The Viability Of Solar And Wind Energy Environmental Sciences Essay

Electrical energy occurs naturally. Electricity has contributed to our comfort and our social development, but we have precious and irreplaceable energy resource. Beginning with the industrial revolution in our use of energy sources, especially fossil fuels has increased with each year. Renewable energy sources are those that are naturally  renewed  move within an administration capable of a lot of time, wood and other  substances  produced by living organisms (biomass), natural heat from the earth  (geothermal energy) , or  falling  water (hydro),  Wind, the sun and the sea.

This report provides briefly explain the technology and stage of development of solar and wind energy first. Then give a brief analysis of the economics and politics involved highlighting any cultural influences on decision making in different nations or regions of wind and solar energy. Finally give a comparative analysis relative to other sources of energy.

Solar energy technology

The design of an energy conversion system using solar energy requires knowledge of the solar insulation on a daily and seasonal basis. Solar insulation is defined as the amount of solar energy falling on a specified area in a specified time, but unfortunately the units of measurement are not standardized. Using spherical geometry the theoretical amount of solar radiation incident upon a horizontal surface can be computed as a function of latitude, day of year, and time of day.

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Solar technologies are broadly either passively or actively from depending on the way to collect them convert and distribute sunlight. Active solar techniques use to convert from a photovoltaic panels, pumps and fans of sunlight into useful outputs. Passive solar techniques include selecting materials with favourable thermal properties, designing space that naturally circulates air, and references to the location of a building to the sun. Active solar technologies increase the supply of energy and are considered supply side technologies, while passive solar technologies reduce the need for alternative resource and are generally considered demand side technology.(1)

Photovoltaics (PV)

In the 1950s, American engineers sought a method to power U.S. space satellites. They found it in a process called photovoltaics (PV). It still used photovoltaics to energize orbiting satellites, space stations, and the Hubble telescope. Back on the earth, PV is widely used for everything from roadside call boxes to large power plants.

Solar development

With the advent of the transistor and accompanying semiconductor technology, but the efficiency of photovoltaic increased dramatically. However, the efficiency of photovoltaic power increased dramatically. PV was more practical. Over the years, many  companies,  including Siemens Solar have been working to increase the efficiency of photovoltaics. Today, current solar modules are 12% efficient, which is four thermal solar, where the sun’s heat is used Photovoltaic power became more practical. Over the years, many companies, including Siemens Solar, have worked to increase the efficiency of photovoltaic power. . Today, commonly available solar panels are 12% efficient, which is four times greater than only a few years ago. Today, solar power is still used in two primary forms: thermal solar, where the heat of the sun is used to heat water or another working fluid, which drives turbines or other machinery to create electricity; and photovoltaic, where electricity is produced directly from the sun with no moving parts. Siemens Solar manufactures photovoltaic panels which produce electricity directly from the sun.

Solar Technology Today

Photovoltaic power can be produced in many different ways, with widely varying efficiency and costs. They can be divided into two basic groupings: discrete cell technology and integrated thin film technology.

Discrete Cell Technology: Single-crystal silicon. Research cells have reached nearly 30-percent efficiency, with commercial modules of single-crystal cells exceeding 20-percent.

Multicrystalline silicon: Sliced from blocks of cast silicon, this wafers cells are less expensive and less efficient than single crystal silicon cell.

Integrated Thin Film Technology: Copper Indium Dieseline (CuInSe2). A thin-film polycrystalline material, the efficiency of research has achieved returns of 17.7 percent, the highest complete module efficiency for large power modules and reaches over 11 percent. Amorphous Silicon (a-Si) is usually used in consumer products for solar watches and calculators, a-Si technology is also used in building-integrated systems will replacing tinted glass with semi-transparent modules.

Economical & Political Analysis (Solar)

The United States of America is now producing clear power that can performance shine as many as 11000 to 277500 houses in the country. The Sectary of Interior Ken Salazar has proposed at a green light for the Ivanpah Solar Electric  Generating System,  a project by Bright Source from Oakland, generate the production of up to 370megawatts of clean energy and nearly 1,100 opportunities for employment. The project, in San Bernardino Country,  California,  is the first large-scale project to use solar energy to U.S. public  land to  the Power Tower. The World Bank will invest $5.5 billion for North African solar power projects. World Bank is expecting to complete these projects by 2015. They are willing to include five countries in this project and hoping to triple worldwide concentrated solar power technology (CSP) capacity Concentrating solar power technology is the least expensive large-scale power generation, and, has the potential to make solar power available at a very competitive rate. Current technologies cost between 240-360 per watt. But 1 day = 24 hours

Therefore

This results in a solar power of between 10 – 15 per Kilowatt/hour. Future advances are expected to allow solar power to be generated for between N4 – N6 per kWh in the next few years.

Wind Energy Technology

The first wind turbines for generating electricity were designed in Europe around 1910. Beginning in the late 1930s, the widespread installation of power lines made these small wind turbines obsolete. However, this was not the wind turbine’s last appearance “down on the farm.” Today, the wind turbine is once again a familiar sight – on open plains, along mountain passes, even off of windy coastlines.

Generating electricity from wind resources

  The basic machinery that converted into electricity, a wind power plant called. The force of the wind turns blades on a hub that will turn like the leaves together, the hub of the rotor blades and called. The rotating rotor turns a generator to produce electricity. There is also a controller that starts and stops the rotation of the turbine blades. The generator, controller and other devices are found covered in housing directly behind the turbine blades. Outside anemometer measures the wind speed and feeds this information to the controller. Wind turbine start with wind speeds between 10 and 15 miles per hour from. It switches on automatically at 55-60 mph (100 km/h), because this is all about speed run, no matter how fast the wind blows Newer models are “variable speed.” Their turning speed changes as wind speeds change, making them more efficient and allowing them to withstand gusty gales.(4)

Wind Development

Inventory of 1980’s wind turbines were really an albatross around the wind industry’s neck. Renewal was needed, and — buoyed by “green power” initiatives in Colorado, Texas and elsewhere — U.S. wind energy development resumed in 1999, with a much broader geographical base.

A variety of new wind projects were installed in the U.S. in the late ’90s Some of these involve foreign machines installed in the U.S. made â€‹â€‹There’s a sense that the industry finally on the road again, over 2,000 megawatts of new capacity for the year 2001 the U.S. planned alone. In the near future, wind energy will be the most cost-effective power source. In fact, a good case for saying that it has already achieved that status. The actual life cycle costs of fossil fuels are not really known, but it is certainly far more than the current wholesale charges.  The eventual exhaustion of these energy sources will entail rapid escalations in price which – postponed in actual costs that would be unacceptable by present standards lead – over the short period of use on average. And this does not even take into account the environmental and political costs of using fossil fuels, which are still mounting, and not so quietly every day.(5)

Economical & Political Analysis (wind)

One of the most important economic benefits of wind power is that it reduces the exposure of our economies to fuel price volatility. Wind Energy is also said to diminish the greenhouse effect. The cost of energy from larger electrical output wind turbines used in utility-interconnected or wind farm applications has dropped from more than $1.00 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 1978 to under $0.05 per kWh in 1998, and is projected to plummet to $0.025 per kWh when new large wind plants come on line in 2001 and 2002. The hardware costs of these wind turbines have dropped below $800 per installed kilowatt in the past five years, under pricing the capital costs of almost every other type of power plant. Wind power is the fastest growing electricity resource nowadays. Land can be used for other purposes, such as agriculture.

The proper role of government in wind energy research and development is a matter of continuing controversy. Brazil’s first wind-energy turbine was installed in Fernando de HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_de_Noronha”Noronha Archipelago in 1992. Ten years later the government created the Program for Incentive of Alternative Electric Energy Sources (Proinfa) to encourage the use of other renewable sources, such as wind power, President Barack Obama declared that his administration will for the first time lease centralized waters for projects to generate electricity from wind as well as from ocean currents and other renewable sources.  (6)

Comparative analysis relative to other sources of energy

Following table present the comparison in other renewable source energy.

Evaluation

Solar Thermal

PV

Hydro

Wind

OTEC

Capital Costs

Large

Large

Enormous

Moderate

Enormous+

Operating Costs

Moderate

Moderate

Negligible

Small

Unknown

Efficiency

15%

5–10%

80%

42%

7% +

Renewable

Yes

Yes

Yes

Erratic

Yes

Storage

Not Needed

Unclear

Built-IN

Essential

Not Needed

Pollution

None Really

Waste Heat

None

Visual

None

Level zed Costs

25 cents KWH

16 cents KWH

4 cents KWH

4.5 cents KWH

Unknown

Environmental Impact

Moderate

Large

Enormous

Small

Unknown

Small Scale

NO

Difficult

Low Head –>Legal

Definitely

NO

Unit Capacity

1000 MW

Depends on Acreage

2000-6000 MW

Highly Variable

As large as you need

Small Scale

NO

Difficult

Low Head –>Legal

Definitely

NO

Most forms of alternative energy generation require much less of an organizational infrastructure. This means that a shift to alternative energies means a loss of jobs.(7)

Conclusion

The first law of thermo-dynamics says that the total amount of energy on our planet remains constant. The second law states that as forms of energy are expended they become less easily available. A highly concentrated energy source, built up over millions of years risen rapidly smoke. So the burning of fossil fuels is a high-entropy energy use. The use of renewable energies. However only taps into a natural flow of energy sunlight, moving water, wind, geothermal and biological process. These are part of natural cycles of highs and lows. The energy is truly renewable as it remains available to the same degree and is not depleted any more than it otherwise would by using it-an advantage of renewable energy.

In order to save our earth as well as make a low cost in earth we should put more impact on renewable energy.