April 21st, 2010 | 
Author: 
its for a science project, and i have to give the environmental, technological, social, and scientific risks and benefits, please answer as soon as possible
Solar exists in two forms, photovoltiac and heat related. The problems with photovoltiac are cost of materials, fragile cells, cells "wear out" and need replacement after about 10 years. Of course, power is only made during the day. With heat plants, the sunlight is reflected with a mirror array to a central tower where a heat exchanger is located. The piping contains a salt which is liquid when hot enough. Heat is stored in the liquid salt in insulated tanks underground. The hot salt is used as the heat source to boil water to turn a turbine generator. Heat stored in the tanks can be used after sunset much like a car battery stores electricity when the car is not being driven. The disadvantage is the salt is highly corrosive and hard to handle. And, if allowed to cool, becomes a solid. The only terrible thing for the environment with the photovoltiac array is the amount of land covered by the array and the exotic chemical processes used for manufacture of the cells. For the heat plant, the terrible thing is the salt used, which is corrosive and hard to handle because it is SO hot. After all, salt is a form of rock, and liquid rock salt is a close relative to volcanic lava. Otherwise, the heat plant has the same thermal footprint as any other heat power plant such as coal, gas or nuclear. All steam cycle plants exhibit the same thermal effects, using heat to boil water, and needing cooling from water nearby to condense the steam back into water so it can be fed back into the boiler, which heats the environment where the cooling water comes from. Unlike oil, coal and gas fired power plants which rely on combustion, there are no stack gases from the solar heated power plant. Both types of solar power plant are considered to be GREEN because thermal footprints are not a majority contributor to hurt to the environment, as the problems are very local in nature. The major problem why solar is not more widely used is simple economics, the cost of installation is huge compared to other types of power plants. Both types require huge areas of land to collect enough light to make them practical as a utility serving many customers. The solar photovoltiac array on a roof powers only one house, reckon how much area you need to power 10,000 houses. Houses can also use the sun to heat water and use the heated water in insulated tanks to heat the house on cloudy days. Solar water heating just takes a really huge tank per house. Water is cheap and the technology exists to make durable system which will last nearly forever. Except for cost again, single house solar heating is practical. A friend back in the years before Y2K, went off the grid. He firmly believed Y2K would be a total meltdown of society, so he had a house built way far away from Seattle in the Olympic Mountians on the coast of Washington. He spent roughly $40,000 on the solar heating and electricity and pays no utility bills except for water. He has a well, but it is metered by the county where he lives. The problem he has is age. The systems are now over 10 years ancient and he needs a total replacement of the storage batteries and solar cells, to the tune of about $10,000. With the initial cost plus the replacement cost, he has spent $50,000 for 10 years of services, which works out to about $400/month. If he lasts another 10 year and spends another $10,000, his monthly cost will be about $250 per month. The problem is this: his ancient utility bills rarely ran over at most $200/month in winter and as low as $70 in summer, averaging about $120/month per year. As you can see, the systems he has have not paid for themselves and even after over 20 years, will STILL be costing him more than if he had used the community utility systems to power his lifestyle. The real problem is initial installation and then periodic maintenance and replacement costs. Maybe after 30 years, the systems will equal out and "break even". A utility company is NOT going to invest in such a terrible deal to generate power. Utilities need a return on investment much sooner than 30 years. I want to go solar. I really like the thought of not relying on a power company for lights and heat. It IS the most environmentally friendly source of energy to power things for us… I just can’t afford to do it…
Posted in Benefits of Solar Energy
ok first’
-The solar energy is excellent for the environment because it would greatly reduce the use of prime materials like oil(petroleum), coal and all sorts of things.
-Technologically speaking the solar energy isn’t as powerful as the current source of energy and it would required a lot more of technology to get the solar energy to a more advanced level.
-socially i don’t see many changes but
–Now the huge problem of all this solar energy plot…is that the materials to make the solar panels are way to expensive for average families and they use very rare metals to build them….so if your trying to fix the environment that technology is very welcome… but if u are looking to fix the economy of your country or the world I suggest u don’t even mention that thought.
I hope i had helped..
P.S. the regular value of making an average family home to a solar powered home its around 50-75 thousand dollars. Excellent Things Are Expensive =( poor environment
References :
Solar exists in two forms, photovoltiac and heat related. The problems with photovoltiac are cost of materials, fragile cells, cells "wear out" and need replacement after about 10 years. Of course, power is only made during the day. With heat plants, the sunlight is reflected with a mirror array to a central tower where a heat exchanger is located. The piping contains a salt which is liquid when hot enough. Heat is stored in the liquid salt in insulated tanks underground. The hot salt is used as the heat source to boil water to turn a turbine generator. Heat stored in the tanks can be used after sunset much like a car battery stores electricity when the car is not being driven. The disadvantage is the salt is highly corrosive and hard to handle. And, if allowed to cool, becomes a solid. The only terrible thing for the environment with the photovoltiac array is the amount of land covered by the array and the exotic chemical processes used for manufacture of the cells. For the heat plant, the terrible thing is the salt used, which is corrosive and hard to handle because it is SO hot. After all, salt is a form of rock, and liquid rock salt is a close relative to volcanic lava. Otherwise, the heat plant has the same thermal footprint as any other heat power plant such as coal, gas or nuclear. All steam cycle plants exhibit the same thermal effects, using heat to boil water, and needing cooling from water nearby to condense the steam back into water so it can be fed back into the boiler, which heats the environment where the cooling water comes from. Unlike oil, coal and gas fired power plants which rely on combustion, there are no stack gases from the solar heated power plant. Both types of solar power plant are considered to be GREEN because thermal footprints are not a majority contributor to hurt to the environment, as the problems are very local in nature. The major problem why solar is not more widely used is simple economics, the cost of installation is huge compared to other types of power plants. Both types require huge areas of land to collect enough light to make them practical as a utility serving many customers. The solar photovoltiac array on a roof powers only one house, reckon how much area you need to power 10,000 houses. Houses can also use the sun to heat water and use the heated water in insulated tanks to heat the house on cloudy days. Solar water heating just takes a really huge tank per house. Water is cheap and the technology exists to make durable system which will last nearly forever. Except for cost again, single house solar heating is practical. A friend back in the years before Y2K, went off the grid. He firmly believed Y2K would be a total meltdown of society, so he had a house built way far away from Seattle in the Olympic Mountians on the coast of Washington. He spent roughly $40,000 on the solar heating and electricity and pays no utility bills except for water. He has a well, but it is metered by the county where he lives. The problem he has is age. The systems are now over 10 years ancient and he needs a total replacement of the storage batteries and solar cells, to the tune of about $10,000. With the initial cost plus the replacement cost, he has spent $50,000 for 10 years of services, which works out to about $400/month. If he lasts another 10 year and spends another $10,000, his monthly cost will be about $250 per month. The problem is this: his ancient utility bills rarely ran over at most $200/month in winter and as low as $70 in summer, averaging about $120/month per year. As you can see, the systems he has have not paid for themselves and even after over 20 years, will STILL be costing him more than if he had used the community utility systems to power his lifestyle. The real problem is initial installation and then periodic maintenance and replacement costs. Maybe after 30 years, the systems will equal out and "break even". A utility company is NOT going to invest in such a terrible deal to generate power. Utilities need a return on investment much sooner than 30 years. I want to go solar. I really like the thought of not relying on a power company for lights and heat. It IS the most environmentally friendly source of energy to power things for us… I just can’t afford to do it…
References :
Save money and earn money by selling energy to electric companies – State and Federal Tax discounts.
See more info http://www.arosaenergy.com/
References :
http://www.arosaenergy.com/incentives-rebates.html
http://www.arosaenergy.com/residential.html
Benefits are:
+ It’s free (after you have installed it; fees are on the installation process)
+ Simple to install
+ Is not harmful to environment
+ It is based on terms of proper conduction and connection
Risks are (probable):
+ The battery that is used might be a fantastic hazard to the health. It might burst nor contaminate any objects nor foods around it, if storage is not excellent.
References :
Just try it, hope it well be a fantastic add to your project. You can even used simulations nor pictures to further enhance your thoughts about you report.