Renewable Energy At Home » solar energy

How much solar paneling is required to produce electrical energy to move a 250 pound body in a 250 pound cart?

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:49:13 +0000

What is the amount of solar energy required to drive a 250 pound cart with a 250 pound person 10 miles? How many square feet of recharged paneling would be required?

If you are willing to go slowly enough, all you need from the solar panel is enough to overcome static friction to get the cart started.

I do know that a cyclist cruising along at a moderate speed (say, 10 miles an hour) is expending about 1/10 horsepower. That’s 80 watts. So on flat ground, a 100-watt panel push them over the 10 miles in an hour. Such a panel, if square, would be 2 to 2.5 feet on a side, if made with typical contemporary materials. If the terrain is more than gently rolling hills, more power would be needed.

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SOlar Energy?

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:46:32 +0000

3 Examples of how solar energy is used.

Solar energy is used as follows:

It heats and lights the earth, without it we would all die on a very cold rock with no plant life.

Photo voltaic cells can collect solar energy and produce an electric current.

Solar collectors, usually roof mounted, are used domestically to heat water in homes.

Some desert areas use an array of mirrors to heat water in a central tower to produce steam to turn a generator and produce electricity.

How solar energy can be generated at competitive cost?

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:46:29 +0000

How solar energy can be produced at competitive cost for the welfare of people at large?Presently what is the status of its use in india?

Use materials from space (moon or asteroids) to build solar generating plants in Geostationary orbit and beam the power down to a rectena using microwaves.

We lack the space infrastructure needed to do that so it’s decades away but it is probably the only way solar will be cost competitive (and if we didn’t have nuclear power which could provide the zero emissions power we need it’d be our best bet for solving global warming).

There aren’t really any countries that actually have significant amounts of solar generation (and certainly none that get the majority of power from solar, unless you count hydro-electricity or fossil fuels as solar power (but if you do that then you’d also have to call photovoltaics nuclear)).

http://how-to-build-cheap-solar-energy.blogspot.com/

How expensive is solar energy to produce?

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:32:32 +0000

How expensive is solar energy to produce?

What does a solar energy power plant look like and how do they work?

What are the hidden costs to society and the world? ( pollution, etc)

You do not produce solar energy; it is free from the sun. However it can be converted to electricity using solar panels. If you check a picture of a satellite or the space station in orbit, you will see large solar panels to produce electricity to run the machines.
One environmental problem could be the disposal of old and derelict panels.

http://how-to-build-cheap-solar-energy.blogspot.com/

How to calculate how much energy converted from Solar Energy to Electricity?

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:45:57 +0000

Dear All,

How can I calculate how much energy converted from Solar Energy to Electricity? Does it based on the how strong of the sunlight? Does it based on how many solar cell? Any detail equations for this purpose?

Thanks a lot.

Taken from wiki:

"At solar noon on a clear March or September equinox day, the solar radiation at the equator is about 1000 W/m2. Hence, the "standard" solar radiation (known as the "air mass 1.5 spectrum") has a power density of 1000 watts per square meter. Thus, a 12% efficiency solar cell having 1 m² of surface area in full sunlight at solar noon at the equator during either the March or September equinox will produce approximately 120 watts of peak power."

http://how-to-build-cheap-solar-energy.blogspot.com/

How is solar energy harnessed for human benefit?

admin — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:13:46 +0000

Please help w/ these questions..And provide Sources/References !

- Type of energy transformations that take place in harnessing the solar energy.
- efficiency of the (solar) energy transformations
- The amount of energy obtained from solar energy?

Thank you !

Solar panels. This is the site which can provide you all information you are looking for.

http://how-to-build-cheap-solar-energy.blogspot.com/

How do I create solar energy for myself and use it?

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:12:01 +0000

Ok so here’s the thing, I want to make my own solar energy. I’m not saying huge amounts that can power my house, I just want enough that I could, I don’t know charge a battery. I also would like to learn how to make solar energy for things like flashlights I make myself. I need to know how to hook the solar power up as a power source. Thank you for all your help and website links would also be appreciated.

Well, it’s true that PV cells are by far the most efficient, portable, and easiest way to capture solar energy, there is at least one more. Before the 20th century began, Nikola Tesla invented a machine that would use sunlight to heat water into steam. It was basically an array of finely tuned mirrors aimed at a tube filled with water. This method is still used today for solar power stations, except oil is used instead of water, and steam is created through the use of an oil to water heat exchanger (intercooler). This is the best way for large-scale stationary facilities, but since the mirrors have to follow the sun exactly, it requites constant attention.

http://how-to-build-cheap-solar-energy.blogspot.com/

What other types of energy can solar energy be converted into?

admin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:19:01 +0000

Besides thermal and electrical energy, what can solar energy be converted into? Please post your reference if you have one.

Energy from the sun comes in the form of heat and light. Plants convert light into biological energy through photosynthesis.

Photovoltaic cells and panels convert light to electric current. Heat from the sun can also be converted into mechanical and electrical energy by focusing the heat on a steam generator to run a steam engine or hot air engine.

Mechanical energy can be further converted into electricity, and electricity can be converted into mechanical or chemical energy.

You can easily develop your own bibliography on this topic. The internet is slam full of information uses for solar energy.

http://how-to-build-cheap-solar-energy.blogspot.com/

Is there a way to make car paint that collects solar and wind energy to power an electric car?

admin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:25:59 +0000

If the paint could collect solar energy to charge a battery, and then once the car starts moving, other fibers in the paint could convert the wind passing over the car to electrical energy, wouldn’t this be a way to decrease our dependency on fossil fuels. Is there any technology out there that can do such a thing?

No. Air drag is one of the chief components in auto efficiency. What you describe would increase air drag.
As far as the solar part goes most cars have about 12 square feet of surface in the sun when the car is in the sun. 12 square feet can produce 900 watts. In four hours that would be 2700 Watt hours. A gallon of gasoline is about 37,000 Watt hours. What means is is that it is going to take over 100 days to produce the energy of one gallon of gasoline and everything has to be perfect.

How to calculate how much energy converted from Solar Energy to Electricity?

admin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:27:57 +0000

Dear All,

Thanks a lot.

Holly

Taken from wiki:

No solar cell is 100% efficient. For example. most commercially available solar cells are only 14-16% efficient. Meaning that they can only convert 14-16% of the sunlight that shines on them into electricity. As stated above, in good conditions the sun shines down about 1000 watts on every square meter of ground. But due to inefficiencies, a typical solar cell that has a surface area of 1 square meter, will probably only produce 150 watts of power. formula: 1000 watts per square meter times .15( 15%)=150 watts. The exact number of solar cells doesn’t matter. Just add up the size of all your cells and figure out how many total square meters of solar cells you have. and then multiply that number times the efficiency of your cells, around 15% perhaps and multiply that times 1000. If you have 2 small cells that both have .25 square meters of surface area. add them together. .25 + .25 =.5 The formula becomes .5(square meters of solar cell X 1000(watts of light per square meter from the sun) X 15%(typical solar cell efficiency) = .5 * 1000 * .15 = 75 watts of electricity. Not sure if that answers your question. If not. please say so.