Solar Energy

How it Works  Solar thermal devices use direct heat from the sun, concentrating it in some manner to produce heat at useful temperatures. The modern solar industry began with the oil embargo of and was strengthened with the second embargo in 1979.

Power Towers  Power towers operate by focusing a field of thousands of mirrors onto a receiver located at the top of a centrally located tower. The receiver collects the sun's heat in a heat- transfer fluid, which is used to generate steam for a conventional steam turbine located at the foot of the tower for production of electricity. (1)sun heats salt in receiver (2)salt stored in hot storage tank; (3)hot salt pumped through steam generator; (4)steam drives turbine/generator to produce electricity; (5)salt returns to cold storage tank

Power Towers Power towers operate by focusing a field of thousands of mirrors onto a receiver located at the top of a centrally located tower. The receiver collects the sun's heat in a heat- transfer fluid, which is used to generate steam for a conventional steam turbine located at the foot of the tower for production of electricity.

CSP Resource Potential

Solar America Cities

ISS New Solar Wings  Each ISS solar wing is made up of two 115-foot (35-meter) panels attached to a central mast. When fully unfurled, their wingspan reaches 240 feet (73 meters) from tip to tip.  Both arrays were deployed in stages, which allowed sunlight to warm them up and avoid their paper-thin photovoltaic cells from sticking to one another too strongly -- a phenomena known as 'stiction' -- after years of being packed in a box about 20 inches (50 centimeters) deep.

New ISS Solar Wings

Advantages  Solar technologies diversify the energy supply, reduce the country's dependence on imported fuels, improve air quality, and offset greenhouse gas emissions. A growing solar industry also stimulates our economy by creating jobs in solar manufacturing and installation.

Disadvantages  Solar energy will never be able to supply enough energy to power all energy demands for the earth we have created.  The initial cost of the equipment used to harness the suns energy.  Pollution can be a disadvantage to solar panels, as pollution can degrade the efficiency of photovoltaic cells. Clouds also provide the same effect, as they can reduce the energy of the suns rays.

Solar Panels Tired of filthy air and water pollution? Then solar panels is the way to go! Solar panels don’t pollute the air or water! Building solar power plants will help create jobs! Go Green with solar panels!!!! This? Or This? PollutionSolar Panels

Sources      es/page/solarthermal/solarthermal.html es/page/solarthermal/solarthermal.html   ideas.com/articles/disadvantages_of_solar_ energy.html ideas.com/articles/disadvantages_of_solar_ energy.html