I mean, it’s the hottest place on earth, so one would assume it would be prime area for solar energy methods no?
The equator isn’t the hottest place on earth, it just gets the most direct sunlight at the top of the atmosphere. Near-tropical desert areas are hotter and get more sun at ground level due to less cloud cover. In addition, there are the questions of local demand for energy and local economic surplus to build solar power installations. There are some solar power installations in equatorial countries.
I live in Southern California, and I have been considering solar panels for some time. I’d love to air condition my house, but I’m not willing to do so until and unless we come up with an alternative energy source. I’m somewhat anxious to go ahead with the solar idea. It seems, though, that the technology is changing rapidly. I wonder if it would be smarter to wait.
If you can afford about $50000 for an average house, go ahead.
You might want to calculate how much power cost this saves per year to see how many years it will take to get payback. Look at your old utility bill to see what you paid for the last year. Also see what your average power consumption was for that period.
Check with your utility company to see if you can sell power back to them from your array. Then get an array 2-4 times bigger than your average power consumption is. This allows you surplus to sell to them to make up for periods with no sun.
Remember that you need a roof facing the sun with nothing to block direct sun, not even a small bare tree branch. The way the arrays work, if any small portion is blocked, the array puts out nothing. The array should be at the optimal angle, which varies with location.
At school, we did an experiment where we calculated the temperature of different geothermal properties, to see if the school would have a good source of solar energy.
In the discussion questions, it says:
Set up a proposal to use solar energy energy for out school (3 external uses).
I have noo idea what I’m doing. If anyone could help that’d be great!
Yeah!! Solar in Schools is great! Here are some thoughts. There are a LOT of community grants for Green Schools. Many schools are putting solar electric (PV) arrays on their school in order to reduce their electrical bill and inspire students and the community. This can be a pretty costly proposition – $50,000 to $500,000 – so that may be difficult to make an argument for. If you want to demonstrate solar power in conjunction with reducing waste – check out a solar trash compactor from Big Belly Solar ($3000-$4000 each).
Technical High Schools are setting up labs for solar hot water and solar electric PV – this is a great way to train the future work force AND expose students to the technologies.
Finally, encourage your teachers to explore lesson plans to bring solar and wind technologies into the classroom:
K-12 Lesson plans – http://www1.eere.energy.gov/education/lessonplans/
CO – Solar in School s- http://www.solarenergy.org/solar-schools-sis
CA – http://www.need.org/pgesolarschools/
Keep up the good work!
Kristen
http://newenglandbreeze.com/
I may consider purchasing solar panels for my house, but I would like some answers or ideas from Yahoo! Contributors.
How much would one approximately pay for solar panels for a house?
There are some websites out there that give you good calculators to approximate the costs. I have referenced them below.
From what I have read it sounds like $9/kW.
Remember you are not just having to install solar panels but inverters and batteries too.
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.
We are thinking about purchasing solar panels, but are concerned that because of our weather in the upper midwest, they won’t heat the water enough. How many degree rise can we expect?
Hmm, well we have solar panels on our pool, but he have an olympic sized pool. Pro-tip, if you have a smaller pool its a gigantic waste of money. You won’t get that much out of it anyway, I would stick to the old solar canvas cover.
Some places rely on solar and wind energy right? To power their homes and such. How do they use energy in the night or when there is no wind? Do they have something that stores the energy like a big battery or something?
I have to “make” a green city and it will use renewable energy source including solar and wind energy. How would I make the wind and solar energy sustainable and not have shortages of power?
Small places, like a remote house or an island, might have batteries. A large place, like a city, would be connected to a "Grid", or electrical energy transmission system. If the wind stopped blowing, deep in the night, they would pull energy off the grid, from a nuclear plant, or coal-burning generation station, or hydroelectric project many miles away. A town on an island might have a large diesel generator.
What should I use between the solar panel array and the battery shed on the ground? Also, what type of wire should I use to connect each of the panels? I know a lot of panels come with plug and play connectors but I understand a lot of people replace them with…something.
Normally all the wiring is THNN. The wire size depends on how much voltage and at what amount of amps you are running through the wires. The wires from the solar array has to be 256% of the rated power out put.
There is a lot to it.
Try this information site. http://www.oynot.com A good place to start is on the Solar howto pages.
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
How do you install solar panels on a slate roof?
Thanks,
Helpmeplease.
Just like a tile or other stone roof, one or more tiles is generally removed, and a standoff is attached through the sheathing to the rafter below. The standoff is then flashed just like a vent. Racks are then mounted on these standoffs.
You can see examples of mounting systems on http://www.unirac.com/
Solar hot water can be heavy, and you would want to be sure of the strength of the underlying roof, especially if there is a tank on the roof.
Solar electric is light.
It’s probably worth it to get a pro to do the install on this kind of roof, as it’s not as forgiving as, say, asphalt shingle.