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Introduction 1

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INTRODUCTION

SOLAR ENERGY
Solar energy is the utilization of the radiant energy from the
Sun. Solar power is often used interchangeably with solar energy
but refers more specifically to the conversion of sunlight into
electricity, either by photovoltaics and concentrating solar thermal
devices, or by one of several experimental technologies such as
thermoelectric converters, solar chimneys and solar ponds.
Solar energy and shading are important considerations in
building design. Thermal mass is used to conserve the heat that
sunshine delivers to all buildings. Daylighting techniques optimize
the use of light in buildings. Solar water heaters heat swimming
pools and provide domestic hot water. In agriculture, greenhouses
expand growing seasons and pumps powered by solar cells (also
known as photovoltaics) provide water for grazing animals.
Evaporation ponds are used to harvest salt and clean waste streams
of contaminants. Solar energy is the fastest growing form of energy
production.
Solar distillation and disinfection techniques produce potable
water for millions of people worldwide. Family-scale solar cookers
and larger solar kitchens concentrate sunlight for cooking, drying
and pasteurization. Clotheslines are a common application of
solar energy.
More sophisticated concentrating technologies magnify the
rays of the Sun for high-temperature material testing, metal
smelting and industrial chemical production. A range of prototype
solar vehicles provide ground, air and sea transportation.
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ENERGY FROM THE SUN biomass, wind, waves and ocean thermal gradients can be included
Earth receives 174 petawatts (PW) of incoming solar radiation in a broader description of solar energy but only primary resource
(insolation) at the upper atmosphere. Approximately 30% is applications are discussed here. Because the performance of solar
reflected back to space while the rest is absorbed by the clouds, technologies varies widely between regions, solar technologies
oceans and land masses. The spectrum of the solar light at the should be deployed in a way that carefully considers these
surface of Earth is mostly split between the visible and near- variations.
infrared ranges with a small part in the near-ultraviolet. Solar technologies such as photovoltaics and water heaters
The absorbed solar light heats the land surface, oceans and increase the supply of energy and may be characterized as supply
atmosphere. The warm air containing evaporated water from the side technologies. Technologies such as passive design and shading
oceans rises driving atmospheric circulation or convection. When devices reduce the need for alternate resources and may be
the ascending air reaches a high altitude, where the temperature characterized as demand side. Optimizing the performance of
is low, the water vapoir condenses forming various types of clouds. solar technologies is often a matter of controlling the resource
Eventually all evaporated water rains down on to the surface rather than simply maximizing its collection.
closing what is known as the water cycle. The latent heat of the
water condensations amplifies the convection producing such ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING
atmospheric phenomena as cyclones and anti-cyclones. The winds Darmstadt University of Technology won the 2007 Solar
are observational manifistation of the atmospheric circulation. Decathlon with this passive house designed specifically for the
Sunlight absorbed by the oceans and land masses keeps the surface humid and hot subtropical climate in Washington, D.C.
at an average temperature of 14 °C. The conversion of solar energy Sunlight has influenced building design since the beginning
into chemical energy via photosynthesis produces food, wood of architectural history. Fully developed solar architecture and
and the biomass from which fossil fuels are derived. urban planning methods were first employed by the Greeks and
Solar radiation along with secondary solar resources such as Chinese who oriented their buildings toward the south to provide
wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass account for light and warmth.
over 99.9% of the available flow of renewable energy on Earth. The elemental features of passive solar architecture are Sun
The flows and stores of solar energy in the environment are vast orientation, compact proportion (a low surface area to volume
in comparison to current human energy needs. The total solar ratio), selective shading (overhangs) and thermal mass. When
energy absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land masses these features are tailored to the local climate and environment
is approximately 3,850 zettajoules (ZJ) per year, while global wind they can produce well-lit spaces that stay in a comfortable
energy at 80 m, the minimum height of modern large wind turbines, temperature range. Socrates' Megaron House is a classic example
is estimated at 2.25 ZJ per year. Photosynthesis captures of passive solar design. The most recent approaches to solar design
approximately 3 ZJ per year in biomass. In contrast, worldwide use computer modeling to tie together solar lighting, heating and
electricity consumption was approximately 0.0567 ZJ in 2005, and ventilation systems in an integrated solar design package. Active
total worldwide primary energy consumption was 0.487 ZJ in the solar equipment such as pumps, fans and switchable windows
same year. can also complement passive design and improve system
performance.
APPLICATIONS OF SOLAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY
Urban heat islands (UHI) are metropolitan areas with higher
Solar energy technologies use solar radiation for practical temperatures than the surrounding environment. These higher
ends. Technologies that use secondary solar resources such as temperatures are the result of urban materials such as asphalt and
4 Solar Energy and its Uses Introduction 5

concrete that have lower albedos and higher heat capacities than SOLAR LIGHTING
the natural environment. A straightforward method of The history of lighting is dominated by the use of natural
counteracting the UHI effect is to paint buildings and roads white light. The Romans recognized a right to light as early as the 6th
and plant trees. Using these methods, a hypothetical "cool century and English law echoed these judgments with the
communities" program in Los Angeles has projected that urban Prescription Act of 1832. In the 20th century artificial lighting
temperatures could be reduced by approximately 3 °C at an became the main source of interior illumination.
estimated cost of US$1 billion, giving estimated total annual
Daylighting systems collect and distribute sunlight to provide
benefits of US$530 million from reduced air-conditioning costs
interior illumination; they are passive systems. These systems
and healthcare savings.
directly offset energy use by replacing artificial lighting, and
indirectly offset non-solar energy use by reducing the need for air-
AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE
conditioning. The use of natural lighting also offers physiological
Agriculture inherently seeks to optimize the capture of solar and psychological benefits compared to artificial lighting, Although
energy, and thereby plant productivity. Techniques such as timed difficult to quantify. Daylighting design implies careful selection
planting cycles, tailored row orientation, staggered heights between of window types, sizes and orientation; exterior shading devices
rows and the mixing of plant varieties can improve crop yields. may also be considered. Individual features include sawtooth
While sunlight is generally considered a plentiful resource, there roofs, clerestory windows, light shelves, skylights and light tubes.
are exceptions which highlight the importance of solar energy to These features may be incorporated into existing structures, but
agriculture. During the short growing seasons of the Little Ice are most effective when integrated into a solar design package
Age, French and English farmers employed fruit walls to maximize that accounts for factors such as glare, heat flux and time-of-use.
the collection of solar energy. These walls acted as thermal masses When daylighting features are properly implemented they can
and accelerated ripening by keeping plants warm. Early fruit reduce lighting-related energy requirements by 25%.
walls were built perpendicular to the ground with a south facing
The most important of the active solar lighting methods is the
orientation but over time sloping walls were developed to make
hybrid solar lighting (HSL). HSL systems collect sunlight using
better use of sunlight. In 1699, Nicolas Fatio de Duillier even
focusing mirrors that track the Sun and use optical fibers to transmit
suggested using a tracking mechanism, which could pivot to
the light into a building's interior to supplement conventional
follow the Sun. Solar energy applications in agriculture, aside
lighting. In single-story applications, these systems are able to
from growing crops, include pumping water, drying crops,
transmit 50% of the direct sunlight received.
brooding chicks and drying chicken manure.
Although daylight saving time is promoted as a way to use
Greenhouses convert solar light to heat enabling year-round
sunlight to save energy, recent research has been limited and
production and the growth (in enclosed environments) of specialty
reports contradictory results: several studies report savings, but
crops and other plants not naturally suited to the local climate.
just as many suggest no effect or even a net loss, particularly when
Primitive greenhouses were first used during Roman times to
gasoline consumption is taken into account. Electricity use is greatly
produce cucumbers year-round for the Roman emperor Tiberius.
affected by geography, climate and economics, making it hard to
The first modern greenhouses were built in Europe in the 16th
generalize from single studies.
century to keep exotic plants brought back from explorations
abroad. Greenhouses remain an important part of horticulture
SOLAR THERMAL
today, while plastic transparent materials have also been used to
similar effect in polytunnels and row covers. Solar thermal technologies can be used for water heating,
space heating, space cooling and process heat generation.
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WATER HEATING A solar chimney (or thermal chimney) is a passive solar


Solar hot water systems use sunlight to heat water. In low ventilation system composed of a vertical shaft connecting the
geographical latitudes (below 40 degrees) solar heating system interior and exterior of a building. As the chimney warms, the air
can provide from 60 to 70% of domestic hot water use with inside is heated causing an updraft that pulls air through the
temperatures up to 60 °C. The most common types of solar water building. Performance can be improved by using glazing and
heaters are evacuated tube collectors (44%) and glazed flat plate thermal mass materials in a way that mimics greenhouses. These
collectors (34%) generally used for domestic hot water; and systems have been in use since Roman times and remain common
unglazed plastic collectors (21%) used mainly to heat swimming in the Middle East.
pools. Deciduous trees and plants have often been promoted as a
As of 2007, the total installed capacity of solar hot water means of controlling solar heating and cooling. When planted on
systems is approximately 154 GW. China is the world leader in the southern side of a building, the leaves provide shade during
the deployment of solar hot water with 70 GW installed as of 2006 the summer while the bare limbs allow light and warmth to pass
and a long term goal of 210 GW by 2020. Israel is the per capita during the winter. Since bare, leafless trees shade 1/3 to 1/2 of
leader in the use of solar hot water with 90% of homes using this incident solar radiation, there is a balance between the benefits
technology. In the United States, Canada and Australia, heating of summer shading and the corresponding loss of winter heating.
swimming pools is the dominant application of solar hot water, In climates with significant heating loads, deciduous trees should
with an installed capacity of 18 GW as of 2005. not be planted on the southern side of a building because they
will interfere with winter solar availability but they can be used
HEATING, COOLING AND VENTILATION on the east and west sides to provide a degree of summer shading
In the United States, heating, ventilation and air conditioning without appreciably affecting winter solar gain.
(HVAC) systems account for 30% (4.65 EJ) of the energy used in
DESALINATION AND DISINFECTION
commercial buildings and nearly 50% (10.1 EJ) of the energy used
in residential buildings. Solar heating, cooling and ventilation The production of potable water from saline or brackish water
technologies can be used to offset a portion of this energy. using solar energy is called the solar distillation. The first recorded
use was by 16th century Arab alchemists. The first large-scale
Thermal mass, in the most general sense, is any material that
solar distillation project was constructed in 1872 in the Chilean
has the capacity to store heat. In the context of solar energy,
mining town of Las Salinas. This plant, which had solar collection
thermal mass materials are used to store heat from the Sun.
area of 4,700 m², still could produce up to 22,700 L per day and
Common thermal mass materials include stone, cement and water.
operated for 40 years. Individual still designs include single-slope,
These materials have historically been used in arid climates or
double-slope (or greenhouse type), vertical, conical, inverted
warm temperate regions to keep buildings cool by absorbing solar
absorber, multi-wick and multiple effect. These stills can operate
energy during the day and radiating stored heat to the cooler
in passive, active or hybrid modes. Double slope stills are the most
atmosphere at night, but they can also be used in cold temperate
economical for decentralized domestic purposes while active
areas to maintain warmth.
multiple effect units are more suitable for large-scale applications.
The size and placement of thermal mass should consider
Solar water disinfection (SODIS) is a method of disinfecting
several factors such as climate, daylighting and shading conditions.
water by exposing water-filled plastic polyethylene terephthalate
When properly incorporated, thermal mass maintains space
(PET) bottles to several hours of sunlight. Exposure times vary
temperatures in a comfortable range and reduces the need for
depending on weather and climate from a minimum of six hours
auxiliary heating and cooling equipment.
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to two days during fully overcast conditions. SODIS is PROCESS HEAT


recommended by the World Health Organization as a viable Solar concentrating technologies such as parabolic dish, trough
method for household water treatment and safe storage. Over two and Scheffler reflectors can provide process heat for commercial
million people in developing countries use SODIS for their daily and industrial applications. The first commercial system was the
drinking water needs. Solar Total Energy Project (STEP) in Shenandoah, Georgia where
a field of 114 parabolic dishes provided 50% of the process heating,
COOKING air conditioning and electrical requirements for a clothing factory.
Solar cookers use sunlight for cooking, drying and This grid-connected cogeneration system provided 400 kW of
pasteurization. These devices can be grouped into three broad electricity plus thermal energy in the form of 401 kW steam and
categories: box cookers, panel cookers and reflector cookers. The 468 kW chilled water, and had a one hour peak load thermal
simplest type of solar cooker is the box cooker first built by Horace storage.
de Saussure in 1767. A basic box cooker consists of an insulated
Evaporation ponds are shallow pools that concentrate
container with a transparent lid. These cookers can be used
dissolved solids through evaporation. The use of evaporation
effectively with partially overcast skies and will typically reach
ponds to obtain salt from sea water is one of the oldest applications
temperatures of 90-150 °C. Panel cookers use a reflective panel to
of solar energy. Modern uses include concentrating brine solutions
direct sunlight onto an insulated container and reach temperatures
used in leach mining and removing dissolved solids from waste
comparable to box cookers. Reflector cookers use various
streams.
concentrating geometries (dish, trough, Fresnel mirrors) to focus
light on a cooking container. These cookers reach temperatures Clothes lines, clotheshorses, and clothes racks dry clothes
of 315 °C and above but require direct light to function properly through evaporation. These devices use wind and sunlight instead
and must be repositioned to track the Sun. of electricity or natural gas. Florida legislation specifically protects
The solar bowl is a unique concentrating technology employed the 'right to dry' and similar solar rights legislation has been
by the Solar Kitchen in Auroville, India. The solar bowl is a passed in Utah and Hawaii.
stationary spherical reflector that focuses light along a line Unglazed transpired collectors (UTC) are perforated sun-facing
perpendicular to the sphere's interior surface and a computer walls used for preheating ventilation air. UTCs can raise the
control system moves the receiver to intersect this line. Steam is incoming air temperature up to 22 °C and deliver outlet
produced in the receiver at temperatures reaching 150 °C and temperatures of 45-60 °C. The short payback period of transpired
then used for process heat in the kitchen. collectors (3 to 12 years) makes them a more cost-effective
A reflector developed by Wolfgang Scheffler in 1986 is used alternative than glazed collection systems. As of 2003, over 80
in many solar kitchens. Scheffler reflectors are flexible parabolic systems with a combined collector area of 35,000 m² had been
dishes that combine aspects of trough and power tower installed worldwide, including an 860 m² collector in Costa Rica
concentrators. Polar tracking is used to follow the Sun's daily used for drying coffee beans and a 1,300 m² collector in Coimbatore,
course and the curvature of the reflector is adjusted for seasonal India used for drying marigolds.
variations in the incident angle of sunlight. These reflectors can
reach temperatures of 450-650 °C and have a fixed focal point SOLAR ELECTRICITY
which improves the ease of cooking. The world's largest Scheffler Sunlight can be converted into electricity using photovoltaics
reflector system in Abu Road, Rajasthan, India is capable of cooking (PV), concentrating solar power (CSP), and various experimental
up to 35,000 meals a day. As of 2008, over 2,000 large Scheffler technologies. PV has mainly been used to power small and
cookers had been built worldwide. medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a
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single solar cell to off-grid homes powered by a photovoltaic Economies of scale which resulted from increasing production
array. For large-scale generation, CSP plants like SEGS have been along with improvements in system performance brought the
the norm but recently multi-megawatt PV plants are becoming price of PV down from 100 USD/watt in 1971 to 7 USD/watt in
common. Completed in 2007, the 14 MW power station in Clark 1985. Steadily falling oil prices during the early 1980s led to a
County, Nevada and the 20 MW site in Beneixama, Spain are reduction in funding for photovoltaic R&D and a discontinuation
characteristic of the trend toward larger photovoltaic power stations of the tax crs associated with the Energy Tax Act of 1978. These
in the US and Europe. factors moderated growth to approximately 15% per year from
1984 through 1996.
PHOTOVOLTAICS Since the mid-1990s, leadership in the PV sector has shifted
A solar cell (or photovoltaic cell) is a device that converts light from the US to Japan and Germany. Between 1992 and 1994 Japan
into direct current using the photoelectric effect. The first solar cell increased R&D funding, established net metering guidelines, and
was constructed by Charles Fritts in the 1880s. Although the introduced a subsidy program to encourage the installation of
prototype selenium cells converted less than 1% of incident light residential PV systems. As a result, PV installations in the country
into electricity, both Ernst Werner von Siemens and James Clerk climbed from 31.2 MW in 1994 to 318 MW in 1999, and worldwide
Maxwell recognized the importance of this discovery. Following production growth increased to 30% in the late 1990s.
the fundamental work of Russell Ohl in the 1940s, researchers Germany has become the leading PV market worldwide since
Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin created the silicon revising its Feed-in tariff system as part of the Renewable Energy
solar cell in 1954. These early solar cells cost 286 USD/watt and Sources Act. Installed PV capacity has risen from 100 MW in 2000
reached efficiencies of 4.5-6%. to approximately 4,150 MW at the end of 2007. Spain has become
The earliest significant application of solar cells was as a back- the third largest PV market after adopting a similar feed-in tariff
up power source to the Vanguard I satellite, which allowed the structure in 2004, while France, Italy, South Korea and the US
satellite to continue transmitting for over a year after its chemical have also seen rapid growth recently due to various incentive
battery was exhausted. The successful operation of solar cells on programs and local market conditions.
this mission was duplicated in many other Soviet and American
satellites, and by the late 1960s PV had become the established CONCENTRATING SOLAR POWER
source of power for satellites. Photovoltaics went on to play an Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems is divided into
essential part in the success of early commercial satellites such as Concentrating solar thermal (CST) and Concentrating PV (CPV).
Telstar and continue to remain vital to the telecommunications CSP use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large
infrastructure today. area of sunlight into a small beam. The concentrated light is then
The high cost of solar cells limited terrestrial uses throughout used as a heat source for a conventional power plant. A wide
the 1960s. This changed in the early 1970s when prices reached range of concentrating technologies exist; the most developed are
levels that made PV generation competitive in remote areas without the solar trough, parabolic dish and solar power tower. These
grid access. Early terrestrial uses included powering methods vary in the way they track the Sun and focus light. In
telecommunication stations, off-shore oil rigs, navigational buoys all these systems a working fluid is heated by the concentrated
and railroad crossings. These and other off-grid applications have sunlight, and is then used for power generation or energy storage.
proven very successful and accounted for over half of worldwide A solar trough consists of a linear parabolic reflector that
installed capacity until 2004. The 1973 oil crisis stimulated a rapid concentrates light onto a receiver positioned along the reflector's
rise in the production of PV during the 1970s and early 1980s. focal line. The reflector is made to follow the Sun during the
12 Solar Energy and its Uses Introduction 13

daylight hours by tracking along a single axis. Trough systems are the form of microwave radiation to receivers (rectennas) on Earth
the most mature CSP technology. The SEGS plants in California for distribution. This concept was first proposed by Dr. Peter
and Acciona's Nevada Solar One near Boulder City, Nevada are Glaser in 1968 and since then a wide variety of systems have been
representatives of this technology. studied with both photovoltaic and concentrating solar thermal
technologies being proposed. Although still in the concept stage,
EXPERIMENTAL SOLAR POWER these systems offer the possibility of delivering power
A solar updraft tower (also known as a solar chimney or solar approximately 96% of the time.
tower) consists of a large greenhouse that funnels into a central
tower. As sunlight shines on the greenhouse, the air inside is SOLAR CHEMICAL
heated and expands. The expanding air flows toward the central Solar radiation stimulated chemical processes use solar energy
tower where a turbine converts the air flow into electricity. A 50 to drive chemical reactions. These processes offset energy that
kW prototype was constructed in Ciudad Real, Spain and operated would otherwise be required from an alternate source and can
for eight years before decommissioning in 1989. convert solar energy into a storable and transportable fuel. Solar
A solar pond is a pool of salt water (usually 1-2 m deep) that induced chemical reactions are diverse, but can be divided into
collects and stores solar energy. Solar ponds were first proposed thermochemical or photochemical. Hydrogen production
by Dr. Rudolph Bloch in 1948 after he came across reports of a production technologies involving the use of solar light have been
lake in Hungary in which the temperature increased with depth. a significant area of research since the 1970s. Aside from electrolysis
This effect was due to salts in the lake's water, which created a driven by photovoltaic or photochemical cells, several
"density gradient" that prevented convection currents. A prototype thermochemical processes have also been explored. The seemingly
was constructed in 1958 on the shores of the Dead Sea near most direct of these routes uses concentrators to split water at high
Jerusalem. The pond consisted of layers of water that successively temperatures (2300-2600 °C), but this process has been limited by
increased from a weak salt solution at the top to a high salt complexity and low solar-to-hydrogen efficiency (1-2%). A more
solution at the bottom. This solar pond was capable of producing conventional approach uses the heat from solar concentrators to
temperatures of 90 °C in its bottom layer and had an estimated drive the steam reformation of natural gas thereby increasing the
solar-to-electric efficiency of two percent. overall hydrogen yield.
Thermoelectric devices convert a temperature difference Thermochemical cycles characterized by the decomposition
between dissimilar materials into an electric current. First proposed and regeneration of reactants present another avenue for hydrogen
as a method to store solar energy by solar pioneer Mouchout in production. The Solzinc process under development at the
the 1800s, thermoelectrics reemerged in the Soviet Union during Weizmann Institute uses a 1 MW solar furnace to decompose zinc
the 1930s. Under the direction of Soviet scientist Abram Ioffe a oxide (ZnO) at temperatures above 1200 °C. This initial reaction
concentrating system was used to thermoelectrically generate produces pure zinc, which can subsequently be reacted with water
power for a 1 hp engine. Thermogenerators were later used in the to produce hydrogen. Sandia's Sunshine to Petrol (S2P) technology
US space program as an energy conversion technology for uses the high temperatures generated by concentrating sunlight
powering deep space missions such as Cassini, Galileo and Viking. along with a zirconia/ferrite catalyst to break down atmospheric
Research in this area is focused on raising the efficiency of these carbon dioxide into oxygen and carbon monoxide (CO). The CO
devices from 7-8% to 15-20%. may then be used to synthesize methanol, gasoline and jet fuel.
Space solar power systems use a large solar array in Photoelectrochemical cells or PECs consist of a semiconductor,
geosynchronous orbit to collect sunlight and beam this energy in typically titanium dioxide or related titanates, immersed in an
14 Solar Energy and its Uses Introduction 15

electrolyte. When the semiconductor is illuminated an electrical Pathfinder (1997) and subsequent designs, culminating in the
potential develops. There are two types of photoelectrochemical Helios which set the altitude record for a non-rocket-propelled
cells: photoelectric cells that convert light into electricity and aircraft at 29,524 metres (96,860 ft) in 2001. The Zephyr, developed
photochemical cells that use light to drive chemical reactions such by BAE Systems, is the latest in a line of record-breaking solar
as electrolysis. A photogalvanic device is a type of battery in aircraft, making a 54-hour flight in 2007, and month-long flights
which the cell solution (or equivalent) forms energy-rich chemical are envisioned by 2010.
intermediates when illuminated. These chemical intermediates A solar balloon is a black balloon that is filled with ordinary
then react at the electrodes to produce an electric potential. The air. As sunlight shines on the balloon, the air inside is heated and
ferric-thionine chemical cell is an example of this technology. expands, causing an upward buoyancy force, much like an
artificially-heated hot air balloon. Some solar balloons are large
SOLAR VEHICLES enough for human flight, but usage is limited to the toy market
Development of a solar powered car has been an engineering as the surface-area to payload-weight ratio is relatively high.
goal since the 1980s. The World Solar Challenge is a biannual Solar sails are a proposed form of spacecraft propulsion using
solar-powered car race, in which teams from universities and large membrane mirrors to exploit radiation pressure from the
enterprises compete over 3,021 kilometres (1,877 mi) across central sun. Unlike rockets, solar sails require no fuel. Although the thrust
Australia from Darwin to Adelaide. In 1987, when it was founded, is small compared to rockets, it continues as long as the Sun shines
the winner's average speed was 67 kilometres per hour (42 mph). onto the deployed sail and in the frictionless vacuum of space
The 2007 race included a new challenge class using cars which significant speeds can eventually be achieved.
could be a practical proposition for sustainable transport with
little modification. The winning car averaged 90.87 kilometres per ENERGY STORAGE METHODS
hour (56.46 mph). The North American Solar Challenge and the Storage is an important issue in the development of solar
planned South African Solar Challenge are comparable energy because modern energy systems usually assume continuous
competitions that reflect an international interest in the engineering availability of energy. Solar energy is not available at night, and
and development of solar powered vehicles. the performance of solar power systems is affected by unpredictable
In 1975, the first practical solar boat was constructed in weather patterns; therefore, storage media or back-up power
England. By 1995, passenger boats incorporating PV panels began systems must be used.
appearing and are now used extensively. In 1996, Kenichi Horie Thermal mass systems can store solar energy in the form of
made the first solar powered crossing of the Pacific Ocean, and heat at domestically useful temperatures for daily or seasonal
the sun catamaran made the first solar powered crossing of the durations. Thermal storage systems generally use readily available
Atlantic Ocean in the winter of 2006-2007. Plans to circumnavigate materials with high specific heat capacities such as water, earth
the globe in 2009 are indicative of the progress solar boats have and stone. Well-designed systems can lower peak demand, shift
made. time-of-use to off-peak hours and reduce overall heating and
In 1974, the unmanned Sunrise II inaugurated the era of solar cooling requirements.
flight. In 1980, the Gossamer Penguin made the first piloted flights Phase change materials such as paraffin wax and Glauber's
powered solely by photovoltaics. This was quickly followed by salt are another thermal storage media. These materials are
the Solar Challenger which demonstrated a more airworthy design inexpensive, readily available, and can deliver domestically useful
with its crossing of the English Channel in July 1981. Developments temperatures (approximately 64 °C). The "Dover House" (in Dover,
then turned back to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with the Massachusetts) was the first to use a Glauber's salt heating system,
16 Solar Energy and its Uses Introduction 17

in 1948. Solar energy can be stored at high temperatures using prices in the early 1980s moderated the growth of PV from 1984
molten salts. Salts are an effective storage medium because they to 1996. Since 1997, PV development has accelerated due to supply
are low-cost, have a high specific heat capacity and can deliver issues with oil and natural gas, global warming concerns (see
heat at temperatures compatible with conventional power systems. Kyoto Protocol), and the improving economic position of PV
The Solar Two used this method of energy storage, allowing it to relative to other energy technologies. Photovoltaic production
store 1.44 TJ in its 68 m³ storage tank with an annual storage growth has averaged 40% per year since 2000 and installed capacity
efficiency of about 99%. reached 10.6 GW at the end of 2007. Since 2006 it has been
Off-grid PV systems have traditionally used rechargeable economical for investors to install photovoltaics for free in return
batteries to store excess electricity. With grid-tied systems, excess for a long term power purchase agreement. 50% of commercial
electricity can be sent to the transmission grid. Net metering systems were installed in this manner in 2007 and it is expected
programs give these systems a cr for the electricity they deliver that 90% will by 2009. Nellis Air Force Base is receiving
to the grid. This cr offsets electricity provided from the grid when photoelectric power for about 2.2 ¢/kWh and grid power for 9
the system cannot meet demand, effectively using the grid as a ¢/kWh.
storage mechanism. Commercial solar water heaters began appearing in the United
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity stores energy in the form of States in the 1890s. These systems saw increasing use until the
water pumped when energy is available from a lower elevation 1920s but were gradually replaced by cheaper and more reliable
reservoir to a higher elevation one. The energy is recovered when heating fuels. As with photovoltaics, solar water heating attracted
demand is high by releasing the water to run through a renewed attention as a result of the oil crises in the 1970s but
hydroelectric power generator. interest subsided in the 1980s due to falling petroleum prices.
Development in the solar water heating sector progressed steadily
DEVELOPMENT, DEPLOYMENT AND ECONOMICS throughout the 1990s and growth rates have averaged 20% per
Beginning with the surge in coal use which accompanied the year since 1999. Although generally underestimated, solar water
Industrial Revolution, energy consumption has steadily heating is by far the most widely deployed solar technology with
transitioned from wood and biomass to fossil fuels. The early an estimated capacity of 154 GW as of 2007.
development of solar technologies starting in the 1860s was driven Commercial concentrating solar power (CSP) plants were first
by an expectation that coal would soon become scarce, but solar developed in the 1980s. CSP plants such as SEGS project in the
development stagnated in the early 20th century in the face of the United States have a LEC of 12-14 ¢/kWh. The 11 MW PS10
increasing availability, economy, and utility of fossil fuels such as power tower in Spain, completed in late 2005, is Europe's first
coal and petroleum. commercial CSP system and a total capacity of 300 MW is expected
The 1973 oil embargo and 1979 energy crisis caused a to be installed in the same area by 2013.
reorganization of energy policies around the world and brought CARBON NANOTUBES IN PHOTOVOLTAICS
renewed attention to developing solar technologies. Deployment
Organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs) are fabricated from thin
strategies focused on incentive programs such as the Federal
films of organic semiconductors, such as polymers and small-
Photovoltaic Utilization Program in the US and the Sunshine
molecule compounds, and are typically on the order of 100 nm
Program in Japan. Other efforts included the formation of research
thick. Because polymer based OPVs can be made using a coating
facilities in the US (SERI, now NREL), Japan (NEDO), and Germany
process such as spin coating or inkjet printing, they are an attractive
(Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE). Between 1970
option for inexpensively covering large areas as well as flexible
and 1983, photovoltaic installations grew rapidly, but falling oil
18 Solar Energy and its Uses Introduction 19

plastic surfaces. A promising low cost alternative to silicon solar material have been completed. Enhancements of more than two
cells, there is a large amount of research being dedicated throughout orders of magnitude have been observed in the photocurrent from
industry and academia towards developing OPVs and increasing adding SWCNTs to the P3OT matrix. Improvements were
their power conversion efficiency. speculated to be due to charge separation at polymer-SWCNT
connections and more efficient electron transport through the
CARBON NANOTUBE COMPOSITES IN THE PHOTOACTIVE LAYER SWCNTs. However, a rather low power conversion efficiency of
Combining the physical and chemical characteristics of 0.04% under 100 mW cm-2 white illumination was observed for
conjugated polymers with the high conductivity along the tube the device suggesting incomplete exciton dissociation at low CNT
axis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) provides a great deal of incentive concentrations of 1.0% wt. Because the lengths of the SWCNTs
to disperse CNTs into the photoactive layer in order to obtain were similar to the thickness of photovoltaic films, doping a higher
more efficient OPV devices. The interpenetrating bulk donor- percentage of SWCNTs into the polymer matrix was believed to
acceptor heterojunction in these devices can achieve charge cause short circuits. To supply additional dissociation sites, other
separation and collection because of the existence of a bicontinuous researchers have physically blended functionalized MWCNTs into
network. Along this network, electrons and holes can travel toward P3HT polymer to create a P3HT-MWNT with fullerene C60 double-
their respective contacts through the electron acceptor and the layered device. However, the power efficiency was still relatively
polymer hole donor. Photovoltaic efficiency enhancement is low at 0.01% under 100 mW cm-2 white illumination. Weak exciton
proposed to be due to the introduction of internal polymer/ diffusion toward the donor-acceptor interface in the bilayer
nanotube junctions within the polymer matrix. The high electric structure may have been the cause in addition to the fullerene C60
field at these junctions can split up the excitons, while the SWNT layer possibly experiencing poor electron transport.
can act as a pathway for the electrons. More recently, a polymer photovoltaic device from C60-
The dispersion of CNTs in a solution of an electron donating modified SWCNTs and P3HT has been fabricated. Microwave
conjugated polymer is perhaps the most common strategy to irradiating a mixture of SWCNT-water solution and C60 solution
implement CNT materials into OPVs. Generally poly(3- in toluene was the first step in making these polymer-SWCNT
hexylthiophene) (P3HT) or poly(3-octylthiophene) (P3OT) are used composites. Conjugated polymer P3HT was then added resulting
for this purpose. These blends are then spin coated onto a in a power conversion efficiency of 0.57% under simulated solar
transparent conductive electrode with thicknesses that vary from irradiation (95 mW cm-2). It was concluded that improved short
60 to 120 nm. circuit current density was a direct result of the addition of SWCNTs
These conductive electrodes are usually glass covered with into the composite causing faster electron transport via the network
indium tin oxide (ITO) and a 40 nm sublayer of (poly (3,4- of SWCNTs. It was also concluded that the morphology change
ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and poly(styrenesulfonate) led to an improved the fill factor. Overall, the main result was
(PSS). PEDOT and PSS help to smooth the ITO surface, decreasing improved power conversion efficiency with the addition of
the density of pinholes and stifling current leakage that occurs SWCNTs, compared to cells without SWCNTs; however, further
along shunting paths. Through thermal evaporation or sputter optimization was thought to be possible.
coating, a 20 to 70 nm thick layer of aluminum and sometimes Additionally, it has been found that heating to the point
an intermediate layer of lithium fluoride are then applied onto the beyond the glass transition temperature of either P3HT or P3OT
photoactive material. Multiple research investigations with both after construction can be beneficial for manipulating the phase
multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and single-walled separation of the blend. This heating also affects the ordering of
carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) integrated into the photoactive the polymeric chains because the polymers are microcrystalline
20 Solar Energy and its Uses Introduction 21

systems and it improves charge transfer, charge transport, and Traditional ITO also has unfavorable mechanical properties such
charge collection throughout the OPV device. The hole mobility as being relatively fragile. In addition, the combination of costly
and power efficiency of the polymer-CNT device also increased layer deposition in vacuum and a limited supply of indium results
significantly as a result of this ordering. in high quality ITO transparent electrodes being very expensive.
Emerging as another valuable approach for deposition, the Therefore, developing and commercializing a replacement for
use of tetraoctylammonium bromide in tetrahydrofuran has also ITO is a major focus of OPV research and development.
been the subject of investigation to assist in suspension by exposing Conductive CNT coatings have recently become a prospective
SWCNTs to an electrophoretic field. In fact, photoconversion substitute based on wide range of methods including spraying,
efficiencies of 1.5% and 1.3% were achieved when SWCNTs were spin coating, casting, layer-by-layer, and Langmuir-Blodgett
deposited in combination with light harvesting CdS quantum deposition. The transfer from a filter membrane to the transparent
dots and porphyrins, respectively. support using a solvent or in the form of an adhesive film is
Among the best power conversions achieved to date using another method for attaining flexible and optically transparent
CNTs were obtained by depositing a SWCNT layer between the CNT films. Other research efforts have shown that films made
ITO and the PEDOT : PSS or between the PEDOT : PSS and the of arc-discharge CNT can result in a high conductivity and
photoactive blend in a modified ITO/PEDOT : PSS/ P3HT : (6,6)- transparency. Furthermore, the work function of SWCNT networks
phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM)/Al solar cell. By is in the 4.8 to 4.9 eV range (compared to ITO which has a lower
dip-coating from a hydrophilic suspension, SWCNT were work function of 4.7 eV) leading to the expectation that the SWCNT
deposited after an initially exposing the surface to an argon plasma work function should be high enough to assure efficient hole
to achieve a power conversion efficiency of 4.9%, compared to 4% collection. Another benefit is that SWCNT films exhibit a high
without CNTs. optical transparency in a broad spectral range from the UV-visual
far into the near IR range. Only a few materials retain reasonable
However, even though CNTs have shown potential in the
transparency in the infrared spectrum while maintaining
photoactive layer, they have not resulted in a solar cell with a
transparency in the visible part of the spectrum as well as acceptable
power conversion efficiency greater than the best tandem organic
overall electrical conductivity. SWCNT films are highly flexible,
cells (6.5% efficiency). But, it has been shown in most of the
do not creep, do not crack after bending, theoretically have high
previous investigations that the control over a uniform blending
thermal conductivities to tolerate heat dissipation, and have high
of the electron donating conjugated polymer and the electron
radiation resistance. However, the electrical sheet resistance of
accepting CNT is one of the most difficult as well as crucial aspects
ITO is an order of magnitude less than the sheet resistance
in creating efficient photocurrent collection in CNT-based OPV
measured for SWCNT films. Nonetheless, initial research studies
devices. Therefore, using CNTs in the photoactive layer of OPV
demonstrate SWCNT thin films can be used as conducting,
devices is still in the initial research stages and there is still room
transparent electrodes for hole collection in OPV devices with
for novel methods to better take advantage of the beneficial
efficiencies between 1% and 2.5% confirming that they are
properties of CNTs.
comparable to devices fabricated using ITO. Thus, possibilities
CARBON NANOTUBES AS A TRANSPARENT ELECTRODE exist for advancing this research to develop CNT-based transparent
electrodes that exceed the performance of traditional ITO materials.
ITO is currently the most popular material used for the
transparent electrodes in OPV devices; however, it has a number CNTS IN DYE-SENSITIZED SOLAR CELLS
of deficiencies. For one, it is not very compatible with polymeric
Due to the simple fabrication process, low production cost,
substrates due to its high deposition temperature of around 600oC.
and high efficiency, there is significant interest in dye-sensitized
22 Solar Energy and its Uses Introduction 23

solar cells (DSSCs). Thus, improving DSSC efficiency has been the opportunity to facilitate electron transport and increase the
subject of a variety of research investigations because it has the photoconversion efficiency of DSSCs utilizing the electron-
potential to be manufactured economically enough to compete accepting ability of semiconducting SWCNTs.
with other solar cell technologies. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles Other researchers fabricated DSSCs using the sol-gel method
have been widely used as a working electrode for DSSCs because to obtain titanium dioxide coated MWCNTs for use as an electrode.
they provide a high efficiency, more than any other metal oxide Because pristine MWCNTs have a hydrophobic surface and poor
semiconductor investigated. Yet the highest conversion efficiency dispersion stability, pretreatment was necessary for this
under air mass (AM) 1.5 (100mWcm2) irradiation reported for this application. A relatively low destruction method for removing
device to date is about 11%. impurities, H2O2 treatment was used to generate carboxylic acid
Despite this initial success, the effort to further enhance groups by oxidation of MWCNTs. Another positive aspect was
efficiency has not produced any major results. The transport of the fact that the reaction gases including CO2 and H2O were non-
electrons across the particle network has been a key problem in toxic and could be released safely during the oxidation process.
achieving higher photoconversion efficiency in nanostructured As a result of treatment, H 2O2 exposed MWCNTs have a
electrodes. Because electrons encounter many grain boundaries hydrophilic surface and the carboxylic acid groups on the surface
during the transit and experience a random path, the probability have polar covalent bonding. Also, the negatively charged surface
of their recombination with oxidized sensitizer is increased. of the MWCNTs improved the stability of dispersion.
Therefore, it is not adequate to enlarge the oxide electrode surface By then entirely surrounding the MWCNTs with titanium
area to increase efficiency because photo-generated charge dioxide nanoparticles using the sol-gel method, an increase in the
recombination should be prevented. Promoting electron transfer conversion efficiency of about 50% compared to a conventional
through film electrodes and blocking interface states lying below titanium dioxide cell was achieved. The enhanced interconnectivity
the edge of the conduction band are some of the non-CNT based between the titanium dioxide particles and the MWCNTs in the
strategies to enhance efficiency that have been employed. porous titanium dioxide film was concluded to be the cause of the
With recent progress in CNT development and fabrication, improvement in short circuit current density. Here again, the
there is promise to use various CNT based nanocomposites and addition of MWCNTs was thought to provide more efficient
nanostructures to direct the flow of photogenerated electrons and electron transfer through film in the DSSC.
assist in charge injection and extraction. To assist the electron
ENERGY STORAGE
transport to the collecting electrode surface in a DSSC, a popular
concept is to utilize CNT networks as support to anchor light Energy storage is the storing of some form of energy that can
harvesting semiconductor particles. Research efforts along these be drawn upon at a later time to perform some useful operation.
lines include organizing CdS quantum dots on SWCNTs. Charge A device that stores energy is sometimes called an accumulator.
injection from excited CdS into SWCNTs was documented upon All forms of energy are either potential energy (eg. chemical,
excitation of CdS nanoparticles. Other varieties of semiconductor gravitational or electrical energy) or kinetic energy (eg. thermal
particles including CdSe and CdTe can induce charge-transfer energy). A wind up clock stores potential energy (in this case
processes under visible light irradiation when attached to CNTs. mechanical, in the spring tension), a battery stores readily
Including porphyrin and C60 fullerene, organization of photoactive convertible chemical energy to keep a clock chip in a computer
donor polymer and acceptor fullerene on electrode surfaces has running (electrically) even when the computer is turned off, and
also been shown to offer considerable improvement in the a hydroelectric dam stores power in a reservoir as gravitational
photoconversion efficiency of solar cells. Therefore, there is an potential energy. Even food is a form of energy storage, chemical
in this case.
24 Solar Energy and its Uses Introduction 25

HISTORY fuel, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), propane, butane,
Energy storage as a natural process is as old as the universe ethanol, biodiesel and hydrogen. All of these chemicals are readily
itself - the energy present at the initial creation of the Universe converted to mechanical energy and then to electrical energy
has been stored in stars such as the Sun, and is now being used using heat engines (turbines or other internal combustion engines,
by humans directly (e.g. through solar heating), or indirectly (e.g. or boilers or other external combustion engines) used for electrical
by growing crops or conversion into electricity in solar cells). power generation. Heat engine powered generators are nearly
Energy storage systems in commercial use today can be broadly universal, ranging from small engines producing only a few
categorized as mechanical, electrical, chemical, biological, thermal kilowatts to utility-scale generators with ratings up to 800
and nuclear. As a purposeful activity, energy storage has existed megawatts.
since pre-history, though it was often not explicitly recognized as Electrochemical devices called fuel cells were invented about
such. An example of deliberate mechanical energy storage is the the same time as the battery. However, for many reasons, fuel
use of logs or boulders as defensive measures in ancient forts - cells were not well developed until the advent of manned
the logs or boulders were collected at the top of a hill or wall, and spaceflight (the Gemini Program) when lightweight, non-thermal
the energy thus stored used to attack invaders who came within (ie, efficient) sources of electricity were required in spacecraft.
range. Fuel cell development has increased in recent years to an attempt
A more recent application is the control of waterways to drive to increase conversion efficiency of chemical energy stored in
water mills for processing grain or powering machinery. Complex hydrocarbon or hydrogen fuels into electricity.
systems of reservoirs and dams were constructed to store and At this time, liquid hydrocarbon fuels are the dominant forms
release water (and the potential energy it contained) when required. of energy storage for use in transportation. However, these produce
Energy storage became a dominant factor in economic greenhouse gases when used to power cars, trucks, trains, ships
development with the widespread introduction of electricity and and aircraft. Carbon-free energy carriers, such as hydrogen, or
refined chemical fuels, such as gasoline, kerosene and natural gas carbon-neutral energy carriers, such as some forms of ethanol or
in the late 1800s. Unlike other common energy storage used in biodiesel, are being sought in response to concerns about the
prior use, such as wood or coal, electricity must be used as it is possible consequences of greenhouse gas emissions.
generated and cannot be stored on anything other than a minor Some areas of the world (Washington and Oregon in the USA,
scale. Electricity is transmitted in a closed circuit, and for essentially and Wales in the United Kingdom are examples) have used
any practical purpose cannot be stored as electrical energy. This geographic features to store large quantities of water in elevated
meant that changes in demand could not be accommodated reservoirs, using excess electricity at times of low demand to
without either cutting supplies (eg, via brownouts or blackouts) pump water up to the reservoirs, then letting the water fall through
or arranging for a storage technique. turbine generators to retrieve the energy when demand peaks.
An early solution to the problem of storing energy for electrical Several other technologies have also been investigated, such
purposes was the development of the battery, an electrochemical as flywheels or compressed air storage in underground caverns,
storage device. It has been of limited use in electric power systems but to date no widely available solution to the challenge of mass
due to small capacity and high cost. A similar possible solution energy storage has been deployed commercially.
with the same type of problems is the capacitor.
GRID ENERGY STORAGE
Chemical fuels have become the dominant form of energy
storage, both in electrical generation and energy transportation. Grid energy storage lets energy producers send excess
Chemical fuels in common use are processed coal, gasoline, diesel electricity over the electricity transmission grid to temporary
26 Solar Energy and its Uses Introduction 27

electricity storage sites that become energy producers when that it is the only carbon-free or zero-emission chemical energy
electricity demand is greater. Grid energy storage is particularly carrier. Hydrogen is a widely used industrial chemical that can
important in matching supply and demand over a 24 hour period be produced from any primary energy source. Most of the world's
of time. production is by the thermal reformation of natural gas (methane)
into hydrogen that is used immediately to refine petroleum into
STORAGE METHODS gasoline, diesel fuel and other petrochemicals. The carbon dioxide
• Chemical produced by the reforming process is either captured and processed
o Hydrogen into liquid carbon dioxide or vented to the atmosphere. Because
o Biofuels hydrogen is produced and distributed in such huge quantities, the
technology needed to build infrastructure to serve wholesale and
• Electrochemical
retail energy markets is proven, reliable and commercially
o Batteries available.
o Flow batteries
Hydrogen can be used as a fuel for all types of internal and
o Fuel cells external combustion heat engines and turbines (with adjustments
• Electrical to compensate for the difference between, say, diesel fluid and
o Capacitor hydrogen gas). Hydrogen fueled heat engines can be optimized
o Supercapacitor to operate at higher thermal efficiencies than traditional heat
engines using traditional hydrocarbon fuels. The increased
o Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES)
thermodynamic efficiency, and reduced pollution, would be
• Mechanical
beneficial, but they are not produced in quantity largely because
o Compressed air energy storage (CAES) hydrogen is not industrially available.
o Flywheel energy storage Sufficiently purified hydrogen can also be used to power
o Hydraulic accumulator electrochemical engines, such as the proton exchange membrane
o Hydroelectric energy storage (PEM) fuel cell. Hydrogen fuel cells can be more efficient than
o Spring hydrogen fueled heat engines, and thus much more efficient than
• Thermal hydrocarbon fuel heat engines. They are also less polluting. Several
companies are attempting to develop reliable, inexpensive PEM
o Molten salt
fuel cells. However, designs are not sufficiently developed to be
o Cryogenic liquid air or nitrogen routinely mass produced. The limited quantities available for
o Seasonal thermal store purchase are hand made and much more expensive than
o Solar pond conventional heat engines.
o Hot bricks Hydrogen production in quantities sufficient to replace existing
o Steam accumulator hydrocarbon fuels is not possible. Such production will require
o Fireless locomotive more energy than is currently being used, and require large capital
investment in hydrogen production plants. Because of the increased
HYDROGEN costs, hydrogen is not yet in widespread use. If the cost of
greenhouse gas production is fully included into the market price
Hydrogen is a chemical energy carrier, just like gasoline,
of hydrocarbon fuels, hydrogen fuels may become more attractive
ethanol or natural gas. The unique characteristic of hydrogen is
28 Solar Energy and its Uses Introduction 29

commercially, providing clean, efficient power for our homes, existing fuel distribution infrastructures. Manufacturing synthetic
businesses and vehicles. hydrocarbon fuel reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the
Disadvantages of hydrogen include a low energy density per atmosphere until the fuel is burned, when the same amount of
volume (even when highly compressed) compared to traditional carbon dioxide returns to the atmosphere.
hydrocarbon fuels, changing such things as the volumes of fuel If usable on a wide scale, this approach may help in the long
required for equivalent performance. And, for many hydrogen term to avoid some of the deleterious effects of greenhouse gas
production methods, there is a significant loss of energy during emission.
the conversion. Some production methods, for instance, electrolytic
generation from water, are more efficient. BORON, SILICON, AND ZINC
Boron, silicon, and zinc have been proposed as energy storage
BIOFUELS solutions.
Various biofuels such as biodiesel, straight vegetable oil, alcohol
fuels, or biomass can be used to replace hydrocarbon fuels. Various MECHANICAL STORAGE
chemical processes can convert the carbon and hydrogen in coal, Energy can be stored in water pumped to a higher elevation,
natural gas, plant and animal biomass, and organic wastes into in compressed air, or in spinning flywheels, but mechanical
short hydrocarbons suitable as replacements for existing methods of storing energy on a large scale are expensive and
hydrocarbon fuels. Examples are Fischer-Tropsch diesel, methanol, water pumping systems require considerable capital investment.
dimethyl ether, or syngas. Several companies have done preliminary design work for
This diesel source was used extensively in World War II in vehicles using compressed air power.
Germany, with limited access to crude oil supplies. Today South
Africa produces most of country's diesel from coal for similar INTERMITTENT POWER
reasons. A long term oil price above 35 USD may make such Many renewable energy systems produce intermittent power.
synthetic liquid fuels economical on a large scale (See coal). Some Other generators on the grid can be throttled to match varying
of the energy in the original source is lost in the conversion production from renewable sources, but most of the existing
process. Historically, coal itself has been used directly for throttling capacity is already committed to handling load
transportation purposes in vehicles and boats using steam engines. variations.
And compressed natural gas is being used in special circumstances Further development of intermittent renewable power will
fuel, for instance in busses for some mass transit agencies. require some combination of grid energy storage, demand
response, and spot pricing. Intermittent energy sources is limited
SYNTHETIC HYDROCARBON FUEL
to at most 20-30% of the electricity produced for the grid without
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been, experimentally, such measures. If electricity distribution loss and costs are managed,
converted into hydrocarbon fuel with the help of energy from then intermittent power production from many different sources
another source. To be useful industrially, the energy will probably could increase the overall reliability of the grid.
have to come from sunlight using, perhaps, future artificial
Non-intermittent renewable energy sources include
photosynthesis technology. Another alternative for the energy is
hydroelectric power, geothermal power, solar thermal, tidal power,
electricity or heat from solar energy or nuclear power. Compared
Energy tower, ocean thermal energy conversion, high altitude
to hydrogen, many hydrocarbons fuels have the advantage of
airborne wind turbines, biofuel, and solar power satellites. Solar
being immediately usable in existing engine technology and
photovoltaics, although technically intermittent, produce electricity
30 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation 31

largely during peak periods (ie, daylight), and hence do reduce


the need for peak power generation, though somewhat unreliably
in most areas since weather conditions interfere with terrestrially
mounted solar cells.
On the demand side, demand response programs, which send
market pricing signals to consumers (or their equipment), can be
a very effective way of managing variations in electricity
2
production. For example, electrically powered hydrogen
production can be set to increase when electricity is being produced SOLAR VARIATION
beyond current demand (and prices will be lowest), and conversely,
hot water heaters can be automatically set to a lower temperature
when demand is high and pricing is also high. Solar variations are changes in the amount of solar radiation
emitted by the Sun. There are periodic components to these
variations, the principal one being the 11-year solar cycle (or
sunspot cycle), as well as aperiodic fluctuations. Solar activity has
been measured via satellites during recent decades and through
'proxy' variables in prior times. Climate scientists are interested
in understanding what, if any, effect variations in solar activity
have on the Earth. Effects on the earth caused by solar activity
are called "solar forcing".
The variations in total solar irradiance (TSI) remained at or
below the threshold of detectability until the satellite era, although
the small fraction in ultra-violet wavelengths varies by a few
percent. Total solar output is now measured to vary (over the last
three 11-year sunspot cycles) by approximately 0.1% or about 1.3
W/m² peak-to-trough during the 11 year sunspot cycle. The amount
of solar radiation received at the outer surface of Earth's atmosphere
varied little from an average value of 1,366 watts per square meter
(W/m²). There are no direct measurements of the longer-term
variation and interpretations of proxy measures of variations differ;
recent results suggest about 0.1% variation over the last 2,000
years, although other sources suggest a 0.2% increase in solar
irradiance since 1675. The combination of solar variation and
volcanic effects has very likely been the cause of some climate
change, for example during the Maunder Minimum.
A 2006 study and review of existing literature, published in
Nature, determined that there has been no net increase in solar
brightness since the mid 1970s, and that changes in solar output
32 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation 33

within the past 400 years are unlikely to have played a major part in cities. With the advent of dendrochronology, scientists such as
in global warming. However, the same report cautions that "Apart Waldo S. Glock attempted to connect variation in tree growth to
from solar brightness, more subtle influences on climate from periodic solar variations in the extant record and infer long-term
cosmic rays or the Sun's ultraviolet radiation cannot be excluded, secular variability in the solar constant from similar variations in
say the authors. They also add that these influences cannot be millennial-scale chronologies.
confirmed because physical models for such effects are still too Statistical studies that correlate weather and climate with
poorly developed." solar activity have been popular for centuries, dating back at least
to 1801, when William Herschel noted an apparent connection
HISTORY OF STUDY INTO SOLAR VARIATIONS between wheat prices and sunspot records. They now often involve
The longest recorded aspect of solar variations are changes high-density global datasets compiled from surface networks and
in sunspots. The first record of sunspots dates to around 800 BC weather satellite observations and/or the forcing of climate models
in China and the oldest surviving drawing of a sunspot dates to with synthetic or observed solar variability to investigate the
1128. In 1610, astronomers began using the telescope to make detailed processes by which the effects of solar variations propagate
observations of sunspots and their motions. Initial study was through the Earth's climate system.
focused on their nature and behavior. Although the physical aspects
of sunspots were not identified until the 1900s, observations SOLAR ACTIVITY
continued. Study was hampered during the 1600s and 1700s due SUNSPOTS
to the low number of sunspots during what is now recognized
Sunspots are relatively dark areas on the surface of the Sun
as an extended period of low solar activity, known as the Maunder
where intense magnetic activity inhibits convection and so cools
Minimum. By the 1800s, there was a long enough record of sunspot
the surface. The number of sunspots correlates with the intensity
numbers to infer periodic cycles in sunspot activity. In 1845,
of solar radiation. The variation is small (of the order of 1 W/m²
Princeton University professors Joseph Henry and Stephen
or 0.1% of the total) and was only established once satellite
Alexander observed the Sun with a thermopile and determined
measurements of solar variation became available in the 1980s.
that sunspots emitted less radiation than surrounding areas of the
Based on work by Abbot, Foukal et al. (1977) realised that higher
Sun. The emission of higher than average amounts of radiation
values of radiation are associated with more sunspots. Nimbus 7
later were observed from the solar faculae.
(launched October 25, 1978) and the Solar Maximum Mission
Around 1900, researchers began to explore connections (launched February 14, 1980) detected that because the areas
between solar variations and weather on Earth. Of particular note surrounding sunspots are brighter, the overall effect is that more
is the work of Charles Greeley Abbot. Abbot was assigned by the sunspots means a brighter sun.
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) to detect changes
There had been some suggestion that variations in the solar
in the radiation of the Sun. His team had to begin by inventing
diameter might cause variations in output. But recent work, mostly
instruments to measure solar radiation. Later, when Abbot was
from the Michelson Doppler Imager instrument on SOHO, shows
head of the SAO, it established a solar station at Calama, Chile
these changes to be small, about 0.001% (Dziembowski et al.,
to complement its data from Mount Wilson Observatory. He
2001).
detected 27 harmonic periods within the 273-month Hale cycles,
including 7, 13, and 39 month patterns. He looked for connections Various studies have been made using sunspot number (for
to weather by means such as matching opposing solar trends which records extend over hundreds of years) as a proxy for solar
during a month to opposing temperature and precipitation trends output (for which good records only extend for a few decades).
Also, ground instruments have been calibrated by comparison
34 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation 35

with high-altitude and orbital instruments. Researchers have • 22 years: Hale cycle, named after George Ellery Hale. The
combined present readings and factors to adjust historical data. magnetic field of the Sun reverses during each Schwabe
Other proxy data - such as the abundance of cosmogenic isotopes cycle, so the magnetic poles return to the same state after
- have been used to infer solar magnetic activity and thus likely two reversals.
brightness. • 87 years (70-100 years): Gleissberg cycle, named after
Sunspot activity has been measured using the Wolf number Wolfgang Gleißberg, is thought to be an amplitude
for about 300 years. This index (also known as the Zürich number) modulation of the 11-year Schwabe Cycle (Sonnett and
uses both the number of sunspots and the number of groups of Finney, 1990).Braun, et al, (2005)
sunspots to compensate for variations in measurement. A 2003 • 210 years: Suess cycle (a.k.a. de Vries cycle). Braun, et al,
study by Ilya Usoskin of the University of Oulu, Finland found (2005).
that sunspots had been more frequent since the 1940s than in the • 2,300 years: Hallstatt cycle
previous 1150 years.
Other patterns have been detected:
Sunspot numbers over the past 11,400 years have been
• In carbon-14: 105, 131, 232, 385, 504, 805, 2,241 years
reconstructed using dendrochronologically dated radiocarbon
(Damon and Sonnett, 1991).
concentrations. The level of solar activity during the past 70 years
is exceptional - the last period of similar magnitude occurred over • During the Upper Permian 240 million years ago, mineral
8,000 years ago. The Sun was at a similarly high level of magnetic layers created in the Castile Formation show cycles of
activity for only ~10% of the past 11,400 years, and almost all of 2,500 years. The sensitivity of climate to cyclical variations
the earlier high-activity periods were shorter than the present in solar forcing will be higher for longer cycles due to the
episode. thermal inertia of the ocean, which acts to damp high
frequencies. Scafetta and West (2005) found that the climate
A list of historical Grand minima of solar activity includes was 1.5 times as sensitive to 22 year cyclical forcing relative
also Grand minima ca. 690 AD, 360 BC, 770 BC, 1390 BC, 2860 to 11 year cyclical forcing, and that the thermal inertial
BC, 3340 BC, 3500 BC, 3630 BC, 3940 BC, 4230 BC, 4330 BC, 5260 induced a lag of approximately 2.2 years in cyclic climate
BC, 5460 BC, 5620 BC, 5710 BC, 5990 BC, 6220 BC, 6400 BC, 7040 response in the temperature data.
BC, 7310 BC, 7520 BC, 8220 BC, 9170 BC.
Predictions Based on Patterns
SOLAR CYCLES • A simple model based on emulating harmonics by
Solar cycles are cyclic changes in behavior of the Sun. Many multiplying the basic 11-year cycle by powers of 2 produced
possible patterns have been suggested; only the 11 and 22 year results similar to Holocene behavior. Extrapolation suggests
cycles are clear in the observations. a gradual cooling during the next few centuries with
• 11 years: Most obvious is a gradual increase and decrease intermittent minor warmups and a return to near Little Ice
of the number of sunspots over a period of about 11 years, Age conditions within the next 500 years. This cool period
called the Schwabe cycle and named after Heinrich then may be followed approximately 1,500 years from
Schwabe. The Babcock Model explains this as being due now by a return to altithermal conditions similar to the
to a shedding of entangled magnetic fields. The Sun's previous Holocene Maximum.
surface is also the most active when there are more • There is weak evidence for a quasi-periodic variation in
sunspots, although the luminosity does not change much the sunspot cycle amplitudes with a period of about 90
due to an increase in bright spots (faculae). years. These characteristics indicate that the next solar
36 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation 37

cycle should have a maximum smoothed sunspot number years (see global dimming) possibly caused by increased
of about 145±30 in 2010 while the following cycle should atmospheric pollution, whilst over roughly the same timespan
have a maximum of about 70±30 in 2023. solar output has been nearly constant.
• Because carbon-14 cycles are quasi periodic, Damon and
MILANKOVITCH CYCLE VARIATIONS
Sonett (1989) predict future climate:
Some variations in insolation are not due to solar changes but
rather due to the Earth moving closer or further from the Sun, or
Cycle Cycle Last positive Next
changes in the relative amount of radiation reaching regions of
length name carbon-14 "warming" the Earth. These have caused variations of as much as 25% (locally;
anomaly global average changes are much smaller) in solar insolation over
long periods. The most recent significant event was an axial tilt
of 24° during boreal summer at near the time of the Holocene
232 --?-- AD 1922 AD 2038
climatic optimum.
(cool)
SOLAR INTERACTIONS WITH EARTH
There are several hypotheses for how solar variations may
208 Suess AD 1898 AD 2002
affect Earth. Some variations, such as changes in the size of the
(cool)
Sun, are presently only of interest in the field of astronomy.

Changes in Total Irradiance


88 Gleisberg AD 1986 AD 2030 • Overall brightness may change.
(cool)
• The variation during recent cycles has been about 0.1%.
• Changes corresponding to solar changes with periods of
SOLAR IRRADIANCE OF EARTH AND ITS SURFACE 9-13, 18-25, and >100 years have been measured in sea-
surface temperatures.
Solar irradiance, or insolation, is the amount of sunlight which
reaches the Earth. The equipment used might measure optical • Since the Maunder Minimum, over the past 300 years
brightness, total radiation, or radiation in various frequencies. there probably has been an increase of 0.1 to 0.6%, with
Historical estimates use various measurements and proxies. climate models often using a 0.25% increase.
• One reconstruction from the ACRIM data show a 0.05%
There are two common meanings:
per decade trend of increased solar output between solar
• the radiation reaching the upper atmosphere minima over the short span of the data set. These display
• the radiation reaching some point within the atmosphere, a high degree of correlation with solar magnetic activity
including the surface. as measured by Greenwich Sunspot Number. Wilson,
Various gases within the atmosphere absorb some solar Mordvinov (2003)
radiation at different wavelengths, and clouds and dust also affect
Changes in Ultraviolet Irradiance
it. Hence measurements above the atmosphere are needed to
observe variations in solar output, within the confounding effects • Ultraviolet irradiance (EUV) varies by approximately 1.5
of changes to the atmosphere. Indeed, there is some evidence that percent from solar maxima to minima, for 200 to 300 nm
sunshine at the Earth's surface has been decreasing in the last 50 UV.
38 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation 39

• Energy changes in the UV wavelengths involved in • The Earth's albedo decreased by about 2.5% over 5 years
production and loss of ozone have atmospheric effects. during the most recent solar cycle, as measured by lunar
o The 30 hPa atmospheric pressure level has changed "Earthshine". Similar reduction was measured by satellites
height in phase with solar activity during the last 4 during the previous cycle.
solar cycles. • Merranean core study of plankton detected a solar-related
o UV irradiance increase causes higher ozone 11 year cycle, and an increase 3.7 times larger between
production, leading to stratospheric heating and to 1760 and 1950. A considerable reduction in cloud cover
poleward displacements in the stratospheric and is proposed.
tropospheric wind systems. • A laboratory experiment conducted by Henrik Svensmark
• A proxy study estimates that UV has increased by 3% at the Danish National Space Center was able to produce
since the Maunder Minimum. particles as a result of cosmic ray-like irradiation, though
these particles do not resemble actual cloud condensation
Changes in the Solar Wind and the Sun's Magnetic Flux nuclei found in nature.
• A more active solar wind and stronger magnetic field
reduces the cosmic rays striking the Earth's atmosphere. Other Effects Due to Solar Variation
• Variations in the solar wind affect the size and intensity Interaction of solar particles, the solar magnetic field, and the
of the heliosphere, the volume larger than the Solar System Earth's magnetic field, cause variations in the particle and
filled with solar wind particles. electromagnetic fields at the surface of the planet. Extreme solar
events can affect electrical devices. Weakening of the Sun's
• Cosmogenic production of 14C, 10Be and 36Cl show
magnetic field is believed to increase the number of interstellar
changes tied to solar activity.
cosmic rays which reach Earth's atmosphere, altering the types of
• Cosmic ray ionization in the upper atmosphere does particles reaching the surface. It has been speculated that a change
change, but significant effects are not obvious. in cosmic rays could cause an increase in certain types of clouds,
• As the solar coronal-source magnetic flux doubled during affecting Earth's albedo.
the past century, the cosmic-ray flux has decreased by
about 15%. GEOMAGNETIC EFFECTS
• The Sun's total magnetic flux rose by a factor of 1.41 from Solar Particles Interact with Earth's Magnetosphere
1964-1996 and by a factor of 2.3 since 1901.
The Earth's polar aurorae are visual displays created by
EFFECTS ON CLOUDS interactions between the solar wind, the solar magnetosphere, the
• Cosmic rays have been hypothesized to affect formation Earth's magnetic field, and the Earth's atmosphere. Variations in
of clouds through possible effects on production of cloud any of these affect aurora displays.
condensation nuclei. Observational evidence for such a Sudden changes can cause the intense disturbances in the
relationship is, at best, inconclusive. Earth's magnetic fields which are called geomagnetic storms.
• 1983-1994 data from the International Satellite Cloud Solar Proton Events
Climatology Project (ISCCP) showed that global low cloud
formation was highly correlated with cosmic ray flux; Energetic protons can reach Earth within 30 minutes of a
subsequent to this the correlation breaks down. major flare's peak. During such a solar proton event, Earth is
showered in energetic solar particles (primarily protons) released
40 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation 41

from the flare site. Some of these particles spiral down Earth's this correlation as statistically significant, and some that do attribute
magnetic field lines, penetrating the upper layers of our atmosphere it to other solar variability (e.g. UV or total irradiance variations)
where they produce additional ionization and may produce a rather than directly to GCR changes. Difficulties in interpreting
significant increase in the radiation environment. such correlations include the fact that many aspects of solar
variability change at similar times, and some climate systems
Galactic Cosmic Rays have delayed responses.
An increase in solar activity (more sunspots) is accompanied
by an increase in the "solar wind," which is an outflow of ionized Carbon-14 Production
particles, mostly protons and electrons, from the sun. The Earth's The production of carbon-14 (radiocarbon: 14C) also is related
geomagnetic field, the solar wind, and the solar magnetic field to solar activity. Carbon-14 is produced in the upper atmosphere
deflect galactic cosmic rays (GCR). A decrease in solar activity when cosmic ray bombardment of atmospheric nitrogen (14N)
increases the GCR penetration of the troposphere and stratosphere. changes the Nitrogen into an unusual form of Carbon with an
GCR particles are the primary source of ionization in the atomic weight of 14 rather than the more common 12.
troposphere above 1 km (below 1 km, radon is a dominant source Paradoxically, increased solar activity results in a reduction of
of ionization in many areas). cosmic rays reaching the earth's atmosphere and reduces 14C
Levels of GCRs have been indirectly recorded by their influence production.
on the production of carbon-14 and beryllium-10. The Hallstatt This is because cosmic rays are partially excluded from the
solar cycle length of approximately 2300 years is reflected by Solar System by the outward sweep of magnetic fields in the solar
climatic Dansgaard-Oeschger events. The 80-90 year solar wind. Thus the cosmic ray intensity and carbon-14 production
Gleissberg cycles appear to vary in length depending upon the vary oppositely to the general level of solar activity.
lengths of the concurrent 11 year solar cycles, and there also Therefore, the 14C concentration of the atmosphere is lower
appear to be similar climate patterns occurring on this time scale. during sunspot maxima and higher during sunspot minima. By
measuring the captured 14C in wood and counting tree rings,
Cloud Effects
production of radiocarbon relative to recent wood can be measured
Changes in ionization affect the abundance of aerosols that and dated.
serve as the nuclei of condensation for cloud formation. As a
A reconstruction of the past 10,000 years shows that the 14C
result, ionization levels potentially affect levels of condensation,
production was much higher during the mid-Holocene 7,000 years
low clouds, relative humidity, and albedo due to clouds.
ago and decreased until 1,000 years ago. In addition to variations
Clouds formed from greater amounts of condensation nuclei in solar activity, the long term trends in carbon-14 production are
are brighter, longer lived, and likely to produce less precipitation. influenced by changes in the Earth's geomagnetic field and by
Changes of 3-4% in cloudiness and concurrent changes in cloud changes in carbon cycling within the biosphere (particularly those
top temperatures have been correlated to the 11 and 22 year solar associated with changes in the extent of vegetation since the last
(sunspot) cycles, with increased GCR levels during "antiparallel" ice age).
cycles.
Global average cloud cover change has been found to be 1.5- GLOBAL WARMING
2%. Several studies of GCR and cloud cover variations have found Researchers have correlated solar variation with changes in
positive correlation at latitudes greater than 50° and negative the Earth's average temperature and climate - sometimes finding
correlation at lower latitudes. However, not all scientists accept an effect, and sometimes not. Researchers who have found an
42 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation 43

effect include Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas or Douglass and disputed by a recent reply by Svensmark and Friis-Christensen
Clader, Geophysical Research Letters, 2002. which concludes that tropospheric air temperature records, as
The IPCC questions the magnitude of long-term (last hundred opposed to the surface air temperature data used by Lockwood
or more years) solar variation in section 6.11 of the TAR and show and Fröhlich, do show a significant negative correlation between
various results including Lean et al. (1995). However the Lean cosmic-ray flux and air temperatures up to 2006.
1995 value may well be too high: more recently Lean et al (GRL They also point out that Lockwood and Fröhlich present their
2002,) say: data by using running means of around 10 years, which shows
Our simulation suggests that secular changes in terrestrial a constant temperature rise. This reply has so far not been published
proxies of solar activity (such as the 14C and 10Be cosmogenic in a peer-reviewed journal.
isotopes and the aa geomagnetic index) can occur in the absence
of long-term (i.e., secular) solar irradiance changes. ...this suggests
that total solar irradiance may also lack significant secular trends.
...Solar radiative forcing of climate is reduced by a factor of 5 when
the background component is omitted from historical
reconstructions of total solar irradiance ...This suggest that general
circulation model (GCM) simulations of twentieth century
warming may overestimate the role of solar irradiance variability.
...There is, however, growing empirical evidence for the Sun's role
in climate change on multiple time scales including the 11-year
cycle ...Climate response to solar variability may involve
amplification of climate modes which the GCMs do not typically
include. ...In this way, long-term climate change may appear to
track the amplitude of the solar activity cycles because the stochastic
response increases with the cycle amplitude, not because there is
an actual secular irradiance change.
More recently, a study and review of existing literature
published in Nature in September 2006 suggests that the evidence
is solidly on the side of solar brightness having relatively little
effect on global climate, and downplays the likelihood of significant
shifts in solar output over long periods of time.
Lockwood and Fröhlich, 2007, find that there "is considerable
evidence for solar influence on the Earth's pre-industrial climate
and the Sun may well have been a factor in post-industrial climate
change in the first half of the last century.
Here we show that over the past 20 years, all the trends in
the Sun that could have had an influence on the Earth's climate
have been in the opposite direction to that required to explain the
observed rise in global mean temperatures." This is now however
44 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 45

Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas of the Harvard Observatory


correlated historical sunspot counts with temperature
proxies. They report that when there are fewer sunspots,
the earth cooled (see Maunder Minimum, Little Ice Age)
- and that when there are more sunspots the earth warmed.

3 The theories have usually represented one of three types:


• Solar irradiance changes directly affecting the climate.
This is generally considered unlikely, as the amplitudes
SOLAR VARIATION THEORY of the variations in solar irradiance are much too small to
have the observed relation absent some amplification
process.
There have been proposals that variations in solar output • Variations in the ultraviolet component having an effect.
explain past climate change and contribute to global warming. The UV component varies by more than the total.
The most accepted influence of solar variation on the climate is
• Effects mediated by changes in cosmic rays (which are
through direct radiative forcing. Various hypotheses have been
affected by the solar wind, which is affected by the solar
proposed to explain the apparent solar correlation with
output) such as changes in cloud cover.
temperatures that some assert appear to be stronger than can be
explained by direct irradiation and the first order positive feedbacks Although correlations often can be found, the mechanism
to increases in solar activity. The meteorological community has behind these correlations is a matter of speculation. Many of these
responded with skepticism, in part because theories of this nature speculative accounts have fared badly over time, and in a paper
have come and gone over the course of the 20th century. "Solar activity and terrestrial climate: an analysis of some purported
Sami Solanki, the director of the Max Planck Institute for Solar correlations" (J. Atmos. and Solar-Terr. Phy., 2003 p801-812) Peter
System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany said: Laut demonstrates problems with some of the most popular,
notably those by Svensmark and by Lassen (below). Damon and
The sun has been at its strongest over the past 60 years
Laut report in Eos that the apparent strong correlations displayed
and may now be affecting global temperatures... the
on these graphs have been obtained by incorrect handling of the
brighter sun and higher levels of so-called "greenhouse
physical data. The graphs are still widely referred to in the
gases" both contributed to the change in the Earth's
literature, and their misleading character has not yet been generally
temperature, but it was impossible to say which had the
recognized.
greater impact.
In 1991, Knud Lassen of the Danish Meteorological Institute
Nevertheless, Solanki agrees with the scientific consensus that in Copenhagen and his colleague Eigil Friis-Christensen found a
the marked upswing in temperatures since about 1980 is strong correlation between the length of the solar cycle and
attributable to human activity. temperature changes throughout the northern hemisphere.
• Just how large this role of solar variation is, must still be Initially, they used sunspot and temperature measurements from
investigated, since, according to our latest knowledge on 1861 to 1989, but later found that climate records dating back four
the variations of the solar magnetic field, the significant centuries supported their findings. This relationship appeared to
increase in the Earth's temperature since 1980 is indeed to account for nearly 80 per cent of the measured temperature changes
be ascribed to the greenhouse effect caused by carbon over this period (see graph). Damon and Laut, however, show
dioxide." that when the graphs are corrected for filtering errors, the
46 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 47

sensational agreement with the recent global warming, which their solar forcing included "spectrally-resolved changes in solar
drew worldwide attention, has totally disappeared. Nevertheless, irradiance" and not the indirect effects mediated through cosmic
the authors and other researchers keep presenting the old rays for which there is still no accepted mechanism - these ideas
misleading graph. Note that the prior link to "graph" is one such are still being fleshed out.
example of this. In addition, the study notes "uncertainties in historical forcing"
Sallie Baliunas, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian - in other words, past natural forcing may still be having a delayed
Center for Astrophysics, has been among the supporters of the warming effect, most likely due to the oceans. A graphical
theory that changes in the sun "can account for major climate representation of the relationship between natural and
changes on Earth for the past 300 years, including part of the anthropogenic factors contributing to climate change appears in
recent surge of global warming." "Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis", a report by the
On May 6, 2000, however, New Scientist magazine reported Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
that Lassen and astrophysicist Peter Thejll had updated Lassen's Stott's 2003 work mentioned in the model section above largely
1991 research and found that while the solar cycle still revised his assessment, and found a significant solar contribution
accounts for about half the temperature rise since 1900, it fails to to recent warming, although still smaller (between 16 and 36%)
explain a rise of 0.4 °C since 1980. "The curves diverge after 1980," than that of the greenhouse gases.
Thejll said, "and it's a startlingly large deviation. Something else
is acting on the climate.... It has the fingerprints of the greenhouse HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
effect."
Physicist and historian Spencer R. Weart in The Discovery of
Later that same year, Peter Stott and other researchers at the Global Warming (2003) writes:
Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom published a paper in which
The study of sun spot cycles was generally popular through
they reported on the most comprehensive model simulations to
the first half of the century. Governments had collected
date of the climate of the 20th century. Their study looked at both
a lot of weather data to play with and inevitably people
"natural forcing agents" (solar variations and volcanic emissions)
found correlations between sun spot cycles and select
as well as "anthropogenic forcing" (greenhouse gases and sulphate
weather patterns. If rainfall in England didn't fit the cycle,
aerosols).
maybe storminess in New England would. Respected
They found that "solar effects may have contributed scientists and enthusiastic amateurs insisted they had
significantly to the warming in the first half of the century although found patterns reliable enough to make predictions. Sooner
this result is dependent on the reconstruction of total solar
or later though every prediction failed. An example was
irradiance that is used. In the latter half of the century, we find
a highly credible forecast of a dry spell in Africa during
that anthropogenic increases in greenhouses gases are largely
the sunspot minimum of the early 1930s. When the period
responsible for the observed warming, balanced by some cooling
turned out to be wet, a meteorologist later recalled "the
due to anthropogenic sulphate aerosols, with no evidence for
subject of sunspots and weather relationships fell into
significant solar effects." Stott's team found that combining all of
dispute, especially among British meteorologists who
these factors enabled them to closely simulate global temperature
witnessed the discomfiture of some of their most respected
changes throughout the 20th century.
superiors." Even in the 1960s he said, "For a young climate
They predicted that continued greenhouse gas emissions researcher to entertain any statement of sun-weather
would cause additional future temperature increases "at a rate relationships was to brand oneself a crank.")
similar to that observed in recent decades". It should be noted that
48 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 49

SOLAR CYCLE data, and coincides with the Little Ice Age. This epoch is now
The solar cycle, or the solar magnetic activity cycle, is the known as the Maunder minimum, after Edward Walter Maunder,
main source of periodic variation of all solar phenomena driving who extensively researched this peculiar event, first noted by
variations in space weather. Powered by a hydromagnetic dynamo Gustav Spörer. In the second half of the nineteenth century it was
process driven by the inductive action of internal solar flows, the also noted (independently) by Richard Carrington and by Spörer
solar cycle that as the cycle progresses, sunspots appear first at mid-latitudes,
and then closer and closer to the equator until solar minimum is
• structures the sun's atmosphere, corona and wind;
reached. This pattern is best visualized in the form of the so-called
• modulates the solar irradiance; butterfly diagram, first constructed by the husband-wife team of
• modulates the flux of short-wavelength solar radiation, E. Walter and Annie Maunder in the early twentieth century.
from ultraviolet to X-Ray; Images of the sun are divided into latitudinal strips, and the
• modulates the occurrence frequency of flares, coronal mass monthly-averaged fractional surface of sunspots calculated. This
ejections, and other geoeffective solar eruptive phenomena; is plotted vertically as a color-coded bar, and the process is repeated
• indirectly modulates the flux of high-energy galactic cosmic month after month to produce this time-latitude diagram.
rays entering the solar system. The physical basis of the solar cycle was elucidated in the
early twentieth century by George Ellery Hale and collaborators,
HISTORY who in 1908 showed that sunspots were strongly magnetized (this
The solar cycle was discovered in 1843 by Samuel Heinrich was the first detection of magnetic fields outside the Earth), and
Schwabe, who after 17 years of observations noticed a periodic in 1919 went on to show that the magnetic polarity of sunspot
variation in the average number of sunspots seen from year to pairs:
year on the solar disk. Rudolf Wolf compiled and studied these • is always the same in a given solar hemisphere throughout
and other observations, reconstructing the cycle back to 1745, a given sunspot cycle;
eventually pushing these reconstructions to the earliest
• is opposite across hemispheres throughout a cycle;
observations of sunspots by Galileo and contemporaries in the
early seventeenth century. Starting with Wolf, solar astronomers • reverses itself in both hemispheres from one sunspot cycle
have found it useful to define a standard sunspot number index, to the next.
which continues to be used today. The solar cycle, as seen in variations of the sunspot number
The average duration of the sunspot cycle is about 11 years index. Three historical reconstruction are shown, namely the
(about 28 cycles in the 309 years between 1699 and 2008), but monthly sunspot number (orange), and yearly sunspot number
cycles as short as 9 years and as long as 14 years have been (red), and, from 1610 to 1750, the Group sunspot number (blue),
observed. Significant variations in amplitude also occur. Solar generally deemed a more reliable reconstruction over this time
maximum and solar minimum refer respectively to epochs of interval. Hale's observations revealed that the solar cycle is a
maximum and minimum sunspot counts. Individual sunspot cycles magnetic cycle with an average duration of 22 years. However,
are partitioned from one minimum to the next. because very nearly all manifestations of the solar cycle are
insensitive to magnetic polarity, it remains common usage to
Following the numbering scheme established by Wolf, the
speak of the "11-year solar cycle".
1755-1766 cycle is traditionally numbered "1". The period between
1645 and 1715, a time during which very few sunspots were Half a century later, the father-and-son team of Harold Babcock
observed, is a real feature, as opposed to an artifact due to missing and Horace Babcock showed that the solar surface is magnetized
even outside of sunspots; that this weaker magnetic field is to first
50 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 51

order a dipole; and that this dipole also undergoes polarity reversals from 1365.5 Watt per square meter at solar minimum, up to 1366.6
with the same period as the sunspot cycle (see Fig. 3 below). These at solar maximum, with fluctuations about the means of about +/
various observations established that the solar cycle is a - 1 Watt per square meter on timescales of a few days (see Figure
spatiotemporal magnetic process unfolding over the sun as a 4, yellow and red curves). The min-to-max variation, at the 0.1%
whole. The basic causes of the solar cycle are still under debate, level, is far too small to affect Earth's climate directly, but it is
with some researchers suggesting a link with the tidal forces due worth keeping in mind that continuous reliable measurements of
to the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn the TSI are only available since 1978; the minimum and maximum
levels of solar activity have remained roughly the same from then
IMPACTS OF THE SOLAR CYCLE to now, spanning cycle 21 through 23.
The sun's magnetic field structures its atmosphere and outer Interestingly, the Sun is slightly brighter at solar maximum,
layers all the way through the corona and into the solar wind. Its even though sunspots are darker than the rest of the solar
spatiotemporal variations lead to a host of phenomena collectively photosphere. This is because at solar maximum, a great many
known as solar activity. All of solar activity is strongly modulated magnetized structures other than sunspots appear on the solar
by the solar magnetic cycle, since the latter serves as the energy surface and many of them, such as faculae and active elements
source and dynamical engine for the former. of the network, are brighter than the photosphere. They collectively
end up slightly overcompensating for the overall irradiance deficit
SURFACE MAGNETISM
associated with the larger but less numerous sunspots. Recent
Sunspots may exist anywhere from a few days to a few months, observations indicate that the primary driver of TSI changes is the
but they eventually decay, and this releases magnetic flux in the varying photospheric coverage of these different types of solar
solar photosphere. This magnetic field is dispersed and churned magnetic structures, although contributions from long-timescale
by turbulent convection, and solar large-scale flows. These variations associated with a deep-seated physical process, such as
transport mechanisms lead to the accumulation of the magnetized cycle-mediated small changes in the efficiency of convective energy
decay products at high solar latitudes, eventually reversing the transport, cannot be ruled out entirely as yet.
polarity of the polar fields.
The dipolar component of the solar magnetic field is observed SHORT-WAVELENGTH RADIATION
to reverse polarity around the time of solar maximum, and reaches With a temperature of 5870 kelvin, the unmagnetized regions
peak strength at the time of solar minimum. Sunspots, on the of the Sun's atmosphere emit very little short-wave radiation,
other hand, are produced from a strong toroidal (longitudinally- such as extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and X-Rays. However,
directed) magnetic field within the solar interior. Physically, the magnetized regions emit more short-wave radiation. Since surface
solar cycle can be thought of as a regenerative loop where the coverage of magnetic structures varies markedly in the course of
toroidal component produces a poloidal field, which later produces the cycle, the level of diffuse, non-flaring solar UV, EUV and X-
a new toroidal component of sign such as to reverse the polarity Ray flux varies accordingly. Figure 5 illustrates this variation for
of the original toroidal field, which then produces a new poloidal soft X-Ray, as observed by the Japanese satellite YOHKOH. Similar
component of reversed polarity, and so on. cycle-related variations are observed in the flux of solar UV or
EUV radiation, as observed, for example, by the SOHO or TRACE
SOLAR IRRADIANCE satellites.
The total solar irradiance (TSI) is the amount of solar radiative Even though it only accounts for a minuscule fraction of total
energy impinging on the Earth's upper atmosphere. It is observed solar radiation, the impact of solar UV, EUV and X-Ray radiation
to vary in phase with the solar cycle, with yearly averages going
52 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 53

on the Earth's upper atmosphere is profound. Solar UV flux is a space weather. The occurrence frequency of coronal mass ejections
major driver of stratospheric chemistry, and increases in ionizing and flares is strongly modulated by the solar activity cycle. Flares
radiation significantly affect ionosphere-influenced temperature of any given size are some 50 times more frequent at solar
and electrical conductivity. maximum than at minimum. Large coronal mass ejections occur
on average a few times a day at solar maximum, down to one
SOLAR RADIO FLUX every few days at solar minimum The size of these events
Emission from the Sun at centimetric (radio) wavelength is themselves does not depend sensitively on the phase of the solar
due primarily to coronal plasma trapped in the magnetic fields cycle. A good recent case in point are the three large X-class flares
overlying active regions. The F10.7 index is a measure of the solar having occurred in December 2006, very near solar minimum; one
radio flux per unit frequency at a wavelength of 10.7cm, near the of these (an X9.0 flare on Dec 5) stands as one of the brightest on
peak of the observed solar radio emission. It represents a measure record.
of diffuse, nonradiative heating of the coronal plasma trapped by
magnetic fields over active regions, and is an excellent indicator COSMIC RAY FLUX
of overall solar activity levels. The solar F10.7 cm record extends The outward expansion of solar ejecta into interplanetary
back to 1947, and is the longest direct record of solar activity space provides overdensities of plasma that are efficient at
available, other than sunspot-related quantities. scattering high-energy cosmic rays entering the solar system from
Sunspot activity has a major effect on long distance radio elsewhere in the galaxy. Since the frequency of solar eruptive
communications particularly on the shortwave bands although events is strongly modulated by the solar cycle, the degree of
medium wave and low VHF frequencies are also affected. High cosmic ray scattering in the outer solar system varies in step. As
levels of sunspot activity lead to improved signal propagation on a consequence, the cosmic ray flux in the inner solar system is
higher frequency bands. Although they also increase the levels of anticorrelated with the overall level of solar activity. This
solar noise and ionospheric disturbances. These effects are caused anticorrelation is clearly detected in cosmic ray flux measurements
by impact of the increased level of solar radiation on the ionosphere. at the Earth's surface.
It has been proposed that 10.7 cm solar flux can interfere with Some high-energy cosmic rays entering Earth's atmosphere
point-to-point terrestrial communications. collide hard enough with molecular atmospheric constituents to
cause occasionally nuclear spallation reactions. Some of the fission
GEOEFFECTIVE ERUPTIVE PHENOMENA products include radionuclides such as 14C and 10Be, which settle
The solar magnetic field structures the corona, giving it its down on Earth's surface. Their concentration can be measured in
characteristic shape visible at times of solar eclipses. Complex ice cores, allowing a reconstruction of solar activity levels into the
coronal magnetic field structures evolve in response to fluid distant past. Such reconstructions indicate that the overall level
motions at the solar surface, and emergence of magnetic flux of solar activity since the middle of the twentieth century stands
produced by dynamo action in the solar interior. For reasons not amongst the highest of the past 10,000 years, and that Maunder
yet understood in detail, sometimes these structures lose stability, minimum-like epochs of suppressed activity, of varying durations
leading to coronal mass ejections into interplanetary space, or have occurred repeatedly over that time span.
flares, caused by sudden localized release of magnetic energy
driving copious emission of ultraviolet and X-ray radiation as IMPACT ON BIOSPHERE AND HUMAN CIRCADIAN CYCLE
well as energetic particles. These eruptive phenomena can have The impact of Solar cycle on living organisms is covered in
a significant impact on Earth's upper atmosphere and space part by interdisciplinary studies in the fields of science known as
environment, and are the primary drivers of what is now called Chronobiology, Heliobiology, and Astrobiology.
54 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 55

UVB VARIATION half of this (59 µm/s²). The sum of both effects is balanced by the
The amount of UVB light at 300 nm reaching the Earth varies gravity of the Earth, which is here also 177 µm/s².
by as much as 400% over the solar cycle due to variations in the Although sometimes described as being at L1, the SOHO
protective ozone layer. In the stratosphere ozone is continuously satellite is not exactly at L1 as this would make communication
regenerated by the splitting of O2 molecules by ultraviolet light. difficult due to radio interference generated by the Sun, and because
During a solar minimum, the decrease in ultraviolet light received this would not be a stable orbit. Rather it lies in the (constantly
from the sun leads to a decrease in the concentration of ozone, moving) plane which passes through L1 and is perpendicular to
allowing increased UVB to penetrate to the Earth's surface. the line connecting the sun and the Earth. It stays in this plane,
tracing out an elliptical orbit centered about L1. It orbits L1 once
SOLAR AND HELIOSPHERIC OBSERVATORY every six months, while L1 itself orbits the sun every 12 months
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is a spacecraft as it is coupled with the motion of the Earth. This keeps SOHO
that was launched on a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS launch vehicle at a good position for communication with Earth at all times.
on December 2, 1995 to study the Sun, and began normal operations
in May 1996. It is a joint project of international cooperation COMMUNICATION WITH EARTH
between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. Originally In normal operation the spacecraft transmits a continuous 200
planned as a two-year mission, SOHO currently continues to kbit/s data stream of photographs and other measurements via
operate after over ten years in space. In addition to its scientific the NASA Deep Space Network of ground stations. SOHO's data
mission, it is currently the main source of near-real time solar data about solar activity are used to predict solar flares, so electrical
for space weather prediction. Along with the GGS Wind and grids and satellites can be protected from their damaging effects
Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), SOHO is one of three (mainly, solar flares may produce geomagnetic storms, which in
spacecraft currently in the vicinity of the Earth-Sun L1 point, a turn produce geomagnetically induced current creating black-
point of gravitational balance located approximately 0.99 outs, etc.).
astronomical unit (AU)s from the Sun and 0.01 AU from the Earth. In 2003 ESA reported the failure of the antenna Y-axis stepper
In addition to its scientific contributions, SOHO is distinguished motor, necessary for pointing the high gain antenna and allowing
by being the first three-axis-stabilized spacecraft to use its reaction the downlink of high rate data. At the time, it was thought that
wheels as a kind of virtual gyroscope; the technique was adopted the antenna anomaly might cause two to three week data-blackouts
after an on-board emergency in 1998 that nearly resulted in the every three months. However, ESA and NASA engineers managed
loss of the spacecraft. to use SOHO's low gain antennas together with the larger 34 and
70 meter DSN ground stations and judicious use of SOHO's Solid
ORBIT
State Recorder (SSR) to prevent total data loss, with only a slightly
The 610 kg SOHO spacecraft is in a halo orbit around the Sun- reduced data flow every three months.
Earth L1 point, the point between the Earth and the Sun where
the balance of the (larger) Sun's gravity and the (smaller) Earth's NEAR LOSS OF SOHO
gravity is equal to the centripetal force needed for an object to The SOHO Mission Interruption sequence of events began on
have the same orbital period in its orbit around the Sun as the 24 June 1998, while the SOHO Team was conducting a series of
Earth, with the result that the object will stay in that relative spacecraft gyroscope calibrations and maneuvers. Operations
position. It is about 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth. proceeded until 23:16 UTC when SOHO lost lock on the Sun, and
Gravity from the Sun is 2% (118 µm/s²) more than at the Earth entered an emergency attitude control mode called Emergency
(5.9 mm/s²), while the reduction of required centripetal force is
56 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 57

Sun Reacquisition (ESR). The SOHO Team attempted to recover SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES
the observatory, but SOHO entered the emergency mode again The three main scientific objectives of SOHO are:
on June 25 02:35 UTC. Recovery efforts continued, but SOHO
• Investigation of the outer layer of the Sun, which consists
entered the emergency mode for the last time at 04:38 UTC. All
of the chromosphere, transition region, and the corona.
contact with SOHO was lost, and the mission interruption had
CDS, EIT, LASCO, SUMER, SWAN, and UVCS are used
begun. SOHO was spinning, losing electrical power, and no longer
for this solar atmosphere remote sensing.
pointing at the Sun.
• Making observations of solar wind and associated
Expert ESA personnel were immediately dispatched from phenomena in the vicinity of L1. CELIAS and CEPAC are
Europe to the United States to direct operations. Days passed used for "in situ" solar wind observations.
without contact from SOHO. On July 23, the Arecibo Observatory
• Probing the interior structure of the Sun. GOLF, MDI, and
and DSN antennas were used to locate SOHO with radar, and to
VIRGO are used for helioseismology.
determine its location and attitude. SOHO was close to its predicted
position, oriented with its side versus the usual front Optical INSTRUMENTS
Surface Reflector panel pointing toward the Sun, and was rotating
The SOHO Payload Module (PLM) consists of twelve
at one RPM.
instruments, each capable of independent or coordinated
Once SOHO was located, plans for contacting SOHO were observation of the Sun or parts of the Sun, and some spacecraft
formed. On 3 August a carrier was detected from SOHO, the first components. The instruments are:
signal since June 25. After days of charging the battery, a successful
• Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (CDS) which measures
attempt was made to modulate the carrier and downlink telemetry
density, temperature and flows in the corona.
on August 8. After instrument temperatures were downlinked on
August 9, data analysis was performed, and planning for the • Charge ELement and Isotope Analysis System (CELIAS)
SOHO recovery began in earnest. which studies the ion composition of the solar wind.
• Comprehensive SupraThermal and Energetic Particle
The SOHO Recovery Team began by allocating the limited
analyser collaboration (COSTEP) which studies the ion
electrical power. After this, SOHO's anomalous orientation in
and electron composition of the solar wind. (COSTEP and
space was determined. Thawing the frozen hydrazine fuel tank
ENRE are sometimes referred to together as the COSTEP-
using SOHO's thermal control heaters began on August 12.
ERNE Particle Analyzer Collaboration (CEPAC).
Thawing pipes and the thrusters was next, and SOHO was re-
oriented towards the Sun on September 16. After nearly a week • Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) which studies
of spacecraft bus recovery activities and an orbital correction the low coronial structure and activity.
maneuver, the SOHO spacecraft (bus) returned to normal mode • Energetic and Relativistic Nuclei and Electron experiment
on September 25 at 19:52 UTC. Recovery of the instruments began (ERNE) which studies the ion and electron composition
on October 5 with SUMER, and ended on October 24, 1998 with of the solar wind. (See note above in COSTEP entry.)
CELIAS. • Global Oscillations at Low Frequencies (GOLF) which
Only one gyro remained operational after this recovery, and measures velocity variations of the whole solar disk to
on December 21 that gyro failed. Attitude control was accomplished explore the core of the sun.
with manual thruster firings that consumed 7kg of fuel weekly, • Large Angle and Spectrometric COronagraph experiment
while ESA developed a new gyroless operations mode that was (LASCO) which studies the structure and evolution of the
successfully implemented on February 1, 1999. corona by creating an artificial solar eclipse.
58 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 59

• Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) which measures velocity program) does exist for using multiple SOHO instruments
and magnetic fields in the photosphere to learn about the collaboratively on a single observation. JOP proposals are reviewed
convection zone which forms the outer layer of the interior at the quarterly Science Working Team ("SWT") meetings, and
of the sun and about the magnetic fields which control the JOP time is allocated at monthly meetings of the Science Planning
structure of the corona. The MDI is the biggest producer Working Group.
of data by far on SOHO. In fact, two of SOHO's virtual As a consequence of its observing the Sun, SOHO (specifically
channels are named after MDI, VC2 (MDI-M) carries MDI the LASCO instrument) has inadvertently discovered comets by
magnetogram data, and VC3 (MDI-H) carries MDI blocking out the Sun's glare. Approximately one-half of all known
Helioseismology data. comets have been discovered by SOHO. Recently, it discovered
• Solar Ultraviolet Measurement of Emitted Radiation its 1500th comet.
(SUMER) which measures plasma flows, temperature and
density in the corona. INSTRUMENT CONTRIBUTORS
• Solar Wind ANisotropies (SWAN) which uses telescopes The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research contributed
sensitive to a characteristic wavelength of hydrogen to to SUMER, LASCO and CELIAS instruments. The Smithsonian
measure the solar wind mass flux, map the density of the Astrophysical Observatory built the UVCS instrument. The
heliosphere, and observe the large-scale structure of the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL)
solar wind streams. built the MDI instrument in collaboration with the solar group at
• UltraViolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) which Stanford University.
measures density and temperature in the corona.
PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULE
• Variability of solar IRradiance and Gravity Oscillations
In the field of photovoltaics, a photovoltaic module is a
(VIRGO) which measures oscillations and solar constant
packaged interconnected assembly of photovoltaic cells, also
both of the whole solar disk and at low resolution, again
known as solar cells. An installation of photovoltaic modules or
exploring the core of the sun.
panels is known as a photovoltaic array or a solar panel.
Observations from some of the instruments can be formatted Photovoltaic cells typically require protection from the
as images, most of which are also readily available on the internet environment. For cost and practicality reasons a number of cells
for either public or research use (see the official website). Others are connected electrically and packaged in a photovoltaic module,
such as spectra and measurements of particles in the solar wind while a collection of these modules that are mechanically fastened
do not lend themselves so readily to this. These images range in together, wired, and designed to be a field-installable unit,
wavelength or frequency from optical (H?) to extreme ultraviolet sometimes with a glass covering and a frame and backing made
(UV). Images taken partly or exclusively with non-visible of metal, plastic or fiberglass, are known as a photovoltaic panel
wavelengths are shown on the SOHO page and elsewhere in false or simply solar panel. A photovoltaic installation typically includes
color. Unlike many space-based and ground telescopes, there is an array of photovoltaic modules or panels, an inverter, batteries
no time formally allocated by the SOHO program for observing (for off grid) and interconnection wiring.
proposals on individual instruments: interested parties can contact
the instrument teams directly via e-mail and the SOHO web site THEORY AND CONSTRUCTION
to request time via that instrument team's internal processes (some The majority of modules use wafer-based Crystalline silicon
of which are quite informal, provided that the ongoing reference cells or a thin film cell based on cadmium telluride or silicon (see
observations are not disturbed). A formal process (the "JOP" photovoltaic cells for details) crystalline silicon, which is commonly
60 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 61

used in the wafer form in photovoltaic (PV) modules, is derived is projected to raise efficiency to 50%. Sunlight conversion rates
from silicon, a relatively multi-faceted element. (module efficiencies) can vary from 5-18% in commercial
In order to use the cells in practical applications, they must production.
be: A group of researchers at MIT has recently developed a process
• connected electrically to one another and to the rest of the to improve the efficiency of luminescent solar concentrator (LSC)
system technology, which redirects light along a translucent material to
• protected from mechanical damage during manufacture, PV-modules located along its edge. The researchers have suggested
transport and installation and use (in particular against that efficiency may be improved by a factor of 10 over the old
hail impact, wind and snow loads). This is especially design in as little as three years. 3 of the researchers involved have
important for wafer-based silicon cells which are brittle. now started their own company, called Covalent Solar, to
manufacture and sell their innovation in PV-modules.
• protected from moisture, which corrodes metal contacts
and interconnects, (and for thin film cells the transparent Finally, a whole range of other companies (eg HoloSun,
conductive oxide layer) thus decreasing performance and Gamma Solar, NanoHorizons, ...) are emerging which are also
lifetime. offering new innovations in the modules. These new innovations
include power generation at the front and back side, increased
• electrically insulated including under rainy conditions
outputs, ... However, most of these companies have not yet
• mountable on a substructure produced working systems from their design plans, and are mostly
Most modules are rigid, but there are some flexible modules still actively improving the technology.
available, based on thin film cells. Electrical connections are made
in series to achieve a desired output voltage and/or in parallel RIGID THIN-FILM MODULES
to provide a desired amount of current source capability. Diodes In rigid thin film modules, the cell and the module are
are included to avoid overheating of cells in case of partial shading. manufactured in the same production line.
Since cell heating reduces the operating efficiency it is desirable The cell is created directly on a glass substrate or superstrate,
to minimize the heating. Very few modules incorporate any design and the electrical connections are created in situ, a so called
features to decrease temperature, however installers try to provide "monolithic integration". The substrate or superstrate is laminated
good ventilation behind the module, New designs of module with an encapsulant to a front or back sheet, usually another sheet
include concentrator modules in which the light is concentrated of glass.
by an array of lenses or mirrors onto an array of small cells. This The main cell technologies in this category are CdTe,
allows the use of cells with a very high cost per unit area (such amorphous silicon, micromorphous silicon (alone or tandem), or
as gallium arsenide) in a cost-competitive way. CIGS (or variant). Amorphous silicon has a sunlight conversion
Depending on construction the photovoltaic can cover a range rate of 5-9%.
of frequencies of light and can produce electricity from them, but
cannot cover the entire solar spectrum. Hence much of incident FLEXIBLE THIN-FILM MODULES
sunlight energy is wasted when used for solar panels, although Flexible thin film cells and modules are created on the same
they can give far higher efficiencies if illuminated with production line by depositing the photoactive layer and other
monochromatic light. Another design concept is to split the light necessary layers on a flexible substrate. If the substrate is an
into different wavelength ranges and direct the beams onto insulator (e.g. polyester or polyimide film) then monolithic
different cells tuned to the appropriate wavelength ranges. This integration can be used. If it is a conductor then another technique
62 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 63

for electrical connection must be used. The cells are assembled caused by using wood as fuel for cooking. Solar cookers are also
into modules by laminating them to a transparent colourless sometimes used in outdoor cooking, especially in situations where
fluoropolymer on the front side (typically ETFE or FEP) and a minimal fuel consumption or fire risk are considered highly
polymer suitable for bonding to the final substrate on the other important.
side. The only commercially available (in MW quantities) flexible
module uses amorphous silicon triple junction (from Unisolar). TYPES OF SOLAR COOKERS
So-called Inverted Metamorphic (IMM) multi-junction solar There are many different types of Solar cookers. All solar
cells made on compound-semiconductor technology is just be cookers use the sun's heat and light to cook food. The basic
comming commercialized in July 2008. The University of principles of solar cookers are:
Michigan's solar car won the North American Solar challenge in • Concentrating sunlight: Some device, usually a mirror or
July 2008 used IMM thin-flim flexible solar cells. Emcore won an some type of reflective metal, is used to concentrate light
R&D 100 award in July 2008 for commericalization of this and heat from the sun into a small cooking area, making
technology developed at the National Renewable Energy the energy more concentrated and therefore more potent.
Laboratories (USA). Disclaimer: I work for Emcore. • Converting light to heat: Any black on the inside of a solar
cooker, as well as certain materials for pots, will improve
SOLAR HOT CARBON the effectiveness of turning light into heat. A black pan
Solar Hot Carbon (also known as Solar Hot CO2, Solar Methane, will absorb almost all of the sun's light and turn it into
SolarCarbon, Carbon Panels, Smoky Solar, etc.) is an somewhat heat, substantially improving the effectiveness of the
uncommon method for capturing solar energy. It is essentially the cooker. Also, the better a pan conducts heat, the faster the
same as Solar hot water except that the heat carrying medium is oven will work.
carbon dioxide, methane or smog. • Trapping heat: Isolating the air inside the cooker from the
Carbon Dioxide and other green house gases, although air outside the cooker makes an important difference. Using
invisible in visible light, are very dark or reflective in infrared a clear solid, like a plastic bag or a glass cover, will allow
light, meaning that heat cannot escape as easily through infrared light to enter, but once the light is absorbed and converted
means. As a result, when insulated by a second means, such as to heat, a plastic bag or glass cover will trap the heat inside
vacuum insulation, Solar Hot Carbon Systems can become as using the Greenhouse Effect. This makes it possible to
much as 95% efficientclarify although such a system has never reach similar temperatures on cold and windy days as on
been built. Green house gases, when not allowed to convey heat hot days.
through direct means can hold much more heat than water. Alone, each of these strategies for heating something with the
Essentially, green house gases are thermal insulators and will sun is fairly ineffective, but most solar cookers use two or all three
prevent infrared heat from getting out as well as heat from getting of these strategies in combination to get temperatures sufficient
in. for cooking.

SOLAR COOKER The top can usually be removed to allow dark pots containing
food to be placed inside. The box usually has one or more reflectors
A solar oven or solar cooker is a device which uses sunlight with aluminum foil or other reflective material to bounce extra
as its energy source. Because they use no fuel and they cost light into the interior of the box. Cooking containers and the inside
nothing to run, humanitarian organizations are promoting their bottom of the cooker should be dark-colored or black. The inside
use worldwide to help slow deforestation and desertification, walls should be reflective to reduce radiative heat loss and bounce
64 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 65

the light towards the pots and the dark bottom, which is in contact PANEL COOKERS
with the pots. Panel solar cookers are very inexpensive solar cookers that
use shiny panels to direct sunlight to a cooking pot that is enclosed
BOX COOKERS
in a clear plastic bag. A common model is the CooKit. Developed
The inside insulator for the solar box cooker has to be able in 1994 by Solar Cookers International, it is often produced locally
to withstand temperatures up to 150°C (300 °F) without melting by pasting a reflective material, such as aluminum foil, onto a cut
or off-gassing. Crumpled newspapers, wool, rags, dry grass, sheets and folded backing, usually corrugated cardboard. It is lightweight
of cardboard, etc. can be used to insulate the walls of the cooker, and folds for storage. When completely unfolded, it measures
but since most of the heat escapes through the top glass or plastic, about three feet by four feet (1 m by 1.3 m). Using materials
very little insulation in the walls is necessary. The transparent top purchased in bulk, the typical cost is about US$5. However, CooKits
is either glass, which is durable but hard to work with, or an oven can also be made entirely from reclaimed materials, including
cooking bag, which is lighter, cheaper, and easier to work with, used carboard boxes and foil from the inside of cigarette boxes.
but less durable. If dark pots and/or bottom trays cannot be
The CooKit is considered a low-to-moderate temperature solar
located, these can be darkened either with flat-black spray paint
cooker, easily reaching temperatures high enough to pasteurize
(one that is non-toxic when warmed), black tempera paint, or soot
water or cook grains such as rice. On a sunny day, one CooKit
from a fire.
can collect enough solar energy to cook rice, meat or vegetables
The solar box cooker typically reaches a temperature of 150 to feed a family with up to three or four children. Larger families
°C (300 °F). This is not as hot as a standard oven, but still hot use two or more cookers.
enough to cook food over a somewhat longer period of time. Food
To use a panel cooker, it is folded into a bowl shape. Food
containing moisture cannot get much hotter than 100 °C (212 °F)
is placed in a dark-colored pot, covered with a tightly fitted lid.
in any case, so it is not necessary to cook at the high temperatures
The pot is placed in a clear plastic bag and tied, clipped, or folded
indicated in standard cookbooks. Because the food does not reach
shut. The panel cooker is placed in direct sunlight until the food
too high a temperature, it can be safely left in the cooker all day
is cooked, which usually requires several hours for a full family-
without burning.
sized meal. For faster cooking, the pot can be raised on sticks or
It is best to start cooking before noon, though. Depending on wires to allow the heated air to circulate underneath it.
the latitude and weather, food can be cooked either early or later
High-temperature plastic bags (oven roasting bags) can be re-
in the day. The cooker can be used to warm food and drinks and
used for more than a month, but any plastic bag will work, if
can also be used to pasteurize water or milk.
measures (such as sticks or wires) are taken to keep the bag from
Solar box cookers can be made of locally available materials touching the hot cooking pot and melting to it. The purpose of
or be manufactured in a factory for sale. They range from small the plastic bag is to trap heated air next to the pot; it may not be
cardboard devices, suitable for cooking a single meal when the needed on very bright, windless days.
sun is shining, to wood and glass boxes built into the sunny side
A recent development is the HotPot developed by US NGO
of a house. Although invented by Horace de Saussure, a Swiss
Solar Household Energy, Inc. The cooking vessel in this cooker
naturalist, as early as 1767, solar box cookers have only gained
is a large clear pot with a clear lid into which a dark pot is
popularity since the 1970s. These surprisingly simple and useful
suspended. This design has the advantage of very even heating
appliances are seen in growing numbers in almost every country
since the sun is able to shine onto the sides and the bottom of the
of the world. An index of detailed wiki pages for each country
pot during cooking. An added advantage is that the clear lid
can be found here.
allows the food to be observed while it is cooking without removing
66 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 67

the lid. The HotPot provides an alternative to using plastic bags Hybrid solar ovens are therefore more independent. However,
in a panel cooker. they lack the cost advantages of some other types of solar cookers,
and so they have not caught on as much in third world countries.
SOLAR KETTLES
A hybrid solar grill consists of an adjustable parabolic reflector
Solar kettles are solar thermal devices that can heat water to suspended in a tripod with a movable grill surface. These
boiling point through the reliance on solar energy alone. Typically outperform solar box cookers in temperature range and cooking
they use evacuated (or vacuum) solar glass tube technology to times. When solar energy is not available, the design uses any
capture, accumulate and store solar energy needed to power the conventional fuel as a heat source, including gas, electricity, wood,
kettle. Besides heating liquids, since the stagnating temperature etc. The tripod hybrid grill is revolutionary in that many, if not
of solar vacuum glass tubes is a high 220 degrees Celsius (425 °F), all, of the parts required to build them can be scavenged from
Solar kettles can also deliver dry heat and function as ovens and commonly thrown away items.
autoclaves. Moreover, since solar vacuum glass tubes work on
accumulated rather than concentrated solar thermal energy, solar USING A SOLAR COOKER
kettles only need diffused sunlight to work and needs no sun The different kinds of solar cookers have somewhat different
tracking at all. If solar kettles uses solar vacuum tubes technologies, methods for use, but most follow the same basic principles.
the vacuum insulating properties will keep previously heated
Food is prepared as it would be for an oven or stovetop.
water hot throughout the night.
Because food cooks faster when it is in smaller pieces, solar cookers
PARABOLIC COOKERS usually cut the food into smaller pieces than they might otherwise.
Potatoes, for example, are usually cut into bite-sized pieces rather
Although these types of solar cookers can cook as well as a
than being roasted whole. Bread is usually baked as individual
conventional oven, they are difficult to construct. Parabolic cookers
rolls instead of large loaves. When a food, such as rice, needs to
reach high temperatures and cook quickly, but require frequent
be cooked in water, then the minimum necessary amount of water
adjustment and supervision for safe operation. Several hundred
is used.
thousand exist, mainly in China. They are especially useful for
large-scale institutional cooking. The prepared food is placed in an appropriately sized heat-
proof container. Efficient containers are not significantly larger
The solar bowl is a unique concentrating technology used by
than necessary to hold the food are usually shallow. The most
the Solar Kitchen in Auroville, India. Unlike nearly all concentrating
efficient containers are made of thin, dull metal, dark in color,
technologies that use tracking reflector systems, the solar bowl
with a lid that covers the food and reduces moisture loss, but does
uses a stationary spherical reflector. This reflector focuses light
not completely seal. Glass containers and even plain paper bags
along a line perpendicular to the sphere's surface and a computer
are also used. Pottery and thick metal (such as cast iron) cook food
control system moves the receiver to intersect this line. Steam is
more slowly, but retain their heat better when the sunlight has
produced in the solar bowl's receiver at temperatures reaching
declined. For very simple cooking, such as melting butter or cheese,
150 °C and then used for process heat in the kitchen where 2,000
a lid may not be needed and the food may be placed on an
meals are prepared daily.
uncovered tray or in a bowl. If several foods are to be cooked
HYBRID COOKERS separately, then they are placed in different containers.
A hybrid solar oven is a type of solar oven that uses both the The container of food is placed inside the solar cooker, perhaps
regular elements of a solar box cooker as well as a conventional elevated on a brick, rocks, metal trivet, or other heat sink, and the
electrical heating element for cloudy days or nighttime cooking. solar cooker is placed in direct sunlight. If the solar cooker is
68 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 69

entirely in direct sunlight, then the shadow of the solar cooker will perfectly cooked bright green to olive drab, while still retaining
not overlap with the shadow of any nearby object. Foods that cook the desirable texture.
quickly may be added to the solar cooker later. Rice for a mid- For most foods, such as rice, the typical person would be
day meal might be started early in the morning, with vegetables, unable to tell how it was cooked from looking at the final product.
cheese, or meat added to the solar cooker in the middle of the There are some differences, however: Bread and cakes brown on
morning. Depending on the size of the solar cooker and the number their tops instead of on bottom. Compared to cooking over a fire,
and quantity of cooked foods, a family may use one or more solar the food does not have a smoky flavor.
cookers.
Certain foods require different cooking techniques. For
The solar cooker is turned towards the sun and left until the example, to fry an egg in a solar cooker, a common method pre-
food is cooked. Unlike cooking on a stove or over a fire, which heats an empty, heavy, dark-colored metal skillet in the solar
may require more than an hour of constant supervision, food in cooker. Then oil or butter is melted in the pan until sizzling hot.
a solar cooker is generally not stirred or turned over, both because Finally, an egg is added to the pan, where it can cook almost as
it is unnecessary and also because opening the solar cooker allows quickly as it might on a stove top, largely from the stored heat
the trapped heat to escape and thereby slows the cooking process. in the pan. Cakes are often baked in a pre-heated solar cooker,
If wanted, the solar cooker may be checked every one to two perhaps while sitting on a hot brick.
hours, to turn the cooker to face the sun more precisely and to
ensure that shadows from nearby buildings or plants have not ADVANTAGES
blocked the sunlight. If the food will be left untended for many Solar ovens are just one part of the alternative energy picture,
hours during the day, then the solar cooker is often turned to face but one that is accessible to a great majority of people. A reliable
the sun the point where the sun will be when it is higher in the solar oven can be built from everyday materials in just a few hours
sky, instead of towards its current position. or purchased ready-made.
The cooking time depends primarily on the equipment beings Solar ovens can be used to prepare anything that can be made
used, the amount of sunlight at the time, and the quantity of food in a conventional oven or stove - from baked bread to steamed
that needs to be cooked. Air temperature, wind, and latitude also vegetables to roasted meat. Solar ovens allow you to do it all,
affect performance. Food cooks faster in the two hours before and without contributing to global warming or heating up the kitchen
after the local solar noon than it does in either the early morning and placing additional demands on cooling systems. Nearly three-
or the late afternoon. Larger quantities of food, as well as larger quarters of US households prepare at least one hot meal per day;
individual pieces of food, take longer to cook. As a result, only one-third prepare two or more. Many of those meals could be
general figures can be given for cooking time. For a small solar made in an environmentally responsible way, using a solar oven.
panel cooker, it might be possible to melt butter in fifteen minutes,
The World Health Organization reports that cooking with
to bake cookies in two hours, and to cook rice for four people in
fuel wood is the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a
four hours. However, depending on the local conditions and the
day. Inhalation of smoke from cooking fires causes respiratory
solar cooker type, these projects could take half as long, or twice
diseases and death. One of the solutions advocated to address this
as long.
problem is solar cooking which makes no smoke at all.
It is difficult to burn food in a solar cooker. Food that has been
In advanced countries, the environmental advantages, a desire
cooked even an hour longer than necessary is usually
for energy independence, and not heating up the house on a hot
indistinguishable from minimally cooked food. The exception to
day are usually cited as advantages. In the developing world,
this rule is some green vegetables, which quickly change from a
other advantages include:
70 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 71

• lower cost compared to firewood or cooking oil; or murdered. It has also significantly reduced the amount of time
• greater safety for children and the cook compared to a fire women spend tending open fires each day, with the results that
or stove; they are healthier and they have more time to grow vegetables
• lower likelihood of starting a fire that could destroy a for their families and make handicrafts for export.
family's home; and Indian Solar Cooker Village
• less time spent cooking compared to tending a fire or Bysanivaripalle, a silk-producing village that is 125 km (80
stove. mi) northwest of Tirupati in the Indian state of in Andhra Pradesh,
DISADVANTAGES is the first of its kind: an entire village that uses only solar cooking.
Intersol, an Austrian non-governmental organisation, sponsored
Solar cookers provide hot food during or shortly after the
the provision of powerful "Sk-14" parabolic solar cookers in 2004.
hottest part of the day, when people are less inclined to eat a hot
meal. However, a thick pan that conducts heat slowly (such as SOLAR FURNACE
Cast Iron) will lose heat at a slower rate, and that, combined with A solar furnace is a structure used to harness the rays of the
the insulation of the oven or an insulated basket, can be used to sun in order to produce high temperatures. This is achieved using
keep food warm well into the evening. a curved mirror (or an array of mirrors) that acts as a parabolic
Solar cookers take longer to cook food compared to an oven. reflector, concentrating light (Insolation) onto a focal point. The
Using a solar oven therefore requires that food preparation be temperature at the focal point may reach 3,000 degrees Celsius,
started several hours before the meal. However, it requires less and this heat can be used to generate electricity, melt steel, or
hands-on time cooking, so this is often considered a reasonable make hydrogen fuel.
trade-off. The solar furnace at Odeillo in the Pyrenees of France was
SOLAR COOKING PROJECTS opened in 1970 and is the largest in the world. It employs an array
of plane mirrors to gather the rays of light from the sun, reflecting
Bakeries in Lesotho them on to a larger curved mirror. The rays are then focused onto
Michael Hönes of Germany has established solar cooking in an area the size of a cooking pot and can reach 3,000 degrees
Lesotho, enabling small groups of women to build up community Celsius.
bakeries using solar ovens. The first modern solar furnace is believed to have been built
Use in Darfur Refugee Camps in France in 1949 by Professor Félix Trombe. It is still in place at
Mont Louis, near Odeillo. The Pyrenees were chosen as the site
Cardboard, aluminum foil, and plastic bags for well over for these furnaces due to sunny weather for up to 300 days a year.
10,000 solar cookers have been donated to the Iridimi refugee
It has been suggested that solar furnaces could be used in
camp and Touloum refugee camps in Chad by the combined
space to provide energy for manufacturing purposes. Their reliance
efforts of the Jewish World Watch, the Dutch foundation KoZon,
on sunny weather may mean that they are unlikely to be used as
and Solar Cookers International. The refugees construct the cookers
a major source of renewable energy on Earth.
themselves, using the donated supplies and locally purchased
Arabic gum, and use them for midday and evening meals. The The ancient Greek / Latin term "heliocaminus" literally means
goal of this project was to reduce the Darfuri women's need to "solar furnace" - A glass-enclosed sunroom intentionally designed
leave the relative safety of the camp to gather firewood, which to become hotter than the outside air temperature. Today, the
exposed them to a high risk of being beaten, raped, kidnapped, term "solar furnace" has evolved to refer to solar concentrator
72 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 73

heating systems using parabolic mirrors or heliostats. 1,000 degrees small amount of clean water, and even smaller amounts where
Fahrenheit (538 degrees Celsius) is now commonly achieved. The the source water is saline or brackish. If the amount of water is
theoretical maximum is the 5778 degree Kelvin surface temperature inadequate, a compromise method is to mix the distilled water
of the sun , although the practical limit (due to atmospheric with the brackish or saline water purified with other methods -
absorption and rapid heat transfer at high temperature this gives a more adequate quantity, while still lowering the salinity,
differentials) is much lower. and improving the taste. A larger scale version of the concept of
During the Second Punic War (218 - 202 BCE), the Greek the solar still is the Water Pyramid, which uses an inflatable dome
scientist Archimedes is said to have repelled the attacking Roman as the condensing surface and can be applied in tropical, rural
ships by setting them on fire with a "burning glass" that may have areas.
been an array of mirrors. An experiment to test this theory was Knowing how to put together a solar still is often billed as a
carried out by a group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology useful survival skill and could provide an important means of
in 2005. It concluded that although the theory was sound for potable water in the event of a wilderness emergency. Nevertheless,
stationary objects, the mirrors would not likely have been able to under typical conditions makeshift solar stills rarely produce
concentrate sufficient solar energy to set a ship on fire under battle enough water for survival, and the sweat expended in building
conditions. one can easily exceed its daily output. Solar stills can extract water
The solar furnace principle is being used to make inexpensive from moisture in the ground but to increase the amount of moisture
solar cookers and solar-powered barbecues, and for solar water available to a solar still, water (fresh or saline) can be added inside
pasteurization. A prototype Scheffler reflector is currently being or along the edges of the still. Where no water sources are readily
constructed in India for use in a solar crematorium. This 50 m² available, urine or shredded vegetation can be used inside the pit.
reflector will generate temperatures of 700 °C and displace 200- To prevent losing moisture by taking apart the still to retrieve
300 kg of firewood used per cremation. collected water a length of plastic tubing can be used to sip water
as it accumulates.
SOLAR STILL A simpler to put together solar still was presented on the TV
A solar still is a very simple way for distilling water, powered show Survivorman, in which the host simply wrapped a plastic
by the heat of the sun, especially when distillation equipment is bag around a leafy branch on a live tree. The transpiration from
unavailable. A few basic types of solar stills are cone shaped, the tree leaves provided the water source. No cup was used; water
boxlike, and pit. For cone solar stills, impure water is inserted into dripped straight into the bag. In the same episode, Les Stroud
the container, where it is evaporated by the sun through clear created a solar still by using urine for the source of water, arranged
plastic. The pure water vapor condenses on top and drips down in the sand beside a cup.
to the side, where it is collected and removed. The most
sophisticated of these are the box-shaped types. The least SOLAR WATER DISINFECTION
sophisticated are the pit types. Solar stills are used in cases where Solar water disinfection, also known as SODIS is a method
piped or well water is impractical, such as in remote homes or of disinfecting water using only sunlight and plastic PET bottles.
during power outages. In Florida and other hurricane target areas SODIS is a cheap and effective method for decentralized water
that frequently lose power for a few days, solar distillation can treatment, usually applied at the household level and is
provide an alternate source of clean water. recommended by the World Health Organization as a viable
Solar stills are occasionally used on a longer term basis in method for household water treatment and safe storage. SODIS
developing world settings. However, they produce a relatively is already applied in numerous developing countries.
74 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 75

PRINCIPLE bottle or poured into clean drinking cups. Re-filling and


Exposure to sunlight has been shown to deactivate diarrhea- storage in other containers increases the risk of
causing organisms in polluted drinking water. Three effects of contamination.
solar radiation are believed to contribute to the inactivation of
pathogenic organisms: Suggested T reatm ent S chedule
• UV-A interferes directly with the metabolism and destroys
cell structures of bacteria. W eather M inim u m T reatm ent D uration
• UV-A (wavelength 320-400nm) reacts with oxygen C onditions
dissolved in the water and produces highly reactive forms
of oxygen (oxygen free radicals and hydrogen peroxides), sunny 6 hours
that are believed to also damage pathogens.
• Infrared radiation heats the water. If the water 50% cloud y 6 hours
temperatures raises above 50°C, the disinfection process
is three times faster.
50-100% cloud y 2 days
At a water temperature of about 30°C (86°F), a threshold solar
radiation intensity of at least 500 W/m2 (all spectral light) is
required for about 5 hours for SODIS to be efficient. This dose continuous unsatisfactory perform ance, use
contains energy of 555 Wh/m2 in the range of UV-A and violet rainfall rainw ater harvesting
light, 350nm-450nm, corresponding to about 6 hours of mid-
latitude (European) midday summer sunshine.
APPLICATIONS OF SODIS
At water temperatures higher than 45°C (113°F), synergetic
SODIS is an effective method for treating water where fuel
effects of UV radiation and temperature further enhance the
or cookers are unavailable or prohibitively expensive. Even where
disinfection efficiency.
fuel is available, SODIS is a more economical and environmentally
GUIDELINES FOR THE APPLICATION AT HOUSEHOLD LEVEL friendly option. The application of SODIS is limited if enough
bottles are not available, or if the water is highly turbid.
• Water from contaminated sources are filled into transparent
water bottles. For oxygen saturation, bottles can be filled In theory, the method could be used in disaster relief or
three quarters, then shaken for 20 seconds (with the cap refugee camps. However, supplying bottles may be more difficult
on), then filled completely. Highly turbid water (turbidity than providing equivalent disinfecting tablets containing chlorine,
higher than 30 NTU) must be filtered prior to exposure bromine, or iodine. Additionally, in some circumstances, it may
to the sunlight. be difficult to guarantee that the water will be left in the sun for
the necessary time. Other methods for household water treatment
• Filled bottles are then exposed to the sun. Better
and safe storage exist, e.g. chlorination, different filtration
temperature effects can be achieved if bottles are placed
procedures or flocculation/disinfection. The selection of the
on a corrugated roof as compared to thatched roofs.
adequate method should be based on the criteria of effectiveness,
• The treated water can be consumed. The risk of re-
the co-occurrence of other types of pollution (turbidity, chemical
contamination can be minimized if water is stored in the pollutants), treatment costs, labor input and convenience, and the
bottles. The water should be consumed directly from the user's preference.
76 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 77

CAUTIONS during solar exposure. The levels of concentrations found


If the water bottles are not left in the sun for the proper length in the water after a solar exposure of 17 hours in 60°C
of time, the water may not be safe to drink and could cause illness. water were far below WHO guidelines for drinking water
If the sunlight is less strong, due to overcast weather or a less and in the same magnitude as the concentrations of
sunny climate, a longer exposure time in the sun is necessary. phthalate and adipate generally found in high quality tap
water.
The following issues should also be considered:
Concerns about the general use of PET-bottles were also
• Bottle material: Some glass or PVC materials may prevent
expressed after a report published by researchers from the
ultraviolet light from reaching the water. Commercially
University of Heidelberg on antimony being released from PET-
available bottles made of PET are recommended. The
bottles for soft drinks and mineral water stored over several months
handling is much more convenient in the case of PET
in supermarkets. However, the antimony concentrations found in
bottles. Polycarbonate blocks all UVA and UVB rays, and
the bottles are orders of magnitude below WHO and national
therefore should not be used. Glass also blocks UV rays
guidelines for antimony concentrations in drinking water.
and therefore would be ineffective.
Furthermore, SODIS water is not stored over such extended periods
• Aging of plastic bottles: SODIS efficiency depends on the in the bottles.
physical condition of the plastic bottles, with scratches
and other signs of wear reducing the efficiency of SODIS. HEALTH IMPACT, DIARRHEA REDUCTION
Heavily scratched or old, blind bottles should be replaced. It has been shown that the SODIS method (and other methods
• Shape of Containers: the intensity of the UV radiation of household water treatment) can very effectively remove
decreases rapidly with increasing water depth. At a water pathogenic contamination from the water. However, infectious
depth of 10cm and moderate turbidity of 26 NTU, UV-A diseases are also transmitted through other pathways, i.e. due to
radiation is reduced to 50%. PET soft drink bottles are a general lack of sanitation and hygiene. Studies on the reduction
often easily available and thus most practical for the SODIS of diarrhea among SODIS users show reduction values of 30-80%.
application.
• Oxygen: Sunlight produces highly reactive forms of oxygen SODIS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
(oxygen free radicals and hydrogen peroxides) in the water. The effectiveness of the SODIS was first discovered by
These reactive molecules contribute in the destruction Professor Aftim Acra at the American University of Beirut in the
process of the microorganisms. Under normal conditions early 1980s . Substantial follow-up research was conducted by the
(rivers, creeks, wells, ponds, tap) water contains sufficient research groups of Martin Wegelin at the Swiss Federal Institute
oxygen (more than 3 mg Oxygen per litre) and does not of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) and Dr Kevin
have to be aerated before the application of SODIS. McGuigan at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Clinical
• Leaching of bottle material: There has been some concern control trials were pioneered by Professor Ronan Conroy of the
over the question whether plastic drinking containers can RCSI team in collaboration with Dr T Michael Elmore-Meegan.
release chemicals or toxic components into water, a process Currently, a joint research project on SODIS is implemented
possibly accelerated by heat. The Swiss Federal by the following institutions:
Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research have • Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Ireland
examined the diffusion of adipates and phthalates (DEHA (coordination)
and DEHP) from new and reused PET-bottles in the water • University of Ulster (UU), United Kingdom
78 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 79

• CSIR Environmentek, South Africa, Eawag, Switzerland on the surface of the car (solar cars). The first solar car race was
• The Institute of Water and Sanitation Development (IWSD), the Tour de Sol in 1985 which led to several similar races in
Zimbabwe Europe, USA and Australia.
• Plataforma Solar de Almería (CIEMAT-PSA), Spain Solar car races are often sponsored by government agencies
• University of Leicester (UL), United Kingdom who are keen to promote the development of alternative energy
• The International Commission for the Relief of Suffering technology (such as solar cells). Such challenges are often entered
& Starvation (ICROSS), Kenya by universities to develop their students' engineering and
technological skills, but many business corporations have entered
• University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), Spain
competitions in the past. A small number of high school teams
• Swiss Federal Insitute of Aquatic Science and Technology participate in solar car races designed exclusively for high school
(Eawag), Switzerland students.
The project has embarked on a multi-country study including
study areas in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Kenya. NOTABLE DISTANCE RACES
The two most notable solar car distance (overland) races are
WORLDWIDE APPLICATION OF SODIS the World Solar Challenge and the North American Solar
The Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology Challenge. They are contested by a variety of university and
(Eawag), through the Department of Water and Sanitation in corporate teams. Corporate teams contest the race to give its
Developing Countries (Sandec), coordinates SODIS promotion design teams experience in working with both alternative energy
projects in 33 countries including Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, sources and advanced materials (although some may view their
Cambodia, Cameroon, DR Congo, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, participation as mere PR exercises). University teams enter the
Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, races because it gives their students experience in designing high
Laos, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Perú, technology cars and working with environmental and advanced
Philippines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Togo, Uganda, materials technology. These races are often sponsored by agencies
Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Contact addresses such as the US Department of Energy keen to promote renewable
and case studies of the projects coordinated by the Swiss Federal energy sources.
Insitute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) are available
The cars require intensive support teams similar in size to
at sodis.ch. SODIS projects are funded by, among others, the
SOLAQUA Foundation (), several Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs, professional motor racing teams. This is especially the case with
Migros, and the Michel Comte Water Foundation. the World Solar Challenge where sections of the race run through
very remote country.
SODIS has also been applied in several communities in Brazil,
one of them being Prainha do Canto Verde north of Fortaleza. WORLD SOLAR CHALLENGE
There, the villagers have been purifying their water with the
SODIS method. It is quite successful, especially since the This race features a field of competitors from around the
temperature during the day can go beyond the 40°C (100°F) and world who race to cross the Australian continent. In 2005, the
there is a limited amount of shade. Dutch Nuna 3 team won this challenge for a 3rd time in a record
average speed of 102.75 km/h over a distance of 3000 km, followed
SOLAR CAR RACING by the Australian Aurora (92.03 km/h) and the University of
Solar car racing refers to competitive races of electric vehicles Michigan (90.03 km/h). The increasingly high speeds of the 2005
which are powered by solar energy obtained from solar panels race participants has led to the rules being changed for future
80 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 81

solar cars starting in the 2007 race. The 20th Anniversary race of in Wenatchee, Washington, USA. The world record for this event
the World Solar Challenge ran in October of 2007. Major regulation is 29.5 seconds set by the South Whidbey High School team on
changes were released in June 2006 for this race to increase safety, June 23, 2007.
to build a new generation of solar car, which with little modification
could be the basis for a practical proposition for sustainable VEHICLE DESIGN
transport and intended to slow down cars in the main event, Solar cars combine technology used in the aerospace, bicycle,
which could easily exceed the speed limit (110 km/h) in previous alternative energy and automotive industries. Unlike most race
years. The winner again was the Nuna 4 team averaging 90.87 cars, solar cars are designed with severe energy constraints imposed
km/h. The winner in the Adventure Class (driving under old by the race regulations. These rules limit the energy used to only
rules) was the Ashiya University Solar Car Project team averaging that collected from solar radiation, albeit starting with a full charged
93.57 km/h. battery pack. As a result optimizing the design to account for
aerodynamic drag, vehicle weight, rolling resistance and electrical
NORTH AMERICAN SOLAR CHALLENGE efficiency are paramount. Conventional thinking has to be
The North American Solar Challenge, previously known as challenged, for example, rather than a conventional automobile
the 'American Solar Challenge' and 'Sunrayce USA', features mostly seat which would weigh tens of pounds, one championship solar
collegiate teams racing in timed intervals in the United States and car employed a nylon mesh seat combined with a five-point harness
Canada. that weighed less than 3 pounds.
The North American Solar Challenge was sponsored in part Solar race cars can be designed with a variety of basic
by the US Department of Energy. However, funding was cut near configurations by varying the shape of the vehicle, the number
the end of 2005, and the NASC 2007 was cancelled. The North and location of wheels, the location of solar cells, and other
American solar racing community worked to find a solution, variables. These trade off the efficiency of the panel against
bringing in Toyota as a primary sponsor for a 2008 race. The next aerodynamics, weight, controllability, and ease of manufacture.
North American Solar Challenge will run from July 13-21, 2008, Since 1996 the leading WSC cars have tended to have a small
from Dallas, Texas to Calgary, Alberta. canopy in the middle of a curved wing-like array, entirely covered
Other races: in cells, with 3 wheels. Before then the cockroach style, as used
in the GM Sunraycer with a smooth nose fairing into the panel
• Suzuka, a yearly track race in Japan.
were more successful. At lower speeds, with less powerful arrays,
• Phaethon, part of the Cultural Olympiad in Greece prior
other configurations are viable and may be easier to construct.
to the 2004 Olympics.
• World Solar Rally. DRIVER'S COCKPIT
• Dell-Winston School Solar Car Challenge is the best-known Like many race cars, the driver's cockpit usually only contains
and longest-running high-school-level race. room for one person, although a few cars do contain room for a
second passenger. They contain some of the features available to
SOLAR DRAG RACES drivers of traditional vehicles such as brakes, accelerator, turn
Solar drag races are another form of solar racing. Unlike long signals, rear view mirrors (or camera), ventilation, and sometimes
distance solar races, solar dragsters do not use any batteries or cruise control. A radio for communication with their support
pre-charged energy storage devices. Racers go head-to-head over crews is almost always included. Solar cars are often fitted with
a straight quarter kilometer distance. Currently, a solar drag race gauges as seen in conventional cars. Aside from keeping the car
is held each year on the Saturday closest to the summer solstice on the road, the driver's main priority is to keep an eye on these
82 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Variation Theory 83

gauges to spot possible problems. Cars without gauges available MECHANICAL SYSTEMS
for the driver will almost always feature wireless telemetry. The mechanical systems are designed to keep friction and
Wireless telemetry allows the driver's team to monitor the car's weight to a minimum while maintaining strength and stiffness.
energy consumption, solar energy capture and other parameters Designers normally use aluminium, titanium and composites to
and free the driver to concentrate on just driving. Drivers also provide a structure that meets strength and stiffness requirements
have a safety harness, and optionally (depending on the race) a whilst being fairly light. Steel is used for some suspension parts
helmet similar to racing car drivers. on many cars.
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Solar cars usually have three wheels, but some have four.
Three wheelers usually have two front wheels and one rear wheel:
The electrical system is the most important part of the car's
the front wheels steer and the rear wheel follows. Four wheel
systems as it controls all of the power that comes into and leaves
vehicles are set up like normal cars or similarly to three wheeled
the system. The battery pack plays the same role in a solar car that
vehicles with the two rear wheels close together.
a fuel tank plays in a normal car in storing power for future use.
Solar cars use a range of batteries including lead-acid batteries, Solar cars have a wide range of suspensions because of varying
nickel-metal hydride batteries (NiMH), Nickel-Cadmium batteries bodies and chassis. The most common front suspension is the
(NiCd), Lithium ion batteries and Lithium polymer batteries. Lead- double wishbone suspension. The rear suspension is often a
acid batteries are less expensive and easier to work with but store trailing-arm suspension as found in motor cycles.
less energy for a given mass. Typically, solar cars use voltages Solar cars are required to meet rigorous standards for brakes.
between 84 and 170 volts. Disc brakes are the most commonly used due to their good braking
Power electronics monitor and regulate the car's electricity. ability and ability to adjust. Mechanical and hydraulic brakes are
Components of the power electronics include the peak power both widely used. The brake pads or shoes are typically designed
trackers, the motor controller and the data acquisition system. to retract to minimize brake drag, on leading cars.
The peak power trackers manage the power coming from the Steering systems for solar cars also vary. The major design
solar array to maximize the power and deliver it to be stored in factors for steering systems are efficiency, reliability and precision
the motor. They also protect the batteries from overcharging. The alignment to minimize tire wear and power loss. The popularity
motor controller manages the electricity flowing to the motor of solar car racing has led to some tire manufacturers designing
according to signals flowing from the accelerator. Many solar cars tires for solar vehicles. This has increased overall safety and
have complex data acquisition systems that monitor the whole performance.
electrical system while even the most basic cars have systems that All the top teams now use wheel motors, eliminating belt or
provide information on battery voltage and current to the driver. chain drives. Testing is essential to demonstrating vehicle reliability
One such system utilizes Controller Area Network (CAN). prior to a race. It is easy to spend a hundred thousand dollars to
A wide variety of motor types have been used. Usually there gain a two hour advantage, and equally easy to lose two hours
is a strong relationship between efficiency and cost. The most due to reliability issues.
efficient motors exceed 98% efficiency. These are brushless three-
"phase" DC, electronically commutated, wheel motors, with a
Halbach array configuration for the neodymium-iron-boron
magnets, and Linz wire for the windings. Cheaper alternatives
include motors from wind turbines, or brushed DC motors.
84 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Array 85

consider wind energy to be solar energy, so their race regulations


allow this practice.

AERODYNAMICS
Aerodynamic drag is the main source of losses on a solar race
4 car. The aerodynamic drag of a vehicle is the product of the frontal
area and its Cd. For most solar cars the frontal area is 0.75 to 1.3
m^2. While Cds as low as 0.10 have been reported, 0.13 is more
SOLAR ARRAY typical. This needs a great deal of attention to detail.

MASS
The solar array consists of hundreds (or thousands) of The vehicle's mass is also a significant factor. A light vehicle
photovoltaic solar cells converting sunlight into electricity. Cars generates less rolling resistance and will need smaller lighter
can use a variety of solar cell technologies; most often brakes and other suspension components. This is the virtuous
polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon, or gallium arsenide. circle when designing lightweight vehicles.
The cells are wired together into strings while strings are often ROLLING RESISTANCE
wired together to form a panel. Panels normally have voltages
close to the nominal battery voltage. The main aim is to get as Rolling resistance can be minimised by using the right tires,
much cell area in as small a space as possible. Designers encapsulate inflated to the right pressure, correctly aligned, and by minimising
the cells to protect them from the weather and breakage. the weight of the vehicle.

Designing a solar array is more than just stringing a bunch PERFORMANCE EQUATION
of cells together. A solar array acts like many very small batteries The design of a solar car is governed by the following work
all hooked together in series. The total voltage produced is the equation:
sum of all cell voltages.
The problem is that if a single cell is in shadow it acts like
a diode, blocking the current for the entire string of cells. To
design against this, array designers use by-pass diodes in parallel which can be usefully simplified to the performance equation
with smaller segments of the string of cells, allowing current
around the non-functioning cell(s). Another consideration is that
the battery itself can force current backwards through the array for long distance races, and values seen in practice.
unless there are blocking diodes put at the end of each panel.
Briefly, the left hand side represents the energy input into the
The power produced by the solar array depends on the weather car (batteries and power from the sun) and the right hand side
conditions, the position of the sun and the capacity of the array. is the energy needed to drive the car along the race route
At noon on a bright day, a good array can produce over 2 kilowatts (overcoming rolling resistance, aerodynamic drag, going uphill
(2.6 hp). and accelerating). Everything in this equation can be estimated
Some cars have employed free-standing or integrated sails to except u. Solving the long form of the equation for velocity results
harness wind energy. Many races, including the WSC and NASC, in a large equation (approximately 100 terms). Using the power
86 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Array 87

equation as the arbiter, vehicle designers can compare various car RACE STRATEGY
designs and evaluate the comparative performance over a given ENERGY CONSUMPTION
route. Combined with CAE and systems modeling, the power
Optimizing energy consumption is of prime importance in a
equation can be a useful tool in solar car design.
solar car race. Therefore it is very important to be able to closely
RACE ROUTE CONSIDERATIONS monitor the speed, energy consumption, energy intake from solar
panel, among other things in real time. Some teams employ
The directional orientation of a solar car race route affects the
sophisticated telemetry that relays vehicle performance data to a
apparent position of the sun in the sky during a race day, which
computer in a following support vehicle.
in turn affects the energy input to the vehicle.
• In a south-to-north race route alignment, for example, the The strategy employed depends upon the race rules and
sun would rise over the driver's right shoulder and finish conditions. Most solar car races have set starting and stopping
over his left (due to the east-west apparent motion of the points where the objective is to reach the final point in the least
sun). amount of total time. Since aerodynamic drag force rises
quadratically with speed, the energy the car consumes per second
• In an east-west race route alignment, the sun would rise
rises cubically (per meter travelled it rises quadratically with
behind the vehicle, and appear to move in the direction
speed). Given the varied conditions in all races and the limited
of the vehicle's movement, setting in the front of the car.
(and continuously changing) supply of energy, most teams have
• A hybrid route alignment includes significant sections of race speed optimization programs that continuously update the
south-north and east-west routes together. team on how fast the vehicle should be traveling.
This is significant to designers, who seek to maximize energy
input to a panel of solar cells (often called an "array" of cells) by RACE ROUTE
designing the array to point directly toward the sun for as long The race route itself will affect strategy, because the apparent
as possible during the race day. Thus, a south-north race car position of the sun in the sky will vary depending various factors
designer might increase the car's total energy input by using solar which are specific to the vehicle's orientation.
cells on the sides of the vehicle where the sun will strike them In addition, elevation changes over a race route can
(or by creating a convex array coaxial with the vehicle's movement). dramatically change the amount of power needed to travel the
In contrast, an east-west race alignment might reduce the benefit route. For example, the 2001 and 2003 North American Solar
from having cells on the side of the vehicle, and thus might Challenge route crossed the Rocky Mountains.
encourage design of a flat array.
Because solar cars are often purpose-built, and because arrays WEATHER FORECASTING
do not usually move in relation to the rest of the vehicle (with A successful solar car racing team will need to have access
notable exceptions), this race-route-driven, flat-panel versus convex to reliable weather forecasts in order to predict the power input
design compromise is one of the most significant decisions that to the vehicle from the sun during each race day.
a solar car designer must make.
For example, the 1990 and 1993 Sunrayce USA events were
won by vehicles with significantly convex arrays, corresponding
to the south-north race alignments; by 1997, however, most cars
in that event had flat arrays to match the change to an east-west
route.
88 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 89

that the first solar cell was built, by Charles Fritts, who coated the
semiconductor selenium with an extremely thin layer of gold to
form the junctions. The device was only around 1% efficient.
Russell Ohl patented the modern solar cell in 1946 (U.S. Patent
2,402,662 , "Light sensitive device"). Sven Ason Berglund had a

5 prior patent concerning methods of increasing the capacity of


photosensitive cells. The modern age of solar power technology
arrived in 1954 when Bell Laboratories, experimenting with
semiconductors, accidentally found that silicon doped with certain
THE SOLAR CELL impurities was very sensitive to light.
This resulted in the production of the first practical solar cells
A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is a device that converts solar with a sunlight energy conversion efficiency of around 6 percent.
energy into electricity by the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaics is The first spacecraft to use solar panels was the US satellite Vanguard
the field of technology and research related to the application of 1, launched in March 1958 with solar cells made by Hoffman
solar cells as solar energy. Sometimes the term solar cell is reserved Electronics. This milestone created interest in producing and
for devices intended specifically to capture energy from sunlight, launching a geostationary communications satellite, in which solar
while the term photovoltaic cell is used when the source is energy would provide a viable power supply. This was a crucial
unspecified. Assemblies of cells are used to make solar modules, development which stimulated funding from several governments
which may in turn be linked in photovoltaic arrays. into research for improved solar cells.
Solar cells have many applications. Individual cells are used In 1970 the first highly effective GaAs heterostructure solar
for powering small devices such as electronic calculators. cells were created by Zhores Alferov and his team in the USSR.
Photovoltaic arrays generate a form of renewable electricity, Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD, or OMCVD)
particularly useful in situations where electrical power from the production equipment was not developed until the early 1980s,
grid is unavailable such as in remote area power systems, Earth- limiting the ability of companies to manufacture the GaAs solar
orbiting satellites and space probes, remote radiotelephones and cell. In the United States, the first 17% efficient air mass zero
water pumping applications. Photovoltaic electricity is also (AM0) single-junction GaAs solar cells were manufactured in
increasingly deployed in grid-tied electrical systems. production quantities in 1988 by Applied Solar Energy Corporation
Similar devices intended to capture energy radiated from (ASEC). The "dual junction" cell was accidentally produced in
other sources include thermophotovoltaic cells, betavoltaics cells, quantity by ASEC in 1989 as a result of the change from GaAs
and optoelectric nuclear battery. on GaAs substrates to GaAs on Germanium (Ge) substrates. The
accidental doping of Ge with the GaAs buffer layer created higher
HISTORY open circuit voltages, demonstrating the potential of using the Ge
The term "photovoltaic" comes from the Greek (phos) meaning substrate as another cell. As GaAs single-junction cells topped
"light", and "voltaic", meaning electrical, from the name of the 19% AM0 production efficiency in 1993, ASEC developed the first
Italian physicist Volta, after whom the measurement unit volt is dual junction cells for spacecraft use in the United States, with a
named. The term "photo-voltaic" has been in use in English since starting efficiency of approximately 20%. These cells did not utilize
1849. The photovoltaic effect was first recognized in 1839 by the Ge as a second cell, but used another GaAs-based cell with
French physicist A. E. Becquerel. However, it was not until 1883 different doping. Eventually GaAs dual junction cells reached
90 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 91

production efficiencies of about 22%. Triple Junction solar cells are applied in a thin film to a supporting substrate such as glass
began with AM0 efficiencies of approximately 24% in 2000, 26% or ceramics reducing material mass and therefore costs. These
in 2002, 28% in 2005, and in 2007 have evolved to a 30% AM0 technologies do hold promise of higher conversion efficiencies,
production efficiency, currently in qualification. In 2007, two particularly CIGS-CIS, DSC and CdTe offers significantly cheaper
companies in the United States, Emcore Photovoltaics and production costs. Among major manufacturers there is certainly
Spectrolab, produce 95% of the world's Triple Junction solar cells a trend toward second generation technologies however
which have a commercial efficiency of 38%. In 2006 Spectrolab's commercialisation of these technologies has proven difficult. In
cells achieved 40.7% efficiency in lab testing. 2007 First Solar produced 200 MW of CdTe solar cells making it
the fifth largest producer of solar cells in 2007 and the first ever
THREE GENERATIONS OF SOLAR CELLS to reach the top 10 from production of second generation
Solar Cells are classified into three generations which indicates technologies alone.. Wurth Solar commercialised its CIS technology
the order of which each became prominent. At present there is in 2007 producing 15 MW. Nanosolar commercialised its CIGS
concurrent research into all three generations while the first technology in 2007 with a production capacity of 430 MW for 2008
generation technologies are most highly represented in commercial in the USA and Germany. In 2007 CdTe production represented
production, accounting for 89.6% of 2007 production. 4.7% of total market share, thin film silicon 5.2% and CIGS 0.5%.

FIRST GENERATION THIRD GENERATION


First generation cells consist of large-area, high quality and Third generation technologies aim to enhance poor electrical
single junction devices. First Generation technologies involve high performance of second generation thin film technologies while
energy and labour inputs which prevent any significant progress maintaining very low production costs. Current research is
in reducing production costs. Single junction silicon devices are targeting conversion efficiencies of 30-60% while retaining low
approaching the theoretical limiting efficiency of 33% and cost materials and manufacturing techniques. There are a few
combined with high production costs are unlikely to achieve cost approaches to achieving these high efficiencies:
parity with fossil fuel energy generation. • Multijunction photovoltaic cell.
• Modifying incident spectrum (concentration).
SECOND GENERATION
• Use of excess thermal generation to enhance voltages or
Second generation materials have been developed to address carrier collection.
energy requirements and production costs of solar cells. Alternative
manufacturing techniques such as vapour deposition and APPLICATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATIONS
electroplating are advantageous as they reduce high temperature Solar cells are often electrically connected and encapsulated
processing significantly. It is commonly accepted that as as a module. PV modules often have a sheet of glass on the front
manufacturing techniques evolve production costs will be (sun up) side , allowing light to pass while protecting the
dominated by constituent material requirements, whether this be semiconductor wafers from the elements (rain, hail, etc.). Solar
a silicon substrate, or glass cover. Second generation technologies cells are also usually connected in series in modules, creating an
are expected to gain market share in 2008. additive voltage. Connecting cells in parallel will yield a higher
The most successful second generation materials have been current. Modules are then interconnected, in series or parallel, or
cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide, both, to create an array with the desired peak DC voltage and
amorphous silicon and micromorphous silicon. These materials current.
92 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 93

The power output of a solar array is measured in watts or and hence unable to move far. The energy given to it by the
kilowatts. In order to calculate the typical energy needs of the photon "excites" it into the conduction band, where it is free to
application, a measurement in watt-hours, kilowatt-hours or move around within the semiconductor. The covalent bond that
kilowatt-hours per day is often used. A common rule of thumb the electron was previously a part of now has one fewer electron
is that average power is equal to 20% of peak power, so that each - this is known as a hole. The presence of a missing covalent bond
peak kilowatt of solar array output power corresponds to energy allows the bonded electrons of neighboring atoms to move into
production of 4.8 kWh per day. To make practical use of the solar- the "hole," leaving another hole behind, and in this way a hole
generated energy, the electricity is most often fed into the electricity can move through the lattice. Thus, it can be said that photons
grid using inverters (grid-connected PV systems); in stand alone absorbed in the semiconductor create mobile electron-hole pairs.
systems, batteries are used to store the energy that is not needed A photon need only have greater energy than that of the band
immediately.
gap in order to excite an electron from the valence band into the
conduction band. However, the solar frequency spectrum
THEORY
approximates a black body spectrum at ~6000 K, and as such,
SIMPLE EXPLANATION much of the solar radiation reaching the Earth is composed of
1. Photons in sunlight hit the solar panel and are absorbed photons with energies greater than the band gap of silicon. These
by semiconducting materials, such as silicon. higher energy photons will be absorbed by the solar cell, but the
2. Electrons (negatively charged) are knocked loose from difference in energy between these photons and the silicon band
their atoms, allowing them to flow through the material gap is converted into heat (via lattice vibrations - called phonons)
to produce electricity. The complementary positive charges rather than into usable electrical energy.
that are also created (like bubbles) are called holes and
flow in the direction opposite of the electrons in a silicon CHARGE CARRIER SEPARATION
solar panel. There are two main modes for charge carrier separation in a
3. An array of solar panels converts solar energy into a usable solar cell:
amount of direct current (DC) electricity. 1. drift of carriers, driven by an electrostatic field established
across the device
PHOTOGENERATION OF CHARGE CARRIERS
2. diffusion of carriers from zones of high carrier
When a photon hits a piece of silicon, one of three things can concentration to zones of low carrier concentration
happen: (following a gradient of electrochemical potential).
1. the photon can pass straight through the silicon - this In the widely used p-n junction solar cells, the dominant mode
(generally) happens for lower energy photons, of charge carrier separation is by drift. However, in non-p-n-
2. the photon can reflect off the surface, junction solar cells (typical of the third generation of solar cell
3. the photon can be absorbed by the silicon, if the photon research such as dye and polymer thin-film solar cells), a general
energy is higher than the silicon band gap value. This electrostatic field has been confirmed to be absent, and the
generates an electron-hole pair and sometimes heat, dominant mode of separation is via charge carrier diffusion.
depending on the band structure.
THE P-N JUNCTION
When a photon is absorbed, its energy is given to an electron
in the crystal lattice. Usually this electron is in the valence band, The most commonly known solar cell is configured as a large-
and is tightly bound in covalent bonds between neighboring atoms, area p-n junction made from silicon. As a simplification, one can
94 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 95

imagine bringing a layer of n-type silicon into direct contact with in parallel with a diode; in practice no solar cell is ideal, so a shunt
a layer of p-type silicon. In practice, p-n junctions of silicon solar resistance and a series resistance component are added to the
cells are not made in this way, but rather, by diffusing an n-type model. The resulting equivalent circuit of a solar cell is shown on
dopant into one side of a p-type wafer (or vice versa). the left.
If a piece of p-type silicon is placed in intimate contact with
a piece of n-type silicon, then a diffusion of electrons occurs from SOLAR CELL EFFICIENCY FACTORS
the region of high electron concentration (the n-type side of the SUN UNIT
junction) into the region of low electron concentration (p-type side "One sun" is a measurement equal to the solar power incident
of the junction). When the electrons diffuse across the p-n junction, at noon on a clear summer day. I.e. in a 2300 sun system,
they recombine with holes on the p-type side. The diffusion of approximately 230 watts per square centimeter are concentrated
carriers does not happen indefinitely however, because of an onto the cell system.
electric field which is created by the imbalance of charge
immediately on either side of the junction which this diffusion ENERGY CONVERSION EFFICIENCY
creates. The electric field established across the p-n junction creates A solar cell's energy conversion efficiency (h, "eta"), is the
a diode that promotes current to flow in only one direction across percentage of power converted (from absorbed light to electrical
the junction. Electrons may pass from the n-type side into the p- energy) and collected, when a solar cell is connected to an electrical
type side, and holes may pass from the p-type side to the n-type circuit. This term is calculated using the ratio of the maximum
side, but not the other way around. This region where electrons power point, Pm, divided by the input light irradiance (E, in W/
have diffused across the junction is called the depletion region m²) under standard test conditions (STC) and the surface area of
because it no longer contains any mobile charge carriers. It is also the solar cell (Ac in m²).
known as the "space charge region".

CONNECTION TO AN EXTERNAL LOAD


Ohmic metal-semiconductor contacts are made to both the n- STC specifies a temperature of 25°C and an irradiance of 1000
type and p-type sides of the solar cell, and the electrodes connected W/m² with an air mass 1.5 (AM1.5) spectrum. These correspond
to an external load. Electrons that are created on the n-type side, to the irradiance and spectrum of sunlight incident on a clear day
or have been "collected" by the junction and swept onto the n-type upon a sun-facing 37°-tilted surface with the sun at an angle of
side, may travel through the wire, power the load, and continue 41.81° above the horizon. This condition approximately represents
through the wire until they reach the p-type semiconductor-metal solar noon near the spring and autumn equinoxes in the continental
contact. Here, they recombine with a hole that was either created United States with surface of the cell aimed directly at the sun.
as an electron-hole pair on the p-type side of the solar cell, or Thus, under these conditions a solar cell of 12% efficiency with
swept across the junction from the n-type side after being created a 100 cm2 (0.01 m2) surface area can be expected to produce
there. approximately 1.2 watts of power.
The losses of a solar cell may be broken down into reflectance
EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT OF A SOLAR CELL
losses, thermodynamic efficiency, recombination losses and
To understand the electronic behavior of a solar cell, it is resistive electrical loss. The overall efficiency is the product of
useful to create a model which is electrically equivalent, and is each of these individual losses. Due to the difficulty in measuring
based on discrete electrical components whose behavior is well these parameters directly, other parameters are measured instead:
known. An ideal solar cell may be modelled by a current source
96 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 97

Thermodynamic Efficiency, Quantum Efficiency, VOC ratio, and cell is operated under short circuit conditions. External quantum
Fill Factor. Reflectance losses are a portion of the Quantum efficiency is the fraction of incident photons that are converted to
Efficiency under "External Quantum Efficiency". Recombination electrical current, while internal quantum efficiency is the fraction
losses make up a portion of the Quantum Efficiency, VOC ratio, of absorbed photons that are converted to electrical current.
and Fill Factor. Resistive losses are predominantly categorized Mathematically, internal quantum efficiency is related to external
under Fill Factor, but also make up minor portions of the Quantum quantum efficiency by the reflectance of the solar cell; given a
Efficiency, VOC ratio. perfect anti-reflection coating, they are the same.
Quantum efficiency should not be confused with energy
THERMODYNAMIC EFFICIENCY LIMIT
conversion efficiency, as it does not convey information about the
Solar cells operate as quantum energy conversion devices, power collected from the solar cell. Furthermore, quantum
and are therefore subject to the "Thermodynamic Efficiency Limit". efficiency is most usefully expressed as a spectral measurement
Photons with an energy below the band gap of the absorber (that is, as a function of photon wavelength or energy). Since some
material cannot generate a hole-electron pair, and so their energy wavelengths are absorbed more effectively than others in most
is not converted to useful output and only generates heat if semiconductors, spectral measurements of quantum efficiency
absorbed. For photons with an energy above the band gap energy, can yield information about which parts of a particular solar cell
only a fraction of the energy above the band gap can be converted design are most in need of improvement.
to useful output. When a photon of greater energy is absorbed,
the excess energy above the band gap is converted to kinetic VOC RATIO
energy of the carrier combination. The excess kinetic energy is Due to recombination, the open circuit voltage (VOC) of the
converted to heat through phonon interactions as the kinetic energy cell will be below the band gap voltage of the cell. Since the energy
of the carriers slows to equilibrium velocity. of the photons must be at or above the band gap to generate a
Solar cells with multiple band gap absorber materials are able carrier pair, cell voltage below the band gap voltage represents
to more efficiently convert the solar spectrum. By using multiple a loss. This loss is represented by the ratio of VOC divided by VG
band gaps, the solar spectrum may be broken down into smaller
bins where the thermodynamic efficiency limit is higher for each MAXIMUM-POWER POINT
bin. A solar cell may operate over a wide range of voltages (V) and
currents (I). By increasing the resistive load on an irradiated cell
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY continuously from zero (a short circuit) to a very high value (an
As described above, when a photon is absorbed by a solar cell open circuit) one can determine the maximum-power point, the
it is converted to an electron-hole pair. This electron-hole pair point that maximizes V×I; that is, the load for which the cell can
may then travel to the surface of the solar cell and contribute to deliver maximum electrical power at that level of irradiation. (The
the current produced by the cell; such a carrier is said to be output power is zero in both the short circuit and open circuit
collected. Alternatively, the carrier may give up its energy and extremes).
once again become bound to an atom within the solar cell without A high quality, monocrystalline silicon solar cell, at 25 °C cell
reaching the surface; this is called recombination, and carriers that temperature, may produce 0.60 volts open-circuit (Voc). The cell
recombine do not contribute to the production of electrical current. temperature in full sunlight, even with 25 °C air temperature, will
Quantum efficiency refers to the percentage of photons that probably be close to 45 °C, reducing the open-circuit voltage to
are converted to electric current (i.e., collected carriers) when the 0.55 volts per cell. The voltage drops modestly, with this type of
98 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 99

cell, until the short-circuit current is approached (Isc). Maximum Multiplying the spectral differences by the quantum efficiency of
power (with 45 °C cell temperature) is typically produced with the solar cell in question will yield the efficiency of the device.
75% to 80% of the open-circuit voltage (0.43 volts in this case) and For example, a Silicon solar cell in space might have an efficiency
90% of the short-circuit current. This output can be up to 70% of of 14% at AM0, but have an efficiency of 16% on earth at AM 1.5.
the Voc x Isc product. The short-circuit current (Isc) from a cell Terrestrial efficiencies typically are greater than space efficiencies.
is nearly proportional to the illumination, while the open-circuit Solar cell efficiencies vary from 6% for amorphous silicon-
voltage (Voc) may drop only 10% with a 80% drop in illumination. based solar cells to 40.7% with multiple-junction research lab cells
Lower-quality cells have a more rapid drop in voltage with and 42.8% with multiple dies assembled into a hybrid package.
increasing current and could produce only 1/2 Voc at 1/2 Isc. The Solar cell energy conversion efficiencies for commercially available
usable power output could thus drop from 70% of the Voc x Isc multicrystalline Si solar cells are around 14-19%. The highest
product to 50% or even as little as 25%. Vendors who rate their efficiency cells have not always been the most economical - for
solar cell "power" only as Voc x Isc, without giving load curves, example a 30% efficient multijunction cell based on exotic materials
can be seriously distorting their actual performance. such as gallium arsenide or indium selenide and produced in low
The maximum power point of a photovoltaic varies with volume might well cost one hundred times as much as an 8%
incident illumination. For systems large enough to justify the efficient amorphous silicon cell in mass production, while only
extra expense, a maximum power point tracker tracks the delivering about four times the electrical power.
instantaneous power by continually measuring the voltage and However, there is a way to "boost" solar power. By increasing
current (and hence, power transfer), and uses this information to the light intensity, typically photogenerated carriers are increased,
dynamically adjust the load so the maximum power is always resulting in increased efficiency by up to 15%. These so-called
transferred, regardless of the variation in lighting. "concentrator systems" have only begun to become cost-competitive
as a result of the development of high efficiency GaAs cells. The
FILL FACTOR
increase in intensity is typically accomplished by using
Another defining term in the overall behavior of a solar cell concentrating optics. A typical concentrator system may use a
is the fill factor (FF). This is the ratio of the maximum power point light intensity 6-400 times the sun, and increase the efficiency of
divided by the open circuit voltage (Voc) and the short circuit a one sun GaAs cell from 31% at AM 1.5 to 35%.
current (Isc):
A common method used to express economic costs of
electricity-generating systems is to calculate a price per delivered
kilowatt-hour (kWh). The solar cell efficiency in combination with
the available irradiation has a major influence on the costs, but
COMPARISON OF ENERGY CONVERSION EFFICIENCIES generally speaking the overall system efficiency is important.
At this point, discussion of the different ways to calculate Using the commercially available solar cells (as of 2006) and system
efficiency for space cells and terrestrial cells is necessary to alleviate technology leads to system efficiencies between 5 and 19%. As of
confusion. In space, where there is no atmosphere, the spectrum 2005, photovoltaic electricity generation costs ranged from ~0.60
of the sun is relatively unfiltered. However on earth, with air US$/kWh (0.50 /kWh) (central Europe) down to ~0.30 US$/
filtering the incoming light, the solar spectrum changes. To account kWh (0.25 /kWh) in regions of high solar irradiation. This
for the spectral differences, a system was devised to calculate this electricity is generally fed into the electrical grid on the customer's
filtering effect. Simply, the filtering effect ranges from Air Mass side of the meter. The cost can be compared to prevailing retail
0 (AM0) in space, to approximately Air Mass 1.5 on earth. electric pricing (as of 2005), which varied from between 0.04 and
100 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 101

0.50 US$/kWh worldwide. (Note: in addition to solar irradiance physical configurations to take advantage of different light
profiles, these costs/kwh calculations will vary depending on absorption and charge separation mechanisms. Many currently
assumptions for years of useful life of a system. Most c-Si panels available solar cells are configured as bulk materials that are
are warrantied for 25 years and should see 35+ years of useful subsequently cut into wafers and treated in a "top-down" method
life.) of synthesis (silicon being the most prevalent bulk material). Other
The chart at the right illustrates the various commercial large- materials are configured as thin-films (inorganic layers, organic
area module energy conversion efficiencies and the best laboratory dyes, and organic polymers) that are deposited on supporting
efficiencies obtained for various materials and technologies. substrates, while a third group are configured as nanocrystals and
used as quantum dots (electron-confined nanoparticles) embedded
WATTS PEAK in a supporting matrix in a "bottom-up" approach. Silicon remains
Since solar cell output power depends on multiple factors, the only material that is well-researched in both bulk and thin-
such as the sun's incidence angle, for comparison purposes between film configurations.
different cells and panels, the measure of watts peak (Wp) is used. There are many new alternatives to Silicon photocells.
It is the output power under these conditions known as STC: Proprietary nano-particle silicon printing processes promises many
1. insolation (solar irradiance) 1000 W/m² of the photovoltaic features that conventional silicon can never
2. solar reference spectrum AM (airmass) 1.5 achieve. It can be printed reel to reel on stainless steel or other
high temperature substrates.
3. cell temperature 25°C
However, most of the work on the next generation of
SOLAR CELLS AND ENERGY PAYBACK photovoltaics is directed at printing onto low cost flexible polymer
In the 1990s, when silicon cells were twice as thick, efficiencies film and ultimately on common packaging materials. The main
were 30% lower than today and lifetimes were shorter, it may well contenders are currently CIGS, CdTe, DSSC and organic
have cost more energy to make a cell than it could generate in photovoltaics. The following is a current list of light absorbing
a lifetime. In the meantime, the technology has progressed materials, listed by configuration and substance-name:
significantly, and the energy payback time of a modern
BULK
photovoltaic module is typically from 1 to 4 years depending on
the type and where it is used (see net energy gain). With a typical These bulk technologies are often referred to as wafer-based
lifetime of 20 to 30 years, this means that modern solar cells are manufacturing. In other words, in each of these approaches, self-
net energy producers, i.e they generate much more energy over supporting wafers between 180 to 240 micrometers thick are
their lifetime than the energy expended in producing them. processed and then soldered together to form a solar cell module.
A general description of silicon wafer processing is provided in
LIGHT-ABSORBING MATERIALS Manufacture and Devices.
All solar cells require a light absorbing material contained
SILICON
within the cell structure to absorb photons and generate electrons
via the photovoltaic effect. The materials used in solar cells tend By far, the most prevalent bulk material for solar cells is
to have the property of preferentially absorbing the wavelengths crystalline silicon (abbreviated as a group as c-Si), also known as
of solar light that reach the earth surface; however, some solar "solar grade silicon". Bulk silicon is separated into multiple
cells are optimized for light absorption beyond Earth's atmosphere categories according to crystallinity and crystal size in the resulting
as well. Light absorbing materials can often be used in multiple ingot, ribbon, or wafer.
102 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 103

1. Monocrystalline silicon (c-Si): often made using the based solar cells than with silicon photovoltaics and other thin-
Czochralski process. Single-crystal wafer cells tend to be film solar cell technologies.
expensive, and because they are cut from cylindrical ingots,
do not completely cover a square solar cell module without COPPER-INDIUM SELENIDE
a substantial waste of refined silicon. Hence most c-Si The materials based on CuInSe2 that are of interest for
panels have uncovered gaps at the four corners of the photovoltaic applications include several elements from groups
cells. I, III and VI in the periodic table. These semiconductors are
2. Poly- or multicrystalline silicon (poly-Si or mc-Si): made especially attractive for thin film solar cell application because of
from cast square ingots - large blocks of molten silicon their high optical absorption coefficients and versatile optical and
carefully cooled and solidified. These cells are less electrical characteristics which can in principle be manipulated
expensive to produce than single crystal cells but are less and tuned for a specific need in a given device. CIS is an
efficient. abbreviation for general chalcopyrite films of copper indium
selenide (CuInSe2), CIGS mentioned below is a variation of CIS.
3. Ribbon silicon: formed by drawing flat thin films from
CIS films (no Ga) achieved greater than 14% efficiency. However,
molten silicon and having a multicrystalline structure.
manufacturing costs of CIS solar cells at present are high when
These cells have lower efficiencies than poly-Si, but save compared with amorphous silicon solar cells but continuing work
on production costs due to a great reduction in silicon is leading to more cost-effective production processes. The first
waste, as this approach does not require sawing from large-scale production of CIS modules was started in 2006 in
ingots. Germany by Wuerth Solar.
THIN FILMS When gallium is substituted for some of the indium in CIS,
the material is sometimes called CIGS , or copper indium/gallium
The various thin-film technologies currently being developed
diselenide, a solid mixture of the semiconductors CuInSe2 and
reduce the amount (or mass) of light absorbing material required
CuGaSe2, often abbreviated by the chemical formula CuInxGa(1-
in creating a solar cell. This can lead to reduced processing costs
x)Se2. Unlike the conventional silicon based solar cell, which can
from that of bulk materials (in the case of silicon thin films) but
be modelled as a simple p-n junction (see under semiconductor),
also tends to reduce energy conversion efficiency, although many
these cells are best described by a more complex heterojunction
multi-layer thin films have efficiencies above those of bulk silicon
model. The best efficiency of a thin-film solar cell as of March 2008
wafers.
was 19.9% with CIGS absorber layer. Higher efficiencies (around
CDTE 30%) can be obtained by using optics to concentrate the incident
light.
Cadmium telluride is an efficient light-absorbing material for
thin-film solar cells. Compared to other thin-film materials, CdTe The use of gallium increases the optical bandgap of the CIGS
is easier to deposit and more suitable for large-scale production. layer as compared to pure CIS, thus increasing the open-circuit
Despite much discussion of the toxicity of CdTe-based solar cells, voltage. In another point of view, gallium is added to replace as
this is the only technology (apart from amorphous silicon) that much indium as possible due to gallium's relative availability to
can be delivered on a large scale. The perception of the toxicity indium. Approximately 70% of indium currently produced is
of CdTe is based on the toxicity of elemental cadmium, a heavy used by the flat-screen monitor industry. Some investors in solar
metal that is a cumulative poison. However it has been shown that technology worry that production of CIGS cells will be limited by
the release of cadmium to the atmosphere is lower with CdTe- the availability of indium. Producing 2 GW of CIGS cells (roughly
104 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 105

the amount of silicon cells produced in 2006) would use about germanium metal prices have risen substantially to $1000-$1200
10% of the indium produced in 2004. For comparison, silicon solar per kg this year. Those materials include gallium (4N, 6N and 7N
cells used up 33% of the world's electronic grade silicon production Ga), arsenic (4N, 6N and 7N) and germanium, pyrolitic boron
in 2006. Nanosolar claims to waste only 5% of the indium it uses. nitride (pBN) crucibles for growing crystals, and boron oxide,
As of 2006, the best conversion efficiency for flexible CIGS cells these products are critical to the entire substrate manufacturing
on polyimide is 14.1% by Tiwari et al, at the ETH, Switzerland. industry.
That being said, indium can easily be recycled from Triple-junction GaAs solar cells were also being used as the
decommissioned PV modules. The recycling program in Germany power source of the Dutch four-time World Solar Challenge
is an example that highlights the regenerative industrial paradigm: winners Nuna in 2005 and 2007, and also by the Dutch solar cars
"From cradle to cradle". Solutra (2005) and Twente One (2007).
Selenium allows for better uniformity across the layer and so
LIGHT-ABSORBING DYES (DSSC)
the number of recombination sites in the film are reduced which
benefits the quantum efficiency and thus the conversion efficiency. Typically a ruthenium metalorganic dye (Ru-centered) is used
as a monolayer of light-absorbing material. The dye-sensitized
GALLIUM ARSENIDE (GAAS) MULTIJUNCTION solar cell depends on a mesoporous layer of nanoparticulate
High-efficiency multijunction cells were originally developed titanium dioxide to greatly amplify the surface area (200-300 m²/
for special applications such as satellites and space exploration, g TiO2, as compared to approximately 10 m²/g of flat single
but at present, their use in terrestrial concentrators might be the crystal). The photogenerated electrons from the light absorbing
lowest cost alternative in terms of $/kWh and $/W. These dye are passed on to the n-type TiO2, and the holes are passed
multijunction cells consist of multiple thin films produced using to an electrolyte on the other side of the dye. The circuit is completed
Metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy. A triple-junction cell, for by a redox couple in the electrolyte, which can be liquid or solid.
example, may consist of the semiconductors: GaAs, Ge, and This type of cell allows a more flexible use of materials, and is
GaInP2. Each type of semiconductor will have a characteristic typically manufactured by screen printing, with the potential for
band gap energy which, loosely speaking, causes it to absorb light lower processing costs than those used for bulk solar cells.
most efficiently at a certain color, or more precisely, to absorb However, the dyes in these cells also suffer from degradation
electromagnetic radiation over a portion of the spectrum. The under heat and UV light, and the cell casing is difficult to seal due
semiconductors are carefully chosen to absorb nearly all of the to the solvents used in assembly. In spite of the above, this is a
solar spectrum, thus generating electricity from as much of the popular emerging technology with some commercial impact
solar energy as possible. forecast within this decade.
GaAs based multijunction devices are the most efficient solar ORGANIC/POLYMER SOLAR CELLS
cells to date, reaching a record high of 40.7% efficiency under solar
Organic solar cells and Polymer solar cells are built from thin
concentration and laboratory conditions.
films (typically 100 nm) of organic semiconductors such as
This technology is currently being utilized in the Mars rover polymers and small-molecule compounds like polyphenylene
missions. Tandem solar cells based on monolithic, series connected, vinylene, copper phthalocyanine (a blue or green organic pigment)
gallium indium phosphide (GaInP), gallium arsenide GaAs, and and carbon fullerenes. Energy conversion efficiencies achieved to
germanium Ge pn junctions, are seeing demand rapidly rise. In date using conductive polymers are low compared to inorganic
just the past 12 months (12/2006 - 12/2007), the cost of 4N gallium materials, with the highest reported efficiency of 6.5% for a
metal has risen from about $350 per kg to $680 per kg. Additionally, tandem cell architecture. However, these cells could be beneficial
106 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 107

for some applications where mechanical flexibility and cell called a tandem cell. The top cell in a-Si absorbs the visible
disposability are important. light and leaves the infrared part of the spectrum for the bottom
These devices differ from inorganic semiconductor solar cells cell in nanocrystalline Si.
in that they do not rely on the large built in electric field of a PN Recently, solutions to overcome the limitations of thin-film
junction to separate the electrons and holes created when photons crystalline silicon have been developed. Light trapping schemes
are absorbed. where the incoming light is obliquely coupled into the silicon and
The active region of an organic device consists of two materials, the light traverses the film several times enhance the absorption
one which acts as an electron donor and the other as an acceptor. of sunlight in the films. Thermal processing techniques enhance
When a photon is converted into an electron hole pair, typically the crystallinity of the silicon and pacify electronic defects.
in the donor material, the charges tend to remain bound in the A silicon thin film technology is being developed for building
form of an exciton, and are separated when the exciton diffuses integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) in the form of semi-transparent
to the donor-acceptor interface. The short exciton diffusion lengths solar cells which can be applied as window glazing. These cells
of most polymer systems tend to limit the efficiency of such function as window tinting while generating electricity.
devices. Nanostructured interfaces, sometimes in the form of bulk
heterojunctions, can improve performance . NANOCRYSTALLINE SOLAR CELLS
These structures make use of some of the same thin-film light
SILICON THIN FILMS absorbing materials but are overlain as an extremely thin absorber
Silicon thin-films are mainly deposited by chemical vapor on a supporting matrix of conductive polymer or mesoporous
deposition (typically plasma-enhanced (PE-CVD)) from silane gas metal oxide having a very high surface area to increase internal
and hydrogen gas. Depending on the deposition's parameters, reflections (and hence increase the probability of light absorption).
this can yield: Using nanocrystals allows one to design architectures on the length
1. Amorphous silicon (a-Si or a-Si:H) scale of nanometers, the typical exciton diffusion length. In
2. Protocrystalline silicon or particular, single-nanocrystal ('channel') devices, an array of single
p-n junctions between the electrodes and separated by a period
3. Nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si or nc-Si:H).
of about a diffusion length, represent a new architecture for solar
These types of silicon present dangling and twisted bonds, cells and potentially high efficiency.
which results in deep defects (energy levels in the bandgap) as
well as deformation of the valence and conduction bands (band CONCENTRATING PHOTOVOLTAICS (CPV)
tails). The solar cells made from these materials tend to have lower Concentrating photovoltaic systems use a large area of lenses
energy conversion efficiency than bulk silicon, but are also less or mirrors to focus sunlight on a small area of photovoltaic cells.
expensive to produce. The quantum efficiency of thin film solar If these systems use single or dual-axis tracking to improve
cells is also lower due to reduced number of collected charge performance, they may be referred to as Heliostat Concentrator
carriers per incident photon. Photovoltaics (HCPV). The primary attraction of CPV systems is
Amorphous silicon has a higher bandgap (1.7 eV) than their reduced usage of semiconducting material which is expensive
crystalline silicon (c-Si) (1.1 eV), which means it absorbs the visible and currently in short supply. Additionally, increasing the
part of the solar spectrum more strongly than the infrared portion concentration ratio improves the performance of general
of the spectrum. As nc-Si has about the same bandgap as c-Si, the photovoltaic materials. Despite the advantages of CPV technologies
two material can be combined in thin layers, creating a layered their application has been limited by the costs of focusing, tracking
108 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 109

and cooling equipment. On October 25, 2006, the Australian federal the back surface, and a grid-like metal contact made up of fine
government and the Victorian state government together with "fingers" and larger "busbars" are screen-printed onto the front
photovoltaic technology company Solar Systems announced a surface using a silver paste. The rear contact is also formed by
project using this technology, Solar power station in Victoria, screen-printing a metal paste, typically aluminium. Usually this
planned to come online in 2008 and be completed by 2013. This contact covers the entire rear side of the cell, though in some cell
plant, at 154 MW, would be ten times larger than the largest designs it is printed in a grid pattern. The paste is then fired at
current photovoltaic plant in the world. several hundred degrees Celsius to form metal electrodes in ohmic
contact with the silicon. After the metal contacts are made, the
SILICON SOLAR CELL DEVICE MANUFACTURE solar cells are interconnected in series (and/or parallel) by flat
Because solar cells are semiconductor devices, they share many wires or metal ribbons, and assembled into modules or "solar
of the same processing and manufacturing techniques as other panels". Solar panels have a sheet of tempered glass on the front,
semiconductor devices such as computer and memory chips. and a polymer encapsulation on the back. Tempered glass cannot
However, the stringent requirements for cleanliness and quality be used with amorphous silicon cells because of the high
control of semiconductor fabrication are a little more relaxed for temperatures during the deposition process.
solar cells. Most large-scale commercial solar cell factories today
make screen printed poly-crystalline silicon solar cells. Single LIFESPAN
crystalline wafers which are used in the semiconductor industry A solar cell must be capable of producing electricity for at
can be made into excellent high efficiency solar cells, but they are least twenty years, without a significant decrease in efficiency.
generally considered to be too expensive for large-scale mass
production. Poly-crystalline silicon wafers are made by wire- LOW COST SOLAR CELLS
sawing block-cast silicon ingots into very thin (180 to 350 This cell is extremely promising because it is made of low-
micrometer) slices or wafers. cost materials and does not need elaborate apparatus to
The wafers are usually lightly p-type doped. To make a solar manufacture, so it can be made in a DIY way allowing more
cell from the wafer, a surface diffusion of n-type dopants is players to produce it than any other type of solar cell. In bulk it
performed on the front side of the wafer. This forms a p-n junction should be significantly less expensive than older solid-state cell
a few hundred nanometers below the surface. designs. It can be engineered into flexible sheets. Although its
conversion efficiency is less than the best thin film cells, its price/
Antireflection coatings, which increase the amount of light
performance ratio should be high enough to allow them to compete
coupled into the solar cell, are typically next applied. Over the
with fossil fuel electrical generation.
past decade, silicon nitride has gradually replaced titanium dioxide
as the antireflection coating of choice because of its excellent CURRENT RESEARCH ON MATERIALS AND DEVICES
surface passivation qualities (i.e., it prevents carrier recombination
There are currently many research groups active in the field
at the surface of the solar cell). It is typically applied in a layer
of photovoltaics in universities and research institutions around
several hundred nanometers thick using plasma-enhanced
the world. This research can be divided into three areas: making
chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Some solar cells have textured
current technology solar cells cheaper and/or more efficient to
front surfaces that, like antireflection coatings, serve to increase
effectively compete with other energy sources; developing new
the amount of light coupled into the cell. Such surfaces can usually
technologies based on new solar cell architectural designs; and
only be formed on single-crystal silicon, though in recent years
methods of forming them on multicrystalline silicon have been developing new materials to serve as light absorbers and charge
developed. The wafer then has a full area metal contact made on carriers.
110 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 111

SILICON PROCESSING mm x 2 mm x 0.1 mm, yielding a total exposed silicon surface area
One way of reducing the cost is to develop cheaper methods of about 2000 cm² per side. As a result of this rotation, the electrical
of obtaining silicon that is sufficiently pure. Silicon is a very doping and contacts that were on the face of the wafer are located
common element, but is normally bound in silica, or silica sand. the edges of the sliver, rather than the front and rear as is the case
Processing silica (SiO2) to produce silicon is a very high energy with conventional wafer cells. This has the interesting effect of
process - at current efficiencies, it takes over two years for a making the cell sensitive from both the front and rear of the cell
conventional solar cell to generate as much energy as was used (a property known as bifaciality). Using this technique, one silicon
to make the silicon it contains. More energy efficient methods of wafer is enough to build a 140 watt panel, compared to about 60
synthesis are not only beneficial to the solar industry, but also to wafers needed for conventional modules of same power output.
industries surrounding silicon technology as a whole.
THIN-FILM PROCESSING
The current industrial production of silicon is via the reaction
Thin-film solar cells use less than 1% of the raw material
between carbon (charcoal) and silica at a temperature around
(silicon or other light absorbers) compared to wafer based solar
1700 degrees Celsius. In this process, known as carbothermic
cells, leading to a significant price drop per kWh. There are many
reduction, each tonne of silicon (metallurgical grade, about 98%
research groups around the world actively researching different
pure) is produced with the emission of about 1.5 tonnes of carbon
thin-film approaches and/or materials, however it remains to be
dioxide.
seenvague if these solutions can generate the same space-efficiency
Solid silica can be directly converted (reduced) to pure silicon as traditional silicon processing.
by electrolysis in a molten salt bath at a fairly mild temperature
One particularly promising technology is crystalline silicon
(800 to 900 degrees Celsius). While this new process is in principle
thin films on glass substrates. This technology makes use of the
the same as the FFC Cambridge Process which was first discovered
advantages of crystalline silicon as a solar cell material, with the
in late 1996, the interesting laboratory finding is that such
cost savings of using a thin-film approach.
electrolytic silicon is in the form of porous silicon which turns
readily into a fine powder, (with a particle size of a few Another interesting aspect of thin-film solar cells is the
micrometres), and may therefore offer new opportunities for possibility to deposit the cells on all kind of materials, including
development of solar cell technologies. flexible substrates (PET for example), which opens a new
dimension for new applications.
Another approach is also to reduce the amount of silicon used
and thus cost, is by micromachining wafers into very thin, virtually One of the R&D Magazine's prestigious R&D 100 Awards -
transparent layers that could be used as transparent architectural also called the "Oscars of Invention"- for 2008, has gone to National
coverings. . The technique involves taking a silicon wafer, typically Renewable Energy Laboratory Hybrid CGIS (or Thin-Film
1 to 2 mm thick, and making a multitude of parallel, transverse Photovoltaic Manufacturing Process) - hybrid CIGS cells that are
slices across the wafer, creating a large number of slivers that have manufactured in layers by using ink-jet and ultrasonic technology
a thickness of 50 micrometres and a width equal to the thickness to precisely apply metal-organic inks in separate layers directly
of the original wafer. These slices are rotated 90 degrees, so that into common building materials such as metal and glass .
the surfaces corresponding to the faces of the original wafer become
METAMORPHIC MULTIJUNCTION SOLAR CELL
the edges of the slivers.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory won another R&D
The result is to convert, for example, a 150 mm diameter, 2
Magazine's R&D 100 Awards for its Metamorphic Multijunction
mm-thick wafer having an exposed silicon surface area of about
Solar Cell, an ultra-light and flexible cell that converts solar energy
175 cm² per side into about 1000 slivers having dimensions of 100
112 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 113

with record efficiency . The ultra-light, highly efficient solar cell NANOPARTICLE PROCESSING
was developed at NREL and is being commercialized by Emcore Experimental non-silicon solar panels can be made of quantum
Corp. of Albuquerque, N.M., in partnership with the Air Force heterostructures, eg. carbon nanotubes or quantum dots, embedded
Research Laboratories Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air in conductive polymers or mesoporous metal oxides. In addition,
Force Base in Albuquerque. thin films of many of these materials on conventional silicon solar
It represents a new class of solar cells with clear advantages cells can increase the optical coupling efficiency into the silicon
in performance, engineering design, operation and cost. For cell, thus boosting the overall efficiency. By varying the size of the
decades, conventional cells have featured wafers of semiconducting quantum dots, the cells can be tuned to absorb different
materials with similar crystalline structure. Their performance wavelengths. Although the research is still in its infancy, quantum
and cost effectiveness is constrained by growing the cells in an dot-modified photovoltaics may be able to achieve up to 42 percent
upright configuration. Meanwhile, the cells are rigid, heavy and energy conversion efficiency due to multiple exciton
thick with a bottom layer made of germanium. generation(MEG).
In the new method, the cell is grown upside down. These Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have
layers use high-energy materials with extremely high quality come up with a way of making solar photovoltaic cells more
crystals, especially in the upper layers of the cell where most of efficient by making them fuzzy with indium phosphide nanowires.
the power is produced. Not all of the layers follow the lattice It sounds similar to a project announced by a consortium of German
pattern of even atomic spacing. Instead, the cell includes a full universities, working in concert with Harvard University Science
range of atomic spacing, which allows for greater absorption and department.
use of sunlight. The thick, rigid germanium layer is removed,
reducing the cell's cost and 94% of its weight. By turning the TRANSPARENT CONDUCTORS
conventional approach to cells on its head, the result is an ultra- Many new solar cells use transparent thin films that are also
light and flexible cell that also converts solar energy with record conductors of electrical charge. The dominant conductive thin
efficiency (40.8 percent under 326 suns concentration). films used in research now are transparent conductive oxides
(abbreviated "TCO"), and include fluorine-doped tin oxide (SnO2:F,
POLYMER PROCESSING or "FTO"), doped zinc oxide (e.g.: ZnO:Al), and indium tin oxide
The invention of conductive polymers (for which Alan Heeger, (abbreviated "ITO"). These conductive films are also used in the
Alan G. MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa were awarded a LCD industry for flat panel displays. The dual function of a TCO
Nobel prize) may lead to the development of much cheaper cells allows light to pass through a substrate window to the active light
that are based on inexpensive plastics. absorbing material beneath, and also serves as an ohmic contact
However, all organic solar cells made to date suffer from to transport photogenerated charge carriers away from that light
degradation upon exposure to UV light, and hence have lifetimes absorbing material. The present TCO materials are effective for
which are far too short to be viable. The conjugated double bond research, but perhaps are not yet optimized for large-scale
systems in the polymers, which carry the charge, are always photovoltaic production. They require very special deposition
susceptible to breaking up when radiated with shorter conditions at high vacuum, they can sometimes suffer from poor
wavelengths. Additionally, most conductive polymers, mechanical strength, and most have poor transmittance in the
being highly unsaturated and reactive, are highly sensitive to infrared portion of the spectrum (e.g.: ITO thin films can also be
atmospheric moisture and oxidation, making commercial used as infrared filters in airplane windows). These factors make
applications difficult. large-scale manufacturing more costly.
114 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 115

A relatively new area has emerged using carbon nanotube companies with large scale manufacturing technology for coating
networks as a transparent conductor for organic solar cells. inexpensive substrates may, in fact, ultimately be the lowest cost
Nanotube networks are flexible and can be deposited on surfaces net electricity producers, even with cell efficiencies that are lower
a variety of ways. With some treatment, nanotube films can be than those of single-crystal technologies.
highly transparent in the infrared, possibly enabling efficient low
bandgap solar cells. Nanotube networks are p-type conductors, ENERGY DEVELOPMENT
whereas traditional transparent conductors are exclusively n-type. Higher electricity use per capita correlates with a higher score
The availability of a p-type transparent conductor could lead to on the Human Development Index (1997). Developing nations
new cell designs that simplify manufacturing and improve score much lower on these variables than developed nations. The
efficiency. continued rapid economic growth and increase in living standards
in developing nations with large populations, like China and
SILICON WAFER BASED SOLAR CELLS India, is dependent on a rapid and large expansion of energy
Despite the numerous attempts at making better solar cells by production capacity.
using new and exotic materials, the reality is that the photovoltaics Energy development is the ongoing effort to provide sufficient
market is still dominated by silicon wafer-based solar cells (first- primary energy sources and secondary energy forms to power the
generation solar cells). This means that most solar cell world economy. It involves both installation of established
manufacturers are equipped to produce these type of solar cells. technologies and research and development to create new energy-
Therefore, a large body of research is currently being done all over related technologies. Major considerations in energy planning
the world to create silicon wafer-based solar cells that can achieve include cost, impact on air pollution, and whether or not the
higher conversion efficiency without an exorbitant increase in source is renewable.
production cost. The aim of the research is to achieve the lowest
cost per watt solar cell design that is suitable for commercial SUSTAINABILITY
production. The environmental movement emphasizes sustainability of
IBM has a semiconductor wafer reclamation process that uses energy use and development. Renewable energy is sustainable in
a specialized pattern removal technique to repurpose scrap its production; the available supply will not be diminished for the
semiconductor wafers to a form used to manufacture silicon- foreseeable future - millions or billions of years. "Sustainability"
based solar panels. The new process was recently awarded the also refers to the ability of the environment to cope with waste
"2007 Most Valuable Pollution Prevention Award" from The products, especially air pollution. Sources which have no direct
National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR). waste products (such as wind, solar, and hydropower) are seen
as ideal in this regard.
MANUFACTURERS
The status of nuclear power is controversial. The supply of
Solar cells are manufactured primarily in Japan, China, usable uranium might last a very long time, with an almost
Germany, Taiwan and the USA , though numerous other nations unlimited supply of sea water uranium available once ground
have or are acquiring significant solar cell production capacity. based mining is exhausted, but nuclear waste must be stored in
While technologies are constantly evolving toward higher a shielded location for hundreds or thousands of years without
efficiencies, the most effective cells for low cost electrical production investment in new reactor designs.
are not necessarily those with the highest efficiency, but those
Fossil fuels such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas are not
with a balance between low-cost production and efficiency high
renewable. For example, the timing of worldwide peak oil
enough to minimize area-related balance of systems cost. Those
116 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 117

production is being actively debated, but it has already happened buyers and sellers can adapt to changes in supply and demand
in some countries. Fossil fuels also make up the bulk of the world's conditions in a decentralized way. His suggestion for how to
current primary energy sources. With global demand for energy increase the resilience of the U.S. energy economy is to shift use
growing, the need to adopt alternative energy sources is also from petroleum to electricity (electrification), that is sticky and
growing. Fossil fuels are also a major source of greenhouse gas can be produced using multiple sources of energy, including
emissions, leading to concerns about global warming if renewables.
consumption is not reduced.
PRIMARY ENERGY SOURCES
Energy conservation is an alternative or complementary
process to energy development. It reduces the demand for energy Primary energy sources are substances or processes with
by using it more efficiently. concentrations of energy at a high enough potential to be feasibly
encouraged to convert to lower energy forms under human control
DEPENDENCE ON EXTERNAL ENERGY SOURCES AND ENERGY RESILIENCE for human benefit. Except for nuclear fuels, tidal energy and
Technologically advanced societies have become increasingly geothermal energy, all terrestrial energy sources are from current
dependent on external energy sources for transportation, the solar insolation or from fossil remains of plant and animal life that
production of many manufactured goods, and the delivery of relied directly and indirectly upon sunlight, respectively. And
energy services. This energy allows people, in general, to live ultimately, solar energy itself is the result of the Sun's nuclear
under otherwise unfavorable climatic conditions through the use fusion. Geothermal power from hot, hardened rock above the
of heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning. Level of use of magma of the earth's core is the result of the accumulation of
external energy sources differs across societies, as do the climate, radioactive materials during the formation of Earth which was the
convenience, traffic congestion, pollution, production, and byproduct of a previous supernova event.
greenhouse gas emissions of each society.
FOSSIL FUELS
Increased levels of human comfort generally induce increased
Fossil fuels, in terms of energy, involve the burning of coal
dependence on external energy sources, although the application
or hydrocarbon fuels, which are the remains of the decomposition
of energy efficiency and conservation approaches allows a certain
of plants and animals. There are three main types of fossil fuels:
degree of mitigation of the dependence. Wise energy use therefore
coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Another fossil fuel, liquefied
embodies the idea of balancing human comfort with reasonable
petroleum gas (LPG), is principally derived from the production
energy consumption levels by researching and implementing
of natural gas. Heat from burning fossil fuel is used either directly
effective and sustainable energy harvesting and utilization
for space heating and process heating, or converted to mechanical
measures.
energy for vehicles, industrial processes, or electrical power
ENERGY RESILIENCE generation.
Andy Grove argues that energy independence is a flawed and PROS
infeasible objective, particularly in a network of integrated global
• The technology and infrastructure already exist for the use
exchange. He suggests instead that the objective should be energy
of fossil fuels.
resilience: resilience goes hand in hand with adaptability, and it
also is reflected in important market ideas like substitutability. In • Commonly-used fossil fuels in liquid form such as light
fact, resilience is one of the best features of market processes; the crude oil, gasoline, and LPG are easy to distribute.
information transmission function of prices means that individual • Petroleum energy density in terms of volume (cubic space)
and mass (weight) is superior to some alternative energy
118 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 119

sources (or energy storage devices, like a battery o 225 pounds (102 kg) of arsenic, which will cause cancer
(electricity)). Energy density is important in land-and-air in one out of 100 people who drink water containing
transportation fuel tanks. 50 parts per billion.
o 114 pounds (52 kg) of lead, 4 pounds (1.8 kg) of
CONS
cadmium, other toxic heavy metals, and trace amounts
• Petroleum-powered vehicles are very inefficient. Only of uranium.
about 15% of the energy from the fuel they consume is
• Dependence on fossil fuels from volatile regions or
converted into useful motion. The rest of the fuel-source
countries creates energy security risks for dependent
energy is inefficiently expended as waste heat. The heat
countries. Oil dependence in particular has led to war,
and gaseous pollution emissions harm our environment.
major funding of radical terrorists, monopolization, and
• The inefficient atmospheric combustion (burning) of fossil socio-political instability.
fuels in vehicles, buildings, and power plants contributes
• Fossil fuels are non-renewable, un-sustainable resources,
to urban heat islands.
which will eventually decline in production and become
• The combustion of fossil fuels leads to the release of exhausted, with dire consequences to societies that remain
pollution into the atmosphere. According to the Union of highly dependent on them. (Fossil fuels are actually slowly
Concerned Scientists, a typical coal plant produces in one forming continuously, but we are using them up at a rate
year: approximately 100,000 times faster than they are formed.)
o 3,700,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), could be the The Moss Landing Power Plant burns natural gas to
primary cause of global warming. produce electricity in California.
o 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2), the leading cause • Extracting fossil fuels is becoming more difficult as we
of acid rain. consume the most accessible fuel deposits. Extraction of
o 500 tons of small airborne particles, which result in fossil fuels is becoming more expensive and more
chronic bronchitis, aggravated asthma, and premature dangerous as mines get deeper and oil rigs must drill
death, in addition to haze-obstructed visibility. deeper, and go further out to sea.
o 10,200 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx), (from high- • Extraction of fossil fuels results in extensive environmental
temperature atmospheric combustion), leading to degradation, such as the strip mining and mountaintop
formation of ozone (smog) which inflames the lungs, removal of coal.
burning lung tissue making people more susceptible Since these power plants are thermal engines, and are typically
to respiratory illness. quite large, waste heat disposal becomes an issue at high ambient
o 720 tons of carbon monoxide (CO), resulting in temperature. Thus, at a time of peak demand, a power plant may
headaches and additional stress on people with heart need to be shut down or operate at a reduced power level, as
disease. sometimes do nuclear power plants, for the same reasons.
o 220 tons of hydrocarbons, toxic volatile organic
compounds (VOC), which form ozone. NUCLEAR ENERGY
o 170 pounds (77 kg) of mercury, where just 1/70th of The status of nuclear power globally. Nations in dark green
a teaspoon deposited on a 25 acre lake can make the have reactors and are constructing new reactors, those in light
fish unsafe to eat. green are constructing their first reactor, those in dark yellow are
considering new reactors, those in light yellow are considering
120 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 121

their first reactor, those in blue have reactors but are not consume at least 70 times more energy than what it will produce
constructing or decommissioning, those in light blue are in a reactor. As many as eleven countries have depleted their
considering decommissioning and those in red have uranium resources, and only Canada has mines left which produce
decommissioned all their commercial reactors. Brown indicates better than 1% concentration ore. Seawater seems to be equally
that the country has declared itself free of nuclear power and dubious as a source. As a consequence an eventual doubling in
weapons. the price of uranium will give a marginal increase in the volumes
that are being produced.
NUCLEAR FISSION
Another alternative would be to use thorium as fission fuel.
Nuclear power stations use nuclear fission to generate energy Thorium is three times more abundant in Earth's crust than
by the reaction of uranium-235 inside a nuclear reactor. The reactor uranium, and much more of the thorium can be used (or, more
uses uranium rods, the atoms of which are split in the process of precisely, bred into Uranium-233, reprocessed and then used as
fission, releasing a large amount of energy. The process continues fuel). India has around 32 percent of the world's reserves of thorium
as a chain reaction with other nuclei. The heat released, heats and intends on using it for itself because the country has run out
water to create steam, which spins a turbine generator, producing of uranium.
electricity.
Current light water reactors burn the nuclear fuel poorly,
Depending on the type of fission fuel considered, estimates leading to energy waste. Nuclear reprocessing or burning the fuel
for existing supply at known usage rates varies from several better using different reactor designs would reduce the amount
decades for the currently popular Uranium-235 to thousands of of waste material generated and allow better use of the available
years for uranium-238. At the present use rate, there are (as of resources. As opposed to current light water reactors which use
2007) about 70 years left of known uranium-235 reserves uranium-235 (0.7 percent of all natural uranium), fast breeder
economically recoverable at a uranium price of US$ 130/kg. The reactors convert the more abundant uranium-238 (99.3 percent of
nuclear industry argue that the cost of fuel is a minor cost factor all natural uranium) into plutonium for fuel. It has been estimated
for fission power, more expensive, more difficult to extract sources that there is anywhere from 10,000 to five billion years worth of
of uranium could be used in the future, such as lower-grade ores, Uranium-238 for use in these power plants. Fast breeder technology
and if prices increased enough, from sources such as granite and has been used in several reactors. However, the fast breeder reactors
seawater. Increasing the price of uranium would have little effect at Dounreay in Scotland, Monju in Japan and the Superphénix at
on the overall cost of nuclear power; a doubling in the cost of Creys-Malville in France, in particular, have all had difficulties
natural uranium would increase the total cost of nuclear power and were not economically competitive and most have been
by 5 percent. On the other hand, if the price of natural gas was decommissioned. The People's Republic of China intends to build
doubled, the cost of gas-fired power would increase by about 60 breeders. India has run out of uranium and is building thermal
percent. breeders that can convert Th-232 into U-233 and burn it.
Opponents on the other hand argue that the correlation Some nuclear engineers think that pebble bed reactors, in
between price and production is not linear, but as the ores' which each nuclear fuel pellet is coated with a ceramic coating,
concentration becomes smaller, the difficulty (energy and resource are inherently safe and are the best solution for nuclear power.
consumption are increasing, while the yields are decreasing) of They can also be configured to produce hydrogen for hydrogen
extraction rises very fast, and that the assertion that a higher price vehicles. China has plans to build pebble bed reactors configured
will yield more uranium is overly optimistic; for example a rough to produce hydrogen. The possibility of nuclear meltdowns and
estimate predicts that the extraction of uranium from granite will other reactor accidents, such as the Three Mile Island accident and
122 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 123

the Chernobyl disaster, have caused much public fear. Research less than 0.02% ores, the yield is less then 50%). Advocates also
is being done to lessen the known problems of current reactor claim that it is possible to relatively rapidly increase the number
technology by developing automated and passively-safe reactors. of plants. Typical new reactor designs have a construction time
Historically, however, coal and hydropower power generation of three to four years. In 1983, 43 plants were being built, before
have both been the cause of more deaths per energy unit produced an unexpected fall in fossil fuel prices stopped most new
than nuclear power generation. Various kinds of energy construction.
infrastructure might be attacked by terrorists, including nuclear Developing countries like India and China are rapidly
power plants, hydropower plants, and liquified natural gas tankers. increasing their nuclear energy use. However, a Council on Foreign
Nuclear proliferation is the spread from nation to nation of nuclear Relations report on nuclear energy argues that a rapid expansion
technology, including nuclear power plants but especially nuclear of nuclear power may create shortages in building materials such
weapons. New technology like SSTAR ("small, sealed, as reactor-quality concrete and steel, skilled workers and engineers,
transportable, autonomous reactor") may lessen this risk. and safety controls by skilled inspectors. This would drive up
The long-term radioactive waste storage problems of nuclear current prices.
power have not been fully solved. Several countries have On the other hand, in stark contrast to the claims of the
considered using underground repositories. Nuclear waste takes nuclear industry and its talk of a renaissance, nuclear energy is
up little space compared to wastes from the chemical industry in decline, according to a report 'World Nuclear Industry Status
which remain toxic indefinitely. Spent fuel rods are now stored Report 2007' presented by the Greens/EFA group in the European
in concrete casks close to the nuclear reactors. The amounts of Parliament. The report outlines that the proportion of nuclear
waste could be reduced in several ways. Both nuclear reprocessing energy in power production has decreased in 21 out of 31 countries,
and fast breeder reactors could reduce the amounts of waste. with five less functioning nuclear reactors than five years ago.
Subcritical reactors or fusion reactors could greatly reduce the There are currently 32 nuclear power plants under construction
time the waste has to be stored. Subcritical reactors may also be or in the pipeline, 20 fewer than at the end of the 1990s.
able to do the same to already existing waste. The only way of
dealing with waste today is by geological storage. Pros
The economics of nuclear power is not simple to evaluate, • The energy content of a kilogram of uranium or thorium,
because of high capital costs for building and very low fuel costs. if spent nuclear fuel is reprocessed and fully utilized, is
Comparison with other power generation methods is strongly equivalent to about 3.5 million kilograms of coal.
dependent on assumptions about construction timescales and • The cost of making nuclear power, with current legislation,
capital financing for nuclear plants. See Economics of new nuclear is about the same as making coal power, which is
power plants. considered very inexpensive (see Economics of new nuclear
Depending on the source different energy return on energy power plants). If a carbon tax is applied, nuclear does not
investment (EROI) are claimed. Advocates (using life cycle analysis) have to pay anything because nuclear does not emit toxic
argue that it takes 4-5 months of energy production from the gases such as CO2, NO, CO, SO2, arsenic, etc. that are
nuclear plant to fully pay back the initial energy investment. emitted by coal power plants.
Opponents claim that it depends on the grades of the ores the fuel • Nuclear power plants are guarded with the nuclear reactor
came from, so a full payback can vary from 10 to 18 years, and inside a reinforced containment building, and thus are
that the advocates' claim was based on the assumption of high relatively impervious to terrorist attack or adverse weather
grade ores (the yields are getting worst, as the ores are leaner, for conditions (see Nuclear safety in the U.S.).
124 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 125

• Because of the fear of a nuclear disaster, nuclear safety has • There can be connections between nuclear power and
become a major issue. nuclear weapon proliferation, since many reactor designs
• Nuclear power does not produce any primary air pollution require large-scale uranium enrichment facilities.
or release carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide into the • The limited liability for the owner of a nuclear power
atmosphere. Therefore, it contributes only a small amount plant in case of a nuclear accident differs per nation while
to global warming or acid rain. nuclear installations are sometimes built close to national
• Coal mining is the second most dangerous occupation in borders.
the United States. Nuclear energy is much safer per capita • Since nuclear power plants are typically quite large power
than coal derived energy. plants, and are, fundamentally, thermal engines, waste
• For the same amount of electricity, the life cycle emissions heat disposal becomes an issue at high ambient
of nuclear is about 4% of coal power. Depending on the temperature. Thus, at a time of peak demand, a power
report, hydro, wind, and geothermal are sometimes ranked reactor may need to be shut down or operate at a reduced
lower, while wind and hydro are sometimes ranked higher power level, as do large coal-fired plants, for the same
(by life cycle emissions). reasons.
• According to a Stanford study, fast breeder reactors have NUCLEAR FUSION
the potential to power humans on earth for billions of Fusion power could solve many of the problems of fission
years, making it sustainable. power (the technology mentioned above) but, despite research
Cons having started in the 1950s, no commercial fusion reactor is
expected before 2050. Many technical problems remain unsolved.
• The improper operation of a badly designed nuclear reactor
Proposed fusion reactors commonly use deuterium, an isotope of
with no containment vessel near human settlements can
hydrogen, as fuel and in most current designs also lithium.
be catastrophic in the event of an uncontrolled power
Assuming a fusion energy output equal to the current global
increase in the reactor, as shown by the Chernobyl disaster
output and that this does not increase in the future, then the
in the Ukraine (former USSR), where large areas of Europe
known current lithium reserves would last 3000 years, lithium
were affected by moderate radioactive contamination and from sea water would last 60 million years, and a more complicated
the parts of the Ukraine and one fifth of Belarus continue fusion process using only deuterium from sea water would have
today to be affected by radioactive fallout as of 2008. fuel for 150 billion years.
• The human, environmental, and economic costs from a
successful terrorist attack on a nuclear power reactor that RENEWABLE SOURCES
results in the release of substantial quantities of radioactive Renewable energy is the alternative to fossil fuels and nuclear
material to the environment could be great. power.
• Waste produced from nuclear fission of uranium is both
poisonous and highly radioactive, requiring maintenance BIOMASS, BIOFUELS, AND VEGETABLE OIL
and monitoring at the storage sites. However, if nuclear Biomass production involves using garbage or other renewable
fuel is reprocessed, the separated radioactive fission resources such as corn or other vegetation to generate electricity.
product waste will decay to such a level of radioactivity When garbage decomposes, the methane produced is captured in
in 300-500 years. pipes and later burned to produce electricity. Vegetation and
126 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 127

wood can be burned directly to generate energy, like fossil fuels, • Algaculture has the potential to produce far more vegetable
or processed to form alcohols. oil per acre than current plants.
Vegetable oil is generated from sunlight and CO2 by plants. • Infrastructure for biodiesel around the World is significant
It is safer to use and store than gasoline or diesel as it has a higher and growing.
flash point. Straight vegetable oil works in diesel engines if it is
heated first. Vegetable oil can also be transesterified to make
Cons
biodiesel, which burns like normal diesel. • Direct combustion of any carbon-based fuel leads to air
pollution similar to that from fossil fuels.
Pros • Some researchers claim that when biomass crops are the
• Biomass production can be used to burn organic waste product of intensive farming, ethanol fuel production
products resulting from agriculture. This type of recycling results in a net loss of energy after one accounts for the
encourages the philosophy that nothing on this Earth fuel costs of petroleum and natural-gas fertilizer
should be wasted. The result is less demand on the Earth's production, farm equipment, and the distillation process.
resources, and a higher carrying capacity for Earth because • There is a long list of reasons why even non-food based
non-renewable fossil fuels are not consumed. cellulosic ethanol cannot solve our energy crisis or global
• Biomass is abundant on Earth and is generally renewable. warming problems.
In theory, we will never run out of organic waste products • Direct competition with land use for food production and
as fuel, because we are continuously producing them. In water use.
addition, biomass is found throughout the world, a fact
• Current production methods would require enormous
that should alleviate energy pressures in third world
amounts of land to replace all gasoline and diesel. With
nations.
current technology, it is not feasible for biofuels to replace
• When methods of biomass production other than direct the demand for petroleum.
combustion of plant mass are used, such as fermentation
• Even with the most-optimistic current energy return on
and pyrolysis, there is little effect on the environment.
investment claims, in order to use 100% solar energy to
Alcohols and other fuels produced by these alternative
grow corn and produce ethanol (fueling machinery with
methods are clean burning and are feasible replacements
ethanol, distilling with heat from burning crop residues,
to fossil fuels.
using NO fossil fuels at all), the consumption of ethanol
• Since CO2 is first taken out of the atmosphere to make the to replace only the current U.S. petroleum use would
vegetable oil and then put back after it is burned in the require three quarters of all the cultivated land on the face
engine, there is no net increase in CO2. of the Earth.
• Vegetable oil has a higher flash point and therefore is safer
than most fossil fuels. GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
• Transitioning to vegetable oil could be relatively easy as Geothermal energy harnesses the heat energy present
biodiesel works where diesel works, and straight vegetable underneath the Earth. Two wells are drilled. One well injects
oil takes relatively minor modifications. water into the ground to provide water. The hot rocks heat the
• The World already produces more than 100 billion gallons water to produce steam. The steam that shoots back up the other
a year for food industry, so we have experience making hole(s) is purified and is used to drive turbines, which power
it. electric generators. When the water temperature is below the
128 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 129

boiling point of water a binary system is used. A low boiling point HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY
liquid is used to drive a turbine and generator in a closed system In hydro energy, the gravitational descent of a river is
similar to a refrigeration unit running in reverse. compressed from a long run to a single location with a dam or
Pros a flume.
• Geothermal energy is base load power. This creates a location where concentrated pressure and flow
can be used to turn turbines or water wheels, which drive a
• Economically feasible in high grade areas now.
mechanical mill or an electric generator.
• Low deployment costs.
• Geothermal power plants have a high capacity factor; they Pros
run continuously day and night with an uptime typically • Hydroelectric power stations can promptly increase to full
exceeding 95%. capacity, unlike other types of power stations. This is
• Once a geothermal power station is implemented, the because water can be accumulated above the dam and
energy produced from the station is practically free. A released to coincide with peak demand.
small amount of energy is required in order to run a • Electricity can be generated constantly, so long as sufficient
pump, although this pump can be powered by excess water is available.
energy generated at the plant. • Hydroelectric power produces no primary waste or
• Geothermal power stations are relatively small, and have pollution.
a lesser impact on the environment than tidal or • Hydropower is a renewable resource.
hydroelectric plants. Because geothermal technology does • Hydroelectricity assists in securing a country's access to
not rely on large bodies of water, but rather, small, but energy supplies.
powerful jets of water, like geysers, large generating
• Much hydroelectric capacity is still undeveloped, such as
stations can be avoided without losing functionality.
in Africa.
• Geothermal is now feasible in areas where the earth's
crust is thicker. Using enhanced geothermal technology, Cons
it's possible to drill deeper and inject water to generate • The construction of a dam can have a serious environmental
geothermal power. impact on the surrounding areas. The amount and the
• Geothermal energy does not produce air or water pollution quality of water downstream can be affected, which affects
if performed correctly. plant life both aquatic, and land-based. Because a river
valley is being flooded, the local habitat of many species
Cons are destroyed, while people living nearby may have to
• Geothermal power extracts small amounts of minerals relocate their homes.
such as sulfur that are removed prior to feeding the turbine • Hydroelectricity can only be used in areas where there is
and re-injecting the water back into the injection well. a sufficient supply of water.
• Geothermal power requires locations that have suitable • Flooding submerges large forests (if they have not been
subterranean temperatures within 5km of surface. harvested). The resulting anaerobic decomposition of the
• Some geothermal stations have created geological carboniferous materials releases methane, a greenhouse
instability, even causing earthquakes strong enough to gas.
damage buildings.
130 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 131

• Dams can contain huge amounts of water. As with every • Solar power generation releases no water or air pollution,
energy storage system, failure of containment can lead to because there is no combustion of fuels.
catastrophic results, e.g. flooding. • In sunny countries, solar power can be used in remote
• Hydroelectric plants rarely can be erected near load centers, locations, like a wind turbine. This way, isolated places
requiring long transmission lines. can receive electricity, when there is no way to connect to
• Global warming is causing reduced rainfall in some regions, the power lines from a plant.
reducing the available water in dammed reservoirs (such • Solar energy can be used very efficiently for heating (solar
as Lake Powell in the Southwestern United States). ovens, solar water and home heaters) and daylighting.
• Coincidentally, solar energy is abundant in regions that
SOLAR POWER
have the largest number of people living off grid - in
Solar power involves using solar cells to convert sunlight into developing regions of Africa, Indian subcontinent and
electricity, using sunlight hitting solar thermal panels to convert Latin America. Hence cheap solar, when available, opens
sunlight to heat water or air, using sunlight hitting a parabolic the opportunity to enhance global electricity access
mirror to heat water (producing steam), or using sunlight entering considerably, and possibly in a relatively short time period.
windows for passive solar heating of a building. It would be
• Photovoltaic systems are subsidized, up to $5 USD per
advantageous to place solar panels in the regions of highest solar
watt in some American states.
radiation. In the Phoenix, Arizona area, for example, the average
annual solar radiation is 5.7 kWh/m²/day, or 2080.5 kWh/m²/ • Passive solar building design and zero energy buildings
year. Electricity demand in the continental U.S. is 3.7*1012 kW·h are demonstrating significant energy bill reduction, and
per year. Thus, at 100% efficiency, an area of 1.8x10^9 sq. m some are cost-effectively off the grid.
(around 700 square miles) would need to be covered with solar • Photovoltaic equipment cost has been steadily falling, the
panels to replace all current electricity production in the US with production capacity is rapidly rising, and the U.S.
solar power, and at 20% efficiency, an area of approximately 3500 Administration expects its Solar America Initiative to help
square miles (3% of Arizona's land area). The average solar make amortized PV electricity price competitive for the
radiation in the United States is 4.8 kwh/m²/day, but reaches 8- new generation of zero energy buildings.
9 kWh/m²/day in parts of Southwest. • Distributed point-of-use photovoltaic systems eliminate
The cost, assuming $500/meter², would be about $5-10 trillion expensive long-distance electric power transmission losses.
dollars. China is aggressively more-than-doubling worldwide • Photovoltaics are much more efficient in their conversion
silicon wafer capacity for photovoltaics to 2,000 metric tons by of solar energy to usable energy than biofuel from plant
July 2008, and over 6,000 metric tons by the end of 2010. Significant materials.
international investment capital is flowing into China to support
this opportunity. China is building large subsidized off-the-grid Cons
solar-powered cities in Huangbaiyu and Dongtan Eco City. Much • Solar electricity is currently more expensive than grid
of the design was done by Americans such as William McDonough. electricity.
Pros • Solar heat and electricity are not available at night and
• Solar power imparts no fuel costs. may be unavailable due to weather conditions; therefore,
a storage or complementary power system is required for
• Solar power is a renewable resource. As long as the Sun
off-the-grid applications.
exists, its energy will reach Earth.
132 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 133

• Limited energy density: Average daily insolation in the • Wind towers can be beneficial for people living
contiguous U.S. is 3-7 kW·h/m². permanently, or temporarily, in remote areas. It may be
• Solar cells produce DC which must be converted to AC difficult to transport electricity through wires from a power
(using a grid tie inverter) when used in currently existing plant to a far-away location and thus, wind towers can be
distribution grids. This incurs an energy loss of 4-12%. set up at the remote setting.
• A photovoltaic power station is expensive to build, and • Farming and grazing can still take place on land occupied
the energy payback time - the time necessary for producing by wind turbines.
the same amount of energy as needed for building the • Those utilizing wind power in a grid-tie configuration will
power device - for photovoltaic cells is about 1-5 years, have backup power in the event of a power outage.
depending primarily on location. • Due to the ability of wind turbines to coexist within
• Solar panels collect dust and require cleaning. Dust on the agricultural fields, siting costs are frequently low.
panels significantly reduces the transfer of energy from
solar radiation to electric current. Cons
• Wind is unpredictable; therefore, wind power is not
TIDAL POWER GENERATION predictably available. When the wind speed decreases less
Tidal power can be extracted from Moon-gravity-powered electricity is generated. This makes wind power unsuitable
tides by locating a water turbine in a tidal current, or by building for base load generation.
impoundment pond dams that admit-or-release water through a • Wind farms may be challenged in communities that
turbine. The turbine can turn an electrical generator, or a gas consider them an eyesore or view obstructor.
compressor, that can then store energy until needed. Coastal tides • Wind farms, depending on the location and type of turbine,
are a source of clean, free, renewable, and sustainable energy. may negatively affect bird migration patterns and may
pose a danger to the birds themselves. Newer, larger wind
WIND POWER
turbines have slower moving blades which are visible to
This type of energy harnesses the power of the wind to propel birds.
the blades of wind turbines. These turbines cause the rotation of
magnets, which creates electricity. Wind towers are usually built INCREASED EFFICIENCY IN ENERGY USE
together on wind farms. Efficiency is increasing by about 2% a year, and absorbs most
of the requirements for energy development. New technology
Pros
makes better use of already available energy through improved
• Wind power produces no water or air pollution that can efficiency, such as more efficient fluorescent lamps, engines, and
contaminate the environment, because there are no insulation. Using heat exchangers, it is possible to recover some
chemical processes involved in wind power generation. of the energy in waste warm water and air, for example to preheat
Hence, there are no waste by-products, such as carbon incoming fresh water. Hydrocarbon fuel production from pyrolysis
dioxide. could also be in this category, allowing recovery of some of the
• Power from the wind does not contribute to global warming energy in hydrocarbon waste. Meat production is energy inefficient
because it does not generate greenhouse gases. compared to the production of protein sources like soybean or
• Wind generation is a renewable source of energy, which Quorn. Already existing power plants often can and usually are
means that we will never run out of it. made more efficient with minor modifications due to new
134 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 135

technology. New power plants may become more efficient with Fuels
technology like cogeneration. New designs for buildings may Shipping is a flexible delivery technology that is used in the
incorporate techniques like passive solar. Light-emitting diodes whole range of energy development regimes from primitive to
are gradually replacing the remaining uses of light bulbs. Note highly advanced. Currently, coal, petroleum and their derivatives
that none of these methods allows perpetual motion, as some are delivered by shipping via boat, rail, or road. Petroleum and
energy is always lost to heat. natural gas may also be delivered via pipeline and coal via a
Mass transportation increases energy efficiency compared to Slurry pipeline. Refined hydrocarbon fuels such as gasoline and
widespread conventional automobile use while air travel is LPG may also be delivered via aircraft. Natural gas pipelines must
regarded as inefficient. Conventional combustion engine maintain a certain minimum pressure to function correctly.
automobiles have continually improved their efficiency and may Ethanol's corrosive properties prevent it from being transported
continue to do so in the future, for example by reducing weight via pipeline. The higher costs of ethanol transportation and storage
with new materials. are often prohibitive.
Hybrid vehicles can save energy by allowing the engine to
Electric Grids
run more efficiently, regaining energy from braking, turning off
the motor when idling in traffic, etc. More efficient ceramic or Electricity grids are the networks used to transmit and
diesel engines can improve mileage. Electric vehicles such as distribute power from production source to end user, when the
Maglev, trolleybuses, and PHEVs are more efficient during use two may be hundreds of kilometres away. Sources include electrical
(but maybe not if doing a life cycle analysis) than similar current generation plants such as a nuclear reactor, coal burning power
combustion based vehicles, reducing their energy consumption plant, etc. A combination of sub-stations, transformers, towers,
during use by 1/2 to 1/4. Microcars or motorcycles may replace cables, and piping are used to maintain a constant flow of electricity.
automobiles carrying only one or two people. Transportation Grids may suffer from transient blackouts and brownouts,
efficiency may also be improved by in other ways, see automated often due to weather damage. During certain extreme space
highway system. weather events solar wind can interfere with transmissions.
Electricity distribution may change in the future. New small Grids also have a predefined carrying capacity or load that
scale energy sources may be placed closer to the consumers so that cannot safely be exceeded. When power requirements exceed
less energy is lost during electricity distribution. New technology what's available, failures are inevitable. To prevent problems,
like superconductivity or improved power factor correction may power is then rationed.
also decrease the energy lost. Distributed generation permits Industrialised countries such as Canada, the US, and Australia
electricity "consumers", who are generating are among the highest per capita consumers of electricity in the
world, which is possible thanks to a widespread electrical
ENERGY TRANSPORTATION
distribution network. The US grid is one of the most advanced,
While new sources of energy are only rarely discovered or although infrastructure maintenance is becoming a problem.
made possible by new technology, distribution technology
CurrentEnergy provides a realtime overview of the electricity
continually evolves. The use of fuel cells in cars, for example, is
supply and demand for California, Texas, and the Northeast of
an anticipated delivery technology. This section presents some of
the US. African countries with small scale electrical grids have a
the more common delivery technologies that have been important
correspondingly low annual per capita usage of electricity. One
to historic energy development. They all rely in some way on the
of the most powerful power grids in the world supplies power
energy sources listed in the previous section.
to the state of Queensland, Australia.
136 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 137

ENERGY STORAGE • Battery electric vehicles are quiet compared to internal


Methods of energy storage have been developed, which combustion engines.
transform electrical energy into forms of potential energy. A • Multiple electric vehicles sold out including the General
method of energy storage may be chosen based on stability, ease Motors EV1 and the Tesla Roadster proving the demand
of transport, ease of energy release, or ease of converting free for battery electric vehicles.
energy from the natural form to the stable form. • Operation of a battery electric vehicle is approximately 2
to 4 cents per mile. About a sixth the price of operating
COMPRESSED AIR VEHICLES a gasoline vehicle.
The Indian company, Tata, is planning to release a compressed • The use of battery electric vehicles may reduce the
air powered car in 2008. dependency on fossil fuels, depending on the source of the
electricity.
BATTERY-POWERED VEHICLES
Batteries are used to store energy in a chemical form. As an Cons
alternative energy, batteries can be used to store energy in battery • Current battery technology is expensive.
electric vehicles. Battery electric vehicles can be charged from the • Battery electric vehicles have a relative short range
grid when the vehicle is not in use. Because the energy is derived compared to internal combustion engine vehicles.
from electricity, battery electric vehicles make it possible to use
• Batteries are highly toxic. Spent vehicle batteries present
other forms of alternative energy such as wind, solar, geothermal,
an environmental hazard.
nuclear, or hydroelectric.
• Grid infrastructure and output would need to be improved
Pros significantly to accommodate a mass-adoption of grid-
• Produces zero emissions to help counteract the effects of charged electric vehicles.
global warming, as long as the electricity comes from a
HYDROGEN ECONOMY
source which produces no greenhouse gases.
• Batteries are a mature technology, no new expensive Hydrogen can be manufactured at roughly 77 percent thermal
research and development is needed to implement efficiency by the method of steam reforming of natural gas. When
technology. manufactured by this method it is a derivative fuel like gasoline;
when produced by electrolysis of water, it is a form of chemical
• Current lead acid battery technology offers 50+ miles range
energy storage as are storage batteries, though hydrogen is the
on one charge.
more versatile storage mode since there are two options for its
• The Tesla Roadster has a 200-mile (320 km) range on one conversion to useful work: (1) a fuel cell can convert the chemicals
charge. hydrogen and oxygen into water, and in the process, produce
• Batteries make it possible for stationary alternative energy electricity, or (2) hydrogen can be burned (less efficiently than in
generation such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, or nuclear a fuel cell) in an internal combustion engine.
• Electric motors are 90% efficient compared to about 20%
efficiency of an internal combustion engine.
Pros
• Hydrogen is colorless, odorless and entirely non-polluting,
• Battery electric vehicles have fewer moving parts than
internal combustion engines, thus improving the reliability yielding pure water vapor (with minimal NOx) as exhaust
of the vehicle. when combusted in air. This eliminates the direct
138 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 139

production of exhaust gases that lead to smog, and carbon alternative would be transmission of electricity over the
dioxide emissions that enhance the effect of global existing electrical network to small-scale electrolyzers to
warming. support the widespread use of hydrogen as a fuel.
• Hydrogen is the lightest chemical element and has the • Hydrogen is difficult to handle, store, and transport. It
best energy-to-weight ratio of any fuel (not counting tank requires heavy, cumbersome tanks when stored as a gas,
mass). and complex insulating bottles if stored as a cryogenic
• Hydrogen can be produced anywhere; it can be produced liquid. If it is needed at a moderate temperature and
domestically from the decomposition of water. Hydrogen pressure, a metal hydride absorber may be needed. The
can be produced from domestic sources and the price can transportation of hydrogen is also a problem because
be established within the country. hydrogen leaks effortlessly from containers.
• Some current fuel cell designs, such as proton exchange
Cons membrane fuel cells, use platinum as a catalyst. Widescale
• Other than some volcanic emanations, hydrogen does not deployment of such fuel cells could place a strain on
exist in its pure form in the environment, because it reacts available platinum resources. Reducing the platinum
so strongly with oxygen and other elements. loading, per fuel cell stack, is the focus of R&D.
• It is impossible to obtain hydrogen gas without expending • Electricity transmission and battery electric vehicles are
energy in the process. There are three ways to manufacture far more efficient for storage, transmission and use of
hydrogen; energy for transportation, neglecting the energy conversion
at the electric power plant. As with distributed production
o By breaking down hydrocarbons - mainly methane. If
of hydrogen via electrolysis, battery electric vehicles could
oil or gases are used to provide this energy, fossil fuels
utilize the existing electricity grid until widespread use
are consumed, forming pollution and nullifying the
dictated an expansion of the grid.
value of using a fuel cell. It would be more efficient
to use fossil fuel directly. ENERGY STORAGE TYPES
o By electrolysis from water - The process of splitting Chemical
water into oxygen and hydrogen using electrolysis
consumes large amounts of energy. It has been Some natural forms of energy are found in stable chemical
calculated that it takes 1.4 joules of electricity to produce compounds such as fossil fuels. Most systems of chemical energy
storage result from biological activity, which store energy in
1 joule of hydrogen (Pimentel, 2002).
chemical bonds. Man-made forms of chemical energy storage
o By reacting water with a metal such as sodium, include hydrogen fuel, synthetic hydrocarbon fuel, batteries and
potassium, or boron. Chemical by-products would be explosives such as cordite and dynamite.
sodium oxide, potassium oxide, and boron oxide.
Processes exist which could recycle these elements Gravitational
back into their metal form for re-use with additional Dams can be used to store energy, by using excess energy to
energy input, further eroding the energy return on pump water into the reservoir. When electrical energy is required,
energy invested. the process is reversed. The water then turns a turbine, generating
• There is currently modest fixed infastructure for electricity. Hydroelectric power is currently an important part of
distribution of hydrogen that is centrally produced, the world's energy supply, generating one-fifth of the world's
amounting to several hundred kilometers of pipeline. An electricity.
140 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Cell 141

Electrical Capacitance planet for a billion years we had to be looking that far into the
Electrical energy may be stored in capacitors. Capacitors are future. Nuclear fusion and artificial photosynthesis are other energy
often used to produce high intensity releases of energy (such as technologies being researched and developed.
a camera's flash). Energy production usually requires an energy investment.
Drilling for oil or building a wind power plant requires energy.
Mechanical The fossil fuel resources (see above) that are left are often
Pressure: Energy may also be stored pressurized gases or increasingly difficult to extract and convert. They may thus require
alternatively in a vacuum. Compressed air, for example, may be increasingly higher energy investments. If the investment is greater
used to operate vehicles and power tools. Large scale compressed than the energy produced, then the fossil resource is no longer
air energy storage facilities are used to smooth out demands on an energy source. This means that a large part of the fossil fuel
electricity generation by providing energy during peak hours and resources and especially the non-conventional ones cannot be
storing energy during off-peak hours. Such systems save on used for energy production today. Such resources may still be
expensive generating capacity since it only needs to meet average exploited economically in order to produce raw materials for
consumption rather than peak consumption. plastics, fertilizers or even transportation fuel but now more energy
is consumed than produced. (They then become similar to ordinary
Flywheels and Springs mining reserves, economically recoverable but not net positive
Energy can also be stored in mechanical systems such as energy sources.) New technology may ameliorate this problem if
springs or flywheels. Flywheel energy storage is currently being it can lower the energy investment required to extract and convert
used for uninterruptible power supplies. the resources, although ultimately basic physics sets limits that
cannot be exceeded. It should be noted that between 1950 and
FUTURE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT 1984, as the Green Revolution transformed agriculture around the
Extrapolations from current knowledge to the future offer a globe, world grain production increased by 250%. The energy for
choice of energy futures. Some predictions parallel the Malthusian the Green Revolution was provided by fossil fuels in the form of
catastrophe hypothesis. Numerous are complex models based fertilizers (natural gas), pesticides (oil), and hydrocarbon fueled
scenarios as pioneered by Limits to Growth. Modeling approaches irrigation. The peaking of world hydrocarbon production (Peak
offer ways to analyze diverse strategies, and hopefully find a road oil) may test Malthus critics.neutrality disputed
to rapid and sustainable development of humanity. Short term
energy crises are also a concern of energy development. Some HISTORY OF PREDICTIONS ABOUT FUTURE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT
extrapolations lack plausibility, particularly when they predict a Ever since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the
continual increase in oil consumption. question of the future of energy supplies has occupied economists.
Existing technologies for new energy sources, such as • 1865 - William Stanley Jevons published The Coal Question
renewable energy technologies, particularly wind power and solar in which he claimed that reserves of coal would soon be
power, are promising. Nuclear fission is also promoted, and each exhausted and that there was no prospect of oil being an
need sustained research and development, including consideration effective replacement.
of possible harmful side effects. Jacques Cousteau spoke of using • 1885 - U.S. Geological Survey: Little or no chance of oil in
the salinization of water at river estuaries as an energy source, California.
which would not have any consequences for a million years, and • 1891 - U.S. Geological Survey: Little or no chance of oil in
then stopped to point out that since we are going to be on the Kansas or Texas.
142 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 143

• 1914 - U.S. Bureau of Mines: Total future production of 5.7


billion barrels (910,000,000 m³).
• 1939 - U.S. Department of the Interior: Reserves to last
only 13 years.
• 1951 - U.S. Department of the Interior, Oil and Gas Division:
Reserves to last 13 years.
(Data from Kahn et al. (1976) pp.94-5 infra)
6
• 1956 - Geophysicist M. King Hubbert predicts U.S. oil
production will peak between 1965 and 1970 (peaked in SUPREMACY OVER OTHER
1971). Also predicts world oil production will peak "within ENERGY SOURCES
half a century" based on 1956 data. This is Hubbert peak
theory.
• 1989 - Predicted peak by Colin Campbell ("Oil Price Leap Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources-
in the Early Nineties," Noroil, December 1989, pages 35- such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat-which are
38.) renewable (naturally replenished). Renewable energy technologies
• 2004 - OPEC estimates it will nearly double oil output by range from solar power, wind power, hydroelectricity/micro
2025 (Opec Oil Outlook to 2025 Table 4, Page 12) hydro, biomass and biofuels for transportation.
The history of perpetual motion machines is a long list of In 2006, about 18% of global final energy consumption came
failed and sometimes fraudulent inventions of machines which from renewables, with 13% coming from traditional biomass,
produce useful energy "from nowhere" - that is, without requiring such as wood-burning. Hydropower was the next largest renewable
additional energy input. source, providing 3%, followed by hot water/heating, which
contributed 1.3%. Modern technologies, such as geothermal, wind,
solar, and ocean energy together provided some 0.8% of final
energy consumption. The technical potential for their use is very
large, exceeding all other readily available sources.
Renewable energy technologies are sometimes criticised for
being intermittent or unsightly, yet the market is growing for
many forms of renewable energy. Wind power is growing at the
rate of 30 percent annually, with a worldwide installed capacity
of over 100 GW, and is widely used in several European countries
and the United States. The manufacturing output of the
photovoltaics industry reached more than 2,000 MW in 2006, and
photovoltaic (PV) power stations are particularly popular in
Germany. Solar thermal power stations operate in the USA and
Spain, and the largest of these is the 354 MW SEGS power plant
in the Mojave Desert. . The world's largest geothermal power
installation is The Geysers in California, with a rated capacity of
144 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 145

750 MW. Brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs is also responsible for the distribution of precipitation which is
in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugar tapped by hydroelectric projects, and for the growth of plants
cane, and ethanol now provides 18 percent of the country's used to create biofuels. Renewable energy flows involve natural
automotive fuel. Ethanol fuel is also widely available in the USA. phenomena such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat, as
While there are many large-scale renewable energy projects the International Energy Agency explains:
and production, renewable technologies are also suited to small "Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that
off-grid applications, sometimes in rural and remote areas, where are replenished constantly. In its various forms, it derives
energy is often crucial in human development. Kenya has the directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within
world's highest household solar ownership rate with roughly the earth. Included in the definition is electricity and heat
30,000 small (20-100 watt) solar power systems sold per year. generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass,
Climate change concerns coupled with high oil prices, peak geothermal resources, and biofuels and hydrogen derived
oil and increasing government support are driving increasing from renewable resources."
renewable energy legislation, incentives and commercialization. Each of these sources has unique characteristics which
European Union leaders reached an agreement in principle in influence how and where they are used.
March 2007 that 20 percent of their nations' energy should be
produced from renewable fuels by 2020, as part of its drive to cut WIND POWER
emissions of carbon dioxide, blamed in part for global warming. Airflows can be used to run wind turbines. Modern wind
Investment capital flowing into renewable energy climbed from turbines range from around 600 kW to 5 MW of rated power,
$80 billion in 2005 to a record $100 billion in 2006. This level of although turbines with rated output of 1.5-3 MW have become
investment combined with continuing double digit percentage the most common for commercial use; the power output of a
increases each year has moved what once was considered turbine is a function of the cube of the wind speed, so as wind
alternative energy to mainstream. Wind was the first to provide speed increases, power output increases dramatically. Areas where
1% of electricity, but solar is not far behind. Some very large winds are stronger and more constant, such as offshore and high
corporations such as BP, General Electric, Sharp, and Royal Dutch altitude sites, are preferred locations for wind farms.
Shell are investing in the renewable energy sector.
Since wind speed is not constant, a wind farm's annual energy
MAIN RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES production is never as much as the sum of the generator nameplate
ratings multiplied by the total hours in a year. The ratio of actual
The majority of renewable energy technologies are directly or
productivity in a year to this theoretical maximum is called the
indirectly powered by the sun. The Earth-Atmosphere system is
capacity factor. Typical capacity factors are 20-40%, with values
in equilibrium such that heat radiation into space is equal to
at the upper end of the range in particularly favourable sites. For
incoming solar radiation, the resulting level of energy within the
example, a 1 megawatt turbine with a capacity factor of 35% will
Earth-Atmosphere system can roughly be described as the Earth's
not produce 8,760 megawatt-hours in a year, but only 0.35x24x365
"climate." The hydrosphere (water) absorbs a major fraction of the
= 3,066 MWh, averaging to 0.35 MW. Online data is available for
incoming radiation. Most radiation is absorbed at low latitudes
some locations and the capacity factor can be calculated from the
around the equator, but this energy is dissipated around the globe
yearly output.
in the form of winds and ocean currents. Wave motion may play
a role in the process of transferring mechanical energy between Globally, the long-term technical potential of wind energy is
the atmosphere and the ocean through wind stress. Solar energy believed to be five times total current global energy production,
or 40 times current electricity demand. This could require large
146 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 147

amounts of land to be used for wind turbines, particularly in areas wind turbine. Tidal stream power demonstration projects
of higher wind resources. Offshore resources experience mean exist, and the first commercial prototype will be installed
wind speeds of ~90% greater than that of land, so offshore resources in Strangford Lough in September 2007.
could contribute substantially more energy. This number could • Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) uses the
also increase with higher altitude ground-based or airborne wind temperature difference between the warmer surface of the
turbines. ocean and the colder lower recesses. To this end, it employs
Wind power is renewable and produces no greenhouse gases a cyclic heat engine. OTEC has not been field-tested on a
during operation, such as carbon dioxide and methane. large scale.
• Deep lake water cooling, although not technically an energy
WATER POWER generation method, can save a lot of energy in summer.
Energy in water (in the form of motive energy or temperature It uses submerged pipes as a heat sink for climate control
differences) can be harnessed and used. Since water is about 800 systems. Lake-bottom water is a year-round local constant
times denser than air, even a slow flowing stream of water, or of about 4°C.
moderate sea swell, can yield considerable amounts of energy. • Blue energy is the reverse of desalination. This form of
There are many forms of water energy: energy is in research.
• Hydroelectric energy is a term usually reserved for large-
SOLAR ENERGY USE
scale hydroelectric dams. Examples are the Grand Coulee
Dam in Washington State and the Akosombo Dam in In this context, "solar energy" refers to energy that is collected
Ghana. from sunlight. Solar energy can be applied in many ways, including
to:
• Micro hydro systems are hydroelectric power installations
that typically produce up to 100 kW of power. They are • Generate electricity using photovoltaic solar cells.
often used in water rich areas as a Remote Area Power • Generate electricity using concentrated solar power.
Supply (RAPS). There are many of these installations • Generate electricity by heating trapped air which rotates
around the world, including several delivering around 50 turbines in a Solar updraft tower.
kW in the Solomon Islands. • Heat buildings, directly, through passive solar building
• Damless hydro systems derive kinetic energy from rivers design.
and oceans without using a dam. • Heat foodstuffs, through solar ovens.
• Wave power uses the energy in waves. The waves will • Heat water or air for domestic hot water and space heating
usually make large pontoons go up and down in the water, needs using solar-thermal panels.
leaving an area with reduced wave height in the "shadow". • Heat and cool air through use of solar chimneys.
Wave power has now reached commercialization.
• Generate electricity in geosynchronous orbit using solar
• Tidal power captures energy from the tides in a vertical power satellites.
direction. Tides come in, raise water levels in a basin, and
• Solar air conditioning
tides roll out. Around low tide, the water in the basin is
discharged through a turbine.
BIOFUEL
• Tidal stream power captures energy from the flow of
Plants use photosynthesis to grow and produce biomass. Also
tides, usually using underwater plant resembling a small
known as biomatter, biomass can be used directly as fuel or to
148 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 149

produce liquid biofuel. Agriculturally produced biomass fuels, two-thirds of the original energy consumed by the cow. Energy
such as biodiesel, ethanol and bagasse (often a by-product of harvesting via a bioreactor is a cost-effective solution to the waste
sugar cane cultivation) can be burned in internal combustion disposal issues faced by the dairy farmer, and can produce enough
engines or boilers. Typically biofuel is burned to release its stored biogas to run a farm.
chemical energy. Research into more efficient methods of With current technology, it is not ideally suited for use as a
converting biofuels and other fuels into electricity utilizing fuel transportation fuel. Most transportation vehicles require power
cells is an area of very active work. sources with high power density, such as that provided by internal
combustion engines. These engines generally require clean burning
LIQUID BIOFUEL
fuels, which are generally in liquid form, and to a lesser extent,
Liquid biofuel is usually either a bioalcohol such as ethanol compressed gaseous phase. Liquids are more portable because
fuel or a bio-oil such as biodiesel and straight vegetable oil. Biodiesel they have high energy density, and they can be pumped, which
can be used in modern diesel vehicles with little or no modification makes handling easier. This is why most transportation fuels are
to the engine and can be made from waste and virgin vegetable liquids.
and animal oil and fats (lipids). Virgin vegetable oils can be used
Non-transportation applications can usually tolerate the low
in modified diesel engines. In fact the Diesel engine was originally
power-density of external combustion engines, that can run directly
designed to run on vegetable oil rather than fossil fuel. A major
on less-expensive solid biomass fuel, for combined heat and power.
benefit of biodiesel is lower emissions. The use of biodiesel reduces
One type of biomass is wood, which has been used for millennia
emission of carbon monoxide and other hydrocarbons by 20 to
in varying quantities, and more recently is finding increased use.
40%.
Two billion people currently cook every day, and heat their homes
In some areas corn, cornstalks, sugarbeets, sugar cane, and in the winter by burning biomass, which is a major contributor
switchgrasses are grown specifically to produce ethanol (also to man-made climate change global warming. The black soot that
known as grain alcohol) a liquid which can be used in internal is being carried from Asia to polar ice caps is causing them to melt
combustion engines and fuel cells. Ethanol is being phased into faster in the summer. In the 19th century, wood-fired steam engines
the current energy infrastructure. E85 is a fuel composed of 85% were common, contributing significantly to industrial revolution
ethanol and 15% gasoline that is sold to consumers. Biobutanol unhealthy air pollution. Coal is a form of biomass that has been
is being developed as an alternative to bioethanol. There is growing compressed over millennia to produce a non-renewable, highly-
international criticism about biofuels from food crops with respect polluting fossil fuel.
to issues such as food security, environmental impacts
Wood and its byproducts can now be converted through
(deforestation) and energy balance.
process such as gasification into biofuels such as woodgas, biogas,
SOLID BIOMASS methanol or ethanol fuel; although further development may be
required to make these methods affordable and practical. Sugar
Solid biomass is mostly commonly usually used directly as
cane residue, wheat chaff, corn cobs and other plant matter can
a combustible fuel, producing 10-20 MJ/kg of heat.
be, and are, burned quite successfully. The net carbon dioxide
Its forms and sources include wood fuel, the biogenic portion emissions that are added to the atmosphere by this process are
of municipal solid waste, or the unused portion of field crops. only from the fossil fuel that was consumed to plant, fertilize,
Field crops may or may not be grown intentionally as an energy harvest and transport the biomass.
crop, and the remaining plant byproduct used as a fuel. Most
Processes to harvest biomass from short-rotation poplars and
types of biomass contain energy. Even cow manure, still contains
willows, and perennial grasses such as switchgrass, phalaris, and
150 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 151

miscanthus, require less frequent cultivation and less nitrogen drive a turbine that spins a generator. Flash plants take hot water,
than from typical annual crops. Pelletizing miscanthus and burning usually at temperatures over 200 °C, out of the ground, and allows
it to generate electricity is being studied and may be economically it to boil as it rises to the surface then separates the steam phase
viable. in steam/water separators and then runs the steam through a
turbine. In binary plants, the hot water flows through heat
BIOGAS exchangers, boiling an organic fluid that spins the turbine. The
Biogas can easily be produced from current waste streams, condensed steam and remaining geothermal fluid from all three
such as: paper production, sugar production, sewage, animal waste types of plants are injected back into the hot rock to pick up more
and so forth. These various waste streams have to be slurried heat. The geothermal energy from the core of the Earth is closer
together and allowed to naturally ferment, producing methane to the surface in some areas than in others. Where hot underground
gas. This can be done by converting current sewage plants into steam or water can be tapped and brought to the surface it may
biogas plants. When a biogas plant has extracted all the methane be used to generate electricity. Such geothermal power sources
it can, the remains are sometimes better suitable as fertilizer than exist in certain geologically unstable parts of the world such as
the original biomass. Chile, Iceland, New Zealand, United States, the Philippines and
Alternatively biogas can be produced via advanced waste Italy. The two most prominent areas for this in the United States
processing systems such as mechanical biological treatment. These are in the Yellowstone basin and in northern California. Iceland
systems recover the recyclable elements of household waste and produced 170 MW geothermal power and heated 86% of all houses
process the biodegradable fraction in anaerobic digesters. in the year 2000 through geothermal energy. Some 8000 MW of
capacity is operational in total.
Renewable natural gas is a biogas which has been upgraded
to a quality similar to natural gas. By upgrading the quality to that There is also the potential to generate geothermal energy from
of natural gas, it becomes possible to distribute the gas to the mass hot dry rocks. Holes at least 3 km deep are drilled into the earth.
market via gas grid. Some of these holes pump water into the earth, while other holes
pump hot water out. The heat resource consists of hot underground
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY radiogenic granite rocks, which heat up when there is enough
Geothermal energy is energy obtained by tapping the heat of sediment between the rock and the earths surface. Several
the earth itself, usually from kilometers deep into the Earth's crust. companies in Australia are exploring this technology.
It is expensive to build a power station but operating costs are low
RENEWABLE ENERGY COMMERCIALIZATION
resulting in low energy costs for suitable sites. Ultimately, this
energy derives from heat in the Earth's core. The government of COSTS
Iceland states: "It should be stressed that the geothermal resource Renewable energy systems encompass a broad, diverse array
is not strictly renewable in the same sense as the hydro resource." of technologies, and the current status of these can vary
It estimates that Iceland's geothermal energy could provide 1700 considerably. Some technologies are already mature and
MW for over 100 years, compared to the current production of economically competitive (e.g. geothermal and hydropower),
140 MW. The International Energy Agency classifies geothermal others need additional development to become competitive
power as renewable. without subsidies. This can be helped by improvements to sub-
Three types of power plants are used to generate power from components, such as electric generators.
geothermal energy: dry steam, flash, and binary. Dry steam plants The table shows an overview of costs of various renewable
take steam out of fractures in the ground and use it to directly energy technologies. For comparison with the prices in the table,
152 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 153

electricity production from a conventional coal-fired plant costs the 64 MW Nevada Solar One and the 11 MW PS10 solar power
about 4¢/kWh. Though in some G8 nations the cost can be tower in Spain. Three 50 MW trough plants were under
significantly higher at 7.88p (~15¢/kWh). Achieving further cost construction in Spain at the end of 2007 with 10 additional 50 MW
reductions as indicated in the table below requires further plants planned. In the United States, utilities in California and
technology development, market deployment, an increase in Florida have announced plans (or contracted for) at least eight
production capacities to mass production levels, and of the new projects totaling more than 2,000 MW.
establishment of an emissions trading scheme and/or carbon tax In developing countries, three World Bank projects for
which would attribute a cost to each unit of carbon emitted; thus integrated CSP/combined-cycle gas-turbine power plants in Egypt,
reflecting the true cost of energy production by fossil fuels which Mexico, and Morocco were approved during 2006/2007.
then could be used to lower the cost/kWh of these renewable
There are several solar thermal power plants in the Mojave
energies.
Desert which supply power to the electricity grid. Solar Energy
Generating Systems (SEGS) is the name given to nine solar power
WIND POWER MARKET INCREASE
plants in the Mojave Desert which were built in the 1980s. These
As of April 2008, worldwide wind farm capacity was 100,000 plants have a combined capacity of 354 megawatts (MW) making
megawatts (MW), and wind power produced some 1.3% of global them the largest solar power installation in the world.
electricity consumption, accounting for approximately 18% of
electricity use in Denmark, 9% in Spain, and 7% in Germany. The WORLD'S LARGEST PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PLANTS
United States is an important growth area and latest American The Moura photovoltaic power station, located in the
Wind Energy Association figures show that installed U.S. wind municipality of Moura, Portugal, is presently under construction
power capacity has reached 18,302 MW, which is enough to serve and will have an installed capacity of 62 MWp. The first stage of
5 million average households. Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, construction should be finished in 2008 and the second and final
in Texas, is the world's largest wind farm at 735.5 MW capacity. stage is scheduled for 2010, making it one of the largest photovoltaic
It consists of 291 GE Energy 1.5 MW wind turbines and 130 projects ever constructed.
Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines. In the UK, a licence to build the
Construction of a 40 MW solar generation power plant is
world's largest offshore windfarm, in the Thames estuary, has
underway in the Saxon region of Germany. The Waldpolenz Solar
been granted. The London Array windfarm, 20 km off Kent and
Park will consist of some 550,000 thin-film solar modules. The
Essex, should eventually consist of 341 turbines, occupying an
direct current produced in the modules will be converted into
area of 230 km². This is a £1.5 billion, 1,000 megawatt project,
alternating current and fed completely into the power grid.
which will power one-third of London homes. The windfarm will
Completion of the project is expected in 2009.
produce an amount of energy that, if generated by conventional
means, would result in 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide Three large photovoltaic power plants have recently been
emissions every year. It could also make up to 10% of the completed in Spain: the Parque Solar Hoya de Los Vincentes (23
Government's 2010 renewables target. A proposed 4,000 MW MW), the Solarpark Calveron (21 MW), and the Planta Solar La
facility, called the Pampa Wind Project, is to be located near Magascona (20 MW).
Pampa, Texas. Another photovoltaic power project has been completed in
Portugal. The Serpa solar power plant is located at one of Europe's
NEW GENERATION OF SOLAR THERMAL PLANTS sunniest areas. The 11 megawatt plant covers 150 acres (0.61 km²)
Since 2004 there has been renewed interest in solar thermal and comprises 52,000 PV panels. The panels are raised 2 metres
power stations and two plants were completed during 2006/2007: off the ground and the area will remain productive grazing land.
154 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 155

The project will provide enough energy for 8,000 homes and will Most cars on the road today in the U.S. can run on blends of
save an estimated 30,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per up to 10% ethanol, and motor vehicle manufacturers already
year. produce vehicles designed to run on much higher ethanol blends.
A $420 million large-scale Solar power station in Victoria is Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and GM are among the automobile
to be the biggest and most efficient solar photovoltaic power companies that sell "flexible-fuel" cars, trucks, and minivans that
station in the world. Australian company Solar Systems will can use gasoline and ethanol blends ranging from pure gasoline
demonstrate its unique design incorporating space technology in up to 85% ethanol (E85). By mid-2006, there were approximately
a 154MW solar power station connected to the national grid. The six million E85-compatible vehicles on U.S. roads. The challenge
power station will have the capability to concentrate the sun by is to expand the market for biofuels beyond the farm states where
500 times onto the solar cells for ultra high power output. The they have been most popular to date. Flex-fuel vehicles are assisting
Victorian power station will generate clean electricity directly in this transition because they allow drivers to choose different
from the sun to meet the annual needs of over 45,000 homes with fuels based on price and availability. The Energy Policy Act of
zero greenhouse gas emissions. 2005, which calls for 7.5 billion gallons of biofuels to be used
annually by 2012, will also help to expand the market.
However, when it comes to renewable energy systems and
PV, it is not just large systems that matter. Building-integrated WAVE FARMS EXPANSION
photovoltaics or "onsite" PV systems have the advantage of being
Portugal now has the world's first commercial wave farm, the
matched to end use energy needs in terms of scale. So the energy
Aguçadora Wave Park, established in 2006. The farm will initially
is supplied close to where it is needed.
use three Pelamis P-750 machines generating 2.25 MW. Initial
THE CALIFORNIA SOLAR INITIATIVE costs are put at 8.5 million. Subject to successful operation, a
further 70 million is likely to be invested before 2009 on a further
As part of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Million Solar
28 machines to generate 525 MW.
Roofs Program, California has set a goal to create 3,000 megawatts
of new, solar-produced electricity by 2017 - moving the state Funding for a wave farm in Scotland was announced in
toward a cleaner energy future and helping lower the cost of solar February, 2007 by the Scottish Government, at a cost of over 4
systems for consumers. This is a comprehensive $2.8 billion million pounds, as part of a £13 million funding packages for
program. The California Solar Initiative offers cash incentives on ocean power in Scotland. The farm will be the world's largest with
solar PV systems of up to $2.50 a watt. These incentives, combined a capacity of 3MW generated by four Pelamis machines.
with federal tax incentives, can cover up to 50% of the total cost
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY PROSPECTS
of a solar panel system. There are many financial incentives to
support the use of renewable energy in other US states. The Geysers, is a geothermal power field located 72 miles (116
km) north of San Francisco, California. It is the largest geothermal
USE OFETHANOL FOR TRANSPORTATION development in the world outputting over 750 MW.
Brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs in By the end of 2005 worldwide use of geothermal energy for
the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugar cane, electricity had reached 9.3 GWs, with an additional 28 GW used
and ethanol now provides 18 percent of the country's automotive directly for heating. If heat recovered by ground source heat
fuel. As a partial result, Brazil, which years ago had to import a pumps is included, the non-electric use of geothermal energy is
large share of the petroleum needed for domestic consumption, estimated at more than 100 GWt (gigawatts of thermal power)
recently reached complete self-sufficiency in oil. and is used commercially in over 70 countries.( sec 1.2) During
156 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 157

2005 contracts were placed for an additional 0.5 GW of capacity


in the United States, while there were also plants under construction The Renewable Energy Resource Base (Exajoules per year)
in 11 other countries.

DEVELOPING COUNTRY MARKETS Current use Technical Theoretical


Renewable energy can be particularly suitable for developing (2001) potential potential
countries. In rural and remote areas, transmission and distribution
of energy generated from fossil fuels can be difficult and expensive.
Hydropower 9 50 147
Producing renewable energy locally can offer a viable alternative.
Renewable energy projects in many developing countries have
demonstrated that renewable energy can directly contribute Biomass energy 50 >276 2,900
to poverty alleviation by providing the energy needed for
creating businesses and employment. Renewable energy
technologies can also make indirect contributions to alleviating Wind energy 0.12 640 6,000
poverty by providing energy for cooking, space heating, and
lighting. Renewable energy can also contribute to education, by
Solar energy 0.1 >1,575 3,900,000
providing electricity to schools.
Kenya is the world leader in the number of solar power
systems installed per capita (but not the number of watts added). Geothermal 0.6 -- --
More than 30,000 very small solar panels, each producing 12 to energy
30 watts, are sold in Kenya annually. For an investment of as little
as $100 for the panel and wiring, the PV system can be used to
] Ocean energy not estimated not estimated 7,400
charge a car battery, which can then provide power to run a
fluorescent lamp or a small television for a few hours a day. More
Kenyans adopt solar power every year than make connections to
Total 60 >1,800 >4,000,000
the country's electric grid.

POTENTIAL FUTURE UTILIZATION


Present renewable energy sources supply about 18% of current Current use is in primary energy equivalent.
energy use and there is much potential that could be exploited For comparison, the global primary energy use was 402 EJ per year in
in the future. As the table below illustrates, the technical potential 2001.
of renewable energy sources is more than 18 times current global Source: World Energy Assessment 2001
primary energy use and furthermore several times higher than
projected energy use in 2100. There are many different ways to assess potentials. The
theoretical potential indicates the amount of energy theoretically
Available renewable energy. The volume of the cubes represent
available for energy purposes, such as, in the case of solar energy,
the amount of available geothermal, wind and solar energy in
the amount of incoming radiation at the earth's surface. The
TW, although only a small portion is recoverable. The small red
technical potential is a more practical estimate of how much could
cube shows the proportional global energy consumption.
be put to human use by considering conversion efficiencies of the
158 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 159

available technology and available land area. To give an idea of inflation are helping to promote renewables. Many think-tanks
the constraints, the estimate for solar energy assumes that 1% of are warning that the world needs an urgency driven concerted
the world's unused land surface is used for solar power. effort to create a competitive renewable energy infrastructure and
The technical potentials generally do not include economic or market. The developed world can make more research investments
other environmental constraints, and the potentials that could be to find better cost efficient technologies, and manufacturing could
realized at an economically competitive level under current be transferred to developing countries in order to use low labor
conditions and in a short time-frame is lower still. Sustainable costs. The renewable energy market could increase fast enough
development and global warming groups propose a 100% to replace and initiate the decline of fossil fuel dominance and the
Renewable Energy Source Supply, without fossil fuels and nuclear world could then avert the looming climate and peak oil crises.
power. Scientists from the University of Kassel have been busy Most importantly, renewables is gaining credence among
proving that Germany can power itself entirely by renewable private investors as having the potential to grow into the next big
energy. industry. Many companies and venture capitalists are investing
in photovoltaic development and manufacturing. This trend is
TRENDS FAVORING RENEWABLES particularly visible in Silicon valley, California, Europe, Japan.
The renewable market will boom when cost efficiency attains
parity with other competing energy sources. The following trends CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
are a few examples by which the renewables market is being Critics suggest that some renewable energy applications may
helped to attain critical mass so that it becomes competitive enough create pollution, be dangerous, take up large amounts of land, or
vs fossil fuels: Other than market forces, renewable industry often be incapable of generating a large net amount of energy. Proponents
needs government sponsorship to help generate enough advocate the use of "appropriate renewables", also known as soft
momentum in the market. Many countries and states have energy technologies, as these have many advantages.
implemented incentives - like government tax subsidies, partial
copayment schemes and various rebates over purchase of AVAILABILITY AND RELIABILITY
renewables - to encourage consumers to shift to renewable energy Available renewable energy. The volume of the cubes represent
sources. Government grants fund for research in renewable the amount of available geothermal, wind and solar energy in
technology to make the production cheaper and generation more TW, although only a small portion is recoverable. The small red
efficient. cube shows the proportional global energy consumption.
Development of loan programs that stimulate renewable There is no shortage of solar-derived energy on Earth. Indeed
favoring market forces with attractive return rates, buffer initial the storages and flows of energy on the planet are very large
deployment costs and entice consumers to consider and purchase relative to human needs.
renewable technology. A famous example is the solar loan program • The amount of solar energy intercepted by the Earth every
sponsored by UNEP helping 100,000 people finance solar power minute is greater than the amount of energy the world
systems in India. Success in India's solar program has led to uses in fossil fuels each year.
similar projects in other parts of developing world like Tunisia, • Tropical oceans absorb 560 trillion gigajoules (GJ) of solar
Morocco, Indonesia and Mexico. energy each year, equivalent to 1,600 times the world's
Imposition of fossil fuel consumption and carbon taxes, and annual energy use.
channel the revenue earned towards renewable energy • The energy in the winds that blow across the United States
development. Also oil peak and world petroleum crisis and each year could produce more than 16 billion GJ of
160 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 161

electricity-more than one and one-half times the electricity efficiently and unobtrusively: fixed solar collectors can double as
consumed in the United States in 2000. noise barriers along highways, and extensive roadway, parking
• Annual photosynthesis by the vegetation in the United lot, and roof-top area is currently available; amorphous
States is 50 billion GJ, equivalent to nearly 60% of the photovoltaic cells can also be used to tint windows and produce
nation's annual fossil fuel use. energy. Advocates of renewable energy also argue that current
A criticism of some renewable sources is their variable nature. infrastructure is less aethetically pleasing than alternatives, but
But renewable power sources can actually be integrated into the sited further from the view of most critics.
grid system quite well, as Amory Lovins explains:
ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Variable but forecastable renewables (wind and solar cells)
While most renewable energy sources do not produce pollution
are very reliable when integrated with each other, existing
directly, the materials, industrial processes, and construction
supplies and demand. For example, three German states
equipment used to create them may generate waste and pollution.
were more than 30 percent wind-powered in 2007-and
Some renewable energy systems actually create environmental
more than 100 percent in some months. Mostly renewable
problems. For instance, older wind turbines can be hazardous to
power generally needs less backup than utilities already
bought to combat big coal and nuclear plants' flying birds.
intermittence. LAND AREA REQUIRED
The challenge of variable power supply may be readily Another environmental issue, particularly with biomass and
alleviated by energy storage. Available storage options include biofuels, is the large amount of land required to harvest energy,
pumped-storage hydro systems, batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, which otherwise could be used for other purposes or left as
and thermal mass. Initial investments in such energy storage undeveloped land. However, it should be pointed out that these
systems may be high, although the costs can be recovered over fuels may reduce the need for harvesting non-renewable energy
the life of the system. sources, such as vast strip-mined areas and slag mountains for
Lovins goes on to say that the unreliability of renewable coal, safety zones around nuclear plants, and hundreds of square
energy is a myth, while the unreliability of nuclear energy is real. miles being strip-mined for oil sands. These responses, however,
Of all U.S. nuclear plants built, 21 percent were abandoned and do not account for the extremely high biodiversity and endemism
27 percent have failed at least once. Successful reactors must close of land used for ethanol crops, particularly sugar cane.
for refueling every 17 months for 39 days. And when shut in In the U.S., crops grown for biofuels are the most land- and
response to grid failure, they can't quickly restart. This is simply water-intensive of the renewable energy sources. In 2005, about
not the case for wind farms, for example. 12% of the nation's corn crop (covering 11 million acres (45,000
Wave energy and some other renewables are continuously km²) of farmland) was used to produce four billion gallons of
available. A wave energy scheme installed in Australia generates ethanol-which equates to about 2% of annual U.S. gasoline
electricity with an 80% availability factor. consumption. For biofuels to make a much larger contribution to
the energy economy, the industry will have to accelerate the
AESTHETICS development of new feedstocks, agricultural practices, and
Both solar and wind generating stations have been criticized technologies that are more land and water efficient. Already, the
from an aesthetic point of view. However, methods and efficiency of biofuels production has increased significantly and
opportunities exist to deploy these renewable technologies there are new methods to boost biofuel production.
162 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 163

HYDROELECTRIC DAMS • Modern wind turbines are almost silent and rotate so
The major advantage of hydroelectric systems is the elimination slowly (in terms of revolutions per minute) that they are
of the cost of fuel. Other advantages include longer life than fuel- rarely a hazard to birds.
fired generation, low operating costs, and the provision of facilities Studies of birds and offshore wind farms in Europe have
for water sports. Operation of pumped-storage plants improves found that there are very few bird collisions. Several offshore
the daily load factor of the generation system. Overall, hydroelectric wind sites in Europe have been in areas heavily used by seabirds.
power can be far less expensive than electricity generated from Improvements in wind turbine design, including a much slower
fossil fuels or nuclear energy, and areas with abundant rate of rotation of the blades and a smooth tower base instead of
hydroelectric power attract industry. perchable lattice towers, have helped reduce bird mortality at
However, there are several major disadvantages of wind farms around the world. However older smaller wind
hydroelectric systems. These include: dislocation of people living turbines may be hazardous to flying birds. Birds are severely
where the reservoirs are planned, release of significant amounts impacted by fossil fuel energy; examples include birds dying from
of carbon dioxide at construction and flooding of the reservoir, exposure to oil spills, habitat loss from acid rain and mountaintop
disruption of aquatic ecosystems and birdlife, adverse impacts on removal coal mining, and mercury poisoning.
the river environment, potential risks of sabotage and terrorism,
LONGEVITY ISSUES
and in rare cases catastrophic failure of the dam wall.
Though a source of renewable energy may last for billions of
Hydroelectric power is now more difficult to site in developed
years, renewable energy infrastructure, like hydroelectric dams,
nations because most major sites within these nations are either
will not last forever, and must be removed and replaced at some
already being exploited or may be unavailable for other reasons
point. Events like the shifting of riverbeds, or changing weather
such as environmental considerations.
patterns could potentially alter or even halt the function of
WIND FARMS hydroelectric dams, lowering the amount of time they are available
to generate electricity.
A wind farm, when installed on agricultural land, has one of
the lowest environmental impacts of all energy sources: Although geothermal sites are capable of providing heat for
many decades, eventually specific locations may cool down. It is
• It occupies less land area per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of
likely that in these locations, the system was designed too large
electricity generated than any other energy conversion
for the site, since there is only so much energy that can be stored
system, apart from rooftop solar energy, and is compatible
and replenished in a given volume of earth. Some interpret this
with grazing and crops.
as meaning a specific geothermal location can undergo depletion.
• It generates the energy used in its construction in just 3
months of operation, yet its operational lifetime is 20-25 BIOFUELS PRODUCTION
years. All biomass needs to go through some of these steps: it needs
• Greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution produced by to be grown, collected, dried, fermented and burned. All of these
its construction are tiny and declining. There are no steps require resources and an infrastructure.
emissions or pollution produced by its operation.
Some studies contend that ethanol is "energy negative",
• In substituting for base-load coal power, wind power meaning that it takes more energy to produce than is contained
produces a net decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and in the final product. However, a large number of recent studies,
air pollution, and a net increase in biodiversity. including a 2006 article in the journal Science offer the opinion
164 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 165

that fuels like ethanol are energy positive. Furthermore, fossil hydropower) produce 12% of northern California's electricity.
fuels also require significant energy inputs which have seldom Although most of today's electricity comes from large, central-
been accounted for in the past. station power plants, new technologies offer a range of options
Additionally, ethanol is not the only product created during for generating electricity nearer to where it is needed, saving on
production, and the energy content of the by-products must also the cost of transmitting and distributing power and improving the
be considered. Corn is typically 66% starch and the remaining overall efficiency and reliability of the system.
33% is not fermented. This unfermented component is called Improving energy efficiency represents the most immediate
distillers grain, which is high in fats and proteins, and makes good and often the most cost-effective way to reduce oil dependence,
animal feed. In Brazil, where sugar cane is used, the yield is improve energy security, and reduce the health and environmental
higher, and conversion to ethanol is somewhat more energy impact of the energy system. By reducing the total energy
efficient than corn. Recent developments with cellulosic ethanol requirements of the economy, improved energy efficiency could
production may improve yields even further. make increased reliance on renewable energy sources more
According to the International Energy Agency, new biofuels practical and affordable.
technologies being developed today, notably cellulosic ethanol,
could allow biofuels to play a much bigger role in the future than OTHER ISSUES
previously thought. Cellulosic ethanol can be made from plant SUSTAINABILITY
matter composed primarily of inedible cellulose fibers that form Renewable energy sources are generally sustainable in the
the stems and branches of most plants. Crop residues (such as sense that they cannot "run out" as well as in the sense that their
corn stalks, wheat straw and rice straw), wood waste, and environmental and social impacts are generally more benign than
municipal solid waste are potential sources of cellulosic biomass. those of fossil. However, both biomass and geothermal energy
Dedicated energy crops, such as switchgrass, are also promising require wise management if they are to be used in a sustainable
cellulose sources that can be sustainably produced in many regions manner. For all of the other renewables, almost any realistic rate
of the United States. of use would be unlikely to approach their rate of replenishment
The ethanol and biodiesel production industries also create by nature.
jobs in plant construction, operations, and maintenance, mostly
in rural communities. According to the Renewable Fuels TRANSMISSION
Association, the ethanol industry created almost 154,000 U.S. jobs If renewable and distributed generation were to become
in 2005 alone, boosting household income by $5.7 billion. It also widespread, electric power transmission and electricity distribution
contributed about $3.5 billion in tax revenues at the local, state, systems might no longer be the main distributors of electrical
and federal levels. energy but would operate to balance the electricity needs of local
communities. Those with surplus energy would sell to areas
DIVERSIFICATION needing "top ups". That is, network operation would require a
The U.S. electric power industry now relies on large, central shift from 'passive management' - where generators are hooked
power stations, including coal, natural gas, nuclear, and up and the system is operated to get electricity 'downstream' to
hydropower plants that together generate more than 95% of the the consumer - to 'active management', wherein generators are
nation's electricity. Over the next few decades uses of renewable spread across a network and inputs and outputs need to be
energy could help to diversify the nation's bulk power supply. constantly monitored to ensure proper balancing occurs within
Already, appropriate renewable resources (which excludes large the system. Some governments and regulators are moving to
166 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 167

address this, though much remains to be done. One potential renewable source of energy. He claims that fast breeder reactors,
solution is the increased use of active management of electricity fueled by naturally-replenished uranium extracted from seawater,
transmission and distribution networks. This will require could supply energy at least as long as the sun's expected remaining
significant changes in the way that such networks are operated. lifespan of five billion years. Nuclear energy has also been referred
However, on a smaller scale, use of renewable energy produced to as "renewable" by politicians like George W. Bush, Charlie
on site reduces burdens on electricity distribution systems. Current Crist, and David Sainsbury. In England and Wales there is a Non-
systems, while rarely economically efficient, have shown that an Fossil Fuel Obligation, which provides support for renewable
average household with an appropriately-sized solar panel array energy. Nuclear power production was also subsidised by this
and energy storage system needs electricity from outside sources obligation from 1990 until 2002.
for only a few hours per week. By matching electricity supply to Inclusion under the "renewable energy" classification could
end-use needs, advocates of renewable energy and the soft energy render nuclear power projects eligible for development aid under
path believe electricity systems will become smaller and easier to various jurisdictions. However, it is has not been established that
manage, rather than the opposite. nuclear energy is inexhaustible, and issues such as Peak uranium
and Uranium depletion are ongoing debates. No legislative body
MARKET DEVELOPMENT OF RENEWABLE HEAT ENERGY has yet included nuclear energy under any legal definition of
Renewable heat is the generation of heat from renewable "renewable energy sources" for provision of development support
sources. Much current discussion on renewable energy focuses on (see: Renewable energy development). Similarly, statutory and
the generation of electrical energy, despite the fact that many scientific definitions of renewable energies usually exclude nuclear
colder countries consume more energy for heating than as energy. Commonly sourced definitions of renewable energy
electricity. In 2005 the United Kingdom consumed 354 TWh of sources often omit or explicitly exclude nuclear energy sources as
electric power, but had a heat requirement of 907 TWh, the majority examples. Nuclear fission is generally not regarded as renewable,
of which (81%) was met using gas. The residential sector alone as indicated by the U.S. DOE on the website "What is Energy?"
consumed a massive 550 TWh of energy for heating, mainly in There are also environmental concerns over nuclear power,
the form of gas. Almost half of the final energy consumed in the including the dangerous environmental hazards of nuclear waste
UK (49%) was in the form of heat. Renewable electric power is and concerns that development of new plants cannot happen
becoming cheap and convenient enough to place it, in many cases,
quickly enough to reduce CO2 emissions, such that nuclear energy
within reach of the average consumer. By contrast, the market for
is neither efficient nor effective in cutting CO2 emissions.
renewable heat is mostly inaccessible to domestic consumers due
to inconvenience of supply, and high capital costs. Heating accounts SOLAR THERMAL ENERGY
for a large proportion of energy consumption, however a
Solar thermal energy (or STE) is a technology for harnessing
universally accessible market for renewable heat is yet to emerge.
solar energy for heat. Solar thermal collectors are characterized
Solutions such as geothermal heat pumps may be more widely
by the US Energy Information Agency as low, medium, or high
applicable, but may not be economical in all cases. Also see
temperature collectors. Low temperature collectors are flat plates
renewable energy development.
generally used to heat swimming pools. Medium-temperature
CONTROVERSY OVER NUCLEAR POWER AS A collectors are also usually flat plates but are used for creating hot
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE water for residential and commercial use. High temperature
collectors concentrate sunlight using mirrors or lenses and are
In 1983, physicist Bernard Cohen proposed that uranium is generally used for electric power production. This is different
effectively inexhaustible, and could therefore be considered a
168 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 169

from solar photovoltaics, which convert solar energy directly into heat. Solar roof ponds are a unique solar heating and cooling
electricity. technology developed by Harold Hay in the 1960s. A basic system
consists of a roof mounted water bladder with a movable insulating
LOW-TEMPERATURE COLLECTORS cover. This system can control heat exchange between interior
Of the 21,000,000 square feet (2,000,000 m²) of solar thermal and exterior environments by covering and uncovering the bladder
collectors produced in the United States in 2006, 16,000,000 square between night and day. When heating is a concern the bladder
feet (1,500,000 m²) were of the low-temperature variety. Low- is uncovered during the day allowing sunlight to warm the water
temperature collectors are generally installed to heat swimming bladder and store heat for evening use. When cooling is a concern
pools, although they can also be used for space heating. Collectors the covered bladder draws heat from the building's interior during
can use air or water as the medium to transfer the heat to its the day and is uncovered at night to radiate heat to the cooler
destination. atmosphere. The Skytherm house in Atascadero, California uses
a prototype roof pond for heating and cooling.
HEATING, COOLING, AND VENTILATION
Active solar cooling can be achieved via absorption
In the United States, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning refrigeration cycles, desiccant cycles, and solar mechanical
(HVAC) systems account for over 25 percent (4.75 EJ) of the processes. In 1878, Auguste Mouchout pioneered solar cooling by
energy used in commercial buildings and nearly half (10.1 EJ) of making ice using a solar steam engine attached to a refrigeration
the energy used in residential buildings. Solar heating, cooling, device. Thermal mass, smart windows and shading methods can
and ventilation technologies can be used to offset a portion of this also be used to provide cooling. The leaves of deciduous trees
energy. provide natural shade during the summer while the bare limbs
Thermal mass materials store solar energy during the day and allow light and warmth into a building during the winter. The
release this energy during cooler periods. Common thermal mass water content of trees will also help moderate local temperatures.
materials include stone, cement, and water. The proportion and
placement of thermal mass should consider several factors such PROCESS HEAT
as climate, daylighting, and shading conditions. When properly Evaporation ponds are shallow ponds that concentrate
incorporated, thermal mass can passively maintain comfortable dissolved solids through evaporation. The use of evaporation
temperatures while reducing energy consumption. ponds to obtain salt from sea water is one of the oldest applications
A solar chimney (or thermal chimney) is a passive solar of solar energy. Modern uses include concentrating brine solutions
ventilation system composed of a hollow thermal mass connecting used in leach mining and removing dissolved solids from waste
the interior and exterior of a building. As the chimney warms, the streams. Altogether, evaporation ponds represent one of the largest
air inside is heated causing an updraft that pulls air through the commercial applications of solar energy in use today.
building. These systems have been in use since Roman times and Unglazed transpired collectors (UTC) are perforated sun-facing
remain common in the Middle East. walls used for preheating ventilation air. UTCs can raise the
A Trombe wall is a passive solar heating and ventilation incoming air temperature up to 22°C and deliver outlet
system consisting of an air channel sandwiched between a window temperatures of 45-60°C. The short payback period of transpired
and a sun-facing thermal mass. During the ventilation cycle, collectors (3 to 12 years) make them a more cost-effective alternative
sunlight stores heat in the thermal mass and warms the air channel to glazed collection systems. As of 2003, over 80 systems with a
causing circulation through vents at the top and bottom of the combined collector area of 35,000 m² had been installed worldwide.
wall. During the heating cycle the Trombe wall radiates stored Representatives include an 860 m² collector in Costa Rica used for
170 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 171

drying coffee beans and a 1300 m² collector in Coimbatore, India conventional tracking reflector/fixed receiver systems, the solar
used for drying marigolds. bowl uses a fixed spherical reflector with a receiver which tracks
A food processing facility in Modesto, California uses parabolic the focus of light as the Sun moves across the sky. The solar bowl's
troughs to produce steam used in the manufacturing process. The receiver reaches temperature of 150°C that are used to produce
5,000 m² collector area is expected to provide 4.3 GJ per year. steam that helps cook 2,000 daily meals.
Many other solar kitchen in India use another unique
MEDIUM-TEMPERATURE COLLECTORS concentrating technology known as the Scheffler reflector. This
These collectors could be used to produce approximately 50% technology was first developed by Wolfgang Scheffler in 1986. A
of the hot water needed for residential and commercial use in the Scheffler reflector is a parabolic dish that uses single axis tracking
United States. In the United States, a typical system costs $5000- to follow the Sun's daily course. These reflectors have a flexible
$6000 and 50% of the system qualifies for a tax cr. With this reflective surface that is able to change its curvature to adjust to
incentive, the payback time for a typical household is nine years. seasonal variations in the incident angle of sunlight. Scheffler
A crew of one plumber and two assistants with minimal training reflectors have the advantage of having a fixed focal point which
can install two systems per week. The typical installation has improves the ease of cooking and are able to reach temperatures
negligible maintenance costs and reduces a households' operating of 450-650°C. Built in 1999, the world's largest Scheffler reflector
costs by $6 per person per month. Solar water heating can reduce system in Abu Road, Rajasthan India is capable of cooking up to
CO2 emissions by 1 ton/year (if replacing natural gas for hot 35,000 meals a day. By early 2008, over 2000 large cookers of the
water heating) or 3 ton/year (if replacing electric hot water heating). Scheffler design had been built worldwide.
Medium-temperature installations can use any of several designs:
common designs are pressurized glycol, drain back, and batch DISINFECTION AND DESALINATION
systems. Solar water disinfection, also known as SODIS, is a simple
method of disinfecting water using only sunlight and plastic PET
COOKING bottles. SODIS is a cheap and effective method for decentralized
Solar cookers use sunlight for cooking, drying and water treatment, usually applied at the household level and is
pasteurization. Solar cooking offsets fuel costs, reduces demand recommended by the World Health Organization as a viable
for fuel or firewood, and improves air quality by reducing or method for household water treatment and safe storage. SODIS
removing a source of smoke. has over two million users in developing countries such as Brazil,
The simplest type of solar cooker is the box cooker first built Cameroon and Uzbekistan. A solar still uses solar energy to distill
by Horace de Saussure in 1767. A basic box cooker consists of an water. The main types are cone shaped, boxlike, and pit. The box
shaped types are most sophisticated of these and the pit types the
insulated container with a transparent lid. These cookers can be
least sophisticated. In cone solar stills, impure water is inserted
used effectively with partially overcast skies and will typically
into the container, where it is evaporated by sunlight coming
reach temperatures of 50-100°C. Concentrating solar cookers use
through clear plastic. Free of solids in suspension or solution, the
reflectors to concentrate light on a cooking container. The most
water vapor condenses on top and drips down to the side, where
common reflector geometries are flat plate, disc and parabolic
it is collected and removed.
trough type. These designs cook faster and at higher temperatures
(up to 350°C) but require direct light to function properly. The application of solar thermal power for desalination at
large scale, especially in sunny regions such as the Middle East
The Solar Kitchen in Auroville, India uses a unique
and North Africa, is the subject of a definitive 2007 report by the
concentrating technology known as the solar bowl. Contrary to
German research institute DLR.
172 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 173

HIGH-TEMPERATURE COLLECTORS only a small percentage of the desert is necessary to meet global
Where temperatures below about 95°C are sufficient, as for electricity demand, still a large area must be covered with mirrors
space heating, flat-plate collectors of the nonconcentrating type or lenses to obtain a significant amount of energy. An important
are generally used. The fluid-filled pipes can reach temperatures way to decrease cost is the use of a simple design.
of 150 to 220 degrees Celsius when the fluid is not circulating. This
SYSTEM DESIGNS
temperature is too low for efficient conversion to electricity.
During the day the sun has different positions. If the mirrors
The efficiency of heat engines increases with the temperature
or lenses do not move, then the focus of the mirrors or lenses
of the heat source. To achieve this in solar thermal energy plants,
changes. Therefore it seems unavoidable that there needs to be
solar radiation is concentrated by mirrors or lenses to obtain
a tracking system that follows the position of the sun (for solar
higher temperatures - a technique called Concentrated Solar Power
photovoltaics a solar tracker is only optional). The tracking system
(CSP). The practical effect of high efficiencies is to reduce the
increases the cost. With this in mind, different designs can be
plant's collector size and total land use per unit power generated,
distinguished in how they concentrate the light and track the
reducing the environmental impacts of a power plant as well as
position of the sun.
its expense.
As the temperature increases, different forms of conversion PARABOLIC TROUGH DESIGNS
become practical. Up to 600°C, steam turbines, standard Parabolic trough power plants use a curved trough which
technology, have an efficiency up to 41%. Above this, gas turbines reflects the direct solar radiation onto a receiver (also called
can be more efficient. Higher temperatures are problematic because absorber or collector) running along the trough, above the reflectors.
different materials and techniques are needed. One proposal for The trough is parabolic in one direction and just straight in the
very high temperatures is to use liquid fluoride salts operating other direction. For change of position of the sun orthogonal to
above 1100°C, using multi-stage turbine systems to achieve 60% the receiver, the whole trough tilts so that direct radiation remains
thermal efficiencies. The higher operating temperatures permit focused on the receiver. However, a change of position of the sun
the plant to use higher-temperature dry heat exchangers for its parallel to the trough, does not require adjustment of the mirrors,
thermal exhaust, reducing the plant's water use - critical in the since the light is just concentrated on another part of the receiver.
deserts where large solar plants are practical. High temperatures So, the trough design avoids a second axis for tracking.
also make heat storage more efficient, because more watt-hours
A substance (also called heat transfer fluid) passes through
are stored per kilo of fluid.
the receiver and becomes hot. Used substances are synthetic oil,
Since the CSP plant generates heat first of all, it can store the molten salt and pressurized steam. The receiver can be in a vacuum
heat before conversion to electricity. With current technology, chamber of glass. The light will shine through the glass and
storage of heat is much cheaper and more efficient than storage vacuum, but the vacuum will significantly reduce convective loss
of electricity. In this way, the CSP plant can produce electricity of the collected heat. The substance with the heat is transported
day and night. If the CSP site has predictable solar radiation, then to a heat engine where about a third of the heat is converted to
the CSP plant becomes a reliable power plant. Reliability can electricity.
further be improved by installing a back-up system that uses fossil
Andasol 1 in Gaudix, Spain uses the Parabolic Trough design
energy. The back-up system can reuse most of the CSP plant,
which consists of long parallel rows of modular solar collectors.
which decreases the cost of the back-up system.
Tracking the sun from East to West by rotation on one axis, the
With reliability, unused desert, no pollution and no fuel costs, high precision reflector panels concentrate the solar radiation
the only obstacle for large deployment for CSP is cost. Although
174 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 175

coming directly from the sun onto an absorber pipe located along in the tower. The disadvantage is that each mirror must have its
the focal line of the collector. A heat transfer medium, a synthetic own dual-axis control, while in the parabolic trough design one
oil like in car engines, is circulated through the absorber pipes at axis can be shared for a large array of mirrors.
temperatures up to 400°C and generates live steam to drive the BrightSource Energy entered into a series of power purchase
steam turbine generator of a conventional power block. agreements with Pacific Gas and Electric Company in March 2008
Full-scale parabolic trough systems consist of many such for up to 900MW of electricity, the largest solar power commitment
troughs laid out in parallel over a large area of land. ever made by a utility. BrightSource is currently developing a
Since 1985 a solar thermal system using this principle has number of solar power plants in Southern California, with
been in full operation in California in the United States. It is called construction of the first plant planned to start in 2009.
the SEGS system. Other CSP designs lack this kind of long In June 2008, BrightSource Energy dedicated its Solar Energy
experience and therefore it can currently be said that the parabolic Development Center (SEDC) in Israel's Negev Desert. The site,
trough design is the only proven CSP technology. located in the Rotem Industrial Park, features more than 1,600
The Solar Energy Generating System (SEGS) is a collection of heliostats that track the sun and reflect light onto a 60 meter-high
nine plants with a total capacity of 350MW. It is currently the tower. The concentrated energy is then used to heat a boiler atop
largest operational solar system (both thermal and non-thermal). the tower to 550 degrees Celsius, generating steam that is piped
A newer plant is Nevada Solar One plant with a capacity of into a turbine, where electricity can be produced.
64MW. Under construction are Andasol 1 and Andasol 2 in Spain The 15MW Solar Tres plant with heat storage is under
with each site having a capacity of 50MW. Note however, that construction in Spain. In South Africa, a 100MW solar power plant
those plants have heat storage which requires a smaller (but better is planned with 4000 to 5000 heliostat mirrors, each having an area
utilized) generator. With day and night operation Andasol 1 of 140 m². A 10MW power plant in Cloncurry, Australia (with
produces more energy than Nevada Solar One. purified graphite as heat storage located on the tower directly by
553MW new capacity is proposed in Mojava Solar Park, the receiver).
California. Furthermore, 59MW hybrid plant with heat storage is A cost/performance comparison between power tower and
proposed near Barstow, California. Near Kuraymat in Egypt, some parabolic trough concentrators was made by the NREL which
40MW steam is used as input for a gas powered plant. Finally, estimated that by 2020 electricity could be produced from power
25MW steam input for a gas power plant in Hassi R'mel, Algeria. towers for 5.47 ?/kWh and for 6.21 ?/kWh from parabolic troughs.
The capacity factor for power towers was estimated to be 72.9%
POWER TOWER DESIGNS and 56.2% for parabolic troughs. There is some hope that the
Power towers (also known as 'central tower' power plants or development of cheap, durable, mass produceable heliostat power
'heliostat' power plants) use an array of flat, moveable mirrors plant components could bring this cost down.
(called heliostats) to focus the sun's rays upon a collector tower
(the receiver). DISH DESIGNS
The advantage of this design above the parabolic trough design A dish system uses a large, reflective, parabolic dish (similar
is the higher temperature. Thermal energy at higher temperatures in shape to satellite television dish). It focuses all the sunlight that
can be converted to electricity more efficiently and can be more strikes the dish up onto to a single point above the dish, where
cheaply stored for later use. Furthermore, there is less need to a receiver captures the heat and transforms it into a useful form.
flatten the ground area. In principle a power tower can be built Typically the dish is coupled with a Stirling engine in a Dish-
on a hillside. Mirrors can be flat and plumbing is concentrated Stirling System, but also sometimes a steam engine is used. These
176 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 177

create rotational kinetic energy that can be converted to electricity at different receivers at different times of day), this can allow a
using an electric generator . denser packing of mirrors on available land area.
The advantage of a dish system is that it can achieve much Recent prototypes of these types of systems have been built
higher temperatures due to the higher concentration of light (as in Australia (CLFR) and by Solarmundo in Belgium. The
in tower designs). Higher temperatures leads to better conversion Solarmundo research and development project, with its pilot plant
to electricity and the dish system is very efficient on this point. at Liège, was closed down after successful proof of concept of the
However, there are also some disadvantages. Heat to electricity Linear Fresnel technology. Subsequently, Solar Power Group
conversion requires moving parts and that results in maintenance. GmbH (SPG), based in Munich, Germany, was founded by some
In general, a centralized approach for this conversion is better Solarmundo team members. A Fresnel-based prototype with direct
than the dencentralized concept in the dish design. Second, the steam generation was built by SPG in conjunction with the German
(heavy) engine is part of the moving structure, which requires a Aerospace Center (DLR).
rigid frame and strong tracking system. Furthermore, parabolic Based on the Australian prototype, a 177MW plant is proposed
mirrors are used instead of flat mirrors and tracking must be dual- near San Luis Obispo in California and will be built by Ausra.
axis. Plants with smaller capacities being an enormous economical
In 2005 Southern California Edison announced an agreement challenge for plants with conventional parabolic trough and drive
to purchase solar powered Stirling engines from Stirling Energy design, only few companies intend to build such small projects.
Systems over a twenty year period and in quantities (20,000 units) Plans were revealed for former Ausra subsidiary SHP Europe
sufficient to generate 500 megawatts of electricity. Stirling Energy building a 6.5 MW project in Portugal as a combined cycle plant.
Systems announced another agreement with San Diego Gas & The German company SK Energy) has published its intention to
Electric to provide between 300 and 900 megawatts of electricity. build various small 1-3 MW plants in Southern Europe, esp. in
However, as of October 2007 it was unclear whether any progress Spain on the basis of their own Fresnel mirror and steam drive
had been made toward the construction of the 1 MW test plant, technology (Press Release).
which was supposed to come online some time in 2007. In May 2008, the German Solar Power Group GmbH and the
Spanish Laer S.L. agreed the joint execution of a solar thermal
FRESNEL REFLECTORS
power plant in central Spain. This will be the first commercial
A linear Fresnel reflector power plant uses a series of long, solar thermal power plant in Spain based on the Fresnel collector
narrow, shallow-curvature (or even flat) mirrors to focus light technology of the Solar Power Group. The planned size of the
onto one or more linear receivers positioned above the mirrors. power plant will be 10 MW a solar thermal collector field with
On top of the receiver a small parabolic mirror can be attached a fossil co-firing unit as backup system. The start of constructions
for further focusing the light. These systems aim to offer lower is planned for 2009. The project is located in Gotarrendura, a small
overall costs by sharing a receiver between several mirrors (as renewable energy pioneering village, about 100 km northwest of
compared with trough and dish concepts), while still using the Madrid, Spain.
simple line-focus geometry with one axis for tracking. This is
similar to the trough design (and different from central towers LINEAR FRESNEL REFLECTOR (LFR) AND COMPACT-LFR TECHNOLOGIES
and dishes with dual-axis). The receiver is stationary and so fluid Rival single axis tracking technologies include the relatively
couplings are not required (as in troughs and dishes). The mirrors new Linear Fresnel reflector (LFR) and compact-LFR (CLFR)
also do not need to support the receiver, so they are structurally technologies. The LFR differs from that of the parabolic trough
simpler. When suitable aiming strategies are used (mirrors aimed in that the absorber is fixed in space above the mirror field. Also,
178 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 179

the reflector is composed of many low row segments, which focus been shown to deliver tracked beam to electricity efficiency of 19%
collectively on an elevated long tower receiver running parallel on an annual basis as a preheater.
to the reflector rotational axis.
FRESNEL LENSES
This system offers a lower cost solution as the absorber row
is shared among several rows of mirrors. However, one Prototypes of Fresnel lens concentrators have been produced
fundamental difficulty with the LFR technology is the avoidance for the collection of thermal energy by International Automated
of shading of incoming solar radiation and blocking of reflected Systems. No full-scale thermal systems using Fresnel lenses are
solar radiation by adjacent reflectors. Blocking and shading can known to be in operation, although products incorporating Fresnel
be reduced by using absorber towers elevated higher or by lenses in conjunction with photovoltaic cells are already available.
increasing the absorber size, which allows increased spacing The advantage of this design is that lenses are cheaper than
between reflectors remote from the absorber. Both these solutions mirrors. Furthermore, if a material is chosen that has some
increase costs, as larger ground usage is required. flexibility, then a less rigid frame is required to withstand wind
The compact linear Fresnel reflector (CLFR) offers an alternate load.
solution to the LFR problem.9 The classic LFR has only one linear
MICROCSP
absorber on a single linear tower. This prohibits any option of the
direction of orientation of a given reflector. Since this technology "MicroCSP" references Solar Thermal Technologies in which
would be introduced in a large field, one can assume that there Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) collectors are based on the designs
will be many linear absorbers in the system. Therefore, if the used in traditional Concentrating Solar Power systems found in
linear absorbers are close enough, individual reflectors will have the Mojave Desert but are smaller in collector size, lighter and
the option of directed reflected solar radiation to at least two operate at lower thermal temperatures usually below 600 degrees
absorbers. This additional factor gives potential for more densely F. These systems are designed for modular field or rooftop
packed arrays, since patters of alternative reflector inclination can installation where they are easy to protect from high winds, snow
be set up such that closely packed reflectors can be positioned and humid deployments . Solar manufacturer Sopogy is currently
without shading and blocking. constructing a 1MW plant at the Natural Energy Laboratory of
Hawaii
CLFR power plants offer reduced costs in all elements of the
solar array. These reduced costs encourage the advancement of HEAT EXCHANGE
this technology. Features that enhance the cost effectiveness of
Heat in a solar thermal system is guided by five basic principles:
this system compared to that of the parabolic trough technology
heat gain; heat transfer; heat storage; heat transport; and heat
include minimized structural costs, minimized parasitic pumping
insulation. Here, heat is the measure of the amount of thermal
losses, and low maintenance.7 Minimized structural costs are
energy an object contains and is the product of temperature and
attributed to the use of flat or elastically curved glass reflectors
mass.
instead of costly sagged glass reflectors are mounted close to the
ground. Also, the heat transfer loop is separated from the reflector Heat gain is the heat accumulated from the sun in the system.
field, avoiding the cost of flexible high pressure lines required in Solar thermal heat is trapped using the greenhouse effect; the
trough systems. Minimized parasitic pumping losses are due to greenhouse effect in this case is the ability of a reflective surface
the use of water for the heat transfer fluid with passive direct to transmit short wave radiation and reflect long wave radiation.
boiling. The use of glass-evacuated tubes ensures low radiative Heat and infrared radiation (IR) are produced when short wave
losses and is inexpensive. Studies of existing CLFR plants have radiation light hits the absorber plate, which is then trapped
180 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 181

inside the collector. Fluid, usually water, in the absorber tubes concrete, a variety of phase change materials, and molten salts
collect the trapped heat and transfer it to a heat storage vault. such as sodium and potassium nitrate.
Heat is transferred either by conduction or convection. When The PS10 solar power tower stores heat in tanks as pressurized
water is heated, kinetic energy is transferred by conduction to steam at 50 bar and 285C. The steam condenses and flashes back
water molecules throughout the medium. These molecules spread to steam, when pressure is lowered. Storage is for one hour. It is
their thermal energy by conduction and occupy more space than suggested that longer storage is possible, but that has not been
the cold slow moving molecules above them. The distribution of proven yet in an existing power plant.
energy from the rising hot water to the sinking cold water The proposed power plant in Cloncurry Australia will store
contributes to the convection process. Heat is transferred from the heat in purified graphite. The plant has a power tower design. The
absorber plates of the collector in the fluid by conduction. The graphite is located on top of the tower. Heat from the heliostats
collector fluid is circulated through the carrier pies to the heat goes directly to the storage. Heat for energy production is drawn
transfer vault. Inside the vault, heat is transferred throughout the from the graphite. This simplifies the design.
medium through convection.
The Solar Tres power plant in Spain is expected to be the first
Heat storage enables solar thermal plants to produce electricity commercial solar thermal power plant to utilize molten salt for
during hours without sunlight. Heat is transferred to a thermal heat storage and nighttime generation.
storage medium in an insulated reservoir during hours with
sunlight, and is withdrawn for power generation during hours MOLTEN SALT STORAGE
lacking sunlight. Thermal storage mediums will be discussed in A variety of fluids have been tested to transport the sun's heat,
a heat storage section. Rate of heat transfer is related to the including water, air, oil, and sodium, but molten salt was selected
conductive and convection medium as well as the temperature as best. Molten salt is used in solar power tower systems because
differences. Bodies with large temperature differences transfer it is liquid at atmosphere pressure, it provides an efficient, low-
heat faster than bodies with lower temperature differences. cost medium in which to store thermal energy, its operating
Heat transport refers to the activity in which heat from a solar temperatures are compatible with today's high-pressure and high-
collector is transported to the heat storage vault. Heat insulation temperature steam turbines, and it is non-flammable and nontoxic.
is vital in both heat transport tubing as well as the storage vault. In addition, molten salt is used in the chemical and metals
It prevents heat loss, which in turn relates to energy loss, or industries as a heat-transport fluid, so experience with molten-salt
decrease in the efficiency of the system. systems exists for non-solar.
The molten salt is a mixture of 60 percent sodium nitrate and
HEAT STORAGE
40 percent potassium-nitrate, commonly called saltpeter. The salt
Heat storage allows a solar thermal plant to produce electricity melts at 430 F and is kept liquid at 550 F in an insulated cold
at night and on overcast days. This allows the use of solar power storage tank. The uniqueness of this solar system is in de-coupling
for baseload generation as well as peak power generation, with the collection of solar energy from producing power, electricity
the potential of displacing both coal and natural gas fired power can be generated in periods of inclement weather or even at night
plants. Additionally, the utilization of the generator is higher using the stored thermal energy in the hot salt tank. Normally
which reduces cost. tanks are well insulated and can store energy for up to a week.
Heat is transferred to a thermal storage medium in an insulated As an example of their size, tanks that provide enough thermal
reservoir during the day, and withdrawn for power generation storage to power a 100-megawatt turbine for four hours would
at night. Thermal storage media include pressurized steam, be about 30 feet tall and 80 feet in diameter. Studies show that
182 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 183

the two-tank storage system could have an annual efficiency of the power plant) are determined by net generating capacity over
about 99 percent. the solar energy that falls on the total area of the solar plant. The
500-megawatt (MW) SCE/SES plant would extract about 2.75%
GRAPHITE HEAT STORAGE of the radiation (1 kW/m²; see Solar power for a discussion) that
Molten salts coolants are used to transfer heat from the falls on its 4,500 acres (18.2 km²). For the 50 MW AndaSol Power
reflectors to heat storage vaults. The heat from the salts are Plant that is being built in Spain (total area of 1,300×1,500 m =
transferred to a secondary heat transfer fluid via a heat exchanger 1.95 km²) gross conversion efficiency comes out at 2.6%
and then to the storage media, or alternatively, the salts can be Furthermore, efficiency does not directly relate to cost: on
used to directly heat graphite. Graphite is used as it has relatively calculating total cost, both efficiency and the cost of construction
low costs and compatibility with liquid fluoride salts. The high and maintenance should be taken into account.
mass and volumetric heat capacity of graphite provide an efficient
storage medium. LEVELIZED COST
Since a solar power plant does not use any fuel, the cost
PHASE-CHANGE MATERIALS FOR STORAGE
consists mostly of capital cost with minor operational and
Phase-change materials (PCMs) offer an alternate solution in maintenance cost. If the lifetime of the plant and the interest rate
energy storage. Using a similar heat transfer infrastructure, PCMs is known, then the cost per kWh can be calculated. This is called
have the potential of providing a more efficient means of storage. the levelised energy cost.
PCMs can be either organic or inorganic materials. Advantages
The first step in the calculation is to determine the investment
of organic PCMs include no corrosives, low or no undercooling,
for the production of 1 kWh in a year. Example, the fact sheet of
and chemical and thermal stability. Disadvantages include low
the Andasol 1 project shows a total investment of 310 million
phase-change enthalpy, low thermal conductivity, and
euros for a production of 179 GWh a year. Since 179 GWh is 179
inflammability. Inorganics are advantageous with greater phase-
million kWh, the investment per kWh a year production is 310
change enthalpy, but exhibit disadvantages with undercooling,
/ 179 = 1.73 euro. Another example is Cloncurry solar power
corrosion, phase separation, and lack of thermal stability. The
station in Australia. It produces 30 million kWh a year for an
greater phase-change enthalpy in inorganic PCMs make hydrates
investment of 31 million Australian dollars. So, this price is 1.03
salts a strong candidate in the solar energy storage field.
Australian dollar for the production of 1 kWh in a year. This is
CONVERSION RATES FROM SOLAR ENERGY TO ELECTRICAL ENERGY significantly cheaper than Andasol 1, which can partially be
explained by the higher radiation in Cloncurry over Spain. The
Of all of these technologies the solar dish/stirling engine has
investment per kwh cost for one year should not be confused with
the highest energy efficiency. A single solar dish-Stirling engine
the cost per kwh over the complete lifetime of such a plant.
installed at Sandia National Laboratories National Solar Thermal
Test Facility produces as much as 25 kW of electricity, with a In most cases the capacity is specified for a power plant (for
conversion efficiency of 30%. instance Andasol 1 has a capacity of 50MW). This number is not
suitable for comparison, because the capacity factor can differ. If
Solar parabolic trough plants have been built with efficiencies
a solar power plant has heat storage, then it can also produce
of about 20%. Fresnel reflectors have an efficiency that is slightly
output after sunset, but that will not change the capacity factor,
lower (but this is compensated by the denser packing).
it simply displaces the output. The average capacity factor for a
The gross conversion efficiencies (taking into account that the solar power plant, which is a function of tracking, shading and
solar dishes or troughs occupy only a fraction of the total area of location, is about 20%, meaning that a 50MW capacity power
184 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 185

plant will typically provide a yearly output of 50 MW × 24 hrs The modular solar dish (but also solar photovoltaic and wind
× 365 days × 20% = 87,600 MWh/year, or 87.6 GWh/yr. power) have the advantage that electricity production starts after
Although the investment for one kWh year production is first construction.
suitable for comparing the price of different solar power plants, Given the fact that solar thermal power is reliable, can deliver
it doesn't give the price per kWh yet. The way of financing has peak load and does not cause pollution, a price of US$0.10 per
a great influence on the final price. If the technology is proven, kWh starts to become competitive. Although a price of US$0.06
an interest rate of 7% should be possible. However, for a new has been claimed With some operational cost a simple target is
technology investors want a much higher rate to compensate for 1 dollar (or lower) investment for 1 kWh production in a year.
the higher risk. This has a significant negative effect on the price A description of the history can be found on the site of the
per kWh. Independent of the way of financing, there is always company Ausra. Modern use of solar technology started after the
a linear relation between the investment per kWh production in 1973 and 1979 oil crises, which led to SEGS in California and some
a year and the price for 1 kWh (before adding operational and smaller projects.
maintenance cost). In other words, if by enhancements of the
Due to low energy prices after 1990, no new commercial plans
technology the investments drop by 20%, then the price per kWh
were made, but some research continued. New commercial plans
also drops by 20%.
were made from 2005 and onwards.
If a way of financing is assumed where the money is borrowed
and repaid every year, in such way that the debt and interest SOLAR HEATING
decreases, then the following formula can be used to calculate the Solar heating is the usage of solar energy to provide process,
division factor: (1 - (1 + interest / 100) ^ -lifetime) / (interest / space or water heating. See also Solar thermal energy. The heating
100). For a lifetime of 25 years and an interest rate of 7%, the of water is covered in solar hot water. Solar heating design is
division number is 11.65. For example, the investment of Andasol divided into two groups:
1 was 1.73 euro, divided by 11.65 results in a price of 0.15 euro • Active solar heating uses pumps which move air or a
per kWh. If one cent operation and maintenance cost is added, liquid from the solar collector into the building or storage
then the levelized cost is 0.16 euro. Other ways of financing, area.
different way of debt repayment, different lifetime expectation,
• Passive solar heating does not require electrical or
different interest rate, may lead to a significantly different number.
mechanical equipment, and may rely on the design and
If the cost per kWh may follow the inflation, then the inflation structure of the house to collect, store and distribute heat
rate can be added to the interest rate. If an investor puts his money throughout the building (passive solar building design).
on the bank for 7%, then he is not compensated for inflation.
The very first solar heating factory in the world was built by
However, if the cost per kWh is raised with inflation, then he is
Jewish immigrants, from South Africa, in Ashqelon Israel in 1952.
compensated and he can add 2% (a normal inflation rate) to his
In 1980 a law was passed in Israel making solar heating mandatory.
return. The Andasol 1 plant has a guaranteed feed-in tariff of 0.21
euro for 25 years. If this number is fixed, it should be realized that How Solar Heating Works
after 25 years with 2% inflation, 0.21 euro will have a value
A household solar heating system consists of a solar panel (or
comparable with 0.13 euro now.
solar collector) with a heat transfer fluid flowing through it to
Finally, there is some gap between the first investment and transport the heat energy collected to somewhere useful, usually
the first production of electricity. This increases the investment a hot water tank or household radiators. The solar panel is located
with the interest over the period that the plant is not active yet. somewhere with good light levels throughout the day, often on
186 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 187

the roof of the building. A pump pushes the heat transfer liquid One is a new solar thermal plant with a 64-MW generating capacity,
(often just treated water) through the panel. The heat is thus taken located near Boulder City, NV. There are also plans to build other
from the panel and transferred to a storage cylinder. large solar plants in the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Solar Park will
deliver 553 MW of solar thermal power when fully operational
OTHER USES in 2011. Insolation (solar radiation) in the Mojave Desert is among
Solar heating also refers to the heating of any objects, including the best available in the United States, and some significant
buildings, cars, through solar radiation. Solar heating depends on population centers are located in the area. This makes the Mojave
the solar radiation, surface area, surface reflectance, surface Desert particularly suitable for solar power plants. These plants
emissivity, ambient temperature, and thermal convection from can generally be built in a few years because solar plants are built
wind. With most all objects on Earth, solar heating reaches a state almost entirely with modular, readily available materials.
of temperature equilibrium as the heat imparted by the sun is The southwestern United States is one of the world's best
offset by the heat given off through reflection, radiation, and areas for insolation, and the Mojave Desert receives up to twice
convection. White objects stay dramatically cooler than other objects the sunlight received in other regions of the country. This
because the most important variables are characteristics of the abundance of solar energy makes solar power plants an attractive
surface, reflectance, emissivity, convection and surface area. Silvery alternative to traditional power plants, which burn polluting fossil
objects get hot even though they are excellent reflectors because fuels such as oil and coal. Unlike traditional power plants, solar
they are very poor in heat emission. Human skin, and many other power stations provide an environmentally benign source of
living surfaces, like tree leaves, have near perfect emissivity (~1.0), energy, produce virtually no emissions, and consume no fuel
and so stay pretty cool. A perfect sunscreen is a dye that perfectly other than sunlight.
absorbs, with high emissivity, or perfectly reflects, ultraviolet and
Currently, the cost of solar thermal produced energy can be
infrared while being transparent in visible light.
close to 12 cents (US) per kilowatt-hour (kWh). However, many
It is worth noting that it is impossible for any material to be economists predict that this price will gradually drop over the
a good absorber of a given frequency and at the same time a poor next ten years to 6 cents per kWh, as a result of economies of scale
emitter of the same frequency ( or the other way around). The and technological improvements.
difference in absorption and emission arises because the radiation
While many of the costs of fossil fuels are well known, others
emitted by a relatively cold object like a human, has much lower
(pollution related health problems, environmental degradation,
frequency than the radiation emitted by a hot object like the sun.
the impact on national security from relying on foreign energy
Materials which have high emissivity for low frequencies but high
sources) are indirect and difficult to calculate. These are
absorption at higher frequencies will therefore stay much cooler
traditionally external to the pricing system, and are thus often
than materials which have high absorption of high frequencies
referred to as externalities. A corrective pricing mechanism, such
and low emission of low frequencies.
as a carbon tax, could lead to renewable energy, such as solar
SOLAR POWER PLANTS IN THE MOJAVE DESERT thermal power, becoming cheaper to the consumer than fossil fuel
based energy.
There are several solar power plants in the Mojave Desert
which supply power to the electricity grid. Solar Energy Generating Solar thermal power plants can generally be built in a few
Systems (SEGS) is the name given to nine solar power plants in years because solar plants are built almost entirely with modular,
the Mojave Desert which were built in the 1980s. These plants readily available materials. In contrast, many types of conventional
have a combined capacity of 354 megawatts (MW) making them power projects, especially coal and nuclear plants, require long
the largest solar power installation in the world. Nevada Solar lead times.
188 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 189

SOLAR ONE AND SOLAR TWO the pipe and captures this heat, reaching temperatures of 390 °C
Solar power towers use thousands of individual sun-tracking (735 °F). The hot oil is pumped to a generating station and routed
mirrors (called heliostats) to reflect solar energy onto a central through a heat exchanger to produce steam. Finally, electricity is
receiver located on top of a tall tower. The receiver collects the produced in a conventional steam turbine. The SEGS plants are
sun's heat in a heat-transfer fluid that flows through the receiver. configured as hybrids to operate on natural gas on cloudy days
The U.S. Department of Energy, and a consortium of U.S. utilities or after dark, and natural gas provides 25% of the total output.
and industry, built the first two large-scale, demonstration solar
NEVADA SOLAR ONE
power towers in the desert near Barstow, CA.
Nevada Solar One has a 64-MW generating capacity and is
Solar One operated successfully from 1982 to 1988, proving
located in Boulder City, Nevada. It was built by the U.S.
that power towers work efficiently to produce utility-scale power
Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory,
from sunlight. The Solar One plant used water/steam as the heat-
and Acciona Solar Power, Inc. formerly known as Solargenix
transfer fluid in the receiver; this presented several problems in
Energy, Inc.
terms of storage and continuous turbine operation. To address
these problems, Solar One was upgraded to Solar Two, which Nevada Solar One uses parabolic troughs as thermal solar
operated from 1996 to 1999. Both systems had the capacity to concentrators, heating tubes of liquid which act as solar receivers.
produce 10 MW of power. These solar receivers are specially coated tubes made of glass and
steel, and about 19,300 of these four meter long tubes are used
The unique feature of Solar Two was its use of molten salt
in the newly built power plant. Nevada Solar One also uses a
to capture and store the sun's heat. The very hot salt was stored
technology that collects extra heat by putting it into phase-changing
and used when needed to produce steam to drive a turbine/
molten salts. This energy can then be drawn at night.
generator that produces electricity. The system operated smoothly
through intermittent clouds and continued generating electricity Solar thermal power plants designed for solar-only generation
long into the night. are ideally matched to summer noon peak loads in prosperous
areas with significant cooling demands, such as the south-western
Solar Two was decommissioned in 1999, and was converted
United States. Using thermal energy storage systems, solar thermal
by the University of California, Davis, into an Air Cherenkov
operating periods can even be extended to meet base-load needs.
Telescope in 2001, measuring gamma rays hitting the atmosphere.
The cost of Nevada Solar One is in the range of $220-250
SOLAR ELECTRICITY GENERATING SYSTEMS million. The power produced is slightly more expensive than
Trough systems predominate among today's commercial solar wind power, but less than photovoltaic (PV) power.
power plants. Nine trough power plants, called Solar Energy
NELLIS SOLAR POWER PLANT
Generating Systems (SEGS), were built in the 1980s in the Mojave
Desert near Barstow. These plants have a combined capacity of In December 2007, the U.S. Air Force announced the
354 MW making them the largest solar power installation in the completion of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system at Nellis Air Force
world. Today they generate enough electricity to meet the power Base in Clark County, NV. Occupying 140 acres (57 ha) of land
needs of approximately 500,000 people. leased from the Air Force at the western edge of the base, this
ground-mounted photovoltaic system employs an advanced sun
Trough systems convert the heat from the sun into electricity.
tracking system, designed and deployed by PowerLight subsidiary
Because of their parabolical shape, trough collectors can focus the
of SunPower. Tilted toward the south, each set of solar panels
sun at 30-60 times its normal intensity on a receiver pipe located
rotates around a central bar to track the sun from east to west.
along the focal line of the trough. Synthetic oil circulates through
190 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 191

The 14-megawatt (MW) system will generate more than 30 million convection of air heated by passive solar energy. A simple
kilowatt-hours of electricity each year and supply approximately description of a solar chimney is that of a vertical shaft utilizing
25 percent of the total power used at the base. The Nellis Solar solar energy to enhance the natural stack ventilation through a
Power Plant is the largest solar photovoltaic system in North building. The solar chimney has been in use for centuries,
America. particularly in the Middle east, as well as by the Romans.

MOJAVE SOLAR PARK DESCRIPTION


Solel has signed a contract with Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) In its simplest form, the solar chimney consists of a black-
to build the world's largest solar plant in the Mojave Desert. When painted chimney. During the day solar energy heats the chimney
fully operational in 2011, the Mojave Solar Park will deliver 553 and the air within it, creating an updraft of air in the chimney.
megawatts of solar power, the equivalent of powering 400,000 The suction created at the chimney's base can be used to ventilate
homes, to PG&E's customers in northern and central California. and cool the building below. In most parts of the world it is easier
The plant will cover up to 6,000 acres (24 km²) of land. to harness wind power for such ventilation as is done with a
Badgir, but on hot windless days a Solar chimney can provide
STIRLING SOLAR DISH ventilation where otherwise there would be none.
Stirling Energy Systems under an agreement with utility There are however a number of solar chimney variations. The
company Southern California Edison is planning to erect a 500- basic design elements of a solar chimney are:
megawatt, 4,600 acre (19 km²), solar power plant to open some
• The solar collector area: This can be located in the top part
time after 2009. This will be the first commercial application of
of the chimney or can include the entire shaft. The
the Stirling Solar Dish which concentrates solar energy by the use
orientation, type of glazing, insulation and thermal
of reflective surfaces and uses a Stirling heat engine to convert the
properties of this element are crucial for harnessing,
heat into electricity.
retaining and utilizing solar gains
Stirling Energy Systems have announced another agreement • The main ventilation shaft: The location, height, cross
with San Diego Gas & Electric to provide between 300 and 900 section and the thermal properties of this structure are
megawatts of electricity. also very important.
LAND USE ISSUES • The inlet and outlet air apertures: The sizes, location as
well as aerodynamic aspects of these elements are also
Solar thermal power plants are large and seem to use a lot
significant.
of land, but when looking at electricity output versus total size,
they use less land than hydroelectric dams (including the size of A principle has been proposed for solar power generation,
the lake behind the dam) or coal plants (including the amount of using a large greenhouse at the base rather than relying solely on
land required for mining and excavation of the coal). While all heating the chimney itself.
power plants require land and have an environmental impact, the
SOLAR CHIMNEY AND SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE
best locations for solar power plants are deserts or other land for
which there might be few other human uses. Air conditioning and mechanical ventilation have been for
decades the standard method of environmental control in many
SOLAR CHIMNEY building types especially offices. Global warming, pollution and
A solar chimney - often referred to as a thermal chimney - dwindling energy supplies have led to a new environmental
is a way of improving the natural ventilation of buildings by using approach in building design. Innovative technologies along with
192 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 193

bioclimatic principles and traditional design strategies are often attic space with a solar chimney, the hot air in the attic can be put
combined to create new and potentially successful design solutions. to work. It can help the convection in the chimney, improving
The solar chimney is one of these concepts currently explored by ventilation.
scientists as well as designers, mostly through research and The use of a solar chimney may benefit natural ventilation
experimentation. and passive cooling strategies of buildings thus help reduce energy
A Solar chimney can serve many purposes. Direct gain warms use, CO2 emissions and pollution in general. Potential benefits
air inside the chimney causing it to rise out the top and drawing regarding natural ventilation and use of solar chimneys are:
air in from the bottom. This drawing of air can be used to ventilate • Improved ventilation rates on still, hot days
a home or office, to draw air through a geothermal heat exchange, • Reduced reliance on wind and wind driven ventilation
or to ventilate only a specific area such as a composting toilet.
• Improved control of air flow though a building
Natural ventilation can be created by providing vents in the
• Greater choice of air intake (i.e. leeward side of building)
upper level of a building to allow warm air to rise by convection
and escape to the outside. At the same time cooler air can be • Improved air quality and reduced noise levels in urban
drawn in through vents at the lower level. Trees may be planted areas
on that side of the building to provide shade for cooler outside • Increased night time ventilation rates
air. • Allow ventilation of narrow, small spaces with minimal
This natural ventilation process can be augmented by a solar exposure to external elements
chimney. The chimney has to be higher than the roof level, and Potential benefits regarding passive cooling may include:
has to be constructed on the wall facing the direction of the sun. • Improved passive cooling during warm season (mostly on
Absorption of heat from the sun can be increased by using a still, hot days)
glazed surface on the side facing the sun. Heat absorbing material • Improved night cooling rates
can be used on the opposing side. The size of the heat-absorbing
• Enhanced performance of thermal mass (cooling, cool
surface is more important than the diameter of the chimney. A
storage)
large surface area allows for more effective heat exchange with
the air necessary for heating by solar radiation. Heating of the air • Improved thermal comfort (improved air flow control,
within the chimney will enhance convection, and hence airflow reduced draughts)
through the chimney. Openings of the vents in the chimney should PRECEDENT STUDY: THE ENVIRONMENTAL BUILDING
face away from the direction of the prevailing wind.
The British Research Establishment (BRE) office building in
To further maximize the cooling effect, the incoming air may Garston, incorporates solar assisted passive ventilation stacks as
be led through underground ducts before it is allowed to enter part of its ventilation strategy.
the building. The solar chimney can be improved by integrating
it with a trombe wall. The added advantage of this design is that Designed by architects Feilden Clegg Bradley, the BRE offices
the system may be reversed during the cold season, providing aim to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 30%
solar heating instead. from current best practice guidelines and sustain comfortable
environmental conditions without the use of air conditioning. The
A variation of the solar chimney concept is the solar attic. In passive ventilation stacks, solar shading, and hollow concrete
a hot sunny climate the attic space is often blazingly hot in the
slabs with embedded under floor cooling are key features of this
summer. In a conventional building this presents a problem as it building. Ventilation and heating systems are controlled by the
leads to the need for increased air conditioning. By integrating the
194 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 195

building management system (BMS) while a degree of user The principle is to allow water to evaporate at the top of a
override is provided to adjust conditions to occupants' needs. tower, either by using evaporative cooling pads or by spraying
The building utilizes five vertical shafts as an integral part of water. Evaporation cools the incoming air, causing a downdraft
the ventilation and cooling strategy. The main components of of cool air that will bring down the temperature inside the building.
theses stacks are a south facing glass-block wall, thermal mass Airflow can be increased by using a solar chimney on the
walls and stainless steel round exhausts rising a few meters above opposite side of the building to help in venting hot air to the
roof level. The chimneys are connected to the curved hollow outside. This concept has been used for the Visitor Center of Zion
concrete floor slabs which are cooled via night ventilation. Pipes National Park. The Visitor Center was designed by the High
embedded in the floor can provide additional cooling utilizing Performance Buildings Research of the National Renewable Energy
groundwater. Laboratory (NREL).
On warm windy days air is drawn in through passages in the The principle of the downdraft cooltower has been proposed
curved hollow concrete floor slabs. Stack ventilation naturally for solar power generation as well.
rising out through the stainless steel chimneys enhances the air
flow through the building. The movement of air across the chimney SOLAR COLLECTOR
tops enhances the stack effect. During warm, still days, the building A solar collector is a device for extracting the energy of the
relies mostly on the stack effect while air is taken from the shady sun not indirectly into a more usable or storable form. The energy
north side of the building. Low-energy fans in the tops of the in sunlight is in the form of electromagnetic radiation from the
stacks can also be used to improve airflow. infrared (long) to the ultraviolet (short) wavelengths.
Overnight, control systems enable ventilation paths through The solar energy striking the earth's surface at any one time
the hollow concrete slab removing the heat stored during the day depends on weather conditions, as well as location and orientation
and storing 'coolth' for the following day. The exposed curved of the surface, but overall, it averages about 1000 watts per square
ceiling gives more surface area than a flat ceiling would, acting meter on a clear day with the surface directly perpendicular to
as a cool 'radiator', again providing summer cooling. Research the sun's rays. The best designed solar collectors are the ones that
based on actual performance measurements of the passive stacks collect the most solars. Glazing is a common process used to
found that they enhanced the cooling ventilation of the space increase the absorption rate of solars.
during warm and still days and may also have the potential to
assist night-time cooling due to their thermally massive structure. Design
The solar heating system consists of the collector described
PASSIVE DOWN-DRAFT COOLTOWER above; a heat transfer circuit that includes the fluid and the means
A technology closely related to the solar chimney is the to circulate it; and a storage system including a heat exchanger
evaporative down-draft cooltower. In areas with a hot, arid climate (if the fluid cirulating through the collector is not the same liquid
this approach may contribute to a sustainable way to provide air being used to heat the object of the system).
conditioning for buildings. The system may or may not include secondary distribution
Evaporation of moisture from the pads on top of the Toguna of heat among different storage reservoirs or users of the heat. The
buildings built by the Dogon people of Mali, Africa contribute to system can be used in a variety of ways, including warming
the coolness felt by the men who rest underneath. The women's domestic hot water, heating swimming pools, heating water for
buildings on the outskirts of town are functional as more a radiator or floor-coil heating circuit, heating an industrial dryer,
conventional solar chimneys. or providing input energy for a cooling system, among others. In
196 Solar Energy and its Uses Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 197

addition, glazing is a process in which a thin layer of 5- sunshine is readily available, a 2 to 10 square metre array will
hydroxymethylfurfural is applied to improve heat rejection at low provide all the hot water heating required for a typical family
light wavelengths. The heat is normally stored in insulated storage house. Such systems are a key feature of sustainable housing,
tanks full of water. since water and space heating is usually the largest single consumer
Heat storage is usually intended to cover a day or two's of energy in households.
requirements, but other concepts exist including seasonal storage
(where summer solar energy is used for winter heating by just SOLAR THERMAL COLLECTORS
raising the temperature by a few degrees of several million liters A solar thermal collector that stores heat energy is called a
of water (numerous pilot housing projects in Germany and "batch" type system. Other types of solar thermal collectors do not
elsewhere use this concept). store energy but instead use fluid circulation (usually water or an
antifreeze solution) to transfer the heat for direct use or storage
System Types in an insulated reservoir.
For solar heating of domestic hot water, two common system Water/glycol has a high thermal capacity and is therefore
types are thermosyphon and pumped. In the thermosyphon convenient to handle. The direct radiation is captured using a
system, a storage tank is placed above the collector. As the water dark colored surface which absorbs the radiation as heat and
in the collector is heated, it will rise and naturally start to circulate conducts it to the transfer fluid.
around the tank. This draws in colder water from the bottom of
Metal makes a good thermal conductor, especially copper and
the tank.
aluminium. In high performance collectors, a "selective surface"
This system is self-regulating and requires no moving parts is used in which the collector surface is coated with a material
or external energy, so is very attractive. Its main drawback is the having properties of high-absorption and low-emissivity.
need for the tank to be placed at a level higher than the collector,
The selective surface reduces heat-loss caused by infrared
which may prove to be physically difficult. A pumped system
radiant emission from the collector to ambient. Another method
uses a pump to circulate the water, so the tank can be positioned
of reducing radiant heat-loss employs a transparent window such
independently of the collector location.
as clear UV stabilized plastic or Low-emissivity glass plate. Again,
This system requires external energy to run the pump (though Low-E materials are the most effective, particularly the type
this can be solar, since the water should only be circulated when optimized for solar gain. Borosilicate glass or "Pyrex" (tm) has
there is incident sunlight). It also requires control electronics to low-emissivity properties, which may be useful, particularly for
measure the temperature gradient across the collector and solar cooking applications.
modulate the pump accordingly. Systems using solar electric
As it heats up, thermal losses from the collector itself will
pumping and controls are known as zero carbon solar while those
reduce its efficiency, resulting in increased radiation, primarily
using mains electricity are known as low carbon, since they
infrared. This is countered in two ways. First, a glass plate is
typically have a 10-20% carbon drawback.
placed above the collector plate which will trap the radiated heat
Placement within the airspace below it.
Solar collectors can be mounted on a roof but need to face the This exploits the so-called greenhouse effect, which is in this
sun, so a north-facing roof in the southern hemisphere, and a case a property of the glass: it readily transmits solar radiation in
south-facing roof in the northern hemisphere is ideal. Collectors the visible and ultraviolet spectrum, but does not transmit the
are usually also angled to suit the latitude of the location. Where lower frequency infrared re-radiation very well. The glass plate
198 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 199

also traps air in the space, thus reducing heat losses by convection.
The collector housing is also insulated below and laterally to
reduce its heat loss.
The second way efficiency is improved is by cooling the
absorber plate. This is done by ensuring that the coldest available
heat transfer fluid is circulated through the absorber, and with a
sufficient flow rate. The fluid carries away the absorbed heat, thus
7
cooling the absorber.
The warmed fluid leaving the collector is either directly stored, THE SOLAR COMBISYSTEM
or else passes through a heat exchanger to warm another tank of
water, or is used to heat a building directly. The temperature
differential across an efficient solar collector is usually only 10 or A solar combisystem is a solar heating system that provides
20°C. While a large differential may seem impressive, it is in fact both space heating and hot water from a common array of solar
an indication of a less efficient design. thermal collectors, normally linked to an auxiliary non-solar heat
source. Solar combisystems may range in size from those installed
in individual properties to those serving several in a block heating
scheme. Those serving larger groups of properties via district
heating tend to be called central solar heating schemes.
A large number of different types of solar combisystems are
produced - over 20 were identified in the first international survey,
conducted as part of IEA Task 14 in 1997. The systems on the
market in a particular country may be more restricted, however,
as different systems have tended to evolve in different countries.
Prior to the 1990s such systems tended to be custom-built for each
property. Since then commercialised packages have developed
and are now generally used.
Depending on the size of the combisystem installed, the annual
space heating contribution can range from 10% to 60% or more
in ultra-low energy Passivhaus type buildings; even up to up to
100% where a large seasonal thermal store is used. The remaining
heat requirement is supplied by one or more auxiliary sources in
order to maintain the heat supply once the solar heated water is
exhausted. Such auxiliary heat sources may also use other
renewable energy sources.
During 2001, around 50% of all the domestic solar collectors
installed in Austria, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway were to
supply combisystems, while in Sweden it was greater. In Germany,
where the total collector area installed (900,000 m2) was much
200 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 201

larger than in the other countries, 25% was for combisystem P Parallel mode: The space heating loop is fed alternatively
installations. Combisystems have also been installed in Canada by the solar collectors (or a solar water storage tank), or
since the mid 1980s. It has been suggested that in future by the auxiliary heater; or there is no hydraulic connection
combisystems might be able to incorporate absorption solar cooling between the solar heat distribution and the auxiliary heat
in summer . emissions
S Serial mode: The space heating loop may be fed by the
CLASSIFICATION
auxiliary heater, or by both the solar collectors (or a solar
Following the work of IEA Task 26 (1998 to 2002), solar water storage tank) and the auxiliary heater connected in
combisystems can be classified according to two main aspects; series on the return line of the space heating loop.
firstly by the heat storage category (the way in which water is
A solar combisystem may therefore be described as being of
added to and drawn from the storage tank and its effect on
type B/DS, CS, etc.
stratification); secondly by the auxiliary heat management category
(the way in which non-solar auxiliary heaters are integrated into Within these types, systems may be configured in many
the system). Maintaining stratification (the variation in water different ways. For the individual house they may - or may not
temperature from cooler at the foot of a tank to warmer at the top) - have the storage tanks, controls and auxiliary heater integrated
is important so that the combisystem can supply hot water and into a single prefabricated package. In contrast, there are also
space heating water at different temperatures. large centralised systems serving a number of properties.
The simplest combisystems - the Type A - have no 'controlled
HEAT STORAGE CATEGORY storage device'. Instead they pump warm water from the solar
collectors through underfloor central heating pipes embedded in
No Controlled Storage Device for Space Heating
the concrete floor slab. The floor slab is thickened to provide
B Heat management and stratification enhancement by thermal mass and so that the heat from the pipes (at the bottom
means of multiple tanks and/or by multiple inlet/outlet of the slab) is released during the evening.
pipes and/or by three- or four-way valves to control flow
through the inlet/outlet pipes COMBISYSTEM DESIGN
C Heat management using natural convection in storage The size and complexity of combisystems, and the number of
tanks and/or between them to maintain stratification to options available, mean that comparing design alternatives is not
a certain extent. straightforward. Useful approximations of performance can be
D Heat management using natural convection in storage produced relatively easily, however accurate predictions remain
tanks and built-in stratification devices. difficult.
Heat management by natural convection in storage tanks Tools for designing solar combisystems are available, varying
and built-in stratifiers as well as multiple tanks and/or from manufacturer's guidelines to nomograms (such as the one
multiple inlet/outlet pipes and/or three-or four-way valves developed for IEA Task 26) to various computer simulation
to control flow through the inlet/outlet pipes. software of varying complexity and accuracy.
Among the software and packages are CombiSun (released
Auxiliary Heat Management Categories
free by the Task 26 team , which can be used for basic system
M Mixed mode: The space heating loop is fed from a single sizing) and the free SHWwin (Austria, in German ). Other
store heated by both solar collectors and the auxiliary commercial systems are available.
heater
202 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 203

TECHNOLOGIES and the other half mostly in the near-infrared part. Some also lies
Solar combisystems use similar technologies to those used for in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum. When ultraviolet radiation
solar hot water and for regular central heating and underfloor is not absorbed by the atmosphere or other protective coating, it
heating, as well as those used in the auxiliary systems - can cause a change in human skin pigmentation. Solar radiation
microgeneration technologies or otherwise. is commonly measured with a pyranometer or pyrheliometer.
The element unique to combisystems is the way that these SOLAR CONSTANT
technologies are combined, and the control systems used to The solar constant is the amount of the Sun's incoming
integrate them, plus any stratifier technology that might be electromagnetic radiation (Solar radiation) per unit area, measured
employed. on the outer surface of Earth's atmosphere in a plane perpendicular
to the rays. The solar constant includes all types of solar radiation,
RELATIONSHIP TO LOW ENERGY BUILDING
not just the visible light. It is measured by satellite to be roughly
By the end of the 20th century solar hot water systems had 1366 watts per square meter (W/m²), though this fluctuates by
been capable of meeting a significant portion of domestic hot about 6.9% during a year (from 1412 W/m² in early January to
water in many climate zones. However it was only with the 1321 W/m² in early July) due to the earth's varying distance from
development of reliable low-energy building techniques in the the Sun, and by a few parts per thousand from day to day. Thus,
last decades of the century that extending such systems for space for the whole Earth (which has a cross section of 127,400,000 km²),
heating became realistic in temperate and colder climatic zones. the power is 1.740×1017 W, plus or minus 3.5%. The Solar constant
As heat demand reduces, the overall size and cost of the does not remain constant over long periods of time (see Solar
system is reduced, and the lower water temperatures typical of variation). 1366 W/m² is equivalent to 1.96 calories per minute
solar heating may be more readily used - especially when coupled per square centimeter, or 1.96 langleys (Ly) per minute.
with underfloor heating, but radiators no longer need to be grossly The Earth receives a total amount of radiation determined by
oversized to compensate if not. The volume occupied by the its cross section (?·RE²), but as it rotates this energy is distributed
equipment also reduces, which also increases the flexibility in its across the entire surface area (4·?·RE²). Hence the average incoming
location, which can be of particular importance in individual solar radiation (sometimes called the solar irradiance), taking into
houses. account the angle at which the rays strike and that at any one
In common with other heating systems in low-energy moment half the planet does not receive any solar radiation, is
buildings, system performance is more sensitive to the number one-fourth the solar constant (approximately 342 W/m²). At any
of occupants, room temperature and ventilation rates, when given moment, the amount of Solar radiation received at a location
compared to regular buildings where such effects are small in on the Earth's surface depends on the state of the atmosphere and
relation to the higher overall energy demand. the location's latitude.
The solar constant includes all wavelengths of solar
SOLAR RADIATION electromagnetic radiation, not just the visible light (see
Solar radiation is radiant energy emitted by a sun as a result Electromagnetic spectrum). It is linked to the apparent magnitude
of its nuclear fusion reactions. of the Sun, ?26.8, in that the solar constant and the magnitude of
The spectrum of the Sun's solar radiation is close to that of the Sun are two methods of describing the apparent brightness
a black body with a temperature of about 5,800 K. About half that of the Sun, though the magnitude only measures the visual output
lies in the visible short-wave part of the electromagnetic spectrum of the Sun.
204 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 205

In 1884, Samuel Pierpont Langley attempted to estimate the tend to offset, the change in the annual average insolation at any
Solar constant from Mount Whitney in California. By taking given location is near zero, but the redistribution of energy between
readings at different times of day, he attempted to remove effects summer and winter does strongly affect the intensity of seasonal
due to atmospheric absorption. However, the value he obtained, cycles. Such changes associated with the redistribution of solar
2903 W/m², was still too great. Between 1902 and 1957, energy are considered a likely cause for the coming and going of
measurements by Charles Greeley Abbot and others at various recent ice ages. In advanced countries, the environmental
high-altitude sites found values between 1322 and 1465 W/m². advantages, a desire for energy independence, and not heating up
Abbott proved that one of Langley's corrections was erroneously the house on a hot day are usually cited as advantages. In the
applied. His results varied between 1.89 and 2.22 calories (1318 developing world, other advantages include:
to 1548 W/m²), a variation that appeared to be due to the Sun • lower cost compared to firewood or cooking oil;
and not the Earth's atmosphere. • greater safety for children and the cook compared to a fire
The angular diameter of the Earth as seen from the Sun is or stove;
approximately 1/11,000 radians, meaning the solid angle of the • lower likelihood of starting a fire that could destroy a
Earth as seen from the sun is approximately 1/140,000,000 family's home; and
steradians. Thus the Sun emits about two billion times the amount
• less time spent cooking compared to tending a fire or
of radiation that is caught by Earth, in other words about 3.86×1026
stove.
watts.
DISADVANTAGES
CLIMATE EFFECT OF SOLAR RADIATION
Solar cookers provide hot food during or shortly after the
On Earth, solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the sun
hottest part of the day, when people are less inclined to eat a hot
is above the horizon. This is during daytime, and also in summer
meal. However, a thick pan that conducts heat slowly (such as
near the poles at night, but not at all in winter near the poles.
Cast Iron) will lose heat at a slower rate, and that, combined with
When the direct radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is experienced
the insulation of the oven or an insulated basket, can be used to
as sunshine, combining the perception of bright white light
keep food warm well into the evening.
(sunlight in the strict sense) and warming. The warming on the
body and surfaces of other objects is distinguished from the increase Solar cookers take longer to cook food compared to an oven.
in air temperature. Using a solar oven therefore requires that food preparation be
started several hours before the meal. However, it requires less
The amount of radiation intercepted by a planetary body
hands-on time cooking, so this is often considered a reasonable
varies inversely with the square of the distance between the star
trade-off.
and the planet. The Earth's orbit and obliquity change with time
(over thousands of years), sometimes forming a nearly perfect SOLAR COOKING PROJECTS
circle, and at other times stretching out to an orbital eccentricity
Michael Hönes of Germany has established solar cooking in
of 5% (currently 1.67%). The total insolation remains almost
Lesotho, enabling small groups of women to build up community
constant but the seasonal and latitudinal distribution and intensity
bakeries using solar ovens.
of solar radiation received at the Earth's surface also varies. For
example, at latitudes of 65 degrees the change in solar energy in USE DARFUR REFUGEE CAMPS
IN
summer & winter can vary by more than 25% as a result of the Cardboard, aluminum foil, and plastic bags for well over
Earth's orbital variation. Because changes in winter and summer
10,000 solar cookers have been donated to the Iridimi refugee
206 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 207

camp and Touloum refugee camps in Chad by the combined high energies provides evidence that at least some must be of
efforts of the Jewish World Watch, the Dutch foundation KoZon, extra-galactic origin (e.g. radio galaxies and quasars); the local
and Solar Cookers International. The refugees construct the cookers galactic magnetic field would not be able to contain particles with
themselves, using the donated supplies and locally purchased such a high energy. The origin of cosmic rays with energies up
Arabic gum, and use them for midday and evening meals. The to 1014 eV can be accounted for in terms of shock-wave acceleration
goal of this project was to reduce the Darfuri women's need to in supernova shells. The origin of cosmic rays with energy greater
leave the relative safety of the camp to gather firewood, which than 1014 eV remained unknown until recently, when a large
exposed them to a high risk of being beaten, raped, kidnapped, collaborative experiment at the Pierre Auger Observatory appears
or murdered. It has also significantly reduced the amount of time to have answered this question. In preliminary results announced
women spend tending open fires each day, with the results that in November 2007, they showed a strong correlation between
they are healthier and they have more time to grow vegetables their 27 most energetic events and active galactic nuclei AGN.
for their families and make handicrafts for export. These results demonstrated that there is only a small chance (less
than 1/100) that the highest energy protons originated from outside
INDIAN SOLAR COOKER VILLAGE the AGN.
Bysanivaripalle, a silk-producing village that is 125 km (80 Observations have shown that cosmic rays with an energy
mi) northwest of Tirupati in the Indian state of in Andhra Pradesh, above 10 GeV (10 x 109 eV) approach the Earth's surface
is the first of its kind: an entire village that uses only solar cooking. isotropically (equally from all directions); it has been hypothesized
Intersol, an Austrian non-governmental organisation, sponsored that this is not due to an even distribution of cosmic ray sources,
the provision of powerful "Sk-14" parabolic solar cookers in 2004. but instead is due to galactic magnetic fields causing cosmic rays
to travel in spiral paths. This limits cosmic ray's usefulness in
COSMIC RAY
positional astronomy as they carry no information of their direction
Cosmic rays are energetic particles originating from space of origin. At energies below 10 GeV there is a directional
that impinge on Earth's atmosphere. Almost 90% of all the incoming dependence, due to the interaction of the charged component of
cosmic ray particles are protons, about 9% are helium nuclei the cosmic rays with the Earth's magnetic field.
(alpha particles) and about 1% are electrons (beta minus particles).
The term "ray" is a misnomer, as cosmic particles arrive SOLAR COSMIC RAYS
individually, not in the form of a ray or beam of particles. Solar cosmic rays or solar energetic particles (SEP) are cosmic
The variety of particle energies reflects the wide variety of rays that originate from the Sun. The average composition is
sources. The origins of these particles range from energetic similar to that of the Sun itself. There exists no clear and sharp
processes on the Sun all the way to as yet unknown events in the boundary between the phase spaces of the solar wind and SEP
farthest reaches of the visible universe. Cosmic rays can have plasma particle populations.
energies of over 1020 eV, far higher than the 1012 to 1013 eV that The name solar cosmic ray itself is a misnomer because the
man-made particle accelerators can produce. There has been term cosmic implies that the rays are from the cosmos and not
interest in investigating cosmic rays of even greater energies. the solar system, but it has stuck. The misnomer arose because
there is continuity in the energy spectra, i.e., the flux of particles
COSMIC RAY SOURCES
as a function of their energy, because the low-energy solar cosmic
Most cosmic rays originate from extrasolar sources within our rays fade more or less smoothly into the galactic ones as one looks
own galaxy such as rotating neutron stars, supernovae, and black at increasingly higher energies. Until the mid-1960s the energy
holes. However, the fact that some cosmic rays have extremely
208 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 209

distributions were generally averaged over long time intervals, rethink of the origin of ACRs), or a localised feature of that part
which also obscured the difference. Later, it was found that the of the termination shock that Voyager 1 passed through. Voyager
solar cosmic rays vary widely in their intensity and spectrum, 2 is expected to cross the termination shock during or after 2008,
increasing in strength after some solar events such as solar flares. which will provide more data.
Further, an increase in the intensity of solar cosmic rays is followed
by a decrease in all other cosmic rays, called the Forbush decrease COMPOSITION
after their discoverer, the physicist Scott Forbush. These decreases Cosmic rays may broadly be divided into two categories,
are due to the solar wind with its entrained magnetic field sweeping primary and secondary. The cosmic rays that arise in extrasolar
some of the galactic cosmic rays outwards, away from the Sun and astrophysical sources are primary cosmic rays; these primary
Earth. The overall or average rate of Forbush decreases tends to cosmic rays can interact with interstellar matter to create secondary
follow the 11-year sunspot cycle, but individual events are tied cosmic rays. The sun also emits low energy cosmic rays associated
to events on the Sun, as explained above. with solar flares. The exact composition of primary cosmic rays,
There are further differences between cosmic rays of solar and outside the Earth's atmosphere, is dependent on which part of the
galactic origin, mainly in that the galactic cosmic rays show an energy spectrum is observed. However, in general, almost 90%
enhancement of heavy elements such as calcium, iron and gallium, of all the incoming cosmic rays are protons, about 9% are helium
as well as of cosmically rare light elements such as lithium and nuclei (alpha particles) and about 1% are electrons. The remaining
beryllium. The latter result from the cosmic ray spallation fraction is made up of the other heavier nuclei which are abundant
(fragmentation) of heavy nuclei due to collisions in transit from end products of star's nuclear synthesis. Secondary cosmic rays
the distant sources to the solar system. consist of the other nuclei which are not abundant nuclear synthesis
end products, or products of the Big Bang, primarily lithium,
ANOMALOUS COSMIC RAYS beryllium and boron. These light nuclei appear in cosmic rays in
Anomalous cosmic rays (ACRs) are cosmic rays with much greater abundance (about 1:100 particles) than in solar
unexpectedly low energies. They are thought to be created near atmospheres, where their abundance is about 10-7 that of helium.
the edge of our solar system, in the heliosheath, the border region This abundance difference is a result of the way secondary
between the heliosphere and the interstellar medium. When cosmic rays are formed. When the heavy nuclei components of
electrically neutral atoms are able to enter the heliosheath (being primary cosmic rays, namely the carbon and oxygen nuclei, collide
unaffected by its magnetic fields) subsequently become ionized, with interstellar matter, they break up into lighter nuclei (in a
they are thought to be accelerated into low-energy cosmic rays by process termed cosmic ray spallation), into lithium, beryllium and
the solar wind's termination shock which marks the inner edge boron. It is found that the energy spectra of Li, Be and B falls off
of the heliosheath. It is also possible that high energy galactic somewhat steeper than that of carbon or oxygen, indicating that
cosmic rays which hit the shock front of the solar wind near the less cosmic ray spallation occurs for the higher energy nuclei
heliopause might be decelerated, resulting in their transformation presumably due to their escape from the galactic magnetic field.
into lower-energy anomalous cosmic rays. Spallation is also responsible for the abundances of Sc, Ti, V and
The Voyager 1 space probe crossed the termination shock on Mn elements in cosmic rays, which are produced by collisions of
December 16, 2004, according to papers published in the journal Fe and Ni nuclei with interstellar matter. In the past, it was
Science. Readings showed particle acceleration, but not of the believed that the cosmic ray flux has remained fairly constant over
kind that generates ACRs. It is unclear at this stage (September time. Recent research has, however, produced evidence for 1.5 to
2005) if this is typical of the termination shock (requiring a major 2-fold millennium-timescale changes in the cosmic ray flux in the
past forty thousand years.
210 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 211

MODULATION occur the agile reader is referred to Mabedle Donald Ngobeni and
The flux (flow rate) of cosmic rays incident on the Earth's Marius Potgieter (2007), and Mabedle Donald Ngobeni (2006).
upper atmosphere is modulated (varied) by two processes; the From modelling point of view, there is a challenge in
sun's solar wind and the Earth's magnetic field. Solar wind is determining the Local Interstellar spectra (LIS) due to large
expanding magnetized plasma generated by the sun, which has adiabatic energy changes these particles experience owing to the
the effect of decelerating the incoming particles as well as partially diverging solar wind in the heliosphere. However, significant
excluding some of the particles with energies below about 1 GeV. progress has been made in the field of cosmic ray studies with
The amount of solar wind is not constant due to changes in solar the development of an improved state-of-the-art 2D numerical
activity over its regular eleven-year cycle. model that includes the simulation of the solar wind termination
Hence the level of modulation varies in autocorrelation with shock, drifts and the heliosheath coupled with fresh descriptions
solar activity. Also the Earth's magnetic field deflects some of the of the diffusion tensor, see Langner et al. (2004).
cosmic rays, which is confirmed by the fact that the intensity of But challenges also exist because the structure of the solar
cosmic radiation is dependent on latitude, longitude and azimuth. wind and the turbulent magnetic field in the heliosheath is not
The cosmic flux varies from eastern and western directions due well understood indicating the heliosheath as the region unknown
to the polarity of the Earth's geomagnetic field and the positive beyond. With lack of knowledge of the diffusion coefficient
charge dominance in primary cosmic rays; this is termed the east- perpendicular to the magnetic field our knowledge of the
west effect. heliosphere and from the modelling point of view is far from
The cosmic ray intensity at the equator is lower than at the complete. There exist promising theories like ab initio approaches,
poles as the geomagnetic cutoff value is greatest at the equator. but the drawback is that such theories produce poor compatibility
This can be understood by the fact that charged particle tend to with observations (Minnie, 2006) indicating their failure in
move in the direction of field lines and not across them. This is describing the mechanisms influencing the cosmic rays in the
the reason the Aurorae occur at the poles, since the field lines heliosphere.
curve down towards the Earth's surface there. Finally, the longitude
DETECTION
dependence arises from the fact that the geomagnetic dipole axis
is not parallel to the Earth's rotation axis. The nuclei that make up cosmic rays are able to travel from
their distant sources to the Earth because of the low density of
This modulation which describes the change in the interstellar
matter in space. Nuclei interact strongly with other matter, so
intensities of cosmic rays as they propagate in the heliosphere is
when the cosmic rays approach Earth they begin to collide with
highly energy and spatial dependent, and it is described by the
the nuclei of atmospheric gases. These collisions, in a process
Parker's Transport Equation in the heliosphere. At large radial
known as a shower, result in the production of many pions and
distances, far from the Sun ~ 94 AU, there exists the region where
kaons, unstable mesons which quickly decay into muons. Because
the solar wind undergoes a transition from supersonic to subsonic
muons do not interact strongly with the atmosphere and because
speeds called the solar wind termination shock. The region between
of the relativistic effect of time dilation many of these muons are
the termination shock and the heliospause (the boundary marking
able to reach the surface of the Earth. Muons are ionizing radiation,
the end of the heliosphere) is called the heliosheath. This region
and may easily be detected by many types of particle detectors
acts as a barrier to cosmic rays and it decreases their intensities
such as bubble chambers or scintillation detectors. If several muons
at lower energies by about 90% indicating that it is not only the
are observed by separated detectors at the same instant it is clear
Earth's magnetic field that protect us from cosmic ray
that they must have been produced in the same shower event.
bombardment. For more on this topic and how the barrier effects
212 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 213

DETECTION BY PARTICLE TRACK-ETCH TECHNIQUE an atmospheric molecule. Cosmic rays kept the level of carbon-
Cosmic rays can also be detected directly when they pass 14 in the atmosphere roughly constant (70 tons) for at least the
through particle detectors flown aboard satellites or in high altitude past 100,000 years, until the beginning of aboveground nuclear
balloons. In a pioneering technique developed by P. Buford Price weapons testing in the early 1950s. This is an important fact used
et al., sheets of clear plastic such as 1/4 mil Lexan polycarbonate in radiocarbon dating which is used in archaeology.
can be stacked together and exposed directly to cosmic rays in
UNUSUAL COSMIC RAYS
space or high altitude. When returned to the laboratory, the plastic
sheets are "etched" literally, slowly dissolved in warm caustic In 1975, a team of researchers headed by P. Buford Price at
sodium hydroxide solution, which slowly removes the surface U.C. Berkeley announced the discovery of a cosmic ray track in
material at a slow, known rate. Wherever a bare cosmic ray nucleus a particle detector slung under a high-altitude balloon that was
passes through the detector, the nuclear charge causes chemical significantly different from all others ever measured. Using the
bond breaking in the plastic. The slower the particle, the more particle track-etch method pioneered by Price, et al., they
extensive is the bond-breaking along the path; and the higher the discovered the track of a particle that had passed through 32
charge the higher the Z, the more extensive is the bond-breaking sheets of 1/4 mil Lexan plastic without any measurable change
along the path. The caustic sodium hydroxide dissolves at a faster in ionization. Yet, the Cerenkov detector admitted only of particles
rate along the path of the damage, but thereafter dissolves at the less than 2/3 c the speed of light in the clear plastic. The charge
slower base-rate along the surface of the minute hole that was was measured as being 137, the same as predicted by Paul Dirac
drilled. who first predicted the theoretical existence of magnetic monopoles.
The particle track preliminarily identified as having been caused
The net result is a conical shaped pit in the plastic; typically
by a magnetic monopole had been spotted by technical assistant
with two pits per sheet one originating from each side of the
Walter L. Wagner. A possible alternative explanation was offered
plastic. The etch pits can be measured under a high power
by Alvarez. In his paper it was demonstrated that the path of the
microscope typically 1600X oil-immersion, and the etch rate plotted
cosmic ray event that was claimed to be due to a magnetic
as a function of the depth in the stack of plastic. At the top of the
monopole could be reproduced by a path followed by a platinum
stack, the ionization damage is less due to the higher speed. As
nucleus fragmenting to osmium and then to tantalum.
the speed decreases due to deceleration in the stack, the ionization
damage increases along the path. This generates a unique curve RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTS
for each atomic nucleus of Z from 1 to 92, allowing identification
There are a number of cosmic ray research initiatives. These
of both the charge and energy speed of the particle that traverses
include, but are not limited to:
the stack. This technique has been used with great success for
detecting not only cosmic rays, but fission product nuclei for • CHICOS
neutron detectors. • PAMELA
• Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer
INTERACTION WITH THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE • MARIACHI
When cosmic ray particles enter the Earth's atmosphere they • Pierre Auger Observatory
collide with molecules, mainly oxygen and nitrogen, to produce
• Spaceship Earth
a cascade of lighter particles, a so-called air shower. The general
idea is shown in the figure which shows a cosmic ray shower After the discovery of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel in
produced by a high energy proton of cosmic ray origin striking 1896, it was generally believed that atmospheric electricity
(ionization of the air) was caused only by radiation from radioactive
214 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 215

elements in the ground or the radioactive gases (isotopes of radon) particle tracks in a special kind of photographic plate called a
they produce. Measurements of ionization rates at increasing nuclear emulsion that had been exposed to cosmic rays at a high-
heights above the ground during the decade from 1900 to 1910 altitude mountain station. In 1948, observations with nuclear
showed a decrease that could be explained as due to absorption emulsions carried by balloons to near the top of the atmosphere
of the ionizing radiation by the intervening air. In 1912 Domenico by Gottlieb and Van Allen showed that the primary cosmic particles
Pacini observed simultaneous variations of the rate of ionization are mostly protons with some helium nuclei (alpha particles) and
over a lake, and over the sea. Pacini concluded that a certain part a small fraction heavier nuclei.
of the ionization must be due to sources other than the radioactivity In 1934 Bruno Rossi reported an observation of near-
of the Earth or the air. Then, in 1912, Victor Hess carried three simultaneous discharges of two Geiger counters widely separated
Wulf electrometers (a device to measure the rate of ion production in a horizontal plane during a test of equipment he was using in
inside a hermetically sealed container) to an altitude of 5300 meters a measurement of the so-called east-west effect. In his report on
in a free balloon flight. He found the ionization rate increased the experiment, Rossi wrote "...it seems that once in a while the
approximately fourfold over the rate at ground level. He concluded recording equipment is struck by very extensive showers of
"The results of my observation are best explained by the assumption particles, which causes coincidences between the counters, even
that a radiation of very great penetrating power enters our placed at large distances from one another. Unfortunately, he did
atmosphere from above." In 1913-14, Werner Kolhörster confirmed not have the time to study this phenomenon more closely." In 1937
Victor Hess' results by measuring the increased ionization rate at Pierre Auger, unaware of Rossi's earlier report, detected the same
an altitude of 9 km. Hess received the Nobel Prize in Physics in phenomenon and investigated it in some detail. He concluded
1936 for his discovery of what came to be called "cosmic rays". that extensive particle showers are generated by high-energy
For many years it was generally believed that cosmic rays primary cosmic-ray particles that interact with air nuclei high in
were high-energy photons (gamma rays) with some secondary the atmosphere, initiating a cascade of secondary interactions that
electrons produced by Compton scattering of the gamma rays. ultimately yield a shower of electrons, photons, and muons that
Then, during the decade from 1927 to 1937 a wide variety of reach ground level.
experimental investigations demonstrated that the primary cosmic Homi J. Bhabha derived an expression for the probability of
rays are mostly positively charged particles, and the secondary scattering positrons by electrons, a process now known as Bhabha
radiation observed at ground level is composed primarily of a scattering. His classic paper, jointly with Warren Heitler, published
"soft component" of electrons and photons and a "hard component" in 1937 described how primary cosmic rays from space interact
of penetrating particles, muons. with the upper atmosphere to produce particles observed at the
The muon was initially believed to be the unstable particle ground level. Bhabha and Heitler explained the cosmic ray shower
predicted by Hideki Yukawa in 1935 in his theory of the nuclear formation by the cascade production of gamma rays and positive
force. Experiments proved that the muon decays with a mean life and negative electron pairs. In 1938 Bhabha concluded that
of 2.2 microseconds into an electron and two neutrinos, but that observations of the properties of such particles would lead to the
it does not interact strongly with nuclei, so it could not be the straightforward experimental verification of Albert Einstein's
Yukawa particle. The mystery was solved by the discovery in 1947 theory of relativity.
of the pion, which is produced directly in high-energy nuclear Measurements of the energy and arrival directions of the
interactions. It decays into a muon and one neutrino with a mean ultra-high-energy primary cosmic rays by the techniques of
life of 0.0026 microseconds. The pion?muon?electron decay "density sampling" and "fast timing" of extensive air showers
sequence was observed directly in a microscopic examination of were first carried out in 1954 by members of the Rossi Cosmic Ray
216 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 217

Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Effect on Electronics


experiment employed eleven scintillation detectors arranged Cosmic rays have sufficient energy to alter the states of
within a circle 460 meters in diameter on the grounds of the elements in electronic integrated circuits, causing transient errors
Agassiz Station of the Harvard College Observatory. From that to occur, such as corrupted data in memory, or incorrect behavior
work, and from many other experiments carried out all over the of a CPU. This has been a problem in high-altitude electronics,
world, the energy spectrum of the primary cosmic rays is now such as in satellites, but as transistors become smaller it is becoming
known to extend beyond 1020 eV (past the GZK cutoff, beyond an increasing concern in ground-level equipment as well.
which very few cosmic rays should be observed). A huge air
To alleviate this problem, Intel has proposed a cosmic ray
shower experiment called the Auger Project is currently operated
detector which could be integrated into future high-density
at a site on the pampas of Argentina by an international consortium
microprocessors, allowing the processor to repeat the last command
of physicists.
following a cosmic ray event.
Their aim is to explore the properties and arrival directions
of the very highest energy primary cosmic rays. The results are Significance to Space Travel
expected to have important implications for particle physics and Galactic cosmic rays are one of the most important barriers
cosmology. In November, 2007 preliminary results were announced standing in the way of plans for interplanetary travel by crewed
showing direction of origination of the 27 highest energy events spacecraft. See Health threat from cosmic rays.
were strongly correlated with the locations of active galactic nuclei
AGN, where bare protons are believed accelerated by strong Role in Lightning
magnetic fields associated with the large black holes at the AGN Cosmic rays have been implicated in the triggering of electrical
centers to energies of 1E20 eV and higher. breakdown in lightning. It has been proposed that essentially all
Three varieties of neutrino are produced when the unstable lightning is triggered through a relativistic process, "runaway
particles produced in cosmic ray showers decay. Since neutrinos breakdown", seeded by cosmic ray secondaries. Subsequent
interact only weakly with matter most of them simply pass through development of the lightning discharge then occurs through
the Earth and exit the other side. They very occasionally interact, "conventional breakdown" mechanisms.
however, and these atmospheric neutrinos have been detected by
several deep underground experiments. The Super-Kamiokande
Role in Climate Change
in Japan provided the first convincing evidence for neutrino Whether cosmic rays have any role in climate change is
oscillation in which one flavour of neutrino changes into another. disputed. Different groups have made different arguments
The evidence was found in a difference in the ratio of electron regarding the role of cosmic ray forcing in climate change.
neutrinos to muon neutrinos depending on the distance they have Shaviv et al. have argued that galactic cosmic ray (GCR)
traveled through the air and earth. climate signals on geological time scales are attributable to changing
positions of the galactic spiral arms of the Milky Way, and that
EFFECTS cosmic ray flux variability is the dominant climate driver over
Role in Ambient Radiation these time periods. They also argue that GCR flux variability plays
Cosmic rays constitute a fraction of the annual radiation an important role in climate variability over shorter time scales,
exposure of human beings on earth. For example, the average though the relative contribution of anthropogenic factors in relation
radiation exposure in Australia is 0.3 mSv due to cosmic rays, out to GCR flux presently is a matter of continued debate. Because
of a total of 2.3 mSv. of uncertainty about which GCR energies are the most important
218 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 219

drivers of cloud cover variation (if any), and because of the paucity no long term trend. No trend = no explanation for current
of historical data on cosmic ray flux at various ranges of energies, changes.
controversies remain. More recently a Lancaster University study produced further
Henrik Svensmark et al. have argued that solar variations compelling evidence showing that modern-day climate change is
modulate the cosmic ray signal seen at the earth and that this not caused by changes in the Sun's activity.
would affect cloud formation and hence climate. Cosmic rays
have been experimentally determined to be able to produce ultra- Cosmic Rays and Fiction
small aerosol particles, orders of magnitude smaller than cloud Because of the metaphysical connotations of the word "cosmic",
condensation nuclei (CCN). Whether this mechanism is relevant the very name of these particles enables their misinterpretation
to the real atmosphere is unknown; in particular, the steps from by the public, giving them an aura of mysterious powers. Were
this to modulation of cloud formation and thence climate have not they merely referred to as "high-speed protons and atomic nuclei"
been established. The analogy is with the Wilson cloud chamber, this might not be so.
however acting on a global scale, where earth's atmosphere acts In fiction, cosmic rays have been used as a catchall, mostly
as the cloud chamber and the cosmic rays catalyze the production in comics (notably the Marvel Comics group the Fantastic Four),
of CCN. But unlike a cloud chamber, where the air is carefully as a source for mutation and therefore the powers gained by being
purified, the real atmosphere always has many CCN naturally. bombarded with them.
Various proposals have been made for the mechanism by which
Also, in the book Atlas Shrugged by author Ayn Rand, Dr.
cosmic rays might affect clouds, including ion mediated nucleation,
Robert Stadler's research of cosmic rays is said to have contributed
and indirect effects on current flow density in the global electric
to Project X: a weapon of mass destruction.
circuit (see Tinsley 2000, and F. Yu 1999). Claims have been made
of identification of GCR climate signals in atmospheric parameters Sunspot
such as high latitude precipitation (Todd & Kniveton), and
A sunspot is a region on the Sun's surface (photosphere) that
Svensmark's annual cloud cover variations, which were said to
is marked by a lower temperature than its surroundings and has
be correlated to GCR variation.
intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection, forming areas
That Svensmark's work can be extrapolated to suggest any of reduced surface temperature. They can be visible from Earth
meaningful connection with global warming is disputed: without the aid of a telescope. Although they are blindingly bright
At the time we pointed out that while the experiments at temperatures of roughly 4000-4500 K, the contrast with the
were potentially of interest, they are a long way from surrounding material at about 5800 K leaves them clearly visible
actually demonstrating an influence of cosmic rays on the as dark spots, as the intensity of a heated black body (closely
real world climate, and in no way justify the hyperbole approximated by the photosphere) is a function of T (temperature)
that Svensmark and colleagues put into their press releases to the fourth power. If a sunspot was isolated from the surrounding
and more 'popular' pieces. Even if the evidence for solar photosphere it would be brighter than an electric arc. A minimum
forcing were legitimate, any bizarre calculus that takes in the eleven-year sunspot cycle may happen during 2008. While
evidence for solar forcing of climate as evidence against the reverse polarity sunspot observed on 4 January 2008 may
greenhouse gases for current climate change is simply represent the start of Cycle 24, no additional sunspots have yet
wrong. Whether cosmic rays are correlated with climate been seen in this cycle. The definition of a new sunspot cycle is
or not, they have been regularly measured by the neutron when the average number of sunspots of the new cycle's magnetic
monitor at Climax Station (Colorado) since 1953 and show polarity outnumbers that of the old cycle's polarity. Forecasts in
220 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 221

2006 predicted cycle 24 to start between late 2007 and early 2008, largest spot groups when the sun's glare was filtered by wind-
but new estimates suggest a delay until 2009. Sunspots, being the borne dust from the various central Asian deserts. A large sunspot
manifestation of intense magnetic activity, host secondary was also seen at the time of Charlemagne's death in 813 A.D. and
phenomena such as coronal loops and reconnection events. Most sunspot activity in 1129 was described by John of Worcester.
solar flares and coronal mass ejections originate in magnetically However, these observations were misinterpreted until Galileo
active regions around visible sunspot groupings. Similar gave the correct explanation in 1612.
phenomena indirectly observed on stars are commonly called They were first observed telescopically in late 1610 by the
starspots and both light and dark spots have been measured. English astronomer Thomas Harriot and Frisian astronomers
Johannes and David Fabricius, who published a description in
Sunspot Variation
June 1611. At the latter time Galileo had been showing sunspots
Sunspot populations quickly rise and more slowly fall on an to astronomers in Rome, and Christoph Scheiner had probably
irregular cycle about every 11 years. Significant variations of the been observing the spots for two or three months. The ensuing
11 year period are known over longer spans of time. For example, priority dispute between Galileo and Scheiner, neither of whom
from 1900 to the 1960s the solar maxima trend of sunspot count knew of the Fabricius' work, was thus as pointless as it was bitter.
has been upward; from the 1960s to the present, it has diminished
Sunspots had some importance in the debate over the nature
somewhat.. The Sun is presently at a markedly heightened level
of the solar system. They showed that the Sun rotated, and their
of sunspot activity and was last similarly active over 8,000 years
comings and goings showed that the Sun changed, contrary to the
ago. The number of sunspots correlates with the intensity of solar
teaching of Aristotle. The details of their apparent motion could
radiation over the period (since 1979) when satellite measurements
not be readily explained except in the heliocentric system of
of absolute radiative flux were available. Since sunspots are darker
Copernicus.
than the surrounding photosphere it might be expected that more
sunspots would lead to less solar radiation and a decreased solar The cyclic variation of the number of sunspots was first
constant. However, the surrounding margins of sunspots are hotter observed by Heinrich Schwabe between 1826 and 1843 and led
than the average, and so are brighter& overall, more sunspots Rudolf Wolf to make systematic observations starting in 1848. The
increase the sun's solar constant or brightness. The variation caused Wolf number is an expression of individual spots and spot
by the sunspot cycle to solar output is relatively small, on the groupings, which has demonstrated success in its correlation to
order of 0.1% of the solar constant (a peak-to-trough range of 1.3 a number of solar observables. Also in 1848, Joseph Henry projected
W m-2 compared to 1366 W m-2 for the average solar constant). an image of the Sun onto a screen and determined that sunspots
This range is slightly smaller than the change in radiative forcing were cooler than the surrounding surface.
caused by the increase in atmospheric CO2 since the 18th century. Wolf also studied the historical record in an attempt to establish
During the Maunder Minimum in the 17th Century there were a database on cyclic variations of the past. He established a cycle
hardly any sunspots at all. This coincides with a period of cooling database to only 1700, although the technology and techniques for
known as the Little Ice Age. It has been speculated that there may careful solar observations were first available in 1610. Gustav
be a resonant gravitational link between a photospheric tidal force Spörer later suggested a 70-year period before 1716 in which
from the planets, the dominant component by summing sunspots were rarely observed as the reason for Wolf's inability
gravitational tidal force (75% being Jupiter's) with an 11 year to extend the cycles into the seventeenth century. The economist
cycle. William Stanley Jevons suggested that there is a relationship
Apparent references to sunspots were made by Chinese between sunspots and crises in business cycles. He reasoned that
astronomers in 28 BC (Hanshu, 27), who probably could see the sunspots affect earth's weather, which, in turn, influences crop
222 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 223

yields and, therefore, the economy. Edward Maunder would later an X-ray flux of X28. Holographic and visual observations indicate
suggest a period over which the Sun had changed modality from significant activity continued on the far side of the Sun.
a period in which sunspots all but disappeared from the solar
surface, followed by the appearance of sunspot cycles starting in PHYSICS
1700. Careful studies revealed the problem not to be a lack of Although the details of sunspot generation are still somewhat
observational data but included references to negative observations. a matter of research, it is quite clear that sunspots are the visible
Adding to this understanding of the absence of solar activity counterparts of magnetic flux tubes in the convective zone of the
cycles were observations of aurorae, which were also absent at the sun that get "wound up" by differential rotation. If the stress on
same time. Even the lack of a solar corona during solar eclipses the flux tubes reaches a certain limit, they curl up quite like a
was noted prior to 1715. rubber band and puncture the sun's surface. At the puncture
Sunspot research was dormant for much of the 17th and early points convection is inhibited, the energy flux from the sun's
18th centuries because of the Maunder Minimum, during which interior decreases, and with it the surface temperature.
no sunspots were visible for some years; but after the resumption The Wilson effect tells us that sunspots are actually depressions
of sunspot activity, Heinrich Schwabe in 1843 reported a periodic on the sun's surface. This model is supported by observations
change in the number of sunspots. Since 1981, the Royal using the Zeeman effect that show that prototypical sunspots
Observatory of Belgium keeps track of sunspots as the World data come in pairs with opposite magnetic polarity. From cycle to
center for the Sunspot Index. cycle, the polarities of leading and trailing (with respect to the
solar rotation) sunspots change from north/south to south/north
RADIO COMMUNICATIONS INTERFERENCE and back. Sunspots usually appear in groups.
Solar flares also create a wide spectrum of radio noise; at VHF The sunspot itself can be divided into two parts:
(and under unusual conditions at HF) this noise may interfere
• The central umbra, which is the darkest part, where the
directly with a wanted signal. The frequency with which a radio
magnetic field is approximately vertical
operator experiences solar flare effects will vary with the
• The surrounding penumbra, which is lighter, where the
approximately 11-year sunspot cycle; more effects occur during
magnetic field lines are more inclined.
solar maximum (when flare occurrence is high) than during solar
minimum (when flare occurrence is very low). A radio operator Magnetic field lines would ordinarily repel each other, causing
can experience great difficulty in transmitting or receiving signals sunspots to disperse rapidly, but sunspot lifetime is about two
during solar flares due to more noise and different propagation weeks. Recent observations from the Solar and Heliospheric
patterns. Observatory (SOHO) using sound waves traveling through the
Sun's photosphere to develop a detailed image of the internal
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS structure below sunspots show that there is a powerful downdraft
An extremely powerful flare was emitted toward Earth on 1 underneath each sunspot, forming a rotating vortex that
September 1859. It interrupted electrical telegraph service and concentrates magnetic field lines. Sunspots are self-perpetuating
caused visible Aurora Borealis as far south as Havana, Hawaii, storms, similar in some ways to terrestrial hurricanes.
and Rome with similar activity in the southern hemisphere. Sunspot activity cycles about every eleven years. The point
The most powerful flare observed by satellite instrumentation of highest sunspot activity during this cycle is known as Solar
began on 4 November 2003 at 19:29 UTC, and saturated instruments Maximum, and the point of lowest activity is Solar Minimum. At
for 11 minutes. Region 486 has been estimated to have produced the start of a cycle, sunspots tend to appear in the higher latitudes
and then move towards the equator as the cycle approaches
224 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 225

maximum: this is called Spörer's law. Today it is known that there APPLICATION
are various periods in the Wolf number sunspot index, the most A large group of sunspots in year 2004. The grey area around
prominent of which is at about 11 years in the mean. This period the spots can be seen very clearly, as well as the granulation of
is also observed in most other expressions of solar activity and the sun's surface. Due to their link to other kinds of solar activity,
is deeply linked to a variation in the solar magnetic field that sunspots can be used to predict the space weather and with it the
changes polarity with this period, too. state of the ionosphere. Thus, sunspots can help predict conditions
A modern understanding of sunspots starts with George Ellery of short-wave radio propagation or satellite communications.
Hale, in which magnetic fields and sunspots are linked. Hale Don Easterbrook, a Professor Emeritus of geology at Western
suggested that the sunspot cycle period is 22 years, covering two Washington University, has claimed that there is a cause-and-
polar reversals of the solar magnetic dipole field. Horace W. effect relationship between sunspot activity and global
Babcock later proposed a qualitative model for the dynamics of temperatures on Earth. It is also believed that sunspot activity has
the solar outer layers. The Babcock Model explains the behavior a direct effect on weather and climate change on the planet, the
described by Spörer's law, as well as other effects, as being due controversy over global warming has put scientists in opposition
to magnetic fields which are twisted by the Sun's rotation. to each other, until more is known about the effects of sunspots
and solar radiation levels and their exact relationship with Earth
SUNSPOT OBSERVATION
and its weather patterns (including temperature change) we must
Sunspots are observed with land-based solar telescopes as accept that there may be a correlation between global warming
well as ones on Earth-orbiting satellites. These telescopes use and sunspot activity.
filtration and projection techniques for direct observation, in
additional to filtered cameras of various types. Specialized tools STARSPOTS ON OTHER STARS
such as spectroscopes and spectrohelioscopes are used to examine Periodic changes in brightness had been first seen on red
sunspots and areas of sunspots. Artificial eclipses allow viewing dwarfs and in 1947 G. E. Kron proposed that spots were the cause.
of the circumference of the sun as sunspots rotate through the Since the mid 1990s observations of starspots have been made
horizon. using increasingly powerful techniques yielding more and more
Since looking directly at the Sun with the naked eye, through detail: photometry determined starspot regions grew and decayed
binoculars or a telescope is extremely dangerous, amateur and showed cyclic behaviour similar to the Sun's; spectroscopy
observation of sunspots with the unaided eye is generally done examined the structure of starspot regions; Doppler imaging
by projection or via using proper filtration. Small sections of very showed differential rotation of spots for several stars and
dark filter glass, such as a 14 welder's glass is sometimes employed. distributions different from the Sun's; spectral line analysis
The eyepiece of a telescope is also used in the role of a "projector" measured the temperature range of spots and the stellar surfaces.
to project the image, without filtration, on to a white screen where For example, in 1999, Strassmeier reported the largest cool starspot
it can be viewed indirectly, and even traced, so sunspot evolution ever seen rotating the giant K0 star XX Triangulum (HD 12545)
can be followed. with a temperature of 3500 kelvin, together with a warm spot of
Special purpose hydrogen-alpha narrow bandpass filters as 4800 kelvin.
well as aluminum coated glass attenuation filters (which have the
appearance of mirrors due to their extremely high optical density) SOLAR ECLIPSE
are also used on the front of a telescope to provide safe direct A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun
observation through the eyepiece. and the Earth so that the Sun is wholly or partially obscured. This
226 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 227

can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon • A partial eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are not
are in conjunction as seen from the Earth. At least two and up exactly in line, and the Moon only partially obscures the
to five solar eclipses occur each year on Earth, with between zero Sun. This phenomenon can usually be seen from a large
and two of them being total eclipses. Total solar eclipses are part of the Earth outside of the track of an annular or total
nevertheless rare at any location because during each eclipse eclipse. However, some eclipses can only be seen as a
totality exists only along a narrow corridor in the relatively tiny partial eclipse, because the umbra never intersects the
area of the Moon's umbra. Earth's surface.
A total solar eclipse is a spectacular natural phenomenon and The match between the apparent sizes of the Sun and Moon
many people travel to remote locations to observe one. The 1999 during a total eclipse is a coincidence. The Sun's distance from the
total eclipse in Europe helped to increase public awareness of the Earth is about 400 times the Moon's distance, and the Sun's diameter
phenomenon, as illustrated by the number of journeys made is about 400 times the Moon's diameter. Because these ratios are
specifically to witness the 2005 annular eclipse and the 2006 total approximately the same, the sizes of the Sun and the Moon as seen
eclipse. The next solar eclipse will occur on August 1, 2008, and from Earth appear to be approximately the same: about 0.5 degree
will be a total eclipse. of arc in angular measure.
In ancient times, and in some cultures today, solar eclipses Because the Moon's orbit around the Earth is an ellipse, as is
have been attributed to supernatural causes. Total solar eclipses the Earth's orbit around the Sun, the apparent sizes of the Sun and
can be frightening for people who are unaware of their astronomical Moon vary. The magnitude of an eclipse is the ratio of the apparent
explanation, as the Sun seems to disappear in the middle of the size of the Moon to the apparent size of the Sun during an eclipse.
day and the sky darkens in a matter of minutes. An eclipse when the Moon is near its closest distance from the
Earth (i.e., near its perigee) can be a total eclipse because the Moon
ANNULAR ECLIPSE will appear to be large enough to cover completely the Sun's
There are four types of solar eclipses: bright disk, or photosphere; a total eclipse has a magnitude greater
than 1.
• A total eclipse occurs when the Sun is completely obscured
by the Moon. The intensely bright disk of the Sun is replaced Conversely, an eclipse when the Moon is near its farthest
by the dark silhouette of the Moon, and the much fainter distance from the Earth (i.e., near its apogee) can only be an
corona is visible. During any one eclipse, totality is visible annular eclipse because the Moon will appear to be slightly smaller
only from at most a narrow track on the surface of the than the Sun; the magnitude of an annular eclipse is less than 1.
Earth. Slightly more solar eclipses are annular than total because, on
average, the Moon lies too far from Earth to cover the Sun
• An annular eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are
completely. A hybrid eclipse occurs when the magnitude of an
exactly in line, but the apparent size of the Moon is smaller eclipse is very close to 1: the eclipse will appear to be total at some
than that of the Sun. Hence the Sun appears as a very locations on Earth and annular at other locations.
bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the outline of the
The Earth's orbit around the Sun is also elliptical, so the
Moon.
Earth's distance from the Sun varies throughout the year. This also
• A hybrid eclipse is intermediate between a total and affects the apparent sizes of the Sun and Moon, but not so much
annular eclipse. At some points on the surface of the Earth as the Moon's varying distance from the Earth. When the Earth
it is visible as a total eclipse, whereas at others it is annular. approaches its farthest distance from the Sun (the aphelion) in
Hybrid eclipses are rather rare. July, this tends to favor a total eclipse. As the Earth approaches
228 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 229

its closest distance from the Sun (the perihelion) in January, this On average, the Moon appears to be slightly smaller than the Sun,
tends to favor an annular eclipse. so the majority (about 60%) of central eclipses are annular. It is
only when the Moon is closer to the Earth than average (near its
TERMINOLOGY perigee) that a total eclipse occurs.
The Moon transiting in front of the Sun as seen from STEREO- The Moon orbits the Earth in approximately 27.3 days, relative
B on February, 25 2007 at 4.4 times the distance between the Earth to a fixed frame of reference. This is known as the sidereal month.
and the Moon. However, during one sidereal month, the Earth has revolved part
Central eclipse is often used as a generic term for a total, way around the Sun, making the average time between one new
annular, or hybrid eclipse. This is, however, not completely correct: moon and the next longer than the sidereal month: it is
the definition of a central eclipse is an eclipse during which approximately 29.5 days. This is known as the synodic month,
the central line of the umbra touches the Earth's surface. It is and corresponds to what is commonly called the lunar month.
possible, though extremely rare, that part of the umbra intersects • A Total eclipse in the umbra.
with Earth (thus creating an annular or total eclipse), but not its • B Annular eclipse in the antumbra.
central line. This is then called a non-central total or annular
• C Partial eclipse in the penumbra
eclipse.
The Moon crosses from south to north of the ecliptic at its
The term solar eclipse itself is strictly speaking a misnomer.
ascending node, and vice versa at its descending node. However,
The phenomenon of the Moon passing in front of the Sun is not
the nodes of the Moon's orbit are gradually moving in a retrograde
an eclipse, but an occultation. Properly speaking, an eclipse occurs
motion, due to the action of the Sun's gravity on the Moon's
when one object passes into the shadow cast by another object.
motion, and they make a complete circuit every 18.6 years. This
For example, when the Moon disappears at full moon by passing
means that the time between each passage of the Moon through
into Earth's shadow, the event is properly called a lunar eclipse.
the ascending node is slightly shorter than the sidereal month.
Therefore, technically, a solar eclipse actually amounts to an eclipse
This period is called the draconic month.
of the Earth.
Finally, the Moon's perigee is moving forwards in its orbit,
PREDICTIONS and makes a complete circuit in about 9 years. The time between
Geometry one perigee and the next is known as the anomalistic month.
The Moon's orbit around the Earth is inclined at an angle of The Moon's orbit intersects with the ecliptic at the two nodes
just over 5 degrees to the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun that are 180 degrees apart. Therefore, the new moon occurs close
(the ecliptic). Because of this, at the time of a new moon, the Moon to the nodes at two periods of the year approximately six months
will usually pass above or below the Sun. A solar eclipse can occur apart, and there will always be at least one solar eclipse during
only when the new moon occurs close to one of the points (known these periods.
as nodes) where the Moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic. Sometimes the new moon occurs close enough to a node
As noted above, the Moon's orbit is also elliptical. The Moon's during two consecutive months. This means that in any given
distance from the Earth can vary by about 6% from its average year, there will always be at least two solar eclipses, and there can
value. Therefore, the Moon's apparent size varies with its distance be as many as five. However, some are visible only as partial
from the Earth, and it is this effect that leads to the difference eclipses, because the umbra passes above Earth's north or south
between total and annular eclipses. The distance of the Earth from pole, and others are central only in remote regions of the Arctic
the Sun also varies during the year, but this is a smaller effect. or Antarctic.
230 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 231

Path cycle is itself a poor cycle, but it is very convenient in the


During a central eclipse, the Moon's umbra (or antumbra, in classification of eclipse cycles. After a Saros cycle finishes, a new
the case of an annular eclipse) moves rapidly from west to east Saros cycle begins one Inex later, hence its name: in-ex. A Saros
across the Earth. The Earth is also rotating from west to east, but cycle lasts 6,585.3 days (a little over 18 years), which means that
the umbra always moves faster than any given point on the after this period a practically identical eclipse will occur. The most
Earth's surface, so it almost always appears to move in a roughly notable difference will be a shift of 120° in longitude (due to the
west-east direction across a map of the Earth (there are some rare 0.3 days) and a little in latitude. A Saros series always starts with
exceptions to this which can occur during an eclipse of the midnight a partial eclipse near one of Earth's polar regions, then shifts over
sun in Arctic or Antarctic regions). the globe through a series of annular or total eclipses, and ends
at the opposite polar region. A Saros lasts 1226 to 1550 years and
The width of the track of a central eclipse varies according
69 to 87 eclipses, with about 40 to 60 central.
to the relative apparent diameters of the Sun and Moon. In the
most favourable circumstances, when a total eclipse occurs very FINAL TOTALITY
close to perigee, the track can be over 250 km wide and the
Spectacular solar eclipses are an extreme rarity within the
duration of totality may be over 7 minutes. Outside of the central
universe at large. They are seen on Earth because of a fortuitous
track, a partial eclipse can usually be seen over a much larger area
combination of circumstances that are statistically very improbable.
of the Earth.
Even on Earth, spectacular eclipses of the type familiar to people
OCCURRENCE AND CYCLES today are a temporary (on a geological time scale) phenomenon.
Many millions of years in the past, the Moon was too close to the
Total solar eclipses are rare events. Although they occur
Earth to precisely occult the Sun as it does during eclipses today;
somewhere on Earth every 18 months on average, it has been
and many millions of years in the future, it will be too far away
estimated that they recur at any given place only once every 370
to do so.
years, on average. The total eclipse only lasts for a few minutes
at that location, as the Moon's umbra moves eastward at over 1700 Due to tidal acceleration, the orbit of the Moon around the
km/h. Totality can never last more than 7 min 31 s, and is usually Earth becomes approximately 3.8 cm more distant each year. It
much shorter: during each millennium there are typically fewer is estimated that in 600 million years, the distance from the Earth
than 10 total solar eclipses exceeding 7 minutes. The last time this to the Moon will have increased by 23,500 km, meaning that it
happened was June 30, 1973 (7 min 3 sec). Observers aboard a will no longer be able to completely cover the Sun's disk. This will
Concorde aircraft were able to stretch totality to about 74 minutes be true even when the Moon is at perigee, and the Earth at
by flying along the path of the Moon's umbra. The next eclipse aphelion.
exceeding seven minutes in duration will not occur until June 25, A complicating factor is that the Sun will increase in size over
2150. The longest total solar eclipse during the 8,000-year period this timescale. This makes it even more unlikely that the Moon
from 3000 BC to 5000 AD will occur on July 16, 2186, when totality will be able to cause a total eclipse. We can therefore say that the
will last 7 min 29 s. For comparison, the longest eclipse of the 21st last total solar eclipse on Earth will occur in slightly less than 600
century will occur on July 22, 2009 and last 6 min 39 sec. million years.
If the date and time of any solar eclipse are known, it is ACTIVITIES DURING SOLAR ECLIPSE
possible to predict other eclipses using eclipse cycles. Two such
cycles are the Saros and the Inex. The Saros cycle is probably the A marked drop of the intensity of the solar radiation occurs
best known, and one of the most accurate, eclipse cycles. The Inex during solar eclipse. It influences the actions in the atmosphere.
232 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 233

The variations of the atmospheric actions display in changes of Herodotus wrote that Thales of Miletus predicted an eclipse
standard meteorological and physical quantities. We can notice which occurred during a war between the Medians and the
it by a measurement of the air temperature and other Lydians. Soldiers on both sides put down their weapons and
meteorological quantities (e.g.: air humidity, soil temperature, declared peace as a result of the eclipse. Exactly which eclipse was
colour of the solar radiation). involved has remained uncertain, although the issue has been
The progressions of the quantities are usually detected by studied by hundreds of ancient and modern authorities. One
special weather stations because of a short duration of a total likely candidate took place on May 28, 585 BC, probably near the
(annular) solar eclipse. The properties of the devices usually are: Halys river in the middle of modern Turkey.
high speed of measurement, high resolution and sensitivity. An annular eclipse of the Sun occurred at Sardis on February
Acquired results show very interesting variations in progressions 17, 478 BC, while Xerxes was departing for his expion against
of meteorological and physical quantities (e.g.: colour of the light). Greece, as Herodotus recorded. Hind and Chambers considered
this absolute date more than a century ago. Herodotus also reports
PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE PHENOMENON that another solar eclipse was observed in Sparta during the next
Photographing an eclipse is possible with fairly common film year, on August 1, 477 BC. The sky suddenly darkened in the
camera equipment. In order for the disk of the sun/moon to be middle of the day, well after the battles of Thermopylae and
easily visible, a fairly high magnification telephoto lens is needed Salamis, after the departure of Mardonius to Thessaly at the
(70-200mm for a 35mm camera), and for the disk to fill most of beginning of the spring of (477 BC) and his second attack on
the frame, a longer lens is needed (over 500mm). As with viewing Athens, after the return of Cleombrotus to Sparta. Note that the
the sun directly, looking at it through the viewfinder of a camera modern conventional dates are different by a year or two, and that
can produce damage to the retina, so care is advised. these two eclipse records have been ignored so far. The Chronicle
of Ireland recorded a solar eclipse on June 29, 512 AD, and a solar
MEASURING OF THE LIGHT EINSTEIN'S INFLEXION eclipse was reported to have taken place during the Battle of
Historical eclipses are a valuable resource for historians, in Stiklestad in the summer of 1030.
that they allow a few historical events to be precisely dated, from It has also been attempted to establish the exact date of Good
which other dates and a society's calendar can be deduced. A solar Friday by means of solar eclipses, but this research has not yielded
eclipse of June 15, 763 BC mentioned in an Assyrian text is conclusive results. Research has manifested the inability of total
important for the Chronology of the Ancient Orient. Also known solar eclipses to serve as explanations for the recorded Good
as the eclipse of Bur Sagale, it is the earliest solar eclipse mentioned Friday features of the crucifixion eclipse. (Good Friday is recorded
in historical sources that has been successfully identified. as being at Passover, which is also recorded as being at or near
Perhaps the earliest still-unproven claim is that of archaeologist the time of a full moon.)
Bruce Masse; on the basis of several ancient flood myths that The ancient Chinese astronomer Shi Shen (fl. 4th century BC)
mention a total solar eclipse, he links an eclipse that occurred May was aware of the relation of the moon in a solar eclipse, as he
10, 2807 BC with a possible meteor impact in the Indian Ocean. provided instructions in his writing to predict them by using the
There have been other claims to date earlier eclipses, notably that relative positions of the moon and sun. The 'radiating influence'
of Mursili II (likely 1312 BC), in Babylonia, and also in China, theory for a solar eclipse (i.e., the moon's light was merely light
during the 5th year (2084 BC) of the regime of king Zhong Kang reflected from the sun) was existent in Chinese thought from
of Xia dynasty, but these are highly disputed and rely on much about the 6th century BC (in the Zhi Ran of Zhi Ni Zi), and
supposition. opposed by the Chinese philosopher Wang Chong (27-97 AD),
234 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 235

who made clear in his writing that this theory was nothing new. and waning (ying khuei) of the moon. The moon itself gives forth
This can be said of Jing Fang's writing in the 1st century BC, which no light, but is like a ball of silver; the light is the light of the sun
stated: (reflected). When the brightness is first seen, the sun(-light passes
The moon and the planets are Yin; they have shape but no almost) alongside, so the side only is illuminated and looks like
light. This they receive only when the sun illuminates them. The a crescent. When the sun gradually gets further away, the light
former masters regarded the sun as round like a crossbow bullet, shines slanting, and the moon is full, round like a bullet. If half
and they thought the moon had the nature of a mirror. Some of of a sphere is covered with (white) powder and looked at from
them recognized the moon as a ball too. Those parts of the moon the side, the covered part will look like a crescent; if looked at from
which the sun illuminates look bright, those parts which it does the front, it will appear round. Thus we know that the celestial
not, remain dark. bodies are spherical...Since the sun and moon are in conjunction
(ho) and in opposition (tui) once a day, why then do they have
The ancient Greeks had known this as well, since it was
eclipses only occasionally?' I answered that the ecliptic and the
Parmenides of Elea around 475 BC who supported the theory of
moon's path are like two rings, lying one over the other (hsiang
the moon shining because of reflected light, and was accepted in
tieh), but distant by a small amount. (If this obliquity did not
the time of Aristotle as well. The Chinese astronomer and inventor
exist), the sun would be eclipsed whenever the two bodies were
Zhang Heng (78-139 AD) wrote of both solar and lunar eclipses
in conjunction, and the moon would be eclipsed whenever they
in the publication of Ling Xian in 120 AD, supporting the radiating
were exactly in position. But (in fact) though they may occupy the
influence theory that Wang Chong had opposed (Wade-Giles):
same degree, the two paths are not (always) near (each other), and
The sun is like fire and the moon like water. The fire gives so naturally the bodies do not (intrude) upon one another.
out light and the water reflects it. Thus the moon's brightness is
produced from the radiance of the sun, and the moon's darkness VIEWING
(pho) is due to (the light of) the sun being obstructed (pi). The side Looking directly at the photosphere of the Sun (the bright disk
which faces the sun is fully lit, and the side which is away from of the Sun itself), even for just a few seconds, can cause permanent
it is dark. The planets (as well as the moon) have the nature of damage to the retina of the eye, because of the intense visible and
water and reflect light. The light pouring forth from the sun (tang invisible radiation that the photosphere emits. This damage can
jih chih chhung kuang) does not always reach the moon owing result in permanent impairment of vision, up to and including
to the obstruction (pi) of the earth itself-this is called 'an-hsü', a blindness. The retina has no sensitivity to pain, and the effects of
lunar eclipse. When (a similar effect) happens with a planet (we retinal damage may not appear for hours, so there is no warning
call it) an occulation (hsing wei); when the moon passes across that injury is occurring.
(kuo)(the sun's path) then there is a solar eclipse (shih).
Under normal conditions, the Sun is so bright that it is difficult
The later Chinese scientist and statesman Shen Kuo (1031- to stare at it directly, so there is no tendency to look at it in a way
1035 AD) also wrote of eclipses, and his reasoning for why the that might damage the eye. However, during an eclipse, with so
celestial bodies were round and spherical instead of flat (Wade- much of the Sun covered, it is easier and more tempting to stare
Giles spelling): at it. Unfortunately, looking at the Sun during an eclipse is just
The Director of the Astronomical Observatory asked me about as dangerous as looking at it outside an eclipse, except during the
the shapes of the sun and moon; whether they were like balls or brief period of totality, when the Sun's disk is completely covered
(flat) fans. If they were like balls they would surely obstruct (ai) (totality occurs only during a total eclipse and only very briefly;
each other when they met. I replied that these celestial bodies it does not occur during a partial or annular eclipse). Viewing the
were certainly like balls. How do we know this? By the waxing Sun's disk through any kind of optical aid (binoculars, a telescope,
236 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 237

or even an optical camera viewfinder) is even more hazardous. appears to be dim, as if the sky were overcast, yet objects still cast
Glancing at the Sun with all or most of its disk visible is unlikely sharp shadows.
to result in permanent harm, as the pupil will close down and
reduce the brightness of the whole scene. If the eclipse is near TOTALITY
total, the low average amount of light causes the pupil to open. It is safe to observe the total phase of a solar eclipse directly
Unfortunately the remaining parts of the Sun are still just as with the unaided eye, binoculars or a telescope, when the Sun's
bright, so they are now brighter on the retina than when looking photosphere is completely covered by the Moon; indeed, it is too
at a full Sun. As the eye has a small fovea, for detailed viewing, dim to be seen through filters. The Sun's faint corona will be
the tendency will be to track the image on to this best part of the visible, and the chromosphere, solar prominences, and possibly
retina, causing damage. even a solar flare may be seen. However, viewing the Sun after
totality can be dangerous.
Partial and Annular Eclipses
Viewing the Sun during partial and annular eclipses (and Baily's Beads
during total eclipses outside the brief period of totality) requires When the shrinking visible part of the photosphere becomes
special eye protection, or indirect viewing methods. The Sun's very small, Baily's beads will occur. These are caused by the
disk can be viewed using appropriate filtration to block the harmful sunlight still being able to reach Earth through lunar valleys, but
part of the Sun's radiation. Sunglasses are not safe, since they do no longer where mountains are present. Totality then begins with
not block the harmful and invisible infrared radiation which causes the diamond ring effect, the last bright flash of sunlight.
retinal damage. Only properly designed and certified solar filters
should ever be used for direct viewing of the Sun's disk. OTHER OBSERVATIONS
The safest way to view the Sun's disk is by indirect projection. For astronomers, a total solar eclipse forms a rare opportunity
This can be done by projecting an image of the disk onto a white to observe the corona (the outer layer of the Sun's atmosphere).
piece of paper or card using a pair of binoculars (with one of the Normally this is not visible because the photosphere is much
lenses covered), a telescope, or another piece of cardboard with brighter than the corona. According to the point reached in the
a small hole in it (about 1 mm diameter), often called a pinhole solar cycle, the corona can appear rather small and symmetric, or
camera. The projected image of the Sun can then be safely viewed; large and fuzzy. It is very hard to predict this prior to totality.
this technique can be used to observe sunspots, as well as eclipses. During a solar eclipse, special (indirect) observations can also
However, care must be taken to ensure that no one looks through be done with the unaided eye only. Normally the spots of light
the projector (telescope, pinhole, etc.) directly. Viewing the Sun's which fall through the small openings between the leaves of a
disk on a video display screen (provided by a video camera or tree, have a circular shape. These are images of the Sun. During
digital camera) is safe, although the camera itself may be damaged a partial eclipse, the light spots will show the partial shape of the
by direct exposure to the Sun. The optical viewfinders provided Sun, as seen on the picture. Another famous phenomenon is
with some video and digital cameras are not safe. shadow bands (also known as flying shadows), which are similar
In the partial eclipse path one will not be able to see the to shadows on the bottom of a swimming pool. They only occur
spectacular corona or nearly complete darkening of the sky, yet, just prior to and after totality, and are very difficult to observe.
depending on how much of the sun's disk is obscured, some Many professional eclipse chasers have never seen them.
darkening may be noticeable. If two-thirds or more of the sun is During a partial eclipse, a related effect that can be seen is
obscured, then an effect can be observed by which the daylight anisotropy in the shadows of objects. Particularly if the partial
238 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 239

eclipse is nearly total, the unobscured part of the sun acts as an solar eclipse. This was the lowest time difference between a transit
approximate line source of light. This means that objects cast of a planet and a solar eclipse in the historical past.
shadows which have a very narrow penumbra in one direction, More common, but still quite rare, is a conjunction of any
but a broad penumbra in the perpendicular direction. planet (not confined exclusively to Mercury or Venus) at the time
of a total solar eclipse, in which event the planet will be visible
1919 OBSERVATIONS
very near the eclipsed Sun, when without the eclipse it would
The original photograph of the 1919 eclipse which was claimed have been lost in the Sun's glare. At one time, some scientists
to confirm Einstein's theory of general relativity. hypothesized that there may be a planet (often given the name
In 1919, the observation of a total solar eclipse helped to Vulcan) even closer to the Sun than Mercury; the only way to
confirm Einstein's theory of general relativity. By comparing the confirm its existence would have been to observe it during a total
apparent distance between two stars, with and without the Sun solar eclipse. However, it is now known that no such planet exists.
between them, Arthur Eddington stated that the theoretical While there does remain some possibility for small Vulcanoid
predictions about gravitational lenses were confirmed, though it asteroids to exist, none have ever been found.
now appears the data were ambiguous at the time. The observation
with the Sun between the stars was only possible during totality, ARTIFICIAL SATELLITES
since the stars are then visible. Artificial satellites can also pass in front of, or transit, the Sun
as seen from Earth, but none are large enough to cause an eclipse.
BEFORE SUNRISE, AFTER SUNSET At the altitude of the International Space Station, for example, an
The phenomenon of atmospheric refraction makes it possible object would need to be about 3.35 km across to blot the Sun out
to observe the Sun (and hence a solar eclipse) even when it is entirely. These transits are difficult to watch, because the zone of
slightly below the horizon. It is however possible for a solar visibility is very small. The satellite passes over the face of the Sun
eclipse to attain totality (or in the event of a partial eclipse, near- in about a second, typically. As with a transit of a planet, it will
totality) before (visual and actual) sunrise or after sunset from a not get dark.Artificial satellites do play an important role in
particular location. When this occurs shortly before the former or documenting solar eclipses. Images of the umbra on the Earth's
after the latter, the sky will appear much darker than it would surface taken from Mir and the International Space Station are
otherwise be immediately before sunrise or after sunset. On these among the most spectacular eclipse images in history. Observations
occasions, an object (especially a planet, often Mercury) may be of eclipses from satellites orbiting above the Earth's atmosphere
visible near the sunrise or sunset point of the horizon when it are of course not subject to weather conditions.
could not have been seen without the eclipse. The direct observation of a total solar eclipse from space is
rather rare. The only documented case is Gemini 12 in 1966. The
ECLIPSES AND TRANSITS
partial phase of the 2006 total eclipse was visible from the
In principle, the simultaneous occurrence of a Solar eclipse International Space Station. At first, it looked as though an orbit
and a transit of a planet is possible. But these events are extremely correction in the middle of March would bring the ISS in the path
rare because of their short durations. The next anticipated of totality, but this correction was postponed.
simultaneous occurrence of a Solar eclipse and a transit of Mercury
will be on July 5, 6757, and a Solar eclipse and a transit of Venus ECONOMICS, ENERGY AND SYSTEM COSTS
is expected on April 5, 15232. Only 5 hours after the transit of In sunny, warm locations, where freeze protection is not
Venus on June 4, 1769, there was a total solar eclipse, which was necessary, a batch type solar hot water heater can be extremely
visible in Northern America, Europe and Northern Asia as partial
240 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 241

cost effective. In higher latitudes, there are often additional design is large enough for 4 people), pipes and tank (again large enough
requirements for cold weather, which add to system complexity. for 4 people) costs around 4000 euro. The installation by a
This has the effect of increasing the initial cost (but not the life- recognised worker costs another 800 euro. Electrabel's home
cycle cost) of a solar hot water system, to a level much higher than magazine Eandismagazine stated in 2008 that a complete system
a comparable hot water heater of the conventional type. When (including 4m2 of solar collectors and a supply barrel of 200-240
calculating the total cost to own and operate, a proper analysis liters) to cost 4500 euro. The system would then pay back itself
will take into consideration that solar energy is free, thus greatly in 11 years , when the returns are weighed off against a regular
reducing the operating costs, whereas other energy sources, such electric boiler. Calculation was as follows: a saving of 1875 kWh
as gas and electricity, can be quite expensive over time. Thus, (which is 50% of the energy requirements in domestic hot water
when the initial costs of a solar system are properly financed and production) x 0.10 euro/kWh = 187, 5 euro's. This multiplied by
compared with energy costs, then, in many cases the total monthly 11,6 years made 2175 euro's (or the cost of the system with deducted
cost of solar heat can be less than other more conventional types regional tax benefits).
of hot water heaters (and also in conjunction with an existing hot In Australia, the cost for an average solar hot water system
water heater). In addition, federal and local incentives can be fully installed is between $1,800 and $2,800. This is after rebates
significant. (there is a federal rebate, some state rebates and Renewable Energy
As an example, a 56ft2 solar water heater can cost US $7,500, Certificates). According to the Department of Environment and
but that initial cost is reduced to just $3,300 in the US State of Water Resources , the yearly electricity savings are between $300
Oregon due to federal and state incentives. The system will save and $700. This brings the payback period to under 2 years in the
approximately US $230 per year, with a payback of 14 years. best case and under 10 years in the worst case.
Lower payback periods are possible based on maximizing sun
exposure. In more northerly locations, solar heating used to be SOLAR HOT WATER SYSTEMS
less efficient. Usable amounts of domestic hot water were only Solar hot water systems can be classified in different ways:
available in the summer months, on cloudless days, between • The type of collector used
April and October. During the winter and on cloudy days, the • The location of the collector - roof mount, ground mount,
output was poor. Independent surveys have shown that modern wall mount
systems do not suffer these limitations. There are cases of
• The location of the storage tank in relation to the collector
households in northern climates getting all of their domestic hot
water year round from solar alone. Systems have been show to • The requirement for a pump - active vs passive
efficiently work as far north as Whitehorse, Yukon (latitude of 60 • The method of heat transfer - open-loop or closed-loop
B 43' N ). (via heat exchanger)
The installation costs in the UK used to be prohibitive, on COMPACT SYSTEMS (PASSIVE SYSTEMS)
average about £9,000. This is reduced in more recent years to
A passive system also known as a monobloc (thermosiphon)
£3,000, with payback period reduced, with the rise in the gas
system, a compact system consists of a tank for the heated water,
price, to 12 years. As energy prices rise, payback periods shorten
a solar collector, and connecting pipes all pre-mounted in a frame.
accordingly.
The water flows upward when heated in the panel. When this
According to ANRE (a Flemish energy agency, subsidised by water enters the tank (positioned higher than the solar panel), it
the Flemish or Belgian government, a complete, commercial (active) expels some cold water from inside so that the heat transfer takes
solar hot water system composed of a solar collector (3-4 m²; this place without the need for a pump. A typical system for a four-
242 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 243

person home in a sunny region consists of a tank of 150 to 300 the carbon savings of a system by 10% to 20%. Conventional low
litres (36.9 to 79.2 gallons) and three to four square metres of solar carbon system designs use a mains powered circulation pump
collector panels. whenever the hot water tank is positioned below the solar panels.
A special type of compact system is the Integrated Collector Most systems in northern Europe are of this type. The storage tank
Storage (ICS, Batch Heater) where the tank acts as both storage is placed inside the building, and thus requires a controller that
and solar collector. They are simple and efficient but only suitable measures when the water is hotter in the panels than in the tank.
in moderate climates with good sunshine. The system also requires a pump for transferring the fluid between
the parts.
Direct ('open loop') compact systems, if made of metals are
not suitable for cold climates. At night the remaining water can The electronic controllers used by some systems permit a
freeze and damage the panels, and the storage tank is exposed wide range of functionality such as measurement of the energy
to the outdoor temperatures that will cause excessive heat losses produced; more sophisticated safety functions; thermostatic and
on cold days. Some compact systems have a primary circuit. The time-clock control of auxiliary heat, hot water circulation loops,
primary circuit includes the collectors and the external part of the or others; display or transfer of error messages or alarms; remote
tank. Instead of water, a non-toxic antifreeze is used. When this display panels; and remote or local datalogging.
liquid is heated up, it flows to the external part of the tank and Newer zero carbon solar water heating systems are powered
transfers the heat to the water placed inside. ('closed loop'). by solar electric (photovoltaic or PV) pumps. These typically use
However, direct ('open loop') systems are slightly cheaper and a 5-20W PV panel which faces in the same direction as the main
more efficient. solar heating panel and a small, low flow diaphragm pump to
A compact system can save up to 4.5 tonnes annually of pump the water.
greenhouse gas emissions. In order to achieve the aims of the The most commonly used solar collector is the insulated glazed
Kyoto Protocol, several countries are offering subsidies to the end flat panel. Less expensive panels, like polypropylene panels (for
user. Some systems can work for up to 25 years with minimum swimming pools) or higher-performing ones like evacuated tube
maintenance. These kinds of systems can be redeemed in six collectors, are sometimes used.
years, and achieve a positive balance of energy (energy used to
build them minus energy they save) of 1.5 years. Most part of the SOLAR HEATING THERMAL COLLECTORS
year, when the electric heating element is not working, these There are three main kinds of solar thermal collectors in
systems do not use any external source for power (as water flows common use. In order of increasing cost they are: Formed Plastic
due to thermosyphon principle). Collectors, Flat Collectors, and Evacuated Tube Collectors. The
Flat solar thermal collectors are usually used, but compact efficiency of the system is directly related to heat losses from the
systems using vacuum tube collectors are available on the market. collector surface (efficiency being defined as the proportion of
These generally give a higher heat yield per square meter in colder heating energy that can be usefully obtained from insulation).
climates but cost more than flat plate collector systems. Heat losses are predominantly governed by the thermal gradient
between the temperature of the collector surface and the ambient
PUMPED SYSTEMS (ACTIVE SYSTEMS) temperature. Efficiency decreases when either the ambient
How the solar water heating system is pumped and controlled temperature falls or as the collector temperature increases. This
determines whether it is a zero carbon or a low carbon system. decrease in efficiency can be mitigated by increasing the insulation
Low carbon systems principally use electricity to circulate the of the unit by sealing the unit in glass e.g. flat collectors or providing
fluid through the collector. The use of electricity typically reduces a vacuum seal e.g. evacuated tube collector. The choice of collector
244 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 245

is determined by the heating requirements and environmental contains an absorber tube (in place of the absorber plate to which
conditions in which it is employed. metal tubes are attached in a flat-plate collector). The tubes are
covered with a special light-modulating coating. In an evacuated
FORMED PLASTIC COLLECTOR tube collector, sunlight passing through an outer glass tube heats
Formed plastic collectors (such as polypropylene, EPDM or the absorber tube contained within it. The absorber can either
PET plastics) consist of tubes or formed panels through which consist of copper (glass-metal) or specially-coated glass tubing
water is circulated and heated by the sun's radiation. These are (glass-glass). The glass-metal evacuated tubes are typically sealed
often used for extending the swimming season in swimming at the manifold end, and the absorber is actually sealed in the
pools. In some countries, heating an open-air swimming pool vacuum, thus the fact that the absorber and heat pipe are dissimilar
with non-renewable energy sources is not allowed, and then these metals creates no corrosion problems. The better quality systems
inexpensive systems offer a good solution. This panel is not suitable use foam insulation in the manifold. low iron glass is used in the
for year-round uses like providing hot water for home use, higher quality evacuated tubes manufacture.
primarily due to its lack of insulation which reduces its effectiveness Lower quality evacuated tube systems use the glass coated
greatly when the ambient air temperature is lower than the absorber. Due to the extreme temperature difference of the glass
temperature of the fluid being heated. under stagnation temperatures, the glass sometimes shatters. The
glass is a lower quality boron silicate material and the aluminum
FLAT PLATE COLLECTOR
absorber and copper heat pipe are slid down inside the open top
A flat plate collector consists of a thin absorber sheet (usually end of the tube. Moisture entering the manifold around the sheet
copper, to which a black or selective coating is applied) backed metal casing is eventually absorbed by the glass fibre insulation
by a grid or coil of fluid tubing and placed in an insulated casing and then finds its way down into the tubes. This leads to corrosion
with a glass cover. Fluid is circulated through the tubing to remove at the absorber/heat pipe interface area, also freeze ruptures of
the heat from the absorber and transport it to an insulated water the tube itself if the tube fills sufficiently with water.
tank, to a heat exchanger or to some other device for using the
Two types of tube collectors are distinguished by their heat
heated fluid.
transfer method: the simplest pumps a heat transfer fluid (water
As an alternative to metal collectors, some new polymer flat or antifreeze) through a U-shaped copper tube placed in each of
plate collectors are now being produced in Europe. These may be the glass collector tubes. The second type uses a sealed heat pipe
wholly polymer, or they may be metal plates behind which are that contains a liquid that vapourises as it is heated. The vapour
freeze-tolerant water channels made of silicone rubber instead of rises to a heat-transfer bulb that is positioned outside the collector
metal. Polymers, being flexible and therefore freeze-tolerant, are tube in a pipe through which a second heat transfer liquid (the
able to contain plain water instead of antifreeze, so that in some water or antifreeze) is pumped. For both types, the heated liquid
cases they are able to plumb directly into existing water tanks then circulates through a heat exchanger and gives off its heat to
instead of needing the tank to be replaced with one using heat water that is stored in a storage tank (which itself may be kept
exchangers. warm partially by sunlight).
EVACUATED TUBE COLLECTOR Evacuated tube collectors heat to higher temperatures, with
some models providing considerably more solar yield per square
Evacuated tube collectors are made of a series of modular
metre than flat panels. However, they are more expensive and
tubes, mounted in parallel, whose number can be added to or
fragile than flat panels. Evacuated heat tubes perform better than
reduced as hot water delivery needs change. This type of collector
flat plate collectors in cold climates because they only rely on the
consists of rows of parallel transparent glass tubes, each of which
246 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 247

light they receive and not the outside temperature. The high DIY SOLAR HOT WATER SYSTEMS
stagnation temperatures can cause antifreeze to break down, so With an ever rising diy-community and their increasing
careful consideration must be used if selecting this type of system environmental awareness, people have begun building their own
in temperate climates.Tubes come in different levels of quality so (small-scale) solar hot water systems from scratch. Through the
the different kinds have to be examined as well. High quality internet, the community is able to attain plans to solar hot water
units can efficiently absorb diffuse solar radiation present in cloudy systems. and people have sprung up building them for their own
conditions and are unaffected by wind. They also have the same domestic requirements.
performance in similar light conditions summer and winter.
DIY solar hot water systems are usually much cheaper than
For a given absorber area, evacuated tubes can maintain their their commercial counterparts and installation costs can sometimes
efficiency over a wide range of ambient temperatures and heating be avoided as well. The DIY-solar hot water systems are being
requirements. used both in the developed world, as in the developing world to
The absorber area only occupied about 50% of the collector generate hot water.
panel on early designs, however this has changed as the technology
has advanced to maximize the absorption area. In extremely hot SOLAR MIRROR
climates, flat-plate collectors will generally be a more cost-effective A Solar mirror is a reflective surface used for gathering and
solution than evacuated tubes. When employed in arrays of 20 to reflecting solar energy in a system being powered by solar energy.
30 or more, the efficient but costly evacuated tube collectors have It comprises a glass substrate, a reflective layer for reflecting the
net benefit in winter and also give real advantage in the summer solar energy, and an interference layer. The purpose of the solar
months. They are well suited to extremely cold ambient mirror is to achieve a substantially concentrated reflection factor
temperatures and work well in situations of consistently low- for solar energy systems.
light. They are also used in industrial applications, where high
water temperatures or steam need to be generated. Properly COMPONENTS
designed evacuated tubes have a life expectancy of over 25 years Glass Substrate
which greatly adds to their value. The glass substrate is the top layer of the mirror in which solar
SOLAR THERMAL COOLING energy is transmitted. Its purpose is to protect the other layers
from abrasion and corrosion. Although glass is brittle, it is a good
Solar thermal cooling can be achieved via absorption
material for this purpose, because it is highly transparent (low
refrigeration cycles, desiccant cycles and solar-mechanical
optical losses), relatively inexpensive, resistant to UV, fairly hard
processes.
(abrasion resistant), chemically inert, and fairly easy to clean. It
The absorption cycle solar cooling system works like a is composed of a float glass with high optical transmission
refrigerator in that it uses hot water to compress a gas that, once characteristics in the visible and infrared ranges, and is configured
expanded, will produce an endothermic reaction which cools the to transmit visible light and infrared radiation.
air. The main problem currently is that the absorber machine
The top surface, known as the "first surface", will reflect some
works with liquid at 90 °C, a fairly high temperature to be reached
of the incident solar energy, due to the reflection coefficient caused
with pumped solar panels with no auxiliary power supply.
by its index of refraction being higher than air. Most of the solar
The same pumped solar thermal installation can be used for energy is transmitted through the glass substrate to the lower
producing hot water for the whole year. It can also be used for layers of the mirror, possibly with some refraction, depending on
cooling in the summer and partially heating the building in winter. the angle of incidence.
248 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 249

Reflective Layer Solar Thermal Applications


The reflective layer is designed to reflect the maximum amount The intensity of solar thermal energy from solar radiation at
of solar energy incident upon it, back through the glass substrate. the surface of the earth is is about 1 kilowatt of energy per square
The reflective layer comprises a highly reflective layer of thin meter of area, normal to the direction of the sun, under clear-sky
silver plating. The use of silver as the reflective layer leads to conditions. When solar energy is unconcentrated, the maximum
higher efficiency levels, because it is the most reflective metal. collector temperature is about 80-100 deg C. This is useful for
Despite being relatively sensitive to abrasion and corrosion, the space heating and heating water. For higher temperature
silver layer is protected by the (glass) substrate on top, and the applications, such as cooking, or supplying a heat engine or turbine-
bottom is covered with a protective coating which usually electrical generator, this energy must be concentrated, a task
comprises a copper layer and varnish. normally assigned to flat or parabolic arrays of solar mirrors.
Despite the use of aluminum in generic mirrors, aluminum
Terrestrial Applications
is often not used as the reflective layer for a solar mirror. This is
because of aluminum's reflection factor in the UV region of the Solar thermal systems have been constructed to produce
spectrum, wherein an aluminum layer would have to be placed "concentrated solar power" (CSP), for generating electricity. The
on the top surface of the glass substrate, and not on the bottom large Sandia Lab solar power tower uses a Stirling engine heated
surface. by a solar mirror concentrator. Another configuration is the trough
system.
Locating the aluminum layer on the first surface, exposes it
to weathering, which reduces the mirror's resistance to corrosion Space Power Application
and makes it more susceptible to abrasion (i.e. scratching). Adding "Solar dynamic" energy systems have been proposed for
a protective layer to the aluminum would reduce its reflectivity. various spacecraft applications, including solar power satellites,
For this reason silver is a higher performance reflector material, where a reflector focuses sunlight on to a heat engine such as the
and (presumably) its higher cost is justified due to higher efficiency Brayton cycle type.
and longevity.
The reflective layer has a high refractive index (see dielectric). Photovoltaic Augmentation
In order to enhance reflection in the near-UV region of the Photovoltaic cells (PV) which can convert solar radiation
spectrum, the thickness of this layer may be optimized for its directly into electricity are quite expensive per unit area. Some
interference effects. types of PV cell, e.g. gallium arsenide, if cooled, are capable of
converting efficiently up to 250 times as much radiation as is
Interference Layer normally provided by simple exposure to direct sunlight.
An interference layer is located on the first surface of the glass In tests done by Sewang Yoon and Vahan Garboushian, for
substrate. It is designed for diffuse?-reflectance of near-ultraviolet Amonix Corp. photocell percent conversion efficiency actually
radiation, in order to prevent it from passing through the glass increased at higher levels of concentration, often by significant
substrate. Were this interference layer not present, it would allow amounts, provided external cooling is available to the photocells.
near-ultraviolet radiation to pass into the glass substrate and
through to the reflective layer. This would substantially enhance Terrestrial Application
the overall reflection of near-ultraviolet radiation from the mirror. To date no large scale testing has been performed on this
The interference layer is composed predominantly of titanium concept. Presumably this is because the increased cost of the
dioxide. reflectors and cooling generally is not economically justified.
250 Solar Energy and its Uses The Solar Combisystem 251

Solar Power Satellite Application including astronomy, physics, geology, and planetary science.
Theoretically, for space-based solar power satellite designs, Since the dawn of the space age in the 1950s and the discovery
solar mirrors could reduce PV cell costs and launch costs since of extrasolar planets in the 1990s, the models have been both
they are expected to be both lighter and cheaper than equivalent challenged and refined to account for new observations.
large areas of PV cells. Several options were studied by Boeing The Solar System has evolved considerably since its initial
corporation. In their Fig. 4. captioned "Architecture 4. GEO Harris formation. Many moons have formed from circling discs of gas
Wheel", the authors describe a system of solar mirrors used to and dust around their parent planets, while other moons are
augment the power of some nearby solar collectors, from which believed to have been bodies captured by their planets or, as in
the power is then transmitted to receiver stations on earth. the case of the Earth's Moon, to have resulted from giant collisions.
Collisions between bodies have occurred continually up to the
Space Reflectors for Night Illumination present day and have been central to the evolution of the solar
Another advanced space concept proposal is the notion of system. The positions of the planets often shifted, and planets
Space Reflectors which reflect sunlight on to small spots on the have switched places. This planetary migration now is believed
night side of the Earth to provide night time illumination. to have been responsible for much of the Solar System's early
An early proponent of this concept was Dr. Krafft Arnold evolution.
Ehricke, who wrote about systems called "Lunetta", "Soletta", In roughly 5 billion years, the Sun will cool and expand
"Biosoletta", "Powersoletta". outward to many times its current diameter (becoming a red
A preliminary series of experiments called Znamya was giant), before casting off its outer layers as a planetary nebula, and
performed by Russia. The first, designated Znamya-2, was leaving behind a stellar corpse known as a white dwarf. In the
launched aboard Progress-TM-15 on 27 October 1992. After visiting far distant future, the gravity of passing stars gradually will whittle
the EO-12 crew aboard the Mir space station the Progress-TM-15 away at the Sun's retinue of planets. Some planets will be destroyed,
then undocked and deployed the reflector this mission was others ejected into interstellar space. Ultimately, over the course
successful. The next flight Znamya-2.5 failed. Znamya-3 never of trillions of years, it is likely that the Sun will be left alone with
flew. no bodies in orbit around it.
One interesting theoretical method to construct such an orbiting Ideas concerning the origin and fate of the world date from
solar mirror is the "tension stabilized steerable orbiting mirror". the earliest known writings; however, for almost all of that time,
there was no attempt to link such theories to the existence of a
Formation and Evolution of the Solar System "Solar System", simply because it was not generally known that
The formation and evolution of the Solar System is estimated the Solar System, in the sense we now understand it, existed. The
to have begun 4.6 billion years ago with the gravitational collapse first step toward a theory of Solar System formation and evolution
of a small part of a giant molecular cloud. Most of the collapsing was the general acceptance of heliocentrism, the model which
mass collected in the centre, forming the Sun, while the rest placed the Sun at the centre of the system and the Earth in orbit
flattened into a protoplanetary disc out of which the planets, around it. This conception had been gestating for millennia, but
moons, asteroids, and other small Solar System bodies formed. was widely accepted only by the end of the 17th century. The first
This widely accepted model, known as the nebular hypothesis, recorded use of the term "Solar System" dates from 1704.
was first developed in the 18th century by Emanuel Swedenborg, The current standard theory for Solar System formation, the
Immanuel Kant, and Pierre-Simon Laplace. Its subsequent nebular hypothesis, has fallen into and out of favour since its
development has interwoven a variety of scientific disciplines formulation by Emanuel Swedenborg, Immanuel Kant, and Pierre-
252 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 253

Simon Laplace in the 18th century. The most significant criticism


of the hypothesis was its apparent inability to explain the Sun's
relative lack of angular momentum when compared to the planets.
However, since the early 1980s studies of young stars have shown
them to be surrounded by cool discs of dust and gas, exactly as
the nebular hypothesis predicts, which has led to its re-acceptance.
Understanding of how the Sun will continue to evolve required
8
an understanding of the source of its power. Arthur Stanley
Eddington's confirmation of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity SOLAR POWER SATELLITE
led to his realisation that the Sun's energy comes from nuclear
fusion reactions in its core. In 1935, Eddington went further and
suggested that other elements also might form within stars. Fred A solar power satellite, or SPS or Powersat, as originally
Hoyle elaborated on this premise by arguing that evolved stars proposed would be a satellite built in high Earth orbit that uses
called red giants created many elements heavier than hydrogen microwave power transmission to beam solar power to a very
and helium in their cores. When a red giant finally casts off its large antenna on Earth. Advantages of placing the solar collectors
outer layers, these elements would then be recycled to form other in space include the unobstructed view of the Sun, unaffected by
star systems. the day/night cycle, weather, or seasons. It is a renewable energy
source, zero emission after putting the solar cells in orbit, and only
generates waste as a product of manufacture and maintenance.
However, the costs of construction are very high, and SPS will not
be able to compete with conventional sources (at current energy
prices) unless at least one of the following conditions is met:
• Sufficiently low launch costs can be achieved
• A determination (by governments, industry, ...) is made
that the disadvantages of fossil fuel use are so large they
must be substantially replaced.
• Conventional energy costs increase sufficiently to provoke
serious search for alternative energy
In common with other types of renewable energy such a
system could have advantages to the world in terms of energy
security via reduction in levels of conflict, military spending, loss
of life, and avoiding future conflict over dwindling energy sources.
The SPS concept was first described in November 1968 . At
first it was regarded as impractical due to the lack of a workable
method of sending power collected down to the Earth's surface.
This changed in 1973 when Peter Glaser was granted U.S. patent
number 3,781,647 for his method of transmitting power over long
distances (eg, from an SPS to the Earth's surface) using microwaves
254 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 255

from a very large (up to one square kilometer) antenna on the After these studies were published, there was no follow up
satellite to a much larger one on the ground, which came to be work as the political climate had shifted against such projects. The
known as a rectenna. Glaser then worked at Arthur D. Little, Inc., DOE study conclusions were critical of the project's possibilities.
as a vice-president. NASA became interested and signed a contract Confused press reports claimed, incorrectly, that the concept had
with ADL to lead four other companies in a broader study in 1974. been found infeasible. More recently, the SPS concept has again
They found that, while the concept had several major problems become interesting, due to increased energy demand, increased
-- chiefly the expense of putting the required materials in orbit energy costs, and emission implications, starting in 1997 with the
and the lack of experience on projects of this scale in space, it NASA "Fresh Look" however funding is still minimal.
showed enough promise to merit further investigation and In 2007, the US Department of Defense expressed interest in
research. During the period from 1978 - 1981 the US Congress the concept. At some cost point, the high initial costs of an SPS
authorized DOE and NASA to jointly investigate. They organized project will become favourable due to the low-cost delivery of
the Satellite Power System Concept Development and Evaluation power. By some estimates, this has already happened in some
Program . The study remains the most extensive performed to locations, as a result of the widely varying costs of electricity
date. Several reports were published addressing various issues, which sometimes approach (or even exceed) this point. In addition,
together investigating most of the possible problems with such an continued advances in material science and space transport
engineering project. They include: continue to whittle away at the startup cost of an SPS.
• Resource Requirements (Critical Materials, Energy, and The SPS essentially consists of three parts:
Land)
1. a solar collector, typically made up of solar cells
• Financial/Management Scenarios
2. a microwave antenna on the satellite, aimed at Earth
• Public Acceptance
3. one or more paired, and much larger, antennas (rectennas)
• State and Local Regulations as Applied to Satellite Power on the Earth's surface
System Microwave Receiving Antenna Facilities
• Student Participation SPACECRAFT DESIGN
• Potential of Laser for SPS Power Transmission In many ways, the SPS is a simpler conceptual design than
• International Agreements most power generation systems previously proposed. The simple
aspects include the physical structure required to hold the SPS
• Centralization/Decentralization
together and to align it orthogonally to the Sun. This will be
• Mapping of Exclusion Areas For Rectenna Sites
considerably lighter than any similar structure on Earth since it
• Economic and Demographic Issues Related to Deployment will be in a zero-g, vacuum environment and will not need to
• Some Questions and Answers support itself against a gravity field and needs no protection from
• Meteorological Effects on Laser Beam Propagation and terrestrial wind or weather.
Direct Solar Pumped Lasers Solar photons will be converted to electricity aboard the SPS
• Public Outreach Experiment spacecraft, and that electricity will be fed to an array of Klystron
• Power Transmission and Reception Technical Summary tubes which will generate the microwave beam.
and Assessment
SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION (SOLAR PHOTONS TO DC CURRENT)
• Space Transportation
Two basic methods of converting photons to electricity have
• Office of Technology Assessment
been studied, solar dynamic (SD) and photovoltaic (PV).
256 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 257

SD uses a heat engine to drive a piston or a turbine which large area to be acceptable for a significantly sized power station.
connects to a generator or dynamo. Two heat cycles for solar In addition, semiconductor PV panels will require a relatively
dynamic are thought to be reasonable for this: the Brayton cycle large amount of energy to produce; amorphous-silicon designs
or the Stirling cycle. Terrestrial solar dynamic systems typically require much less energy to produce but are less efficient. CPV
use a large reflector to focus sunlight to a high concentration to designs with a small area of 40%+ efficient cells and large reflector
achieve a high temperature so the heat engine can operate at high area are less expensive to produce. As well, the materials used in
thermodynamic efficiencies; an SPS implementation will be similar. some PV cells (eg, gallium and arsenic) seem to be less common
A major advantage of space solar is the efficiency with which in lunar materials than is silicon; this may be significant if lunar
huge mirrors can be supported and pointed in zero gravity and manufacturing is planned.
vacuum conditions of space. They can be constructed with very SD is a more mature technology, having been in widespread
thin aluminum or other metal sheets and very light frames, easily use on Earth in many contexts for centuries. Both CPV and SD
constructed from materials available in space (eg, on the Moon's systems have more severe pointing requirements than PV, because
surface). most proposed designs require accurate and stable optical focus.
PV uses semiconductor cells (e.g., silicon or gallium arsenide) If a PV array orientation drifts a few degrees, the power being
to directly convert sunlight photons into voltage via a quantum produced will drop a few percent. But, if an SD or CPV array
mechanical mechanism. These are commonly known as "solar orientation drifts a few degrees, the power produced will drop
cells", and will likely be rather different from the glass panel very quickly, perhaps to near zero. Aiming reflector arrays requires
protected solar cell panels familiar to many and in current terrestrial much less energy in space than on Earth, being without terrestrial
use. They will, for reasons of weight, probably be built in a wind and gravitation loads, but it has its own problems of
membrane form not suitable to terrestrial use which is subject to gyroscopic action, vibration, limits on usable reaction mass (though
considerable gravitational loading. electrically powered gyros would avoid that problem), solar wind,
It is also possible to use Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) and meteorite strikes on control mechanisms.
systems, which like SD are a form of existing terrestrial Currently, PV cells weigh between 0.5kg/kW and 10kg/kW
Concentrating Solar Energy approaches which convert depending on design. SD designs also vary but most seem to be
concentrated light into electricity by PV, thus avoiding heavier per kW produced than PV cells and thus have higher
thermodynamic constraints which apply to heat engines. On Earth, launch costs, all other things being equal. CPV should be lighter;
they also use tracking systems, mirrors, and lenses to achieve high since it replaces the thermal power plant (except for a radiator for
concentration ratios and are able to reach efficiencies above 40% waste heat) with a much lighter PV array.
Concentrating Photovoltaic Technology. Because their PV area is
rather smaller than for conventional PV, the majority of the WORKING LIFETIME
deployed collecting area in CPV systems is mirrors, as with SD The lifetime of a PV based SPS is limited mainly by the ionizing
systems; so they share the advantages of building and pointing radiation from the radiation belts and the Sun. Without some
large (simple) mirror arrays in space as opposed to (complex) PV method of protection, this is likely to cause the cells to continuously
panels. degrade by about a percent or two per year. Deterioration is likely
to be more rapid during periods of high exposure to energetic
COMPARISON OF PV, CPV, AND SD protons from solar particle events. If some practical protection can
The main problems with non-concentrating PV are that PV be designed this also might be reducible (eg, for a CPV station,
cells continue to be relatively expensive, and require a relatively radiation and particle shields for the PV cells -- out of the energy
258 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 259

path from the mirrors, of course). Lifetimes for SD based SPS about 6 weeks.For current silicon PV panels the energy needs are
designs will be limited by structural and mechanical considerations, relatively high, and typically three-four years of deployment in
such as micrometeorite impact, metal fatigue of turbine blades, a terrestrial environment is needed to recover this energy.
wear of sliding surfaces (although this might be avoidable by With SPS net energy received on the ground is higher (more
hydrostatic bearings or magnetic bearings), degradation or loss of or less necessarily so, for the system to be worth deploying), so
lubricants and working fluids in vacuum, from loss of structural this energy payback period would be reduced to about a year.
integrity leading to impaired optical focus amongst components, Thermal systems being made of conventional materials, are more
and from temperature extremes effects. As well, most mirror similar to conventional power stations and are likely to be less
surfaces will degrade from both radiation and particle impact, but energy intensive. They would be expected to give quicker energy
such mirrors can be designed simply (and so light and cheap), so break even, depending on construction technology. The relative
replacement may be practical. merits of PV vs SD is still an open question.
In either case, another advantage of the SPS design is that Clearly for a system (including manufacture, launch and
waste heat developed at collection points is re-radiated back into deployment) to provide net power it must repay the energy needed
space, instead of warming the adjacent local biosphere as with to construct it. For current silicon PV panels the energy needs are
conventional sources; thus thermal efficiency will not be in itself relatively high, and typically several years of deployment in a
an important design parameter except insofar as it affects the terrestrial environment is needed to recover this energy. With SPS
power/weight ratio via operational efficiency and hence pushes net energy received on the ground is higher (more or less
up launch costs. (For example SD may require larger radiators necessarily so, for the system to be worth deploying), so this
when operating at a lower efficiency). Earth based power handling energy payback period would be somewhat reduced; however
systems must always be carefully designed, for both economic SD, being made of conventional materials, are more similar to
and purely engineering reasons, with operational thermal efficiency conventional powerstations and are likely to be less energy
in mind. intensive and would be expected to give quicker energy break
One useful 'trick' SPS has up its sleeve is that at the end of even, depending on construction technology.
life, the material does not need to be launched a second time. In
theory, it would be possible to recycle the satellite 'on-site', WIRELESS POWER TRANSMISSION TO THE EARTH
potentially at a significantly lower cost than launching an SPS Wireless power transmission was early proposed to transfer
from new. This might allow a very expensive launch cost to be energy from collection to the Earth's surface. The power could be
paid for over multiple satellite lifetimes. transmitted as either microwave or laser radiation at a variety of
frequencies depending on system design. Whatever choice is made,
ENERGY PAYBACK the transmitting radiation would have to be non-ionizing to avoid
Clearly for a system (including manufacture, launch and potential disturbances either ecologically or biologically if it is to
deployment) to provide net power it must repay the energy needed reach the Earth's surface. This established an upper bound for the
to construct it. frequency used, as energy per photon, and so the ability to cause
Solar satellites pay back the lift energy in a remarkably short ionization, increases with frequency. Ionization of biological
time. It takes 14.75 kWh/kg for a 100% efficiency system to lift materials doesn't begin until ultraviolet or higher frequencies so
a kg from the surface of the earth to GEO. If the satellite generated most radio frequencies will be acceptable for this.
a kW with 2kg of mass, the payback time would be 29.5 hours. William C. Brown demonstrated in 1964 on CBS news with
Even with 3% efficient rockets, the energy payback time is only Walter Cronkite, a microwave-powered model helicopter that
260 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 261

received all the power needed for flight from a microwave beam. efficient monocrystalline silicon solar cells were deployed). State
Between 1969 and 1975 Bill Brown was technical director of a JPL of the art (currently, quite expensive, triple junction gallium
Raytheon program that beamed 30 kW over a distance of 1 mile arsenide) solar cells with a maximum efficiency of 40.7% could
at 84% efficiency. reduce the necessary collector area by two thirds, but would not
To minimize the sizes of the antennas used, the wavelength necessarily give overall lower costs. In either cases, the SPS's
should be small (and frequency correspondingly high) since structure would be kilometers wide, making it larger than most
antenna efficiency increases as antenna size increases. More man-made structures here on Earth. While almost certainly not
precisely, both for the transmitting and receiving antennas, the beyond current engineering capabilities, building structures of
angular beam width is inversely proportional to the aperture of this size in orbit has not yet been attempted.
the antenna, measured in units of the transmission wavelength.
LEO/MEO INSTEAD OF GEO
The highest frequencies that can be used are limited by water
vapor and CO2 absorption of air at higher microwave frequencies. A LEO system of space power stations has been proposed as
a precursor to GEO space power beaming system(s). There would
For these reasons, 2.45 GHz has been proposed as being a
be advantages, (much shorter path length allowing smaller antenna
reasonable compromise. However, that frequency results in large
sizes, lower cost to orbit) and disadvantages (constantly changing
antenna sizes at the GEO distance. A loitering stratospheric airship
antenna geometries, increased debris collision difficulties, etc). It
has been proposed to receive higher frequencies (or even laser
might be possible to deploy LEO systems sooner than GEO because
beams), converting them to something like 2.45 GHz for
the antenna development would take less time. Ultimately, because
retransmission to the ground. The proposal has not been as carefully
full engineering feasibility studies have not been conducted, it is
evaluated for engineering plausibility as other aspects of SPS
not known whether this would be an improvement over a GEO
design.
installation.
SPACECRAFT SIZING
EARTH BASED INFRASTRUCTURE
The sizing will be dominated by the distance from Earth to
The Earth-based receiver antenna (or rectenna) is a critical
geostationary orbit (22,300 miles, 35,700 km), the chosen
part of the original SPS concept. It would probably consist of
wavelength of the microwaves, and the laws of physics, specifically
many short dipole antennas, connected via diodes. Microwaves
the Rayleigh Criterion or Diffraction limit, used in standard RF
broadcast from the SPS will be received in the dipoles with about
(Radio Frequency) antenna design.
85% efficiency. With a conventional microwave antenna, the
For best efficiency, the satellite antenna should be circular and reception efficiency is still better, but the cost and complexity is
about 1 kilometers in diameter or larger; the ground antenna also considerably greater, almost certainly prohibitively so.
(rectenna) should be elliptical, 10km wide, and a length that Rectennas would be multiple kilometers across. Crops and farm
makes the rectenna appear circular from GSO. (Typically 14km animals may be raised underneath a rectenna, as the thin wires
at some North American latitudes.) Smaller antennas would result used for support and for the dipoles will only slightly reduce
in increased losses to diffraction/sidelobes. For the desired (23mW/ sunlight, so such a rectenna would not be as expensive in terms
cm²) microwave intensity these antennas could transfer between of land use as might be supposed.
5 and 10 gigawatts of power. To be most cost effective, the system
needs to operate at maximum capacity. And, to collect and convert ADVANTAGES OF AN SPS
that much power, the satellite would need between 50 and 100 The SPS concept is attractive because space has several major
square kilometers of collector area (if readily available ~14% advantages over the Earth's surface for the collection of solar
262 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 263

power. There is no air in space, so the collecting surfaces would However, economies of scale for expendable vehicles could
receive much more intense sunlight, unaffected by weather. In give rather large reductions in launch cost for this kind of launched
geostationary orbit, an SPS would be illuminated over 99% of the mass. Thousands of rocket launches could very well reduce the
time. The SPS would be in Earth's shadow on only a few days at costs by ten to twenty times, using standard costing models. This
the spring and fall equinoxes; and even then for a maximum of puts the economics of an SPS design into the practicable range.
75 minutes late at night when power demands are at their lowest. Reusable vehicles could quite conceivably attack the launch
This allows the power generation system to avoid the expensive problem as well, but are not a well-developed technology.
storage facilities (e.g., lakes behind dams, oil storage tanks, etc) Much of the material launched need not be delivered to its
necessary in many Earth-based power generation systems. eventual orbit immediately, which raises the possibility that high
Additionally, an SPS will avoid entirely the polluting consequences efficiency (but slower) engines could move SPS material from
of fossil fuel systems, the ecological problems resulting from many LEO to GEO at acceptable cost. Examples include ion thrusters
renewable or low impact power generation systems (eg, dams). or nuclear propulsion. They might even be designed to be reusable.
Politically, SPS would create new jobs and opportunities for Power beaming from geostationary orbit by microwaves has
companies. For nations on the equator, SPS provides an incentive the difficulty that the required 'optical aperture' sizes are very
to stabilise and a sustained opportunity to lease land for launch large. For example, the 1978 NASA SPS study required a 1-km
sites. SPS is also applicable on a global scale. Nuclear power diameter transmitting antenna, and a 10 km diameter receiving
especially is something many governments would be reluctant to rectenna, for a microwave beam at 2.45 GHz. These sizes can be
sell to developing nations. Whether bio-fuels can support the somewhat decreased by using shorter wavelengths, although they
western world, let alone the developed world, is currently a matter have increased atmospheric absorption and even potential beam
of debate. SPS poses no such problems. blockage by rain or water droplets. Because of the thinned array
The industrial capacity needed to construct and maintain curse, it is not possible to make a narrower beam by combining
such constructions would significantly reduce the cost of other the beams of several smaller satellites. The large size of the
space endeavours. A manned trip to mars (for example) might transmitting and receiving antennas means that the minimum
only cost hundreds of millions, instead of tens of billions. More practical power level for an SPS will necessarily be high; small
long-term, the potential amount of power production is enormous. SPS systems will be possible, but uneconomic.
If power stations can be placed outside Earth orbit, the upper limit To give an idea of the scale of the problem, assuming an
is vastly higher still. In the extreme, such arrangements are called (arbitrary, as no space-ready design has been adequately tested)
Dyson spheres. solar panel mass of 20 kg per kilowatt (without considering the
mass of the supporting structure, antenna, or any significant mass
PROBLEMS
reduction of any focusing mirrors) a 4 GW power station would
Launch Costs weigh about 80,000 metric tons, all of which would, in current
Without doubt, the most obvious problem for the SPS concept circumstances, be launched from the Earth. Very lightweight
is the current cost of space launches. Current rates on the Space designs could likely achieve 1 kg/kW,, meaning 4,000 metric tons
Shuttle run between $3,000 and $5,000 per pound ($6,600/kg and for the solar panels for the same 4 GW capacity station. This
$11,000/kg) to low Earth orbit, depending on whose numbers are would be the equivalent of between 40 and 80 heavy-lift launch
used. Calculations show that launch costs of less than about $180- vehicle (HLLV) launches to send the material to low earth orbit,
225 per pound ($400-500/kg) to LEO (Low Earth orbit) seem to where it would likely be converted into subassembly solar arrays,
be necessary. which then could use high-efficiency ion-engine style rockets to
264 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 265

(slowly) reach GEO (Geostationary orbit). With an estimated serial In 1980, when it became obvious NASA's launch cost estimates
launch cost for shuttle-based HLLVs of $500 million to $800 million, for the space shuttle were grossly optimistic, O'Neill et al published
total launch costs would range between $20 billion (low cost another route to manufacturing using lunar materials with much
HLLV, low weight panels) and $320 billion ('expensive' HLLV, lower startup costs This 1980s SPS concept relied less on human
heavier panels). Economies of scale on such a large launch program presence in space and more on partially self-replicating systems
could be as high as 90% (if a learning factor of 30% could be on the lunar surface under telepresence control of workers stationed
achieved for each doubling of production) over the cost of a single on Earth. Again, this proposal suffers from the current lack of
launch today. In addition, there would be the cost of an assembly such automated systems on Earth, much less on the Moon.
area in LEO (which could be spread over several power satellites), Asteroid mining has also been seriously considered. A NASA
and probably one or more smaller one(s) in GEO. The costs of design studyevaluated a 10,000 ton mining vehicle (to be assembled
these supporting efforts would also contribute to total costs. in orbit) that would return a 500,000 ton asteroid 'fragment' to
So how much money could an SPS be expected to make? For geostationary orbit. Only about 3000 tons of the mining ship
every one gigawatt rating, current SPS designs will generate 8.75 would be traditional aerospace-grade payload. The rest would be
terawatt-hours of electricity per year, or 175 TWoh over a twenty- reaction mass for the mass-driver engine; which could be arranged
year lifetime. With current market prices of $0.22 per kWoh (UK, to be the spent rocket stages used to launch the payload. Assuming,
January 2006) and an SPS's ability to send its energy to places of likely unrealistically, that 100% of the returned asteroid was useful,
greatest demand (depending on rectenna siting issues), this would and that the asteroid miner itself couldn't be reused, that represents
equate to $1.93 billion per year or $38.6 billion over its lifetime. nearly a 95% reduction in launch costs. However, the true merits
The example 4 GW 'economy' SPS above could therefore generate of such a method would depend on a thorough mineral survey
in excess of $154 billion over its lifetime. Assuming facilities are of the candidate asteroids; thus far, we have only estimates of
available, it may turn out to be substantially cheaper to recast on- their composition. There has been no such survey. Once built,
site steel in GEO, than to launch it from Earth. If true, then the NASA's CEV should be capable of beginning such a survey,
initial launch cost could be spread over multiple SPS lifespans. Congressional money and imagination permitting.

Extraterrestrial Materials Lofstrom Launch Loop


Gerard O'Neill, noting the problem of high launch costs in the A Lofstrom loop could conceivably provide the launch capacity
early 1970s, proposed building the SPS's in orbit with materials needed to make a solar power satellite practical. This is a high
from the Moon. Launch costs from the Moon are about 100 times capacity launch system capable of reaching a geosynchronous
lower than from Earth, due to the lower gravity. This 1970s proposal transfer orbit at low cost (Lofstrom estimates a large system could
assumed the then-advertised future launch costing of NASA's go as low as $3/kg to LEO for example). The Lofstrom loop is
space shuttle. This approach would require substantial up front expected to cost less than a conventional space elevator to develop
capital investment to establish mass drivers on the Moon. and construct, and to provide lower launch costs. Unlike the
Nevertheless, on 30 April 1979, the Final Report ("Lunar conventional space elevator, it is believed that a launch loop could
Resources Utilization for Space Construction") by General be built with today's materials.
Dynamics' Convair Division, under NASA contract NAS9-15560,
Space Elevators
concluded that use of lunar resources would be cheaper than
terrestrial materials for a system of as few as thirty Solar Power More recently the SPS concept has been suggested as a use
Satellites of 10GW capacity each. for a space elevator. The elevator would make construction of an
SPS considerably less expensive, possibly making them competitive
266 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 267

with conventional sources. However it appears unlikely that even beam energy will fall on the rectenna. The remaining microwave
recent advances in materials science, namely carbon nanotubes, energy will be absorbed and dispersed well within standards
can make possible such an elevator, nor to reduce the short term currently imposed upon microwave emissions around the world.
cost of construction of the elevator enough, if an Earth-GSO space The microwave beam intensity at ground level in the center
elevator is ever practical. A variant to the Earth-GSO elevator of the beam would be designed and physically built into the
concept is the Lunar space elevator, first described by Jerome system; simply, the transmitter would be too far away and too
Pearson in 1979. Because of the ~20 times shallower (than Earth's) small to be able to increase the intensity to unsafe death ray levels,
gravitational well for the lunar elevator, this concept would not even in principle.
rely on materials technology beyond the current state of the art,
In addition, a design constraint is that the microwave beam
but it would require establishing an Si mining and solar cell
must not be so intense as to injure wildlife, particularly birds.
manufacturing facilities on the Moon, similar to O/Neill's lunar
Experiments with deliberate microwave irradiation at reasonable
material proposal, discussed above.
levels have failed to show negative effects even over multiple
Safety generations. Some have suggested locating rectennas offshore,
The use of microwave transmission of power has been the but this presents serious problems, including corrosion, mechanical
most controversial issue in considering any SPS design, but any stresses, and biological contamination.
thought that anything which strays into the beam's path will be A commonly proposed approach to ensuring fail-safe beam
incinerated is an extreme misconception. Consider that quite targeting is to use a retrodirective phased array antenna/rectenna.
similar microwave relay beams have long been in use by A "pilot" microwave beam emitted from the center of the rectenna
telecommunications companies world wide without such on the ground establishes a phase front at the transmitting antenna.
problems. There, circuits in each of the antenna's subarrays compare the
At the earth's surface, a suggested microwave beam would pilot beam's phase front with an internal clock phase to control
have a maximum intensity, at its center, of 23 mW/cm2 (less than the phase of the outgoing signal. This forces the transmitted beam
1/4 the solar irradiation constant), and an intensity of less than to be centered precisely on the rectenna and to have a high degree
1 mW/cm2 outside of the rectenna fenceline (10 mW/cm2 is the of phase uniformity; if the pilot beam is lost for any reason (if the
current United States maximum microwave exposure standard). transmitting antenna is turned away from the rectenna, for
At present, per OSHA, , the workplace exposure limit (10 mW/ example) the phase control value fails and the microwave power
cm2) is expressed in voluntary language and has been ruled beam is automatically defocused. Such a system would be
unenforceable for Federal OSHA enforcement. physically incapable of focusing its power beam anywhere that
The beam's most intense section (more or less, at its center) did not have a pilot beam transmitter.
is far below dangerous levels even for an exposure which is It is important for system efficiency that as much of the
prolonged indefinitely. Furthermore, exposure to the center of the microwave radiation as possible be focused on the rectenna.
beam can easily be controlled on the ground (eg, via fencing), and Outside of the rectenna, microwave intensities would rapidly
typical aircraft flying through the beam provide passengers with decrease, so nearby towns or other human activity should be
a protective shell metal (ie, a Faraday Cage), which will intercept completely unaffected. The long-term effects of beaming power
the microwaves. Other aircraft (balloons, ultra-light, etc) can avoid through the ionosphere in the form of microwaves has yet to be
exposure by observing airflight control spaces, as is currently studied, but nothing has been suggested which might lead to any
done for military and other controlled airspace. Over 95% of the significant effect.
268 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 269

DEFENDING SOLAR POWER SATELLITES replacement of less durable components makes this unlikely.
Solar power satellites would normally be at a high orbit that Satellites do not, in our now-extensive experience, last forever.
is difficult to reach, and hence attack. However, it has been (But with regular maintenance there is no reason that a high orbit
suggested that a large enough quantity of granular material placed satellite has to 'die.' Currently (2007) the majority of such satellites-
in a retrograde orbit at the geostationary altitude could theoretically -weather and communications, fail due to correctable maintenance
completely destroy these kinds of system and render that orbit issues which we do not correct because we have no repair people
useless for generations. Whether this is a realistic attack scenario on site. Common failures are: running out of station keeping fuel
is arguable, and in any case at the present time there is only a or dead batteries-no longer holding a charge. Neither of these
small list of countries with the necessary launch capability to do failure modes is much of a problem if service is available. With
this, such an attack would probably be considered an act of war available refueling and battery replacement, the life of a satellite
by every single nation (except the attacker, which would lose its can be greatly increased. Structural components, which make up
satellites, too) with satellites in geostationary orbit, and an attack the largest percentage of mass, seldom fail. Nearly all of the other
with more conventional anti-satellite weapons would probably be components can be modularized for easy replacement/upgrade.)
considered an act of war by the nation whose satellite was attacked. Current prices for electricity on the public grid fluctuate
In any case, the receiving stations on the ground, and depending on time of day, but typical household delivery costs
conventional power generators (which are unlikely to be about 5 cents per kilowatt hour in North America. If the lifetime
completely replaced by solar power satellites), are more easily of an SPS is 20 years and it delivers 5 gigawatts to the grid, the
attacked. commercial value of that power is (5,000,000,000 watts)/(1000
watts/kilowatt) = 5,000,000 kilowatts, which multiplied by $.05
Computer security may be a bigger issue than physical defense,
per kWoh gives $250,000 revenue per hour. $250,000 × 24 hours
since launch capabilities aren't necessary to hack a satellite for
purposes of malicious orbital "corrections", extortion (by × 365 days × 20 years = $43,800,000,000. By contrast, in the United
threatening to destabilize its orbit) or outright "grand theft satellite". Kingdom (October 2005) electricity can cost 9-22 cents per kilowatt
hour. This would translate to a lifetime output of $77-$193 billion
SPS'S ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY for power delivered to the UK.

Current Energy Price Landscape COMPARISON WITH FOSSIL FUELS


In order to be competitive on a purely economic level, an SPS The relatively low price of energy today is entirely dominated
must cost no more than existing supplies. (Such costs must include by the historically low cost of carbon based fossil fuels (e.g.,
the costs of cleaning waste from construction, operation and petroleum, coal and natural gas). There are several problems with
dismantling of the generating systems--including lifestyle and existing energy delivery systems. They are subject to (among
health costs.. Currently(2007) most Earth-based power generation other problems)
does not include these costs. The cost figures below are undated, • political instability for various reasons in various locations
but are obsolete as of 2007. This greatly reduces the prices paid -- so that there are large hidden costs in maintaining
for power currently reducing the apparent benefits of SPS'.) This military or other presence so as to continue supplies
may be difficult, especially if it is deployed for North America,
• depletion (some well regarded estimates suggest that oil
where energy costs have been relatively low. It must cost less to
and gas reserves have been in net decline for some time
deploy, or operate for a very long period of time, or offer other
and that price increases and supply decreases are
advantages. Many proponentswho? have suggested that the
inevitable)
lifetime is effectively infinite, but normal maintenance and
270 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 271

o oil prices rose from around $20/bbl in the early 2000s • installation delays. These have been notoriously long with
to over $130/bbl in early 2008, despite no major nuclear power plants (at least in the US), and may be
disruptions in supply, suggesting to some industry reduced with SPS. With sufficient commitment from SPS
observers (e.g., Matthew Simmons) that the days of backers, the difference may be substantial.
cheap oil are over On balance, SPS avoids nearly all of the problems with current
• greenhouse pollution -- fossil fuel combustion emits nuclear power schemes, and does not have larger problems in any
enormous quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse respect, although public perception of microwave power transfer
gas, contributing to global warming and climate change. (ie, in the beams produced by an SPS and received on Earth)
Following the Kyoto Treaty, 141 countries introduced the first dangers could become an issue.
system of mandatory emissions control via carbon crs. The ultimate
COMPARISON WITH NUCLEAR FUSION
direction of such policies is to increase efficiency of fossil fuel use,
perhaps to the point of elimination in some countries or even Nuclear fusion is a process used in thermonuclear bombs
globally. (e.g., the H-bomb). Projected nuclear fusion power plants would
not be explosive, and will likely be inherently failsafe. However,
But, the energy requirements of Third World or developing
sustained nuclear fusion generators have only just been
countries (e.g., China and India) are increasing steadily. Because
demonstrated experimentally, despite well funded research over
of the net increase in demand, energy prices will continue to
a period of several decades (since approximately 1952). There is
increase, though how fast and how high are less easily predicted.
still no credible estimate of how long it will be before a nuclear
COMPARISON WITH NUCLEAR POWER (FISSION) fusion reactor could become commercially possible; fusion research
continues to receive substantial funding by many nations. For
Detailed analyses of the problems with nuclear power
example, the ITER facility currently under construction will cost
specifically (nuclear fission) are published elsewhere. Some are
10 billion. There has been much criticism of the value of continued
given below, with some comparative comments:
funding of fusion research. Proponents have successfully argued
• nuclear proliferation -- not a problem with SPS
in favor of ITER funding.
• disposal and storage of radioactive waste -- not a problem
By contrast, SPS does not require any fundamental engineering
with SPS
breakthroughs, has already been extensively reviewed from an
• preventing fissile material from being obtained by terrorists engineering feasibility perspective over some decades, and needs
or their sponsors -- not a problem with SPS only incremental improvements of existing technology to be
• public perception of danger -- problem with both SPS and deployed. Despite these advantages, SPS has received minimal
nuclear power research funding to date.
• consequences of major accident, e.g., Chernobyl --
effectively zero with SPS, save on launch (during COMPARISON WITH TERRESTRIAL SOLAR POWER
construction or for maintenance) In the case of the United Kingdom, the country as a whole
• military and police cost of protecting the public and loss is further north than even most inhabited parts of Canada, and
of democratic freedoms -- control of SPS would be a power/ hence receives little insolation over much of the year, so
influence center, perhaps sufficient to translate into political conventional solar power is not competitive at 2006 per-kilowatt-
power. However, this has not yet happened in the hour delivered costs. However, per-kilowatt-hour photovoltaic
developed world with nuclear power. costs have been in exponential decline for decades, with a 20-fold
272 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 273

decrease from 1975 to 2001, so this situation may change. Let us • Further, if it is assumed that a ground-based solar array
consider a ground-based solar power system versus an SPS must supply baseload power (not true for every projected
generating an equivalent amount of power. configuration), some form of energy storage would be
• Such a system would require a very large solar array built required to provide power at night, such as hydrogen
in a well-sunlit area, the Sahara Desert for instance. An generation/storage, compressed air, or pumped storage
SPS requires much less ground area per kilowatt (approx hydroelectricity. With present technology, energy storage
1/5th). There is no such area in the UK. on this scale is prohibitively expensive, and will incur
• The rectenna on the ground is much larger than the area energy losses as well.
of the orbiting solar panels. A ground-only solar array • Weather conditions would also interfere with power
would have the advantage, compared to a GEO collection, and will cause wear and tear on solar collectors
(Geosynchronous orbit) solar array, of costing which will be avoided in Earth orbit; for instance,
considerably less to construct and requiring no significant sandstorms cause devastating damage to human structures
technological advances. A small version of such a ground via, for example, abrasion of surfaces as well as
based array has recently been completed by General Electric mechanically large wind forces causing direct physical
in Portugal. damage. Terrestrial systems are also more vulnerable to
• The receiving SPS rectenna will be quite simple, cheap, terrorism than an SPS's rectenna since they are more
and even transparent, with fewer land use issues than a expensive, complex, intolerant of partial damage, and
conventional terrestrial solar array. Crops could be grown harder to repair/replace. Wear and tear on orbital
beneath the rectenna, so the land needed could be dual- installations will be of very different character, for quite
use. By comparison, ground-based solar panels would different reasons, and can be reduced by care in design
completely block sunlight thus destroying vegetation and and fabrication. Long experience with terrestrial
having a considerable effect on local ecology, which in installations shows that there is substantial, inescapable
turn would result in increased soil erosion, drainage and maintenance for any economically feasible electrical
runoff problems (increased flood risk) and loss of habitats, installation.
though this would be reduced somewhat for desert • Terrestrial solar panel locations are inherently fixed, but
installations. beamed microwave power allows one to adaptively re-
• A terrestrial solar station intercepts an absolute maximum route delivered power near to places it is needed (within
of only one third of the solar energy an array of equal size limits -- rectennas near the SPS's horizon (e.g., at high
could intercept in space, since no power is generated at latitudes) will not be as efficient). A station in the Sahara
night and less light strikes the panels when the Sun is low could provide practical power only to the surrounding
in the sky or weather interferes. A solar panel in the area; current demand is relatively low there. That is, at
contiguous United States on average delivers 19 to 56 W/ least until long distance superconducting distribution
m² . By comparison an SPS rectenna would deliver about becomes possible, which will make remotely sited Earth
23mW/cm² (230 W/m²) continuously, hence the size of surface collection systems more practical, and distribution
rectenna required per collected watt would be about 8.2% of generated power equally so, including that from an
to 24% that of a terrestrial solar panel array with equivalent SPS.
power output, neglecting weather and night/day cycles. • Remote tropical location of an extensive photovoltaic
Assuming, of course, current levels of solar cell efficiency. generator is a somewhat artificial scenario, as photovoltaic
274 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 275

costs continue to decline. Deployment of ground-based techniques would have to be extremely competitive to be significant
photovoltaics can be distributed (say to rooftops), but on Earth.
nevertheless, the required acreage (at any credible solar
cell efficiency) will remain very large, and maintenance SOLAR PANEL MASS PRODUCTION
cost and effort will increase substantially compared to a Currently the costs of solar panels are too high to use them
large centralized design. In any case, dispersed installation to produce bulk domestic electricity in most situations. However,
is not possible for some terrestrial solar collectors. mass production of the solar panels necessary to build an SPS
• Energy payback time for the capital costs of terrestrial PV system would be likely to reduce those costs sufficiently to change
cells has been typically in the 5-15 year range, depending this -- perhaps substantially -- especially as fossil fuel costs have
largely on existing local cost structures. Payback for an been increasing rapidly. But, any panel design suited to SPS use
orbital installations is likely to be quicker due to the higher is likely to be quite different than earth suitable panels, so not all
total insolation rate, which will, of course be essentially such improvements will have this effect. This may benefit earth
continuous, without interruptions during nighttimes or based array designs as costs may be lower (see the cost analysis
bad weather. While it is true some of the potential energy above), but will not be able to take advantage of maximum
available would not be collected (cell inefficienies will economies of scale, and so piggyback on production of Earth
assure this in any case), that some would be lost internally based panels.
at the SPS (no equipment is loss free), and that still more It should be noted, however, that there are also frequent
would be lost in transmission back to the Earth, the developments in the production of solar panels. Thin film solar
engineering feasibility studies have established that none panels and so-called "nanosolar" might increase collection
of these losses will be large enough to make an SPS project efficiency, reduce production costs as well as weight, and therefore
infeasible on those grounds. Losses due to conventional reduce the total cost of an SPS installation. In addition, private
fossil fuel generation are of larger magnitude than in an space corporations could become interested in transporting goods
SPS design, and are more than merely lost efficiency as (such as satellites, supplies and parts of commercial space hotels)
such losses all contribute to pollution (eg, exhaust gases). to LEO (Low Earth orbit), since they already are developing
Both SPS and ground-based solar power could be used to spacecraft to transport space tourists. If they can reduce costs, this
produce chemical fuels for transportation and storage, as in the will also increase the economic feasibility of an SPS.
proposed hydrogen economy. Or they could both be used to run
an energy storage scheme (such as pumping water uphill at a COMPARISON WITH OTHER RENEWABLES (WIND, TIDAL, HYDRO,
hydropower generation station). GEOTHERMAL)

Many advances in solar cell efficiency (eg, improved Most renewable energy sources (for example, tidal energy,
construction techniques) that make an SPS more economically hydro-electric, geothermal, ethanol), have the capacity to supply
feasible might make a ground-based system more economic as only a tiny fraction of the global energy requirement, now or in
well. Also, many SPS designs assume the framework will be built the foreseeable future. For most, the limitation is geography as
with automated machinery supplied with raw materials, typically there simply are very few sites in the world where generating
aluminium. Such a system could be (more or less easily) adapted systems can be built, and for hydro-electric projects in particular,
for operation on Earth, no launching required. However, Earth- there are few sites still open. For 2005, in the US, hydro-electric
based construction already has access to inexpensive human labor power accounted for 6.5% of electricity generation, and other
that would not be available in space, so such construction renewables 2.3%. The U.S. Govt. Energy Information
276 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 277

Administration projects that in 2030 hydro-power will decline to generating electricity (and thus revenue) as soon as they connect
3.4% and other renewables will increase to 2.9%. to the transmission grid. This gives wind power a lower capital
risk compared to large-scale power generation schemes that require
COMPARISON WITH BIOFUELS heavy investment for years before they become operational (e.g.,
Ethanol power production depends on farming in the case of hydroelectric power, nuclear power).
corn or sugar cane, currently the two leading sources of ethanol Ocean-based windpower offers access to very large wind
fuel. There is insufficient farming capacity for both significant resources (there being large areas for potential installations, and
energy production and food production. Corn prices have risen winds tend to blow stronger and steadier over water than over
substantially in 2006 and 2007, partly as a result of nascent ethanol land due to reduced surface friction), but it is strongly affected
production demand. Due to the high energy cost of industrial by two factors: the difficulty of long distance power transmission
agriculture as well as the azeotropic distillation necessary to refine as many regions of high demand are not near the sea, and by the
ethanol, serious questions remain about the EROEI of ethanol very large difficulty of coping with corrosion, contamination, and
from corn. Ethanol from cellulose (eg, agricultural waste or purpose survivability problems faced by all seaborne installations.
collected non-cultivated plants, eg, switchgrass) is not practicable
Some potential locations for offshore wind turbines suffer less
as of 2007, though pilot plants are in development. Processing
from these problems, such as the Great Lakes of the United States
improvements (eg, a breakthrough in enzyme processing) may
and Canada, which are surrounded by well-developed power
change this relative disadvantage.
grids and large populations of electricity consumers. The lakes,
COMPARISON WITH WIND POWER being fresh water, would pose fewer corrosion problems, and
construction in these environments is well-understood.
Wind power is somewhat unique among the renewables as
having emerged as competitive with fossil fuels on cost (similar CURRENT WORK
to hydro), but unlike hydro has significant potential for expansion.
For the past several years there has been no line item for SPS
Wind power has been the fastest-growing form of renewable
in either the NASA nor DOE budgets, a minimal level of research
energy throughout the 2000s, growing at an annual rate of
has been sustained through small NASA discretionary budget
approximately 30%. As of 2008, wind power's share of global
accounts.
energy output remained small, but wind power accounted for a
large share of new power generation capacity in several countries NASDA (Japan's national space agency) has been researching
including the United States and the United Kingdom. in this area steadily for the last few years. In 2001 plans were
Improvements in technology, especially the trend toward larger announced to perform additional research and prototyping by
wind turbines mounted on taller towers, has reduced the cost of launching an experimental satellite of capacity between 10 kilowatts
wind power to be competitive with fossil fuel. The potential for and 1 megawatt of power.
wind power appears to be very large. For example, just the four The National Space Society (a non-profit NGO) maintains a
windiest states in the United States (North Dakota, Texas, Kansas, web page where the latest SPS related references are posted and
and South Dakota), have wind resources that could equal the kept current.
current electricity consumption of the entire country. Offshore In May 2007 a workshop was held at MIT in the U.S.A. to
wind resources appear to be even larger than on-shore wind review the current state of the market and technology
resources. One advantage of wind farms is their ability to expand
In 2007 the U.S. Department of Defense expressed interest in
incrementally; individual wind turbines can be assembled on site
studying the concept. On 10/10/2007 The National Security Space
at a typical rate of approximately one per week, and begin
278 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 279

Office of the US Department of Defense, published an assessment EXAMPLES OF HELIOSTAT POWER PLANTS
report . The report was released at a press conference which The 10 MWe Solar One and Solar Two heliostat demonstration
simultaneously announced the formation of the Space Solar projects in the Mojave Desert have now been decommissioned.
Alliance for Future Energy which intends to pursue the The 15 MW Solar Tres Power Tower in Spain builds on these
recommendations of the NSSO-Led Study. projects. In Spain the 11 MW PS10 solar power tower was recently
completed. In South Africa, a solar power plant is planned with
IN FICTION
4000 to 5000 heliostat mirrors, each having an area of 140 m². A
Space stations transmitting solar power have appeared in site near Upington has been selected.
science-fiction works like Isaac Asimov's Reason (1941), that centers
BrightSource Energy entered into a series of power purchase
around the troubles caused by the robots operating the station.
agreements with Pacific Gas and Electric Company in March 2008
Solar Power Satellites have also been seen in the work of author
for up to 900MW of electricity, the largest solar power commitment
Ben Bova's novels "Powersat" and "Colony". The anime series
ever made by a utility. BrightSource is currently developing a
Gundam 00 explores the effects and politics of space based solar
number of solar power plants in Southern California, with
power. In both SimCity 2000 and 3000, plants that improvised
construction of the first plant planned to start in 2009.
solar satellite technology called microwave powerplants were
available in the future. The plant was discontinued in SimCity 4 In June 2008, BrightSource Energy dedicated its Solar Energy
but several fan-made microwave powerplants were available on Development Center (SEDC) in Israel's Negev Desert. The site,
located in the Rotem Industrial Park, features more than 1,600
various SimCity 4 fan-sites. Solar Sats are used in the online
heliostats that track the sun and reflect light onto a 60 meter-high
browser-based game ogame. They are a means to supply power
tower. The concentrated energy is then used to heat a boiler atop
to planet production.
the tower to 550 degrees Celsius, generating steam that is piped
SOLAR POWER TOWER into a turbine, where electricity can be produced.
The solar power tower (also known as 'Central Tower' power COST
plants or 'Heliostat' power plants or power towers) is a type of
The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory NREL has
solar furnace using a tower to receive the focused sunlight. It uses
estimated that by 2020 electricity could be produced from power
an array of flat, movable mirrors (called heliostats) to focus the
towers for 5.47 ?/kWh. Google.org hopes to develop cheap, low
sun's rays upon a collector tower (the target). The high energy at
maintenance, mass produceable heliostat components to reduce
this point of concentrated sunlight is transferred to a substance
this cost in the near future.
that can store the heat for later use.
The most recent heat transfer material that has been SOLAR PROTON EVENT
successfully demonstrated is liquid sodium. Sodium is a metal A Solar proton event occurs when protons emitted by the Sun
with a high heat capacity, allowing that energy to be stored and become accelerated to very high energies either close to the Sun
drawn off throughout the evening. That energy can, in turn, be during a solar flare or in interplanetary space by the shocks
used to boil water for use in steam turbines. Water had originally associated with coronal mass ejections. These high energy protons
been used as a heat transfer medium in earlier power tower cause several effects. They can penetrate the Earth's magnetic field
versions (where the resultant steam was used to power a turbine). and cause ionization in the ionosphere. The effect is similar to
This system did not allow for power generation when the sun is auroral events, the difference being that electrons and not protons
not shining. are involved. Energetic solar protons are also a significant radiation
280 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 281

hazard to spacecraft and astronauts. Solar protons normally have neutron count rates at ground levels through secondary radiation
insufficient energy to penetrate through the Earth's magnetic field. effects. These rare events are known as Ground Level Events (or
However, during unusually strong solar flare events, protons can GLE's).
be produced with sufficient energies to penetrate deeper into the There is no substantive scientific evidence to suggest that
Earth's magnetosphere and ionosphere. Regions where deeper energetic proton events are harmful to human health at ground
penetration can occur includes the north pole, south pole, and levels, particularly at latitudes where most of the Earth's population
South Atlantic magnetic anomaly. resides. The Earth's magnetic field is exceptionally good at
Protons are charged particles and are therefore influenced by preventing the radiative effects of energetic particles from reaching
magnetic fields. When the energetic protons leave the Sun, they ground levels. High altitude commercial transpolar aircraft flights
preferentially follow (or are guided by) the Sun's powerful magnetic have measured increases in radiation during energetic proton
field. When solar protons enter the domain of the Earth's events, but a warning system is in place that limits these effects
magnetosphere where the magnetic fields become stronger than by alerting pilots to lower their cruising altitudes. Aircraft flights
the solar magnetic fields, they are guided by the Earth's magnetic away from the polar regions are far less likely to see an impact
field into the polar regions where the majority of the Earth's from solar proton events.
magnetic field lines enter and exit. Significant proton radiation exposure can be experienced by
Energetic protons that are guided into the polar regions collide astronauts who are outside of the protective shield of the Earth's
with atmospheric constituents and release their energy through magnetosphere, such as an astronaut in-transit to, or located on
the process of ionization. The majority of the energy is extinguished the Moon. However, the effects can be minimized if astronauts
in the extreme lower region of the ionosphere (around 50-80 km are in a low-Earth orbit and remain confined to the most heavily
in altitude). This area is particularly important to ionospheric shielded regions of their spacecraft. Proton radiation levels in low
radio communications because this is the area where most of the earth orbit increase with orbital inclination. Therefore, the closer
absorption of radio signal energy occurs. The enhanced ionization a spacecraft approaches the polar regions, the greater the exposure
produced by incoming energetic protons increases the absorption to energetic proton radiation will be.
levels in the lower ionosphere and can have the effect of completely Astronauts have reported seeing flashes or streaks of light as
blocking all ionospheric radio communications through the polar energetic protons interact with their optic tissues. Similar flashes
regions. Such events are known as Polar Cap Absorption events and streaks of light occur when energetic protons strike the sensitive
(or PCAs). These events commence and last as long as the energy optical electronics in spacecraft (such as star trackers and other
of incoming protons at approximately greater than 10 MeV (million cameras). The effect can be so pronounced that during extreme
electron volts) exceeds roughly 10 pfu (particle flux units) at events, it is not possible to obtain quality images of the Sun or
geosynchronous satellite altitudes. stars. This can cause spacecraft to lose their orientation, which is
The more severe proton events can be associated with critical if ground controllers are to maintain control.
geomagnetic storms that can cause widespread disruption to Energetic proton storms can also electrically charge spacecraft
electrical grids. However, proton events themselves are not to levels that can damage electronic components. They can also
responsible for producing anomalies in power grids, nor are they cause electronic components to behave erratically. For example,
responsible for producing geomagnetic storms. Power grids are solid state memory on spacecraft can be altered, which may cause
only sensitive to fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field. data or software contamination and result in unexpected (phantom)
Extremely intense solar proton flares capable of producing spacecraft commands being executed. Energetic proton storms
energetic protons with energies in excess of 100 MeV can increase also destroy the efficiency of the solar panels that are designed
282 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 283

to collect and convert sunlight to electricity. During years of moment half the planet does not receive any solar radiation, is
exposure to energetic proton activity from the Sun, spacecraft can one-fourth the solar constant (approximately 342 W/m²). At any
lose a substantial amount of electrical power that may require given moment, the amount of Solar radiation received at a location
important instruments to be turned off. on the Earth's surface depends on the state of the atmosphere and
the location's latitude.
SOLAR RADIATION
The solar constant includes all wavelengths of solar
Solar irradiance spectrum at top of atmosphere, on a linear electromagnetic radiation, not just the visible light (see
scale and plotted against wavenumber. Solar radiation is radiant Electromagnetic spectrum). It is linked to the apparent magnitude
energy emitted by a sun as a result of its nuclear fusion reactions. of the Sun, ?26.8, in that the solar constant and the magnitude of
The spectrum of the Sun's solar radiation is close to that of a black the Sun are two methods of describing the apparent brightness
body with a temperature of about 5,800 K. About half that lies in of the Sun, though the magnitude only measures the visual output
the visible short-wave part of the electromagnetic spectrum and of the Sun.
the other half mostly in the near-infrared part. Some also lies in
In 1884, Samuel Pierpont Langley attempted to estimate the
the ultraviolet part of the spectrum. When ultraviolet radiation
Solar constant from Mount Whitney in California. By taking
is not absorbed by the atmosphere or other protective coating, it
readings at different times of day, he attempted to remove effects
can cause a change in human skin pigmentation. Solar radiation
due to atmospheric absorption. However, the value he obtained,
is commonly measured with a pyranometer or pyrheliometer.
2903 W/m², was still too great. Between 1902 and 1957,
measurements by Charles Greeley Abbot and others at various
SOLAR CONSTANT
high-altitude sites found values between 1322 and 1465 W/m².
The solar constant is the amount of the Sun's incoming Abbott proved that one of Langley's corrections was erroneously
electromagnetic radiation (Solar radiation) per unit area, measured applied. His results varied between 1.89 and 2.22 calories (1318
on the outer surface of Earth's atmosphere in a plane perpendicular to 1548 W/m²), a variation that appeared to be due to the Sun
to the rays. The solar constant includes all types of solar radiation, and not the Earth's atmosphere.
not just the visible light. It is measured by satellite to be roughly
The angular diameter of the Earth as seen from the Sun is
1366 watts per square meter (W/m²), though this fluctuates by
approximately 1/11,000 radians, meaning the solid angle of the
about 6.9% during a year (from 1412 W/m² in early January to
Earth as seen from the sun is approximately 1/140,000,000
1321 W/m² in early July) due to the earth's varying distance from
steradians. Thus the Sun emits about two billion times the amount
the Sun, and by a few parts per thousand from day to day. Thus,
of radiation that is caught by Earth, in other words about 3.86×1026
for the whole Earth (which has a cross section of 127,400,000 km²),
watts.
the power is 1.740×1017 W, plus or minus 3.5%. The Solar constant
does not remain constant over long periods of time (see Solar
CLIMATE EFFECT OF SOLAR RADIATION
variation). 1366 W/m² is equivalent to 1.96 calories per minute
per square centimeter, or 1.96 langleys (Ly) per minute. On Earth, solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the sun
is above the horizon. This is during daytime, and also in summer
The Earth receives a total amount of radiation determined by
near the poles at night, but not at all in winter near the poles.
its cross section (?·RE²), but as it rotates this energy is distributed
When the direct radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is experienced
across the entire surface area (4·?·RE²). Hence the average incoming
as sunshine, combining the perception of bright white light
solar radiation (sometimes called the solar irradiance), taking into
(sunlight in the strict sense) and warming. The warming on the
account the angle at which the rays strike and that at any one
body and surfaces of other objects is distinguished from the increase
284 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 285

in air temperature. The amount of radiation intercepted by a gyroscopic momentum wheels control the spacecraft's attitude -
planetary body varies inversely with the square of the distance this excess momentum must be offloaded to protect the wheels
between the star and the planet. The Earth's orbit and obliquity from overspin). Some unmanned spacecraft (such as Mariner 10)
change with time (over thousands of years), sometimes forming have substantially extended their service lives with this practice.
a nearly perfect circle, and at other times stretching out to an The science of solar sails is well-proven, but the technology
orbital eccentricity of 5% (currently 1.67%). The total insolation to manage large solar sails is still undeveloped. Mission planners
remains almost constant but the seasonal and latitudinal are not yet willing to risk multimillion dollar missions on unproven
distribution and intensity of solar radiation received at the Earth's solar sail unfolding and steering mechanisms. This neglect has
surface also varies. For example, at latitudes of 65 degrees the inspired some enthusiasts to attempt private development of the
change in solar energy in summer & winter can vary by more than technology, such as the Cosmos 1.
25% as a result of the Earth's orbital variation. Because changes
The concept was first proposed by German astronomer
in winter and summer tend to offset, the change in the annual
Johannes Kepler in the seventeenth century. It was again proposed
average insolation at any given location is near zero, but the
by Friedrich Zander in the late 1920s and gradually refined over
redistribution of energy between summer and winter does strongly
the decades. Recent serious interest in lightsails began with an
affect the intensity of seasonal cycles. Such changes associated
article by engineer and science fiction author Robert L. Forward
with the redistribution of solar energy are considered a likely
in 1984.
cause for the coming and going of recent ice ages.
HOW THEY WORK
SOLAR SAIL
The spacecraft deploys a large membrane mirror which reflects
Solar sails (also called light sails or photon sails, especially
light from the Sun or some other source. The radiation pressure
when they use light sources other than the Sun) are a proposed
on the mirror provides a minuscule amount of thrust by reflecting
form of spacecraft propulsion using large membrane mirrors.
photons. Tilting the reflective sail at an angle from the Sun produces
Radiation pressure is about 10-5 Pa at Earth radii and decreases
thrust at an angle normal to the sail. In most designs, steering
by the square of the distance from the light source (e.g. sun), but
would be done with auxiliary vanes, acting as small solar sails to
unlike rockets, solar sails require no reaction mass. Although the
change the attitude of the large solar sail. The vanes would be
thrust is small, it continues as long as the light source shines and
adjusted by electric motors.
the sail is deployed. In theory a lightsail (actually a system of
lightsails) powered by an Earth-based laser could even be used In theory a lightsail driven by a laser or other beam from Earth
to decelerate the spacecraft as it approaches its destination. can be used to decelerate a spacecraft approaching a distant star
or planet, by detaching part of the sail and using it to focus the
Solar collectors, temperature-control panels and sun shades
beam on the forward-facing surface of the rest of the sail. In
are occasionally used as expedient solar sails, to help ordinary
practice, however, most of the deceleration would happen while
spacecraft and satellites make minor attitude control corrections
the two parts are at a great distance from each other, and that
and orbit modifications without using fuel. This conserves fuel
means that, to do that focusing, it would be necessary to give the
that would otherwise be used for maneuvering and altitude control.
detached part an accurate optical shape and orientation.
A few have even had small purpose-built solar sails for this use.
For example, EADS Astrium built Eurostar E3000 geostationary Sails orbit, and therefore do not need to hover or move directly
communications satellites use solar sail panels attached to their toward or away from the sun. Almost all missions would use the
solar cell arrays to off-load transverse angular momentum, thereby sail to change orbit, rather than thrusting directly away from a
saving fuel (angular momentum is accumulated over time as the planet or the sun. The sail is rotated slowly as the sail orbits
286 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 287

around a planet so the thrust is in the direction of the orbital There is a common misunderstanding that solar sails cannot
movement to move to a higher orbit or against it to move to a go towards their light source. This is false. In particular, sails can
lower orbit. When an orbit is far enough away from a planet, the go toward the sun by thrusting against their orbital motion. This
sail then begins similar maneuvers in orbit around the sun. reduces the energy of their orbit, spiraling the sail toward the sun,
The best sort of missions for a solar sail involves a dive near see Tack (sailing).
the sun, where the light is intense, and sail efficiencies are high.
INVESTIGATED SAIL DESIGNS
Going close to the Sun may be done for different mission aims:
for exploring the solar poles from a short distance, for observing "Parachutes" would have very low mass, but theoretical
the Sun and its near environment from a nonKeplerian circular studies show that they will collapse from the forces placed by
orbit the plane of which may be shifted some solar radii, for flying shrouds. Radiation pressure does not behave like aerodynamic
by the Sun such that the sail gets a very high speed. pressure.
An unsuspected feature, until the first half of the 1990's, of The highest thrust-to-mass designs known (2007) were
the solar sail propulsion is to allow a sailcraft to escape the solar theoretical designs developed by Eric Drexler. He designed a sail
system with a cruise speed higher or even much higher than a using reflective panels of thin aluminum film (30 to 100 nanometres
spacecraft powered by a nuclear electric rocket system. The thick) supported by a purely tensile structure. It rotated and would
spacecraft mass-to-sail area ratio does not need to achieve ultra- have to be continually under slight thrust. He made and handled
low values, even though the sail should be an advanced all-metal samples of the film in the laboratory, but the material is too
sail. This flight mode is also known as fast solar sailing. Proven delicate to survive folding, launch, and deployment, hence the
mathematically (like many other astronautical items well in design relied on space-based production of the film panels, joining
advance of their actual launches), such sailing mode has been them to a deployable tension structure. Sails in this class would
considered by NASA/Marshall as one of the options for a future offer accelerations an order of magnitude higher than designs
precursor interstellar probe exploring the near interstellar space based on deployable plastic films.
beyond the heliosphere. The highest-thrust to mass designs for ground-assembled
Most theoretical studies of interstellar missions with a solar deployable structures are square sails with the masts and guy
sail plan to push the sail with a very large laser Beam-powered lines on the dark side of the sail. Usually there are four masts that
propulsion Direct Impulse beam. The thrust vector (spatial)vector spread the corners of the sail, and a mast in the center to hold
would therefore be away from the Sun and toward the target. guide wires. One of the largest advantages is that there are no hot
spots in the rigging from wrinkling or bagging, and the sail protects
LIMITATIONS OF SOLAR SAILS the structure from the sun. This form can therefore go quite close
Solar sails don't work well, if at all, in low Earth orbit below to the sun, where the maximum thrust is present. Control would
about 800 km altitude due to erosion or air drag. Above that probably use small sails on the ends of the spars.
altitude they give very small accelerations that take months to In the 1970s JPL did extensive studies of rotating blade and
build up to useful speeds. Solar sails have to be physically large, rotating ring sails for a mission to rendezvous with Halley's Comet.
and payload size is often small. Deploying solar sails is also highly The intention was that such structures would be stiffened by their
challenging to date. angular momentum, eliminating the need for struts, and saving
Solar sails must face the sun to decelerate. Therefore, on trips mass. In all cases, surprisingly large amounts of tensile strength
away from the sun, they must arrange to loop behind the outer were needed to cope with dynamic loads. Weaker sails would
planet, and decelerate into the sunlight. ripple or oscillate when the sail's attitude changed, and the
288 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 289

oscillations would add and cause structural failure. So the full-sized functioning electric solar wind sail would have 50-100
difference in the thrust-to-mass ratio was almost nil, and the static straightened wires with a length of about 20 km each.
designs were much easier to control. NASA has successfully tested deployment technologies on
JPL's reference design was called the "heliogyro" and had small scale sails in vacuum chambers.
plastic-film blades deployed from rollers and held out by centripetal No solar sails have been successfully deployed as primary
forces as it rotated. The spacecraft's altitude and direction were propulsion systems, but research in the area is continuing. On
to be completely controlled by changing the angle of the blades August 9, 2004 Japanese ISAS successfully deployed two prototype
in various ways, similar to the cycle and collective pitch of a solar sails from a sounding rocket. A clover type sail was deployed
helicopter. Although the design had no mass advantage over a at 122 km altitude and a fan type sail was deployed at 169 km
square sail, it remained attractive because the method of deploying altitude. Both sails used 7.5 micrometer thick film. The experiment
the sail was simpler than a strut-based design. was purely a test of the deployment mechanisms, not of propulsion.
JPL also investigated "ring sails" (Spinning Disk Sail in the A joint private project between Planetary Society, Cosmos
above diagram), panels attached to the edge of a rotating spacecraft. Studios and Russian Academy of Science launched Cosmos 1 on
The panels would have slight gaps, about one to five percent of June 21, 2005, from a submarine in the Barents Sea, but the Volna
the total area. Lines would connect the edge of one sail to the rocket failed, and the spacecraft failed to reach orbit. A solar sail
other. Weights in the middles of these lines would pull the sails would have been used to gradually raise the spacecraft to a higher
taut against the coning caused by the radiation pressure. JPL earth orbit. The mission would have lasted for one month. A
researchers said that this might be an attractive sail design for suborbital prototype test by the group failed in 2001 as well, also
large manned structures. The inner ring, in particular, might be because of rocket failure.
made to have artificial gravity roughly equal to the gravity on the
A 15-meter-diameter solar sail (SSP, solar sail sub payload,
surface of Mars.
soraseiru sabupeiro-do) was launched together with ASTRO-F on
A solar sail can serve a dual function as a high-gain antenna. a M-V rocket on February 21, 2006, and made it to orbit. It deployed
Designs differ, but most modify the metallization pattern to create from the stage, but opened incompletely.
a holographic monochromatic lens or mirror in the radio
frequencies of interest, including visible light. NANOSAIL-D
Pekka Janhunen from FMI has invented a type of solar wind A team from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, along
sail called the electric solar wind sail. It has little in common with with a team from the NASA Ames Research Center, have
the solar wind sail design externally, bacause the sails are developed a solar sail mission called NanoSail-D which is
substituted with straigthened conducting tethers (wires) which scheduled for launch aboard a Falcon 1 rocket in 2008. The structure
are placed radially around the host ship. The wires are electrically is made of aluminum and plastic, with the spacecraft weighing
charged and thus an electric field is created around the wires. The less than 10 pounds (4.5 kg). The sail has about 100 square feet
electric field of the wires extends a few tens of metres into the (9.3 m²) of light-catching surface. A NanoSail-D mission dashboard
surrounding solar wind plasma. Because the solar wind electrons was recently released.
react on the electric field similarly as on a concrete solar wind sail,
the function radius of the wires is based on the electric field that SAIL MATERIALS
is generated around the wire rather than the actual wire itself. The best known material is thought to be a thin mesh of
This fact also makes it possible to maneuver a ship with electric aluminium with holes less than ½ the wavelength of most light.
solar wind sail by regulating the electric charge of the wires. A Nanometre-sized "antennas" would emit heat energy as infrared.
290 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 291

Although samples have been created, it is too fragile to unfold or the engineering of massive, precisely-shaped optical mirrors or
unroll with known technology. The most common material in lenses (wider than the Earth for interstellar transport), incredibly
current designs is aluminized 2 µm Kapton film. It resists the heat powerful lasers, and more power for the lasers than humanity
of a pass close to the Sun and still remains reasonably strong. The currently generates.
aluminium reflecting film is on the Sun side. The sails of Cosmos A potentially easier approach would be to use a maser to
1 were made of aluminized PET film. drive a "solar sail" composed of a mesh of wires with the same
Research by Dr. Geoffrey Landis in 1998-9, funded by the spacing as the wavelength of the microwaves, since the
NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, showed that various manipulation of microwave radiation is somewhat easier than the
materials such as Alumina for laser lightsails and Carbon fiber for manipulation of visible light. The hypothetical "Starwisp"
microwave pushed lightsails were superior sail materials to the interstellar probe design would use a maser to drive it. Masers
previously standard aluminum or Kapton films. spread out more rapidly than optical lasers thanks to their longer
In 2000, Energy Science Laboratories developed a new carbon wavelength, and so would not have as long an effective range.
fiber material which might be useful for solar sails. The material Masers could also be used to power a painted solar sail, a
is over 200 times thicker than conventional solar sail designs, but conventional sail coated with a layer of chemicals designed to
it is so porous that it has the same weight. The rigidity and evaporate when struck by microwave radiation. The momentum
durability of this material could make solar sails that are generated by this evaporation could significantly increase the
significantly sturdier than plastic films. The material could self- thrust generated by solar sails, as a form of lightweight ablative
deploy and should withstand higher temperatures. laser propulsion.
There has been some theoretical speculation about using To further focus the energy on a distant solar sail, designs
molecular manufacturing techniques to create advanced, strong, have considered the use of a large zone plate. This would be
hyper-light sail material, based on nanotube mesh weaves, where placed at a location between the laser or maser and the spacecraft.
the weave "spaces" are less than ½ the wavelength of light The plate could then be propelled outward using the same energy
impinging on the sail. While such materials have as-of-yet only source, thus maintaining its position so as to focus the energy on
been produced in laboratory conditions, and the means for the solar sail.
manufacturing such material on an industrial scale are not yet Spacecraft fitted with solar sails can also be placed in close
available, such materials could weigh less than 0.1 g/m² making orbits about the Sun that are stationary with respect to either the
them lighter than any current sail material by a factor of at least Sun or the Earth, a type of satellite called a statite. This is possible
30. For comparison, 5 micrometre thick Mylar sail material weighs because the propulsion provided by the sail offsets the gravitational
7 g/m², aluminized Kapton films weighs up to 12 g/m², and potential of the Sun. Such an orbit could be useful for studying
Energy Science Laboratories' new carbon fiber material weighs in the properties of the Sun over long durations.
at 3g/m².
Such a spacecraft could conceivably be placed directly over
APPLICATIONS a pole of the Sun, and remain at that station for lengthy durations.
Likewise a solar sail-equipped spacecraft could also remain on
Robert Forward proposed the use of lasers to push solar sails,
station nearly above the polar terminator of a planet such as the
providing beam-powered propulsion. Given a sufficiently powerful
Earth by tilting the sail at the appropriate angle needed to just
laser and a large enough mirror to keep the laser focused on the
counteract the planet's gravity. Additionally, it has been theorized
sail for long enough, a solar sail could be accelerated to a significant
by da Vinci Project contributor T. Pesando that solar sail-utilizing
fraction of the speed of light. To do so, however, would require
spacecraft successful in interstellar travel could be used to carry
292 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Power Satellite 293

their own zone plates or perhaps even masers to be deployed momentum upon striking the sail, but this effect would be small
during flybys at nearby stars. Such an endeavour could allow compared to the force due to radiation pressure from light reflected
future solar-sailed craft to effectively utilize focused energy from from the sail. The force due to light pressure is about 5000 times
other stars rather than from the Earth or Sun, thus propelling as strong as that due to solar wind. A much larger type of sail
them more swiftly through space and perhaps even to more distant called a magsail would employ the solar wind.
stars. However, the potential of such a theory remains uncertain
if not dubious due to the high-speed precision involved and TECHNICAL CRITICISM OF SOLAR SAIL CONCEPT
possible payloads required. It has been proposed that momentum exchange from reflection
of photons is an unproven effect that may violate the
FUTURE VISIONS thermodynamical Carnot rule. This criticism was raised by Thomas
Despite the loss of Cosmos 1 (which was due to a failure of Gold of Cornell, leading to a public debate in the spring of 2003.
the launcher), scientists and engineers around the world remain This criticism has been refuted by Benjamin Diedrich pointing out
encouraged and continue to work on solar sails. While most direct that the Carnot Rule does not apply to an open system. Further
applications created so far intend to use the sails as inexpensive explanation of lab results demonstrating is provided. James Oberg
modes of cargo transport, some scientists are investigating the has also refuted Dr. Gold's analysis: "But 'solar sailing' isn't
possibility of using solar sails as a means of transporting humans. theoretical at all, and photon pressure has been successfully
This goal is strongly related to the management of very large (i.e. calculated for all large spacecraft. Interplanetary missions would
well above 1 km²) surfaces in space and the sail making arrive thousands of kilometers off course if correct equations had
advancements. Thus, in the near/medium term, solar sail not been used. The effect for a genuine 'solar sail' will be even
propulsion is aimed chiefly at accomplishing a very high number more spectacular."
of non-crewed missions in any part of the solar system and beyond. Another alleged solution is that when reflected by a solar sail,
a photon undergoes a Doppler shift; its wavelength increases (and
MISUNDERSTANDINGS
energy decreases) by a factor dependent on the velocity of the sail,
Critics of the solar sail argue that solar sails are impractical transferring energy from the sun-photon system to the sail.
for orbital and interplanetary missions because they move on an
indirect course. However, when in Earth orbit, the majority of
mass on most interplanetary missions is taken up by fuel. A
robotic solar sail could therefore multiply an interplanetary payload
by several times by reducing this significant fuel mass, and create
a reusable, multimission spacecraft. Most near-term planetary
missions involve robotic exploration craft, in which the directness
of the course is unimportant compared to the fuel mass savings
and fast transit times of a solar sail. For example, most existing
missions use multiple gravitational slingshots to reduce necessary
fuel mass, in order to save transit time at the cost of directness
of the route.
There is also a misunderstanding that solar sails capture energy
primarily from the solar wind high speed charged particles emitted
from the sun. These particles would impart a small amount of
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165, 222, 274. Legislation, 9, 123, 144.
University Press, 1988.
296 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Energy and its Uses 297

M S
Management, 165, 166, 194, 200, Society, 116, 277, 289.
254, 292. Sodium, 138, 181, 212, 278.
Manifestations, 49. Solar Array, 12, 82, 84, 92, 178,
Manipulation, 291. 272, 273.
Measurement, 34, 58, 88, 92, 95,
97, 215, 232, 243.
Solar Electricity, 9, 131, 188.
Solar Lighting, 3, 5.
CONTENTS
Mechanism, 4, 16, 45, 47, 187, Solar Power, 1, 9, 11, 12, 15,
218, 256. 17, 29, 89, 95, 99, 108, 130, Preface
Metabolism, 74. 131, 140, 143, 144, 147, 153,
Morphology, 19. 154, 156, 158, 172, 175, 177,
1. Introduction 1
179, 180, 181, 183, 184, 186, 2. Solar Variation 31
N 187, 188, 190, 191, 195, 249, 3. Solar Variation Theory 44
Nitrogen, 26, 41, 118, 150, 212. 250, 253, 261, 265, 268, 271,
4. Solar Array 84
Nuclear Energy, 119, 123, 124, 272, 274, 278, 279.
160, 162, 167. Solar Thermal, 1, 5, 11, 13, 29, 5. The Solar Cell 88
66, 130, 143, 152, 153, 167, 6. Supremacy Over other Energy Sources 143
O 168, 171, 172, 174, 177, 179, 7. The Solar Combisystem 199
Operation, 10, 23, 55, 66, 112, 180, 181, 182, 185, 187, 189,
124, 137, 146, 155, 162, 165, 190, 197, 199, 242, 243, 246, 8. Solar Power Satellite 253
174, 179, 184, 188, 268, 274. 249. Bibliography 294
Organization, 8, 22, 69, 73, 171. Solar Variation, 31, 33, 39, 41, Index 295
42, 44, 203, 282.
P Solar Vehicles, 1, 14, 83.
Parliament, 123.
Partnership, 112. T
Photosynthesis, 2, 28, 141, 147, Tanks, 118, 139, 159, 181, 196,
160. 200, 201, 244, 262.
Policy, 155. Terrorism, 162, 273.
Propagation, 52, 222, 225, 254.
Protection, 59, 236, 239, 255, W
257. Water Heating, 5, 6, 17, 170,
185, 197, 242, 243.
R Water Power, 146.
Reflections, 107. Weapon, 125, 219.
Relationship, 38, 45, 47, 82, 202, Wind Power, 132, 133, 140, 141,
221, 225. 143, 145, 146, 152, 162, 185,
Renewable Heat Energy, 166. 189, 191, 276, 277.
Revolution, 16, 141, 149. World War, 28.


298 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Energy and its Uses 299
300 Solar Energy and its Uses Solar Energy and its Uses 301

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