Progress In Solar Energy

First Published in 2007. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Solar Energy Systems: Progress and Future Directions presents some new concepts and ideas regarding future steps in the development and progress of solar thermal energy. Preliminary results for advanced control of solar plants are presented using effective defocusing mechanisms.The authors discuss the sizing ratio of grid-connected photovoltaic systems and the relationship of this parameter with the maximum available power. Additionally, the optimum value of the sizing ratio of a grid-connected photovoltaic system is defined as one that maximizes the yearly energy efficiency in the photovoltaic installation considered.The concluding study makes a comparative econometric analysis on the relationship between the solar energy consumption that is produced by solar energy systems and the economic growth for the group of G-7 & G-20 countries. The econometric analysis includes panel data techniques with a chosen appropriate production function.

Energy is one of the most important topics of our time, and renewable energy has been a long and still-unfolding story that has taken decades to bring us to where we are today. Even after so much progress, engineers and scientists are always still developing new and innovative techniques, processes, equipment, and materials to further the science and fulfill the mission of generating cleaner, renewable energy for the world’s consumption. This new groundbreaking series, Advances in Renewable Energy, covers these topics across the spectrum, including solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources. This first volume in the series focuses on solar energy, probably the fastest-growing and developing area of renewable energy. With new materials and processes constantly coming online, it is important for engineers and scientists to stay abreast of the state-of-the-art in the field, and this volume does just that. Covering not just the basics of the technology and technological advances, the contributors delve into the financial aspects of solar energy systems as well. They look at total costs, not just initial costs, but the costs of maintenance, as well, Covering nearly every aspect of solar energy systems and the latest advances in the field, this is a must-have volume for any engineer, scientist, student, or educator working in or studying solar energy.

'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.

'Essential for any serious technical library' PROFESSOR MARTIN GREEN, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTHWALES, AUSTRALIA 'Valuable, detailed information that helps me plan for the future' DON OSBORN, FORMERLY OF SACRAMENTO MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICT 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. 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. Volume 17 focuses primarily on solar energy, with respect to heating, hot water, drying and detoxification. Specific chapter subjects include: Alternative World Energy Outlook 2006: A Possible Path towards a Sustainable Future Quantum Well Solar Cells Recent Progress of Organic Photovoltaics Thermal and Material Characterization of Immersed Heat Exchangers for Solar Domestic Hot Water Photocatalytic Detoxification of Water with Solar Energy Solar-Hydrogen: A Solid-State Chemistry Perspective Solar Heat for Industrial Processes Solar Energy Technology in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for Sustainable Energy, Water and Environment

In its continuing efforts to improve production and storage , European agriculture and food industry consumes ever more energy. Hence, as was the case for all European sectors founded on intensive energy consump tion, agriculture was also severely affected by the shortages and price increases of conventional energy sources over the past decade. The energy consciousness generated in this way led to a widespread con sideration of the application of other, renewable energy sources. The potential applications in agriculture are, however, extremely diverse, and this explains to a great extent the fragmentary nature and even in some cases the mediocre level of current research. The objective of this book is, therefore, to guide the reader in a syste matic way through the apparent chaos of operational data which are currently available on the subject matter: thermal applications within agriculture of solar energy by means of solar collectors, passive designs and storage devices. While in volume I of this series H this area is assessed from a more general economic perspective, this tome II takes a more detailed technical approach. The results of this book were produced in the form of a European concerted action under the leadership of the Commission in Brussels. All possible data were collected by national representatives in the EC member countries. Coordinators were Professor V. Goedseels and Mr E. Van der Stuyft from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and Professor G.