In this lab we had to get a few materials before starting the lab. To be able to do the solar lab Prof. Shatz provided us with a ruler, colored film filter, light source, NXT with light sensor, and one solar cell. The purpose of this lab is to understand and observe the relationship between light intensity and the voltage. We do this by first measuring the intensity when there is no light. Then we used a light source and measured the intensity from 2cm, 10cm, 18cm, and 26cm with no colored films. After this we measured the intensity using colored films; yellow, purple, and green. When we measured the intensity it was put into an excel page where we could compare intensities. The 2cm had the most intensity being 0.37021, and for colored films yellow had the most intensity being 0.316324. The lighter the color the more intensity the film has. Purple being the darkest had an intensity of 0.054592.

Solar panels can be used to create energy for homes and businesses. It costs money to install them but after that they create the energy.

Advantages of having solar panels in your home are
~solar panels do not cause pollution
~solar energy is infinite
~ panels can be used in remote areas that have a natural light source
Disadvantages
~ unreliable climate can cause the panels not to work
~ only can harness energy during the day when it is sunny
~ expensive
Therefore I feel it is important to explore options to help the environment. I feel that a family should not rely on solar energy to heat their home or run their homes because it depends on if it sunny that day. But I do think that families should have a small amount of solar energy to help energy and heating bills.

website used
http://www.technologystudent.com/energy1/solar7.htm

Last week instead of class a Suffolk University electrical engineer teacher, Tom Vales spoke to our class. He was a very intelligent man that knew a vast amount of information about wireless, Tesla vs Edison debate, and AC/DC currents.
During his take he explained how wireless is crucial in our everyday life and how wireless and wifi are different. Wifi connects phones, laptops, wide areas, and bluetooths. Televisions and remotes are not connected to wifi. Vales also explained the impact of Nikola Tesla’s inventions. Tesla was an 1800 inventor who set a foundation for innovation. Tesla and Edison were two inventors of the same time who despised each other. At the same time Tesla created the alternating current (AC) and Edison created the direct current (DC).

Debates were brought up about which one was better than the other. Edison’s DC current would require power plants to be built to supply customers while alternating currents do not need power plants. Everyone knew Tesla’s AC current was better considering it is very important to society today. Tesla’s dream was that he wanted no wires, wireless transmission a goal.
Also during our talk Vales demonstrated a Tesla coil with prongs and and a neon rod.
In conclusion to the Tom Vales talk he put into perspective that without Tesla’s innovations the technology today would not be as innovative.

Before viewing “Pandora’s Promise” I was 100% against using nuclear power. From a historically point of view nuclear disasters such as Three Mile Island (1979), Fukushima (2011), and Chernobyl (1986) scare people due to radiation. Radiation from nuclear power plants can destroy ecosystems, kill people, and make a lot of people unsure about approving nuclear energy. Nuclear power is a controversial topic in society. “Pandora’s Promise” is a documentary by Robert Stone that interviews many environmental activists who went from “anti-nuclear” to “pro-nuclear”. This documentary provides both sides of the story, explaining myths and “anti-power” protests.

One part of the film scared me due to the explanation of dangers of nuclear power. Negatives about nuclear energy include explosions, nuclear weapons, and radiation diseases such as cancer. They also explained the Chernobyl disaster. Chernobyl’s nuclear reactor exploded, killed many and put lots of radiation into the environment. This part of the documentary scared me because my hometown of Marshfield, Massachusetts is very close to the Plymouth Power Plants. If the Plymouth Power Plant exploded my hometown would get radiation from it.

Marshfield is within a 25 mile radius of the Plymouth Power Plant

After viewing the pros of nuclear power it made me feel 50% positive about nuclear power. I learned nuclear power is a better source to create energy than coal. Coal gives off a lot of bad greenhouse gases and puts harm into our environment. About 13 million people die a year from air pollution. Nuclear energy would limit the emission of greenhouse gases. I would recommend this film to people interested in learned about nuclear energy but would need to have science background because their was a lot of terms and it would be hard to follow without a background.

Nuclear power vs Coal

The purpose of doing the mass/pulley experiment was to be familiar with power, velocity, acceleration, Newton’s second law, and the law of conservation of energy.

Newton’s Second Law: Acceleration of an object depends on two variables, net force and the mass of the object, the equation is

Law of conservation of energy: Energy cannot be created or destroyed

To do the experiment we must use a Lego Mindstorm motor to lift the weights and use the pulley system. First explored Newton’s Second law by having a fixed power level but will change the masses, then had a fixed mass and changed the power levels. Then recorded into excel. Next we looked at the law of conservation of energy (Potential energy = mgh). The goal the law of conservation of energy is to observe how the energy drainage effects the mass. By having a fixed power level and different masses we can observe the drainage. To observe the results we did this step a few times. Lastly we calculated the average power of the mass and pulley using the equation: Power used = Potential energy/time = mgh/time
There was a margin of error in our experiment due to technology. Some of the data also might be off due to malfunctions with the pulley.

Graphs from the data:

Demand response is used by industrial, residential, and commercial businesses. It allows them to operate their own electric gird by reducing energy used in peak periods. The goal of demand response is to reduce energy during peak hours for maximum efficiency.

Two questions asked when working with Demand Response (DR).
1. How are resources performing with DR?
2. How does one measure DR performance?

Top Industries that use Demand Response
1. EnerNOC
A Boston based company that used 3,550 mW in the past year. The company bought “Cogan Energy” which creates energy efficient buildings.
2. CPower
In 2012 CPower used 2,800 mW of energy.
3. Duke Energy
A residential air conditioning company that’s goal is to use 1.5 kW of energy.
4. Oklahoma Gas & Electric
The company only uses during peak hours of 2 – 7 PM during the weekdays. None on the weekend.
5. NV Energy
A company designed to create energy efficiency for commercial buildings. In 2016 their goal is to only use 75 kW of energy.

Pro’s/Con’s

Pros
– reduce energy during peak hours
– economic benefits of companies
– more efficient industrial buildings/companies

Cons
– not every business is a match with demand response
– Hard for large technology firms can’t minimize usage of large equipment
– Tedious to find electric DR plans to fit individual companies

Sources

http://energy.gov/oe/technology-development/smart-grid/demand-response

http://www.pge.com/en/mybusiness/save/energymanagement/index.page

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/top-5-demand-response

http://www.elp.com/articles/2014/04/top-utility-companies-for-demand-response-named.html

http://www.enernoc.com/our-resources/white-papers/the-demand-response-baseline

The Sawyer Library at Suffolk University is a source for many academic materials, including 200,000 books. The library is open from 8 AM – 12 AM. Students can check out books from the library for 28 days. There is also a large online database for the Sawyer Library. Students can access the online database on the Sawyer Library page. There students can find different articles related to their major or any other academic purposes. There is also an option for students to browse eJournals.

Sawyer Library Special features:

Study Group Rooms
If a student was assigned a group project one could reserve a group study room at the library. The study rooms are located on the third and fourth floor. One can schedule up to two weeks in advance but can only book one room a day for two hours. A student can book a study room online.

Library Computers
If a student doesn’t have a laptop on campus they are allowed to rent one at the library free of charge. Students are allowed to check out laptops either a mac or PC during their time in the library. They are available at the reference desk and must be signed in and out.

Others
~The fourth floor is a quiet floor for all students.
~The ninth floor is a lounge for students, highly recommend to use.
~PC desktops are located on the second floor of the library