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SOLAR ENERGY Abstract Solar energy can have many applications in our world.

In ancient times, the sun was revered by many and even worshipped by some. People eventually found ways to use its power for simple tasks, such as drying, heating, and even cooking food. In the mid-1800s, scientists began to discover the effect of the sun on different materials. This led to the creation of what we now know as solar cells. In the past 50 years, the efficiency of these solar cells has been increased, making them a viable means of energy production. We are slowly moving towards an era of solar civilization.

SOLAR ENERGY The power of the sun: Humankind has long dreamt of harnessing it.There are legends of amazing feats accomplished through its use. In ancient Egypt, for example, one pharaoh had statues that supposedly created sounds when sunlight struck them, and another pharaoh was

rumored to possess a bird sculpture that sang when bathed in sunlight (Cheremisinoff & Regino, 1978, p. 1). If we are to believe legends, Archimedes used the highly polished shields of a thousand soldiers to set fire to the sails of the invading Roman fleet, eventually causing the ships themselves to burn (Solar Energy Progress, 1977, p. 17). Indeed, there are many examples of ancient civilizations using solar energy to their benefit. The Romans and Greeks used it to heat and cool their homes (Bouquet, 1992, p. 2-1). The builders of Stonehenge, the Pueblos, Egyptians, and Aztecs all took the sun into account when building their monuments or dwellings (Franta & Olson, 1977, pp. 2-10). Why have humans placed so much importance on the sun? It is essential to life as we know it! Without warmth from the sun, temperatures on Earth would be too low for most, if not all, plant and animal life to survive. If somehow the temperature remained above freezing, plants still wouldnt grow because they wouldnt receive any sunlight, which is necessary for photosynthesis. Without plants, animals would have no food. Even carnivorous animals would be without a food supply, as much of their prey relies on vegetation for survival. Obviously, the sun is vital to our existence and so it is only natural for humankind to take note of it. What is the sun and how does it produce this amazing energy? Wieder (1982) explains it as follows: The chemical composition of the sun is mainly hydrogen with a lesser amount of helium. These two elements, which account for 96 to 99 percent of the suns mass, are under enormous pressure and only the large gravitational pull of sun keeps this mass together.

SOLAR ENERGY Energy is generated in the interior through nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium. This energy finds its way to the surface and is eventually emitted into space primarily in the form of electromagnetic radiation. (p. 2) Thus, the solar energy available to us is actually electromagnetic radiation from the sun that is intercepted by Earth. How much of the suns energy is available to us, here on Earth? Overall, the sun provides energy equivalent to 50 million megatons of coal per year, or approximately 1000 W/m2 at the Earths surface (Bouquet, 1992, pp. 1-3, 2-5). To put that into perspective, global coal consumption as of 2010 was just over 8 billion tons (International energy outlook, 2013). Solar energy is actually responsible for creating the fossil fuels we use. Coal, oil, and natural gas were all formed by plants and organisms that were fossilized and buried deep in the earth and were subjected to high temperatures and pressures over a period of millions of years. All of these plants and other organisms existed only due to the various effects of sunlight.

We need to consider solar energy because a significant portion of our energy is generated from the consumption of non-renewable resources, such as coal, oil, and natural gas. At current consumption rates, the world will use up the proven oil reserves in anywhere from 50 to 100 years, its coal reserves in 100 to 150 years, and its known natural gas reserves in 60 to 65 years (Botkin, 2010). With these estimates in mind, its clear that we have to find alternative sources of energy. We already make use of hydroelectric, solar, wind, geothermal power, and tidal power, as well as biofuels. These methods need major increases in efficiency of production in order to replace fossil fuels completely. Some of them may not have enough potential to meet our energy needs, while others are still in need of technical advances to take advantage of the available potential energy. Solar energy is one of these and, as previously stated, has the potential to provide far more energy than we currently use.

SOLAR ENERGY

Solar energy can be used in many ways. One such way is a solar pond. A solar pond is a pond with a high salt concentration and a dark bottom. Without the salt, the hottest water would be at the top of the pond and coolest water at the bottom, which would offer no advantage over a regular flat plate collector (Brinkworth, 1972, p. 84). Brinkworth (1972) goes on to explain how the salt allows the pond to function: In the case of water the increase in concentration of salts held in solution helps to overcome the reduction in density due to expansion. A stable situation can be obtained in which the hotter fluid is also denser and it remains at the bottom of the pond. Thus, as well as a gradient of temperature with depth in the pond, there is also a gradient of salt concentration, which is lower near the surface than at the bottom. There will then be a diffusion of salt from the more highly concentrated zones toward those of lower concentration near the surface. It is necessary, for the maintenance of the highest temperatures, to remove salt from the surface and to re-introduce it at the bottom. (pp. 8485). Solar ponds act as a heat pump and can be used to do work such as, heating water, desalinating water, and even production of power. Solar cooking is another way to use solar energy. A solar oven can be constructed by insulating an enclosed area in which a cooking vessel is placed, and then letting the sun heat it through a transparent cover. Reflectors can be used to increase the rate of heating inside the oven. If parabolic reflectors are used, heat can be generated even more quickly allowing for high-temperature cooking processes to be performed (Brinkworth, 1972, p. 90). The same concept is used in solar thermal generators like Solar One. This installation used nearly 2000 mirrors arranged in a circular pattern with a tower in the center. The mirrors tracked the sun and

SOLAR ENERGY reflected the light to the top of the tower where it was used to boil water and then the steam was used to generate electricity (Botkin, 2010, pp. 145-146). This same arrangement can also be used to melt metals or to incinerate waste. One of the most widely known sources of sun energy is solar panels. Solar panels convert the energy from the sun directly into electricity.A common type of solar cell is made from a type of photovoltaic called a p-n junction device. These are made of silicon and can produce electricity with an efficiency of 10 to 12 percent (Wieder, 1982, p. 257). Solar cells have efficiencies ranging anywhere from 10 percent up to 24 percent (Botkin, 2010). The high end of efficiency is rising as more and more testing is done to find new materials to use. Research is being done on various approaches to solar cell construction. According to Cheremisinoff and Regino (1978), Thin-film research is being carried out with selenium,

cadmium-telluride, cadmium-selenide, zinc-telluride, indium-phosphide, gallium-phosphide, and others as the semiconductor material (p. 90). They go on to state that IBM has fabricated an experimental gallium-arsenide cell that exhibited an efficiency of 22%. Multiple-junction cells (those with stacks of two or more cells, each utilizing different parts of the solar spectrum) reportedly have theoretical efficiencies of up to 40%, and are being researched by Varian Corporation and Texas Instruments (p. 90). Solar energy can provide vast quantities of energy for us to use. Currently, cost is one of the inhibiting factors that prevent it from being used to replace other fuel sources. Ignoring cost, we can calculate how much land area is needed to meet the current energy requirements of the world. Botkin (2010) explains how this is possible: Arizona occupies 113,642 square miles of land, or 72,730,880 acres. At the installed energy yield I have been discussing enough to provide electricity for 379 houses per acre the entire state could provide electric power for 27 to 28 billion houses, and at an

SOLAR ENERGY average of 3 people per house, thats enough for 81 billion people, or 13 times the population of the Earth. If 1% of Arizonas land area were used for photovoltaics, enough electricity could be produced for more than 275 million houses, which is considerably more houses than exist in the United States. At an average of three people per house, this area of photovoltaics would provide electricity for 837 million people, or about 28% [sic] of the worlds population. (p. 150).

He even states that photovoltaics with just 10 percent efficiency could provide enough energy to power the United States if only 1.7 percent of the land area was used (Botkin, 2010, p. 151). Starting with early man, the sun has played a vital role in our lives.Its energy created many of our current sources of power generation and it still creates the convective wind currents we harness with windmills. Humankind has been harnessing its power for many millennia, using it for lighting, heating, cooking, drying, and even worship. Enormous advances have been made in the past several hundred years that have opened up new uses for this life giving energy, and greatly improved upon the earliest uses. Earths remaining fuel resources are estimated to run out in the next 50 to 150 years. We can now generate electricity through steam power and photovoltaic cells, instead of relying on the burning of these limited fossil fuels. New breakthroughs and wider adoption of solar power could lead us to a civilization where there is no waste. All of our energy requirements could be provided to us by the sun itself. This could lead to more peaceful times as political pressures would be alleviated, wars for energy would be eliminated entirely, poverty could be eradicated, and we could focus our efforts in other, more important, areas.

SOLAR ENERGY References Binkworth, B. J. (1972). Solar energy for man. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. Botkin, D. B. (2010). Powering the future. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Bouquet, F. L. (1992). Solar energy technology. Graham, WA: Systems Company. Cheremisinoff, P. N.,& Regino, T. C. (1978). Principles & applications of solar energy. Ann Arbor, MI: Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Inc. Franta, G. E.,& Olson, K. R. (Eds.). (1978). Solar architecture. Ann Arbor, MI: Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Inc. Rau, H. (1964). Solar energy (D. J. Duffin, Ed.) (M. Schur, Trans.). New York, NY: The Macmillan Company. (Original work published 1958) Solar energy progress. (1977). Stamford, CT: Business Communications Co., Inc. United States Energy Information Administration. (2013). International energy outlook 2013 [DataFile]. Retrieved from http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/ieo/pdf/0484(2013).pdf Wieder, S. (1982). An introduction to solar energy for scientists and engineers. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

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