solar power! - teachengineering...solar energy around the world… solar dish kitchen solar energy...

Solar Power! Determining the amount of

solar energy we can capture

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Why do we need solar power?

Many areas of the world don’t have access to fossil fuels.

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Guam map: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/guam Hawaii map: http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanoes/

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=KjPIefShRxVQ_M&tbnid=BTIULGzZ-3yHuM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwwwnc.cdc.gov%2Ftravel%2Fdestinations%2Ftraveler%2Fnone%2Fguam&ei=KZn6Ue_VK6m2yAG-6oCQDQ&bvm=bv.50165853,d.aWc&psig=AFQjCNG_vogc9ldgDJB0b7PM2XVpuqdGZQ&ust=1375464060673113

Problems with fossil fuels Burning fossil fuels such as coal releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

These gases trap more of the sun’s heat in our atmosphere, causing climate change.

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Coal-fired power plant: http://climatekids.nasa.gov/review/sun-people/

Climate change consequences Climate change is responsible for . . .

More frequent flooding

More frequent severe storms Rising sea levels

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Superstorm Sandy image: http://nnlm.gov/mar/sandy.html Flooding image: http://gohsep.la.gov/flood.aspx Rising sea levels image: http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/ClimateChange/Pages/ClimateChangeDelawareSeaLevelRise.aspx

Lack of natural resources

Some countries have used up all of their natural resources.

Haiti allowed deforestation to provide wood for heat The Dominican

Republic did not

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Image of Haiti/Dominican Republic border: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/fews/central_america/briefing.html Haiti/Dominican Republic map: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a002600/a002640/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=Xg62NU9S2zx9VM&tbnid=c2pTiTjom2aCbM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mtholyoke.edu%2F~follo20e%2Fclassweb%2Fcss%2F3poverty.html&ei=Upr6UdqvG8WMygH5x4HoAQ&bvm=bv.50165853,d.aWc&psig=AFQjCNHNmVrrOCYrqqIu9T_6-Am-GRdy_A&ust=1375464391333684

Potential dangers of deforestation The loss of forests causes . . .

Erosion Mudslides

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Erosion image: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/alaska.html Mudslide image: http://clubs.calvin.edu/chimes/article.php?id=10180

Solar energy around the world…

Solar Dish Kitchen

Solar energy can also cook food

Peruvian home with passive solar heating to heat the home and water , using a Trombe wall and solar water heater

Trombe wall

Solar water heater

Solar Oven

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Solar Dish Kitchen image: Design for the Other 90% (http://archive.cooperhewitt.org/other90/other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/solar-dish-kitchen.html) Peruvian home photo: Odessa Gomez 2010 Solar oven: http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Solar_cooker_plans

Solar energy close to home… Solar Water Heaters heat water for domestic use

Photovoltaic Panels – the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO researches efficient electricity production from solar energy

Batch Heater Flat Plate Collector Home Installation

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Batch water heater and home installation images: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy96/17459.pdf Flat plate solar water heater: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.showProductGroup&pgw_code=WSE PV image: http://www.nrel.gov/pv/

About half of the incoming solar energy reaches Earth

Solar energy is measured as power per unit area (Watt/m2)

~51% reaches Earth’s Surface

6% Reflected by atmosphere

20% Reflected by clouds

4% Reflected by Earth’s surface

16% Absorbed by atmosphere

3% Absorbed by clouds

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Image created by Odessa Gomez 2012

The amount of solar energy changes with location…

Latit

ude

Longitude

Temperature (in Kelvins) Te

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Image credit: http://education.gsfc.nasa.gov/experimental/all98invProject.Site/Pages/trl/inv2-1.abstract.html

…and time The location of the sun in the sky changes with the time o

day AND the time of year

South

East

West

North

June 21

December 21

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Image by Odessa Gomez 2012

How much solar energy do we have access to? First we need to know how to setup our flat plate solar

module, such as a solar water heater The solar module should be oriented South at an angle from

the horizontal equal to the LATITUDE of solar collection (your location)

Find Location and determine Latitude We will use

N

S E

W 40.1o Example: Latitude of Boulder,

Colorado is 40.1o so solar water heater is 40.1o from the ground facing South

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How much solar energy do we have access to? We need to know:

Location: Latitude Find this here:

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/

Red balloon

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How much solar energy do we have access to? We need to know:

Location: Latitude Time of year Time collecting sun per day

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How much solar energy do we have access to?

Solar Resources

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Map NREL: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/


Find your month here

and open the map

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http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/


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Map NREL: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/


Fill out worksheet to find out how much solar energy we have for our solar modules.

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solar power! - teachengineering...solar energy around the world… solar dish kitchen solar energy...

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