Solar power Definition and 63 Threads

Well this is fairly simple so I guess there's a flaw in my 'plan' somewhere :p, but hey here goes. Current solar cells are only about 25% efficient, however instead of using sunlight to directly generate electrical current why not use it as a heat source? Of course sunlight is normally low...

Hi to everyone, For a while (which is only a few weeks) I have been thinking about a solar power plant with additional features. Here is a brief outline. Take an arid area close to the sea (Sahara, Saudia Arabia, parts of Australia etc.) Focus sunlight via computer controlled mirrors to a...

I am a 3rd year mechanical engineering major currently working in an internship for a power company. My company recently sold off their wind and hydro generating plants because they could not compete with the coal plants. We now have only coal and gas/oil plants. I know that I could continue...

http://alt-e.blogspot.com/2004/11/solar-chimney-for-california.html Anybody have some idea of the calculations that go into designing something like this? I'm kinda wondering how big it would need to be to get 2KW a day out of it.

solar power ideas-help! hi i have a idea that i will use the solar panel to made a power source station to provide electricity with a variable voltage output. can you give me some ideas or suggestions about that i dea!11 any idea would be great! thanks you for getting time read my article...

The Earth has a surface temperature around 270 K and an emissivity of 0.8, while space has a temperature of around 2 K. Use Stefan's law: P(net) = 5.67×10-8 W/K4 m2 *A*e*(T4 - To4) to solve the following questions. (Radii of the Earth and the Sun are Re = 6.38×106 m, Rs = 7×108 m.)...

A good article showed up in the latest issue of Design News. It's good to see the Stirling Engine getting some new exposure. For those interested, there is a good side bar on the stirling cycle as well. The one thing I had to note to myself was that, while the Stirling engine does have some...

I’ve been wondering for a while now whether there were any projects on the drawing board for Solar Power Satellites, (SPS) and today I came across a Japanese experiment set to launch on January 18, called the Furoshiki experiment. Furoshiki is a Japanese word for a cloth used to wrap up small...

Well my family opened up the power bill and BOOM, $.21 per kwh! This is just... insane! It was $.21 at the above 300% baseline and we were wellllllllllllll above it. So i started calculating and based off this meter this one company has online that shows one of their residential 2.5kw...

What does everyone think of this idea? I'm writing a paper on it, and I need some arguments as to why it wouldn't work or why its a bad idea. Here's a link to an explanation of LSP: http://www.aip.org/tip/INPHFA/vol-8/iss-2/p12.pdf A limitless supply of energy for the world. Why aren't...

Looks like it is getting closer to being built.

Testimony of Dr. David R. Criswell: Senate Hearing on "Lunar Exploration" "Testimony of Dr. David R. Criswell at Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space Hearings: "Lunar Exploration" Thursday, November 6, 2003, 2:30 PM – SR-253 "...

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/biztech/10/02/solar.cells.reut/index.html