SOLAR ENERGY

Forms of Solar Energy Direct & Indirect solar radiation Wind Photovoltaic Biomass Tidal energy

Forms of Solar Energy Forms with the most potential: Solar-thermal –direct solar radiation generates electricty Wind power Photovoltaic cells

Solar Energy Production Where = core of the Sun How = nuclear fusion –hydrogen atoms changed into helium atoms –a tiny amount of matter converted to energy –Sun will probably continue this process for app 5 billion years Sun’s surface radiates electromagnetic energy –energy reaches Earth in 8 minutes

Solar Heating Active solar collector absorbs & distributes solar energy Passive house is designed to let in large amounts of sunlight

Solar Heating Solar Water Heating system has two parts –collector – see p. R78 –storage tank

Photovoltaic cells generate electricity from sunlight called PV cells or solar cells –used in toys, calculators, wristwatches, roadside call boxes, etc… efficiency of PV cells is low, but increasing

Wind Power used for hundreds of years to pump water from wells increasingly used to generate electricity many wind turbines have a triple blade design some parts of the country have more wind potential than others – p. R81