Assignment-2

On
Blockades of solar booming

SUBMITTED BY,
NAME: Praveen Singh Singam
STUDENT ID: 1075501
COURSE: Master of Engineering Studies
 its bright side. Some people don’t seem to
SUMMARY:
understand and it’s our job to bring such people
This assignment is based on to lime light and spread the knowledge and
the inspiration to enlighten the world with facts benefits in using green energy. This report is one
and fictions on using solar power. Here we will such example of spreading the word of green
discuss about the few major facts which need energy.
immediate attention and also few major myths
which need to be enlighten. Also I have given a
special care on studying the effects of solar
FICTIONS OF SOLAR POWER:
panels on green house gasses.

There are many myths

This discussion is a
surrounding solar power and energy system. It is
reasonable and elaborate study of the myths
not so surprising though because the Power
surrounding solar power and the facts which are
companies, who are making lots of cash from
real to be dealt with. As we can see the problems
burning fossil fuels and conventional sources of
which are discussed here are some of the main
energy, don’t want people to know the true
blockades in booming of solar power. If we can
benefits of solar energy. Let us take a look at
solve these issues, solar power will be the
some of such myths and unravel the truth.
world’s top energy source.

(1) COST OF THE SOLAR PANELS:

One of the most prevalent myths is

INTRODUCTION: the one that goes something along the lines of "it
takes more energy to make a solar panel than it
The solar energy or
generates during its serviceable lifespan".
the Sun’s energy has been in use since the time
human existed on the earth. The Sun is our
This not the truth, the initial cost
nearest and the biggest star, which is also the
does seem to be expensive compared to other
biggest source of energy to us. It took several
source of energy but we get a profit of more than
centuries to realize it by the Morden world, and
5 times than the investment. Nowadays due to
now usage of solar power started to boom.
technological development an average life span
As a matter of fact of a solar panel is around 20 to 25 years but the
everything in god’s creation has its own payback time is no more than 4 years. This
advantage and disadvantage. Thus solar does proves that the solar panel is more profitable
have its downside but it insignificant compare to than that of the other non-renewable energies.
The only thing that we can take it into (3) SOLAR NEEDS LARGE AREA:
consideration is the payback time. We have to
wait patiently for quite a while. As the world we Most people think how
know the price increase in other energies will can a small solar panel is able to power a
continue to increase and it will never decrease, large house, not just that they also think
this even proves that one day solar energy will solar power will not be able to compete
be the most cost effective energy we can get. with other power source in a larger scale.
Here is the answer their questions.
(2) NO SUN SHINE-NO SOLAR POWER:
People put large panels
This is one of the second over their roof tops to harness solar
greatest myths ever faced in solar power power, those days are far behind.
industry. Solar energy is only useful when the Nowadays due technological
sun is shining. This is not the actual fact, solar development we get more space efficient
system works in most areas of the world. To solar panels. So don’t come complaining
prove this, Germany the world leader in solar about no space for panels on the roof-top.
energy, lies farther north than most states in the
Europe. The question about the
In areas where there is abundant large scale power production remains. If
sunshine like Arizona, a smaller solar system we see the figure 2:1, it shows the space
will provide as much power as a larger system required to power the whole world by
located in Maine or Washington State, The size using the data of power consumed by the
of the panel may vary but we get a similar power world in 2005. This answers the question
out-put. about large scale power production.

AS for as the solar water

heater is considered, all it need is heat
surrounding the atmosphere, it doesn’t depend
upon the sun shining or not. When we take solar
PV, it needs UV rays (photons) from sun to
strike it. So Morden photovoltaic systems are
designed to store electricity in batteries so that
energy can be retrieved later. This proves that
solar power works only when sun shines is not
more than a myth.
Fig 2:1
FACTS OF SOLAR POWER:
has been an ongoing problem. The primary
As we discussed earlier
environmental concern arising from solar
solar does have its downside. Some of the major
technologies is the disposal of batteries.
fact which concerns is discussed here under this
topic. Batteries are required to store
electricity produced by solar panels so the power
(1) PRODUCTION OF PANELS:
can be used at night and on cloudy days. They
We all know solar panels are an essential component of any passive solar
produce energy just by using suns energy. Unlike installation. These batteries contain lead acid,
fossil fuel it won’t induce any co2 into the which makes them difficult to recycle and a
atmosphere. The thing we don’t know is what threat to the environment if they are disposed of
happens during the production of solar panels. improperly. The primary concern is that
developing countries may not have the means for
The use of heavy metals to
properly disposing of or recycling lead acid
produce solar cells, and the eventual disposal of
batteries, according to the Renewable Energy
those cells, is an environmental concern related
Policy Project. However, batteries are constantly
to solar power technology. Most photovoltaic
being improved to extend their lifetimes and
solar cells contain the heavy metals cadmium
present less of an environmental threat.
and selenium, according to the U.S. Department
of Energy. They are known to be toxic. Improper
disposal of solar cells could result in the leeching
(3) EFFECTS OF RADIATIONS:
of cadmium and selenium into the environment.
Cadmium is being used at an increasing rate in Other disadvantages of
the production of solar cells, making it one of the solar power are technical. The materials used to
most important environmental issues for create a solar panel are constantly exposed to
proponents to address. other things besides photons. The constant
bombardment of ultraviolet (UV) rays and other
solar radiation often causes the panels
(2) SOLAR BATTERIES: themselves to deteriorate, much like any other
material left exposed to the sun for extended
This is another story, for
periods of time. Other environmental factors like
passive solar energy there are no bad effects.
rain and dirt also take their toll.
Active solar energy needs to have a
manufacturing process and batteries for holding
the collective charge. Disposal of used batteries
 Fact-2:
EFFECTS OF SOLAR ON
Now we know that it doesn’t
GREEN HOUSE GAS: reduce the global temperature but it does helps in
reducing the increase in green house gases.
Several people think that solar
Unlike burning coal or fossil fuel it doesn’t emit
panels, both photovoltaic and thermal, increase
Co2 into the atmosphere. Thus if those are
climate change, global warming due to the local
replaced by solar we can reduce the increase of
“Heat Islanding” effect (Heat island is a
Co2 in atmosphere.
metropolitan area which is significantly warmer
than it’s surrounding rural areas.).Others have
said the cost (in CO2) of manufacturing and
shipping solar panels is more than there
subsequent use would eliminate.

Now let us consider the facts

which relate global warming and solar power.

Fact-1:

We all know how green house

gases increases global warming. Some people The above graph shows the Co2
think that solar panels observes heat from count in atmosphere till 2010. It can be seen
atmosphere and reduces global temperature but it clearly that rate of increase is high every year.
is not so. “The law of conservation of energy Green energy might be the solution for this
states that energy cannot be created or global issue.
destroyed but it can be transformed one form
Fact-3:
into another”. By this law we can be sure that
the solar panel neither reduces global So for we know there is no issue
temperature nor increases it. in using solar energy towards atmosphere. Now
we come to the final fact which doesn’t seem to
To put it in simple words the heat
favour the solar energy.
observed by the solar panel is released back into
atmosphere in a different form. For example Recent scientific studies have
solar water heater uses heat from sun to heat discovered that a by-product of the solar
water and the heat from the water again returns industry, a gas called Nitrogen Tri-fluoride
back to the atmosphere after its used. Same way (NF3), has 17,000 times the potential of carbon
Island heating is not more than fiction. dioxide, in trapping heat inside Earth's
atmosphere. The worst part about this is that which are discussed under the Effect of solar on
there are currently no regulations to limit or green house gases prove this. Eliminating NF3 is
prevent the use of this gas in solar panel major leap towards green solar.
manufacturing processes. With NF3 amounts
In future Solar will be the
almost doubling every year, this gas could soon
standing in-front of all energy sources in many
pose a bigger problem for the environment than
ways. Even it will become the most cost
carbon currently does.
efficient. We all should realize that solar is going
Recently there is a new development to play a very important role in future world.
in reducing the use of this NF3 in solar panels. A
division of the “Linde Group”, scientists at
Malibu's development centre in Bielefeld,
Germany, have developed an improved cleaning References:
process using on-site generated fluorine (F2)
1. Ten Myths of Addressing Global
made with Linde's patented technology. Warming and the Green Economy.
by Robert D. Atkinson and Darrene Hackler.

The F2 cleaning process eliminates

a major source of potential greenhouse gas 2. The Solar Myths. by Anders Hansson.
(NF3) emissions in production of solar panels. It
also speeds the process and uses less material.
This improves the overall sustainability of the
product by reducing both environmental impact
and costs.

DISCUSSION &
CONCLUSION:

After reading this we should know that

the solar does have some bad side but there are
lot of good sides to it, which make the bad side
insignificant. Still there are several researches
and experiments are conducted towards the
improvement of solar technologies. The facts