Harnessing Solar Power


Book Description




Taming the Sun


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How solar could spark a clean-energy transition through transformative innovation—creative financing, revolutionary technologies, and flexible energy systems. Solar energy, once a niche application for a limited market, has become the cheapest and fastest-growing power source on earth. What's more, its potential is nearly limitless—every hour the sun beams down more energy than the world uses in a year. But in Taming the Sun, energy expert Varun Sivaram warns that the world is not yet equipped to harness erratic sunshine to meet most of its energy needs. And if solar's current surge peters out, prospects for replacing fossil fuels and averting catastrophic climate change will dim. Innovation can brighten those prospects, Sivaram explains, drawing on firsthand experience and original research spanning science, business, and government. Financial innovation is already enticing deep-pocketed investors to fund solar projects around the world, from the sunniest deserts to the poorest villages. Technological innovation could replace today's solar panels with coatings as cheap as paint and employ artificial photosynthesis to store intermittent sunshine as convenient fuels. And systemic innovation could add flexibility to the world's power grids and other energy systems so they can dependably channel the sun's unreliable energy. Unleashing all this innovation will require visionary public policy: funding researchers developing next-generation solar technologies, refashioning energy systems and economic markets, and putting together a diverse clean energy portfolio. Although solar can't power the planet by itself, it can be the centerpiece of a global clean energy revolution. A Council on Foreign Relations Book




How To Harness Solar Power for Your Home (and Who's Already Doing It)


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Imagine living in a world with clean air and very little pollution. Imagine never having to hear your parents complain about paying the electric bill. Does that sound too good to be true? It's all possible with solar energy. Learn how actor Ed Begley Jr. lives in his solar home. Read how solar power works and why scientists think solar energy will be the next great energy resource. You can learn how to save energy in your own home. You can even find out how to make your own solar oven and cook yourself a solar hot dog feast.




To Catch the Sun


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Rooftop Revolution


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Here is the truth that the powerful Dirty Energy public relations machine doesn't want you to know: the ascent of solar energy is upon us. Solar-generated electricity has risen exponentially in the last few years and employment in the solar industry has doubled since 2009. Meanwhile, electricity from coal has declined to pre-World War II levels as the fossil fuel industry continues to shed jobs. Danny Kennedy systematically refutes the lies spread by solar's opponents—that it is expensive, inefficient, and unreliable; that it is kept alive only by subsidies; that it can't be scaled; and many other untruths. He shows that we need a rooftop revolution to break the entrenched power of the coal, oil, nuclear, and gas industries Solar energy can create more jobs, return our nation to prosperity, and ensure the sustainability and safety of our planet. Now is the time to move away from the dangerous energy sources of the past and unleash the amazing potential of the sun.




Resource Revolution


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How to turn the problem of scarce resources into an opportunity to vastly improve your company's performance, by two top McKinsey consultants.




The A to Z Guide on Harnessing Solar Power


Book Description

You have probably heard about solar power and how it is the new and upcoming alternative energy source of the future. It’s just not a buzzword anymore. It is a viable way for you to save time and money, while at the same time make a conscious effort to save the environment and the planet. Solar power has been revolutionized and new technology is allowing it to not only power your home, but to power personal devices such as cell phones, personal entertainment systems, and other electronic devices that you could use in virtually any situation. Whether you are a first responder to an emergency situation, you want to go camping, or you just want a radio on your next boating trip to work without batteries, personal solar power is the new-age way to get the power without using batteries or other environmentally damaging power sources. Solar power is now affordable to everyone and is available in a variety of ways to help save the environment. Where solar power used to be laughed at by skeptics, it is now being embraced as the alternative energy source that rivals hydrogen, hybrids, and other forms of alternative energy. As we try to break our addiction to fossil fuels, solar power has become the number one topic among think tanks and college professors. It has also become a topic of concern for top government officials in the relentless pursuit to break free of foreign oil and fossil fuels. In this e-book you will learn how to make, and how you can put this type of technology in your life to save not only the environment but money. By understanding the uses of personal solar power and the uses the solar power can be used for in your home, you could get off the power grid, away from the dominance of the power companies and other industries that think they have you by the neck. You can become independent and not rely on corporate power grids or government sanctions. With the secrets revealed in this e-book you’ll be able to not only have personalized solar power equipment, but you will be able to understand some primitive solar power technology that you can put to use in your life to become more independent from government or corporate powers.




Solar Energy


Book Description

Drawing on the authors' extensive research and project implementation around the globe, Solar Energy: Renewable Energy and the Environment covers solar energy resources, thermal and photovoltaic systems, and the economics involved in using solar energy. It provides background theory on solar energy as well as useful technical information for implem




Solar Pumping for Water Supply


Book Description

Solar power for pumping groundwater has a vast potential for improving the sustainability of water supply schemes. However experience also shows that a lack of knowledge, capacity and expertise to design and implement such schemes is holding back their adoption. This book bridges this gap to equip engineers and technicians with the requisite knowledge for design, implementation and operation of sustainable solar powered water schemes.Solar Pumping for Water Supply is a state of the art review of solar water pumping technology combined with practical insights, lessons and best practices drawn from experience. It takes the reader step by step through the different phases that comprise a solar water pumping project, namely: assessment, design, purchase of equipment, installation, operation and management. The book also covers the economics of using solar pumping technology, especially when compared to diesel generators and hand pumps. Finally, the social aspects are included, specifically relating to the operation and management of solar pumping systems and the role that beneficiaries, implementers, government and the private sector might play to ensure long-lasting water supply. The book provides links and references to tools, documents and videos to accompany the content of the different chapters.Essential reading for solar technical practitioners at NGOs, UN agencies, government offices and private sector, including Global and Regional Technical advisors and Field engineers wanting to understand and know how to design water systems using solar power. A basic knowledge in the field of water supply is assumed, but no previous knowledge of solar photovoltaic technology is required.Alberto Ibáñez Llario is a Global Solar and Water Advisor with the International Organization for Migration and has 15 years of experience in water systems and solar PV in various locations around the world.Asenath Kiprono is a solar water pumping expert with 12 years' experience in design and implementation of pumping systems in rural Africa, including solar pumping systems in the private, public and humanitarian sectors.




Harnessing Solar Energy


Book Description

Sunshine can do more than make us happy when skies are gray—it can also provide ammo for ancient ray guns! Readers will discover how humans have harvested this clean energy source – from Archimedes’ sunbeam weapons to today’s solar-powered movie theaters. Visuals of ancient, modern, and futuristic human inventions are sure to catch the interest of every reader. Readers will also love the fact boxes full of enlightening material as they soak in this highly relevant science topic.