| Tapping the Sun's life-sustaining energy is
more than using the light and heat that we see and feel. It is
conversion from solar energy to electricity that powers our homes,
cars, and the computer that enables you to observe this web site.
The area of solar energy is so broad that to cover all of the
information that those two simple words cover would take many
books. Fortunately that is not what we did. We have broken the
solar energy section down into the 8 basic types of solar energy
and provided a brief synopsis of each of the types of solar energy
on this page. |
|
Photosynthesis - Sunlight provides energy
through photosynthesis. This energy is recoverable through burning
of wood and fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas
which are created through the process of
photosynthesis.
Wind Energy - Sunlight heating the ground and
lower atmosphere produces the wind which powers wind turbines.
Hydroelectric power - Sunlight stored as the
gravitational energy of water through the water cycle can be
extracted with dams and electric generators. Hydroelectric power is
renewable and considered a "clean" energy since no burning is
required, but it is limited in quantity.
Hydroelectric power station Baie James,
Quebec
This first run-of-river power station required 401,000 cu. m. of
concrete and 19,000 tons of steel reinforcement. The power station
is 330 metres long, 60 metres wide and 60 metres high. It houses 12
turbines with a generating capacity of 1,368 mega watts.
|
Hydroelectric Dam
Diagram
Ocean Energy - The use of the ocean
tides have been harnessed to make electricity along with a variety
of other methods which make use of the motions and thermal
gradients in the ocean. The temperature difference between the
sun-warmed surface layers of the ocean and the colder depths
through the use of a heat engine can derive useful energy, in a
process called ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). This
technology is complex, therefore limiting the use of the tremendous
amount of stored energy in the ocean thermal gradients.
Picture of an OTEC power
plant
Passive Solar Heating - Direct heating of a building by
maximizing the solar gain in the winter and minimizing it in the
summer is called passive solar heating. Designs of northern homes
and buildings use rock, water, and other materials to store solar
heat in the day to release later at night.
Active
Solar Heating - In contrast to passive solar heating is active
space and water heating. A water or air solar collector is used to
heat a fluid that is used as the heating system or water heater for
a building. In larger active thermal power generating systems,
focused mirrors are used to concentrate and direct the sunlight
into a boiler that produces steam to generate electricity.
Electric Photovoltaic Cells - Sunlight can be converted
directly into electricity with a photovoltaic cell, or "solar
cell." Solar cells, which have no moving parts, are expensive, but
are an ideal method too directly, convert sunlight into
electricity. Today's typical calculator uses a solar cell for it's
power.
©Copyright 1998 Elizabeth
Beckett, Holly Bernitt, and Vishwa Chandra.