Solar

There’s only one source of renewable energy that can provide all of the world’s needs and that’s the Sun. In fact, enough sunlight falls on the Earth’s surface in just a couple of hours each day to meet the whole world’s energy needs for one year. The question is: how can we effectively and economically harness this solar energy, without mass-producing very expensive conventional solar cells, which would ultimately require vast tracts of land in order to do their job?

Nanotechnology could provide the answer in the form of a new kind of solar cell, one which would be relatively inexpensive to manufacture and highly flexible in design. In fact, you maybe surprised as to just how flexible these cells might be! Find out more by watching this movie.

This is one of a selection of intriguing movies which are available for free download from the EPSRC Nanotechnology Image Library at : http://www.nanoscience.dept.shef.ac.u…

You may also be interested in navigating to the “Soft Machines” site belonging to Professor Richard Jones – who features in this movie – for up-to-date discourse on all things nano. Here’s the link : http://www.softmachines.org/wordpress/

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_____Also 24V______

Battery chargers simply work by sending a higher current back through the battery than that coming out. A 12V battery requires about 13 to 14VDC to charge it.

A 24V would take 26 to 28VDC.

So, you need to set your photovoltaics up to get you this output, and then you can charge with it. The ampere rating is what will affect the time it takes to charge.

PV / T co-generator. Using optical devices such as mirrors, fresnel lenses, etc., it is possible to collect solar light and concentrate its energy on a single small area solar cell (photovoltaic). This reduces the total cell area an amount equal to the concentration ratio and thus decreases the cost of the PV system, as a relatively inexpensive optical concentrator replaces the expensive semiconductor material. Moreover, using light concentration boosts the cell conversion efficiency. In addition – the water as an infrared filter prevented overheating of solar cell that increase it power output significantly.

More see at www.tonchev.org

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Anybody know any commercial suppliers for GaP PV cells or (large area) photodiodes? Really anything with Eg around 2.25-2.75 eV would work, but this seems to be the best material. I’ve already found EPIGAP’s stuff (EPD-XXX), and photoresistors won’t work.

Search on thomas registry’s website

http://www.thomasnet.com/prodsearch.html?cov=NA&which=prod&what=gallium+phosphide+photovoltaics&navsec=search

Can I get some photovoltaic panels or solar panels in order to power things like lamps, my computer, and television because I am a college student renting an apartment and I need a way to save some money and was kind of hoping to save some on the electrical bill.

The most popular way to buy solar panels is through an online catalogue. Here is one source: http://www.powerenz.com/store/

;.. them

Small PV panels go for $5 to $8 per watt. 365 days averaging 8 hours of sun a day (optimistic) would yield 3 kWh per year per watt of panel capacity. About 35 cents per year while it cost you 8 bucks. So you need 23 years to recoup the initial cost and that doesn’t count the batteries, invertor, controller nor installation labor.

I know you asked about energy input versus energy savings, but cost is a pretty good approximation of that. It captures the labor, raw materials and manufacturing costs of the product (all of which consume energy) and balances it with the electric grid whose price captures fuel usage, labor requirements, transmission losses, etc.

If solar companies ( http://www.planitsolar.com/html/packagedsystems.htm ) don’t promise better than 15 to 25 pay-back times. And they are definitely spinning all numbers in their favor.

PV panels make the most sense when the utility is far away or unavailable. Then they can compare favorably.

http://www.homemadepowerplant.com/?hop=adonpub A remarkable, new company, Konarka, a solar energy company based in Lowell, Massachusetts, is developing and producing organic thin-film solar photovoltaic films. These photovoltaic films are being printed on an adapted label maker machine. The process is much more cost effect than the traditional method of manufacturing crystalline photovoltaics. Start looking for the cost of solar electric power systems to come down. These new solar energy films could easily become the next-generation solar panels of the future.

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I am particularly interested in making solar modules from solar cells myself.

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=photovoltaics&btnG=Search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wp

I am really interested in solar energy(currently in high school).I wanted to take up a career in this field.I would like to know the available choice of careers in the area and the academic requirements for the same.

You can do research on making and fitting solar cells. This would require engineering, chemistry or physics… at school you’d have to stay on top of maths & sciences.

You could work for a company that fits solar cells, in which case you could get on an apprenticeship or similar. A bit of maths and practical subjects like electronics (if you can) wouldn’t go amiss.

Alternatively, you could try getting work for a power company that deals with solar power. They will need people with skills in marketing and business. For other things they would need people with problem solving skills, the sort of things you pick up from maths, physics etc. I’m not sure how competitive these are…

I did a physics degree and I’m now writing up my Masters thesis in solar cell research. The other people in my research group either had degrees in physics, although one guy did electronics engineering.

I could have got a job with a power company, solar cell company or a PhD in solar cell research from here. Whatever path to solar you take, it’s safest to make sure you stay on top of maths and science at school IMO.

How sunlight is transformed into electricity.

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