Proceedings Of The Solar 2004 Conference

Nonimaging optics is a subdiscipline of optics whose development over the last 35–40 years was led by scientists from the University of Chicago and other cooperating individuals and institutions. The approach provides a formalism that allows the design of optical devices that approach the maximum physically attainable geometric concentration for a given set of optical tolerances. This means that it has the potential to revolutionize the design of solar concentrators. In this monograph, the basic practical applications of the techniques of nonimaging optics to solar energy collection and concentration are developed and explained. The formalism for designing a wide variety of concentrator types, such as the compound parabolic concentrator and its many embodiments and variations, is presented. Both advantages and limitations of the approach are reviewed. Practical and economic aspects of concentrator design for both thermal and photovoltaic applications are discussed as well. The whole range of concentrator applications from simple low-concentration nontracking designs to ultrahigh-concentration multistage configurations is covered. Table of Contents: Introduction / CPCs / Practical Design of CPC Thermal Collectors / Practical Design of CPC PV Concentrators / Two-Stage Nonimaging Concentrators for Solar Thermal Applications / Two-Stage Nonimaging Concentrators for Solar PV Applications / Selected Demonstrations of Nonimaging Concentrator Performance / The Importance of Economic Factors in Effective Solar Concentrator Design / Ultrahigh Concentration / Bibliography

The present “Solar Energy” science book hopefully opens a series of other first-hand texts in new technologies with practical impact and subsequent interest. They might include the ecological combustion of fossil fuels, space technology in the benefit of local and remote communities, new trends in the development of secure Internet Communications on an interplanetary scale, new breakthroughs in the propulsion technology and others. The editors will be pleased to see that the present book is open to debate and they will wait for the readers’ reaction with great interest. Critics and proposals will be equally welcomed.

This book introduces a range of the different inorganic materials used in solar energy capture materials.

The American electric utility system is quietly falling apart. Once taken for granted, the industry has become increasingly unstable, fragmented, unreliable, insecure, inefficient, expensive, and harmful to our environment and public health. According to Sovacool, the fix for this ugly array of problems lies not in nuclear power or clean coal, but in renewable energy systems that produce few harmful byproducts, relieve congestion on the transmission grid, require less maintenance, are not subject to price volatility, and enhance the security of the national energy system from natural catastrophe, terrorist attack, and dependence on supply from hostile and unstable regions of the world. Here arises The Dirty Energy Dilemma: If renewable energy systems deliver such impressive benefits, why are they languishing at the margins of the American energy portfolio? And why does the United States lag so far behind Europe, where conversion to renewable energy systems has already taken off in a big way? Corporate media parrot industry PR that renewable technologies just aren't ready for prime time. But Sovacool marshals extensive field research to show that the only barrier blocking the conversion of a significant proportion of the U.S. energy portfolio to renewables is not technological—the technology is there—but institutional. Public utility commissioners, utility managers, system operators, business owners, and ordinary consumers are hobbled by organizational conservatism, technical incompatibility, legal inertia, weak and inconsistent political incentives, ill-founded prejudices, and apathy. The author argues that significant conversion to technologically proven clean energy systems can happen only if we adopt and implement a whole new set of policies that will target and dismantle the insidious social barriers that are presently blocking decisions that would so obviously benefit society.

'Essential for any serious technical library' Professor Martin Green, University of New South Wales, Australia The Advances in Solar Energy series offers state-of-the-art information on all primary renewable energy technologies, including solar, wind and biomass, bringing together invited contributions from the foremost international experts in renewable energy. Volume 16 is the first volume to be published by Earthscan. Topics covered include: * Anthropogenic global warming: evidence, predictions and consequences * Comparing projections of PV generation ad European and U.S. domestic oil production * Recent advances in solar PV technology * III-V compound multi-junction and concentrator solar cells * Progress of highly reliable crystalline Si solar devices and materials * Recent advances in parabolic trough solar power plant technology * Solar pond technologies: a review and future directions * Passive cooling of buildings * Renewable solar energy for traveling: air, land and water * Modeling solar hydrogen fuel cell systems * Renewable energy for the Russian economy * An innovative, high temperature and concentration solar optical system at the turn of the 19th Century: the Pyreheliophoro Spanning a broad range of technical subjects, this volume and series is a 'must-have' reference on global developments in the field of renewable energy, suitable for solar energy experts (including engineers and architects), utilities and industry professionals, students, teachers and researchers in renewable energy, technical libraries and laboratories.

Brought to you by the creator of numerous bestselling handbooks, the Handbook of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy provides a thorough grounding in the analytic techniques and technological developments that underpin renewable energy use and environmental protection. The handbook emphasizes the engineering aspects of energy conservation and renewable energy. Taking a world view, the editors discuss key topics underpinning energy efficiency and renewable energy systems. They provide content at the forefront of the contemporary debate about energy and environmental futures. This is vital information for planning a secure energy future. Practical in approach, the book covers technologies currently available or expected to be ready for implementation in the near future. It sets the stage with a survey of current and future world-wide energy issues, then explores energy policies and incentives for conservation and renewable energy, covers economic assessment methods for conservation and generation technologies, and discusses the environmental costs of various energy generation technologies. The book goes on to examine distributed generation and demand side management procedures and gives a perspective on the efficiencies, economics, and environmental costs of fossil and nuclear technologies. Highlighting energy conservation as the cornerstone of a successful national energy strategy, the book covers energy management strategies for industry and buildings, HVAC controls, co-generation, and advances in specific technologies such as motors, lighting, appliances, and heat pumps. It explores energy storage and generation from renewable sources and underlines the role of infrastructure security and risk analysis in planning future energy transmission and storage systems. These features and more make the Handbook of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy the tool for designing the energy sources of the future.