The Future of Solar Energy
The future of solar energy is in the hands of young new scientist with new ways of looking at things. There are many new ways of going green by tapping into the renewable energy source of the sun, like energy towers and updraft towers. Both are relatively new and take a new approach to utilizing the power of the sun other than with solar cells.
The energy tower creates electricity by extracting the energy from the surrounding air. The basic principle is that water is sprayed at the top of the tower. The heat from the sun causes this water to evaporate creating a downdraft effect by cooling the air inside the tower, which in turn increases the airs density. This downdraft then turns the turbine that is located at the bottom of the tower. The turbine is connected to a power generator and produces electricity. To efficiently utilize this as a power source the tower should be located in an arid region and close to a large water source. There are many places on earth that fit that description including the coasts of Chile, Peru, Southern California, Mexico, a large portion of Africa and the Middle East.
Another alternative power source is the solar updraft tower. This unit would take a large area that would need to be enclosed similar to a green house with the walls made of glass. As the air inside is heated, it would be channeled through a pathway to a tall tower. On top of the tower would be a turbine that is connected to a generator that would produce electricity. It is thought that collector tubes of 7 meters in diameter would be needed to channel the air to a tower 1000 meters tall to make this a functional power source. The land required would be greater than any other power plant but it is nonpolluting and utilizes the renewable energy source of the sun.
Another method that holds promise of producing solar energy at a low cost is that which is demonstrated in this video using a fresnel lens as a collector and then concentrating the beam of light on to a collector/heat exchanger which in turn creates high pressure steam and runs a turbine generator for electricity and being able to capture the exit hot water to use in the household. The inventor claims that a 6 KW system would cost about $6,000. We would like to hear from anyone who has built such a system and how it has worked out. It would seem as though the solar collector would have to be steered directly toward the sun throughout the day.
Check out the video:
These are just a few of the possibilities of the future of solar energy and some more ways to go green.
Tags: alternative power source, energy towers, fresnel lens, future of solar energy, high pressure steam, updraft towers
