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Types of technologies

Solar energy technologies utilize heat and light from the Sun for practical ends. Technologies that utilize secondary solar resources such as biomass, wind, waves, and ocean thermal gradients are sometime included in a broader description of solar energy but only primary resource applications are discussed here. These applications span through the residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural and transportation sectors where solar energy is used to make clean water, produce food, heat and light buildings and generate electricity. Solar technologies and their performance will vary according to location. The words of the first century Roman architect Vitruvius are true of all solar technologies.

Architecture and urban planning

Sunlight has fundamentally influenced building practices since the beginning of architectural history. Building styles have thus evolved that tailor orientation, proportion, window placement, and material components to the local climate and environment. Passive solar design can provide practical lighting, comfortable temperatures, and improved air quality. These passive features can be found in the cliff dwellings of the ancient Anasazi and in the cave dwellings (Yaodong) of China. Socrates' Megaron House with its southern orientation, massive walls, sloped roof and overhangs exemplifies the classic principles of solar architecture.

PV

During the years 1991-2000, the PV industry made significant advances in the areas of (1) polycrystalline feedstock, (2) throughput, and (3) quality of the material, which resulted in reduced manufacturing costs and increased production yields.

Notes

• Back to solar energy.
• DST in 1980
• fuel upgrading
• megaron
• Renewable energy in Germany:
• Specific mention: Professor Jeffrey Cook’s classic book ‘Passive Cooling.’
• The Fifty-Year History of the International Solar Energy Society and its National Sections, Volumes 1 and 2, edited by Karl Boer,
• Mike McCormack’s Solar Heating and Cooling Act of 1974
• Jeffrey Cook’s book Passive Cooling (1989)
• CHAPIN, D.M., FULLER, C.S. and PEARSON, G.L.

A new p-n junction photocell for converting solar radiation into electrical power, Journal of Applied Physics. 25, 1954: 676-677

• To do:
• German Renewable energy page:
• Something:
• 129,024 Btu/gal -

Sources

• PV incentive programs:

SoSo Sources

Wikisources

• Update citations using:
• Manual of style:
• Punctuation for quotation:
• Disruptive editing:
• How to create graphs for WP:
• Use Renewable energy in Scotland for pointers on format.
• Request for comment:Rfc
• Image uploading and editing help (Rules of thumb - Use JPEG format for photographic images; SVG format for icons, logos, drawings, maps, flags, and such;):
• I like it:
• Permission for picture:
• Request for page protection:
• How to make subpages:
• How to make tables:

Table example

Someday I'd like to make tables with lots of pretty boxes

I	don't	know								karatay
		But		I			know			karazee	Yow
		Goodgod	goona	kiss	myself	huh	summylove	jumpback	Yeow
	Template:Country data World Big ball	Abra		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	I'm lime green
	European Union a big ring	Cadabra		8	9	10	11	12	13	14	I'm springgreen
15	Germany Der spreckles	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	I'm cyan

PV Graph

• Ref 1 - Inflation data from . I used the inflation calculator there to adjust $/kW.
• Ref 2 - Cummulative PV and Real Price data provided by Paul Maycock. Maycock notes 1972 as the year of PV commercialization. Here is a similar source:
• Ref 3 (This price figure is for a optimized space power solar cell)
  • Berman, Paul A. (1967). "Design of Solar Cells for Terrestrial Use". Solar Energy. 11 (3–4): 180–185. doi:10.1016/0038-092X(67)90028-X.
• Ref 4 (This price figure is for a terrestrial power solar cell)
• Ref 5 Dr. Elliot Berman (Numbers are for Solar Power Corporation 1002 modules - Notes 1973 as the year SPC started up)
• Ref 6 (Both space based and terrestrial prices are cited)
  • Ralph, E. L. (1971). "A commercial solar cell array design". Solar Energy. 14 (3): 279–280. doi:10.1016/0038-092X(73)90095-9.
• Ref 7 (Christopher Harmon - Notes 1976 as the year of PV commercialization)
• Note 1 - Production is the calculated difference between the yearly cummulatives provided by Maycock. Growth is the calculated percentage change from the previous year's production.

• Nominal dollars (also known as current dollars) - Dollars which have been adjusted to reflect the effect of inflation on prices.
• Real dollars - constant dollars

• Strategies Unlimited
• W. G. J. H. M. van Sark (Department of Science, Technology, and Society at Utrecht University) w.g.j.h.m.vansark@chem.uu.nl

File:PV Production 1975-2000.PNG

File:NREL Photovoltaic Budget History.PNG

Picture timeline

picture change-21:53, 10 November 2007 Mrshaba

picture change-23:06, 10 November 2007 199.125.109.27

picture change-04:03, 12 November 2007 Mrshaba

picture change-15:45, 12 November 2007 2007 199.125.109.43

picture change-17:55, 13 November 2007 Mrshaba

picture change-01:48, 14 November 2007 199.125.109.129

picture change-17:58, 14 November 2007 Mrshaba

picture change-05:55, 16 November 2007 Mrshaba through 69.229.196.79

picture change-11:30, 17 November 2007 199.125.109.104

picture resize-00:19, 21 November 2007 Mrshaba

General Distractions

15:51, 12 November 2007 199.125.109.43

The Solar Kitchen in Auroville, India

History

• A solar bowl prototype funded by the Tata Energy Research Institute was first tried in Auroville from 1979-1982. This bowl was 3.5 meters worked well for single family cooking
• In 1997, India's Ministry for Non Conventional Energy Sources funded a full scale hybrid solar kitchen.

• completely inaugurated on 11.9.1.
• In daily operation since february 2005

Construction

• The solar kitchen was constructed in 1996 and 1997 and the solar bowl's shell was integrated in the roof at this time.
• Mirrors were placed in 1998
• Made from 11,000 (15 cm x 15 cm) mirrors. Each mirror is laminated with 2mm of clear glass to make the surface strong enough to walk on for cleaning
• Mirrors were laser aligned during construction and affixed to the curved base using silicone
• The fixed shell is composed of 96 prefabricated ferrocement elements
• Receiver made of copper
• The tracking receiver is moved about a polar axis by two computer controlled motors
• bowl is 15 meters in diameter
• aperture area of 176 square meters
• approximately 250 square meters of reflecting surface
• receiver is 4 meters long and 23 cm in diameter. It was originally composed of 3/4 inch OD (ms?) pipes wrapped around a steel frame.
• Originally used a heat transfer fluid (Therminol 66) with a 1400 liter storage tank.

Testing

• tested in 2001 and 2002

Operation

• fixed mirror/moving receiver
• 120 degree spherical concentrator focuses light in a line
• During sunny months solar provides 20% of steam to solar/diesel hybrid system.
• The fixed mirror allows this system to withstand the high winds of monsoon season
• Generates over 200 kg of steam at 3 bars during mornings. Peak steam production at noon is 83 kgs/hour
• Peak power is 63 kWth.
• Direct beam efficiency of collector is 43%.
• Useful period of steam production is between 9am and 3pm, ie. within 3 hours of solar noon.

Copied from: http://www.auroville.org/society/solark_sunnydays.htm

Solar bowl on the roof The Solar Kitchen building has been designed as a major collective kitchen for the Auroville community and was finalized in December 1997. Since then it has served lunches in its Dining Hall and in the same time sent lunches to different outlets like schools or individuals.

It derives its name from the big Solar-Bowl on its roof, which provides part of the steam for cooking on all the sunny days of the year. The other part of the steam needed, is provided by a diesel fired boiler.

Throughout the year approximately 700 lunches are prepared daily, except Sundays.

One third of these meals is served inside the Dining Hall between 12.15 and 1.15 pm

or sent to individuals by tiffin and two thirds is sent to all the schools already around 11.15am

Since September 2006 also on Sundays lunch is served in the Dining Hall between 12.15 and 1 pm. Since October 2006 every evening, except Sundays, dinner is served between 6 and 7.30 pm

Offering food with a smile. Photo by Manohar

The Solar Kitchen is providing a vegetarian and kind of cosmopolitan menu, prepared largely of the vegetables and grains grown organically in and around Auroville. There is a choice between western items like pasta, mashed potato or fresh salads and eastern items like idli/dosai, dal or chutneys. Daily curd and freshly made juices are available.

60 meals in outlying communities

Besides the 180 or so who come to eat in it, the Kitchen also feeds around 60 people in outlying communities. These remote diners supply the Kitchen with a 'tiffin', a collection of interlocking cylindrical stainless steel containers designed to carry many different dishes simultaneously, which they collect and take home filled with food. 400 meals in schools and services

The kitchen delivers a further 400 meals to Auroville's various schools and service centres, including the main grocery and domestic 'shop' Pour Tous. After 45 Solar Kitchen staff have also eaten, the average number of meals served daily by the Kitchen rises to roughly 700.

The Kitchen asks anyone intending to eat there to book in advance. It's possible to arrive unannounced without a booking, but you have to wait until 1 pm. After that un-booked diners are welcome.

The seating layout of the Kitchen over the years has developed a pattern based more on intermixing discreet sub-sets of all diners (on any given day) occupying clearly definable areas or habit-zones. Medium table-groups fluctuate in content but come from larger identifiable separate pool-sets and are focused around small relatively fixed-in-content groups or units (say 2-3, sometimes family-based around a parent with young children, or groups of 2-3 young men mostly) who move freely only within a definable area, rarely straying beyond invisible habitual boundaries.

Long-time diners find they tend towards one part of the dining area more than another, dining on rare occasions in other areas when asked by a member from that area to meet for some reason. To queue or not to queue

Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines 'Queue' as 'a waiting line, esp of persons or vehicles'. Based on this definition the following analysis can be made of the Solar Kitchen lunch queue:

Participants divide into X categories: Conventional queuers

Those who upon arrival stand at the end of the queue at that time, allowing all previous arrivals precedence. Unconventional queuers

Upon arrival at the queue this category of diner tends to wander normally about one third of the queue's length towards the front, and then either strike up a trivial conversation with someone they would otherwise not normally converse with, for purposes of convincing themselves they have successfully reduced their waiting time by a third (assuming the queue travels at a constant speed) but without incurring the wrath of the conventional queuers they have come in front of. Reactions

In the eyes of the unconventional queuer, their strategy is a win-win situation: they have reduced waiting time without repercussion from those in front of whom they stand. This, of course, is delusion. Many focus-group based studies of community kitchen social dynamics, including Schlumberg & Moonaswami's Evolved Social Protocols in Condensed Intentional Communities Solar Kitchen case study1 show despite the absence of perceivable reaction, the majority of diners react negatively to "cutting-in"2 . Consequences for the "cutter-in"3 are usually negligible in the short term, says Geneva's 4th Dimensional Research head, John Pertwee , but long-term repercussions, while difficult to gauge, have been shown to exist5 . Long-term reactions range from diminished inclusion of the offending individual in social activities to actual vocal confrontation and in some rare cases expulsion from the larger community6 .

January 19 th was the first of the completely sunny days of the coming sunlit season.

January 20 th too, was a perfectly cloudless day, so I went to visit Purani, the head cook in the solar kitchen to see how they were using the steam being produced by the solar bowl on the roof.

Purani was all smiles, for she had been able to use the solar steam for several jobs.

In the morning a 9 am the solar bowl is put into operation, converting water pumped into its receiver directly into steam. The solar steam is mixed with the steam of the kitchen's diesel fired boiler which is started daily at 8 am. Both the solar steam and the diesel steam work together to cook most of the lunch for the solar kitchen.

The diesel boiler is stronger and contributes ¾ of the steam required during the morning, while the solar steam accounts for ¼ .

But at 11 am or so, the diesel boiler is turned off on sunny days, and the remaining cooking and the production of all hot water for cleaning up all the kitchen vessels is all done only by the solar bowl steam.

On the days when I visited Purani, she had completed the cooking of the final batch of rice and the balance of the noodles with the solar steam on its own between 11 and 12 am. In addition, on each day she had used it to cook a big pot of banana jam for the children in the schools. Then the evening dinner team had used the solar steam between 12 and 2 pm to make a 100% solar cooked soup for those taking the tiffin dinner. They gave me a cup to taste and I'm sure it had an extra sparkle to it !

In February we will complete one year of daily operation of the solar bowl. The bowl saves the kitchen more than 12 liters of diesel for each hour that it fully replaces the diesel boiler after 11 am – this easily adds up to a saving of Rs 700 on a sunny day. The solar bowl, 15 meters in diameter, produces about 200 kgs of steam on a sunny morning (ie. it can boil dry a full 200 liter barrel of water in the three hour morning) and has a peak thermal power of 63 kilowatts at noon.

We are very happy that after several years of testing and alterations, with an especially big technical help by the American guest Daryl Carlson during 2004, the solar bowl has come into its own and that now the Solar Kitchen has a real functioning solar side to it!!

John J

• There are two additional concentrating geometries which are relatively unique to solar cookers: spherical solar concentrators and Scheffler concentrators.
• "The first well functioning Scheffler-Reflector (size: 1,1m x 1,5m) was built by Wolfgang Scheffler in 1986 at a mission-station in North-Kenya and is still in use."
• http://supreme-rays.com/Scheffler%20Technology/scheffler_tech.html
• "It´s difficult to tell how many Scheffler Reflectors exist, as there is no central registration and many workshops work independently. 2004 there were about 750 reflectors in 21 countries, that coresponds to about 200 solar kitchens, including 12 solar steam kitchens with 10 to106 reflectors per installation. The biggest solar kitchen of the world in Abu Road, Rajastan (India) is catering for up to 18 000 visiters of a Yoga center.

Now, 2006, there might be around 950 Scheffler Reflectors worldwide."

• "The combination of affordable materials, common tools and un-complicated techniques of fabrication to create a product with high-tech qualities enables interested groups to make something with their own hands which will benefit them in a sustainable way.
• "A good example is the construction of the worlds largest solar-kitchen in Abu Road, Rajastan, by the Brahma Kumaris. Because they did most of the work involved themselves, the whole installation ( 800m² of Reflector surface + steam system + back-up boiler) could be built for only 100 000 €. As they cook for a maximum of 18 000 people this equals 125,-€ per m² or 5,5 € per person."
• 50m² Scheffler-Reflector which is now being tested to deliver energy for crematoriums.
• Until now many more have been set up, even Indias biggest temple, the Tirupati Temple in Andra Pradesh is equipped with 105 reflectors.

Internet-addresses about Scheffler-Reflectors

Community-kitchen of Yoga-centre in India: www.charity-india.de/ Bakery in Namibia: www.ombili.home.pages/ Bakery in Argentina and Burkina Faso: www.hc-solar.de 400 kg iron-storage in India: www.geocities.com/bvirw/Photos/solar-storage.html generally: www.ecozen.com/, www.teriin.org/renew/tech/solth/about.htm, www.Solare-Bruecke.org You can find various articles in the archives of Solar Cookers International http://solarcooking.org/

Uhg

Solar architecture controls the use of solar energy to provide practical lighting, comfortable temperatures, and improve air quality. Solar architecture achieves this by tailoring building orientation, proportion, window placement, and material components to the local climate and environment. Solar features will be mirrored on either side of the equator but more importantly they will vary considerably between climates. In the words of the first century Roman architect Vitruvius:

http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Solar_energy&diff=next&oldid=174757015

PV rework

Photovoltaics

A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is a device that converts light into electricity using the photoelectric effect. The first working solar cells were constructed by Charles Fritts in 1883. These prototype cells were made of selenium and achieved efficiencies around one percent. Following the fundamental work of Russell Ohl in the 1940s, researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin created the silicon solar cell in 1954.

• The first silicon solar cell was discovered, by accident, by Russell Ohl in 1940, after which the semiconductor revolution of the 1950s brought forward the first efficient solar cell (1954) and it first commercial application on spacecraft (1958) (Greeen, 2000).

Prospects for PV: a learning curve analysis Bob van der Zwaana,b ,*, Ari Rablc

This breakthrough marked a fundamental change in how power is generated. The subsequent development of solar cells during the 1950s raised the efficiency of solar cells from 6 percent up to 10 percent but commercial applications were limited to novelty items due to the high costs of solar cells ($300 per watt).

In 1958, photovoltaic modules were used as a power source for the Vanguard I satellite. The success of PV on this pioneering mission led to a string of additional solar-powered Russian and American satellites and despite NASA's early focus on nuclear power, solar power had become the established source of power for satellites by the late 1960s. PV also played an essential part in the success of early commercial satellites such as Telstar and Syncom. While PV was highly successful in extraterrestrial applications, commercialization on Earth was limited due high prices. Ironically, the price barriers were the result of a spaced based focus of development which aimed for high efficiency, low weight, and reliability.

With low prices in mind, Dr. Elliot Berman. (S2E)

Aided by the development of the semiconductor industry

"Continuously declining cost of transistors, ($1 in 1968 to .01 in 1976 to .00001 in 1992)." - http://www2.austin.cc.tx.us/HongXiao/overview/history-semi/sld012.htm

"Semiconductor Technology

The computer industry, especially transistor semiconductor technology, also contributed to the development of PV cells. Transistors and PV cells are made from similar materials and operate on the basis of similar physical mechanisms. As a result, advances in transistor research provided a steady flow of new information about PV cell technology. (Today, however, this technology transfer process often works in reverse, as advances in PV research and development are sometimes adopted by the semiconductor industry.) " http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=1155

Commercial production of PV began in 1972.

Early commercial shipments were generally employed in remote (off-grid) sites. Uses included cathodic protection of pipe lines and power for off-shore oil rigs, railroad crossings and lighthouses.

The development of solar power was significantly affected by the 1973 oil and 1979 energy crises. These crises prompted a search for alternatives to oil, and incentive programs such as the Federal Photovoltaic Utilization Program in the U.S. and the Sunshine Program in Japan were direct results. An additional result was the establishment of research facilities such as the Solar Energy Research Institute (now NREL) in the U.S., Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Germany.

The steadily dropping prices for early during the early 1980s reduced interest in PV. The cessation of residential tax breaks in 1985 and the sharp drop in the price of oil in 1986

-1999 helped keep funding for solar power research relatively low and largely removed solar power from the public consciousness.

Th New Sunshine Program in Japan... What year XXX Solar roofs program? The Electricity Feed Law in Germany... What year

In 1994, the Japanese began to phase in a large PV industry stimulus program, in 1995 the Germans phased in a PV stimulus program. Combined these programs have taken the industry from roughly 15% annual growth in production to about 30% annual growth.

• "Historically, no energy technology has changed more dramatically than photovoltaics (PV), the cost of which has declined by a factor of nearly 100 since the 1950s."

Notes

• Perlin mentions $20/watt costs in 1973 - solarperlin@aol.com - http://www.californiasolarcenter.org/solareclips/2002.07/20020709-8.html
• Berman's new company is Zentox - http://www.zentox.com/contact_zentox.html
• http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/rea_issues/solar.html
• http://www.heliotronics.com/papers/PV_Breakeven.pdf
• Total peak power of installed PV is around 6,000 MW as of the end of 2006. Installed PV is projected to increase to over 9,000 MW in 2007.
• Declining manufacturing costs (dropping at three to five percent a year in recent years) are expanding the range of cost-effective uses. The average lowest retail cost of a large photovoltaic array declined from $7.50 to $4.00 per watt between 1990 and 2005.
• Deployment of solar power depends largely upon local conditions and requirements. The primary considerations are insolation, local power cost, local affluence

Drivers

"rising electricity prices and an increas in the cost of building new GT&D..."

Semiconductor developments - reduced kerf loss, thinner wafer, better faster processing equipment... material knowledge

Educated/trained workforce

Affluent public

By early 1973, the scientists at Solar Power Corporation were making singlecrystal silicon modules for $10 per watt and selling large quantities for around $20 per watt, bringing to earth what hitherto had been principally a space-based enterprise. (Find source on page 56)

1. Butti and Perlin (1981), p.15
2. "Darmstadt University of Technology solar decathlon home design". Darmstadt University of Technologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Solar_energy&action=edit&section=2 Editing Solar energy (section) - Misplaced Pages, the 💕. Retrieved 2008-04-25. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help); line feed character in |publisher= at position 111 (help)
3. Schittich (2003), p.14
4. Schittich (2003), p.14
5. Schittich (2003), p.14
6. ^ Perlin, John. "Photovoltaics". California Solar Center. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
7. "A Walk Through Time". Retrieved 2007-10-25.
8. "Chronicle of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft". Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
9. "Annual Oil Market Chronology 1970-2006". Energy Information Administration. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
10. http://www.2and50needles.com/needle_5.htm
11. "Solar Wave - April 2007 Edition" (PDF). Merrill Lynch. April 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
12. "Installed PV power as of the end of 2005 in reporting IEA PVPS countries". International Energy Agency. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
13. "Solar Energy". Regional-Renewables. Retrieved 2007-09-30.