weight) lighter, b) less of the expensive Silicon needed equipment, and (c) material) other forms of photovoltaic material (amorphous silicon) can be used. The result is a lighter product finer with a wider variety of applications, such as their own roof material, at the top of the shingles, or even Windows. But the drastic reduction in traditional China photovoltaic prices decelerated thin film photovoltaics market acceptance. Other disadvantages include higher costs of manufacture, reduced efficiency and a more appropriate space required for the equivalence of energy. The first company of thin film in the world in terms of market share, is First Solar.
Concentrated PV panels
Concentration photovoltaics (CPV). In a broad sense, this new form of electricity production competes directly with the PV and CSP on a commercial scale (which is described later) solar panels. The CPV advantage in these other systems involves a smaller footprint because the solar panels are made of solar cells multi-union with lenses of concentration rather than flat Silicon cells. The result is greater efficiency anywhere in 2-3 times greater than traditional photovoltaic panels, which go up 43%. Therefore, the corresponding space is required less land. The disadvantages include complexity of manufacturing cells and the price per kilowatt hour. The current thinking is that to be competitive, CPV systems must be greater, approaching 100 MW and located in alto-DNI (normal direct irradiance,) areas, such as the United States.UU. Southwest, Mexico, Chile, the Mediterranean countries, etc., but now, with photovoltaic panels of China increasingly dramatically cheaper, the economic challenges to increase CPV only. Some successful companies include Amonix and Semprius.
