Knowledge Base

solar-e Competition

tedrivera — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 05:51:45 +0000

Choose from the following topics for the solar-e Competition:

* Available Energy Sources
* Biomass
* Carbon Credit Trading
* Climatology
* Communication Systems
* Eco Villages
* Ecological Sustainable Design
* Energy Conversation
* Fuel Cells
* Geothermal Energy
* Global Politics
* Greenhouse Effect & Global Warming
* Hydro Electricity
* Hydrogen Energy Source
* Passive Solar Design of Buildings
* Potential for Saving Energy
* Potential for Solar Energy use
* Solar Cells for Electricity
* Solar Hot Water
* Solar Powered Transport
* Solar System
* Solar Energy & Space Travel
* Solar Thermal Energy
* Tidal Power Systems
* Wave Power Systems
* Wind Power Systems

solar-e Competition

tedrivera — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 02:19:36 +0000

Choose from the following topics for the solar-e Competition:

* Biomass Energy
* Earth’s Climate
* Eco Villages
* Greenhouse Effect
* Heat From the Earth
* Hot Water from the Sun
* Hydro Electricity
* Hydrogen Cars
* Solar Cars and Bicycles
* Solar Houses
* Solar Planes and Boats
* Solar Power
* Solar Telephones
* Solar Trains
* Wind Energy

solar-e Competition

tedrivera — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 02:01:55 +0000

Choose from the following topics for the solar-e Competition:

* Architect’s Role in ESD
* Building for Energy Efficiency
* Biomass Power
* Carbon Credit Trading
* Climate Sensible Design
* Creation of the Universe
* Earth’s Energy Sources
* Eco Developments
* Energy & Renewable Energy
* Ethical Investments
* Evolution of the Earth & Its Climate
* Evolution of Man & Consciousness
* Evolution of the Solar system
* Fuel Cell Technology
* Geothermal Power
* Global Politics
* Green Economics & Business Development
* Greenhouse Effect & Consequences
* History & Use of Fossil Fuel
* Hydro Power
* Hydrogen Economy
* Indigenous Culture & Energy Use
* Materials & Embodied Energy
* Nuclear Power
* Oil & Gas Production for the 21st Century
* Photovoltaic Power
* Solar Energy & Space Travel
* Solar Thermal Power
* Sustainable Energy for the 21st Century
* Sustainable Transport for the 21st Century
* Telecommunication Systems
* Tidal Power
* Wind Power

An Introduction

sinisa — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 05:41:24 +0000

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Solar Energy in its Finest Form

Our goals are:

- to increase the level of intelligent debate,

- document accepted facts by the scientific community,

- offer some suggestions of how solar and renewable energy can be used to solve the serious consequences of the GHE and the uncontrolled climate change,

- promote more curiosity to want to know more about each subject,

- promote positive action in gaining more knowledge,

- establish sustainable solutions,

- create opportunities for emerging industries and professions,

- empower the individual to be involved, lead by example, and create intelligent responsible communities, and

- encourage contributions of knowledge via this website.

We are providing a quick reference to Wikipedia as the starting point for further information, because Wikipedia is a growing international knowledge resource and is easily accessible to everyone. We are not attempting to be another encyclopedia, but become a solid foundation for those wishing to expand their knowledge and provide appropriate action and suggestions. Our philosophy is that action speaks louder than words.

We invite you to give further references that expand this knowledge base and help visitors to solar-e find what they are looking for much faster.

IMAGE:
Name- Solar Energy in its Finest Form
Source- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SOLAR_ENERGY_IN_ITS_FINEST_FORM.jpg
Image has been released into the public domain

Wave Power

sinisa — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:23:39 +0000

Wave power is the transport of energy by ocean surface waves and capture of that energy to do useful work: electricity generation, water desalination, or pumping of water.

Waves are generated by wind passing over the surface of the sea. As long as the waves propagate slower than the wind speed just above the waves, there is an energy transfer from the wind to the waves. Both air pressure differences between the upwind and the lee side of a wave crest, as well as friction on the water surface by the wind shear stress causes the growth of the waves.

Pelamis Wave Energy Converter in Scotland

These are some of the challenges to deploying wave power devices:

- There is an extremely large fluctuation of power in the waves.

- The device has to efficiently convert wave motion into electricity. Generally speaking, wave power is available in low-speed, high forces, and the motion of forces is not in a single direction. Most readily available electric generators operate at higher speeds, and most readily available turbines require a constant, steady flow.

- The total cost of electricity is high.

There are several methods of getting energy from waves. One of them works like a swimming pool wave machine in reverse.

Energy output is determined by wave height, wave speed, wavelength, and water density. To date there are only a handful of experimental wave generator plants in operation around the world.

If you are interested in this topic and want to contribute in discussion, research or business, please follow the links below.

Ask an expert

Book in for a Consultation or Advisory Service

Buy a manual/service/product

Send in your Intellectual Content to publish

REFERENCES:

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_power

2) http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/wave.htm

3) http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/hydro/wave-power/

4) http://earthsci.org/mineral/energy/wavpwr/wavepwr.html

5) http://www.virginmedia.com/images/wavepower.jpg

IMAGE:

Name- Pelamis at EMEC
Source- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pelamis_at_EMEC.jpg
Image has been released into the public domain

Variations of Culture Due to Climate

sinisa — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:22:08 +0000

The evolution of humans is a major event in the Earth’s biotic history. Most accounts of human origins take this ecological dominance as a sign of a qualitatively new and superior form of adaptation that led to the unique human adaptive complex: tool making, language, social organization, and other aspects of culture.

A Luxury Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA: A representation of human ecological dominance

If solar variability affects human culture it most likely does so by changing the climate in which the culture operates. Variations in the solar radiation input to the Earth’s atmosphere have often been suggested as a cause of such climate change on time scales from decades to tens of millennia. The latest progress in our knowledge explains much better the history of the solar output, the effect of solar variability on the Earth’s mean climate and its regional patterns, the history of the Earth’s climate and the history of mankind and human culture.

Several important historical events have been reliably related to climate change including the Little Ice Age in northern Europe and the collapse of the Classical Mayan civilization in the 9th century AD.

If you are interested in this topic and want to contribute in discussion, research or business, please follow the links below.

Ask an expert

Book in for a Consultation or Advisory Service

Buy a manual/service/product

Send in your Intellectual Content to publish

REFERENCES:

1) http://www.des.ucdavis.edu/faculty/richerson/guadalajara.pdf

2) Science Direct

IMAGE:

Name- Halekulani
Source- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halekulani01.JPG
Image has been released into the public domain

Passive Solar Design of Buildings

sinisa — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:16:43 +0000

Passive solar buildings aim to maintain interior thermal comfort throughout the sun’s daily and annual cycles whilst reducing the requirement for active heating and cooling systems.

This development in Western Australia is environmentally sensitive with such features as excellent passive solar design and shared solar power sources.

There are four primary passive solar energy configurations:

• direct solar gain (control the amount of direct solar radiation reaching the living space)

• indirect solar gain (control solar radiation reaching an area adjacent but not part of the living space)

• isolated solar gain (utilizing solar energy to passively move heat from or to the living space using a fluid, such as water or air by natural convection or forced convection)

• passive cooling

From the definition it comes up that “reducing the requirement for active heating and cooling systems” directly means less GHE.

If you are interested in this topic and want to contribute in discussion, research or business, please follow the links below.

Ask an expert

Book in for a Consultation or Advisory Service

Buy a manual/service/product

Send in your Intellectual Content to publish

REFERENCES:

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_solar_building_design

2) http://passivesolar.sustainablesources.com/

3) http://www.eere.energy.gov/de/passive_solar_design.html

4) http://www.midlandbrick.com.au/Article/Midland_Brick_Passive_solar_design.asp?site=boral

5) http://www.wbdg.org/resources/psheating.php

6) http://www.thenaturalhome.com/

IMAGE:

Courtesy of solar-e.com’s sister company Ecotect-Architects

Green Economics

sinisa — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:07:29 +0000

Green economics means a direct focus on meeting human and environmental need.

Green economics is the economics of the real world (world of work, human needs, Earth’s materials) and how they mesh together most harmoniously.

The industrial (or capitalist) definition of wealth has always been about the accumulation of money and matter. For two centuries, the quest to accumulate money or capital drove a powerful industrialization process that actually did spin off many human benefits, however unfairly distributed. But blind material and monetary growth has reached a threshold where it is generating more destruction than real wealth. A postindustrial world requires an economics of quality, where both money and matter are returned to a status of means to an end.

We have to face something more far-reaching—the need to reverse the huge state-corporate and social engineering projects of the post-Second World War period, which very consciously promoted an energy-wasting and environmentally destructive fossil fuel economy (Noam Chomsky).

If you are interested in this topic and want to contribute in discussion, research or business, please follow the links below.

Ask an expert

Book in for a Consultation or Advisory Service

Buy a manual/service/product

Send in your Intellectual Content to publish

REFERENCES:

1) http://www.greeneconomics.net/what2f.htm

2) http://www.progress.org/green/

3) http://www.urbanhabitat.org/taxonomy/term/84

IMAGE:

Name- Ecology Society Economy Diagram Earth background
Source- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecology_Society_Economy_diagram_Earth_background.jpg
Image has been released into the public domain

Greenhouse Effect

sinisa — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:06:37 +0000

From the cosmic viewpoint, the fact that Earth has an average surface temperature suitable for our sort of life (to maintain liquid water), cannot be explained by simply suggesting that our planet orbits at just the right distance from the sun. Our moderate temperatures are also the result of having just the right kind of atmosphere.

The Greenhouse Effect

The natural greenhouse effect is a phenomenon created by the heat energy radiated by the sun and greenhouse gases normally present in the atmosphere. Sunlight passes through the atmosphere, warming the Earth then the Earth radiates this energy back towards space. As it passes through the atmosphere, greenhouse gases absorb part of the energy, while the remainder escapes into space. This means that some of the sun’s energy becomes trapped making the lower part of the atmosphere, and Earth, warmer.

The Earth has managed to regulate concentrations of greenhouse gases over millions of years. As long as the amount of greenhouse gases in the air stays the same, and as long as the amount of heat arriving from the sun is constant, an equilibrium is established. In equilibrium, the natural greenhouse effect maintains the average temperature of Earth at around 14°C. Many scientists think that the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases has led to an increase in the world’s average temperature. An increase in global temperature would bring changes to the entire planet. This makes it an international issue which needs worldwide response.

Solar energy technologies reduce needs for burning fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions.

VALUABLE LINKS:

The Greenhouse Effect

If you are interested in this topic and want to contribute in discussion, research or business, please follow the links below.

Ask an expert

Book in for a Consultation or Advisory Service

Buy a manual/service/product

Send in your Intellectual Content to publish

REFERENCES:

1) http://www.science.org.au/nova/016/016key.htm

2) http://www.climatechange.gov.au

3) http://www.grida.no/climate/vitalafrica/english/09.htm

4) http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diagrams/greenhouse/

5) http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/7h.html

6) http://www.world-builders.org/lessons/less/les3/planettemps.html

IMAGES:

Name- The green house effect
Source- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_green_house_effect.svg
Author- ZooFari
Licensing- Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Environment Information Centres

sinisa — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:03:50 +0000

There are established Environment Information Centres throughout the world:

The Information Center for the Environment (ICE) is an environmental information brokerage and research laboratory in the Department of Environmental Science & Policy at the University of California, Davis, USA.

REC – Regional Environmental Center. The REC aims to raise environmental awareness and encourage environmental protection in Central and Eastern Europe.