Presentation Transcript

1. Solar Energy

   By: Danielle Vallee, Jimmy Turner, Olivia Delos, Jonathan Jones
2. What is solar energy? Solar energy is the radiant energy produced by the Sun. It is both light and heat.
3. Key points About Solar Energy The amount of sunlight hitting the United States is more than 2,500 times the entire country's daily energy usage. There are multiple technologies used to create electricity from solar energy….
4. How much is the us investing? The Energy Department on December 7 announced a $29 million investment: • $21 million investment over five years to design plug-and-play photovoltaic (PV) systems that can be purchased, installed, and operational in one day. • $8 million investment in two projects to help utilities and grid operators better forecast when, where, and how much solar power will be produced at U.S. solar energy plants. Energy Department FY 2014 Budget: • $615 million to increase use and decrease costs of clean power from solar, wind, geothermal, and water energy ($150+ million per energy).
5. How much is new York investing? NY-Sun Competitive PV Program: • $46 million for 76 large-scale projects totaling 52 megawatts (MW) of new solar capacity.
6. Why should we invest? • Solar power is an eternal energy source. We will always have the sun and many places on earth have sufficient sunlight to fulfill the idea of using solar power in their homes. A $5,000 tax rebate is also available to people who use solar panels on their rooftops. No harm to the environment or to people is done, considering there is no pollution. Although this is an expensive government project, as American individuals, it could be a huge savings in money, such as future cars that run on solar power.
7. Latest advancements of solar energy • An additional advancement would be that solar cells are now being made cheaper. Solar cells are usually made with silicon wafers, but a new process has been created that skips this step and makes the solar cells directly out of gas. This process will probably be implemented by 2014, and this would make the production of solar cells cheaper. • Professor Dong Rip Kim of Hanyang University alongside Stanford University has developed and created a peel and stick thin film solar cell. The cell works by being placed in a tub of water at 25°C, or 77°F and then having the wafer peeled off of the metallic layer of the cell. Then, the wafer is taken out of the water bath and can be placed on any device, like a phone. Finally, the holder piece of the wafer is then taken off. • One way in which advancements are being made in solar energy is the replacement of silicon with carbon. This allows the development of solar cells to be produced easier and cheaper. • Another advancement is that there are thoughts of stacking solar panels in a 3D design. Panels stacked are able to absorb 20 times more power per square foot than panels that are just flat. • The University of California in Los Angeles has researched a thin and flexible solar film. This film can absorb visible light, but also infra-red. Since it’s thin, flexible, and also transparent this film could be added to almost any surface, and can absorb energy at night as well since it absorbs infra-red.
8. How many solar plants does us/New York have? SEIA estimated there are about 7,700 mw’s of installed electric capacity of solar energy in the United States. This is enough to power 1.2 Million houses in America. In New York there are 122 mw of solar PV installed. This ranks 8th in the US of solar installed capacity.
9. How much is currently being generated by solar power in New York/Us? In New York there is only 2.29% that’s generated by solar power. Only .29% of electricity in the US is generated by solar power.
10. The pros of solar energy 1.Renewable- (cannot run out of solar energy, as opposed to non-renewable energy .) 2.Abundant- (the surface of the earth receives 120,000 terawatts of solar radiation (sunlight), which is 20,000 times more power than needed to energize the entire world.) 3.Sustainable- (there isn’t chances of over consuming, so it never harms the future generation.) 4.Environmentally Friendly-(reduces our dependence on non-renewable energy sources.) 5.Good Availability- (sunlight is available all over the world.) 6.Reduces Electricity Costs- (spend an average of $1,217.63 less per year on electricity, including the cost of solar panels. ) 7.Low Maintenance- (Residential solar panels only require cleaning a few times a year. ) 8.Technology is Improving- (Innovation in nanotechnology and quantum physics has the potential to triple the electrical output of solar panels.)
11. Pros extended 11. Shared Solar- (Because of shading, insufficient space and ownership issues, 1/5 American homes are unfit for solar panels. With shared solar, homeowners can subscribe to “community solar gardens” which generate solar electricity without the use of solar panels on individual rooftops.) 12.Financial Support from Government/State- (Government and state rebates have become available on utility-scale and for the majority of homeowners.) 9.Many Applications- (generate electricity in places that lack a grid connection, for distilling water in Africa, or even to power satellites in space.) 10.Silent- (There are no moving parts involved in most applications of solar power.)
12. The cons of solar energy 5.Associated with Pollution- (Some manufacturing processes are associated with greenhouse gas emissions, such as, Nitrogen trifluroide and sulfur hexafluoride.) 6.Requires Space- (Power density is essential when looking at how much power can be formed from a certain area of real estate of an energy source. Low power density shows that too much real estate is required to provide the power we demand at reasonable prices.) 1.Expensive- (there are incentives.) 2.Intermittent- (Access to sunlight is limited at certain times of the day e.g. morning and night. Predicting overcast days can also be difficult.) 3.Energy Storage is Expensive- (Energy storage systems such as batteries will help demand and load which makes solar power more stable. these technologies are expensive though.) 4.Exotic Materials- (Certain solar cells require materials that are expensive and rare in nature, such as, thin-film solar cells.)
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