Daily Archives: February 25, 2016

Solar Energy Projects around the World

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What is Solar Energy?

Solar energy is energy provided by the sun. This energy is in the form of solar radiation can makes the production of solar electricity. Electricity can be produced from light, PV, and cells. Solar energy produces most electricity during the hot days. One megawatt hour of solar electricity offsets about 0.75 to 1 tonne of CO2. Australia is one of the sunniest countries in the world so it has a huge potential for solar PV  to make a  contribution for electricity generation. That is why so many countries today want to build a innovation solar energy project that develop electricity generation by using natural resources such as sunlight.

 

Solar Powered Projects around the World

1) Sanyo’s Solar Ark

Solar Ark is an ark-shaped solar photovoltaic power generation facility. It is solar-collecting building that boasts over 5,000 solar panels which kick off over 500,000 kWh of energy per year. Solar Ark is about 315-meter-wide and 37-meter-tall which is located in  Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Also, there are over 5,000 colored LEDs that can light up to create images and messages. Inside the Solar Ark is solar museum and laboratory where Sanyo employees are working for the next solar technology generation. Sanyo’s Solar Ark is one of the largest solar building in the world.

sanyosolarark12

 

2) China’s Solar Powered Office Complex

China is an heavy user of fossil fuels and climate killer. This country met 70% of its need by exploiting coals. The pollution in China is at a dangerous level where people have to limit their outdoor activities. That is why China wants to make a change in its environment by building a largest solar-powered office building in the world. This building is located Dezhou, China. the 75,000 square meter structure building is used for scientific research, meeting, training facilities, and a hotel. All of these activities will be run on solar power. China is trying to use solar power to develop energy generation and reduce pollution. Also, this project can save 30% more energy than national standard. Chinese want to make their country as green as possible from now.

Chinas-Solar-Powered-Office 2

 

Sahara Forest Project

Sahara Forest Project is as a solution to provide fresh water, food, and energy in the world’s most arid regions. This project was created by Michael Pawlyn, Seawater Greenhouse designer Charlie Paton, and structural engineer Bill Watts. Norway and Jordan recently signed an agreement to allow Sahara Forest Project to build on a plot of land in Jordan. Also, there will be a group conduct the number of studies in Jordan. The test size will be 200,000 square meter plot in Aqaba which is close to the Red Sea. Sahara Forest Project combines Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Seawater Greenhouses which can provide a huge amount of energy and sustainable agricultural solutions. Also, Seawater Greenhouses uses solar power to convert salt water into fresh water which can use to grow fresh vegetables. This project is scheduled in 2015 and if it is successful, we will not be worried about the food supplies and water because they can be grew and produced even though in the desert.

testsenter-jordan

 

Conclusion

I strongly believe that we will be safe in this technological environment because we are trying to make this planet as green as possible. People are trying to reduce pollution by their best. Following three examples about innovated solar energy powered projects, I believe that we can use solar to develop energy generation in every situation. I hope that those projects can do their best in saving energy and reduce pollution around the world. I hope to see Sahara Forest Project be successful in the future. It will be amazing when we can grow food in a hottest desert in the world. Someday, we might be able to live there instead of finding the living space on Mars.

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Reference:

http://www.greenoughsolarfarm.com.au/solar-energy/what-solar-energy

http://inhabitat.com/the-worlds-6-coolest-solar-powered-projects/

http://inhabitat.com/solar-ark-worlds-most-stunning-solar-building/

http://inhabitat.com/worlds-largest-solar-energy-office-building-opens-in-china/

http://inhabitat.com/norway-and-jordan-sign-agreement-to-make-sahara-forest-project-oasis-a-reality/

 

 

 

Solar Energy Experiment

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Experiment’s goal

While doing this kind of experiment, students support to learn and understand the relationship between light intensity and the voltage output of the solar cell, as well as the relationship between the wavelength of light and the voltage output of the solar cell.

 

Equipment

  • One solar cell
  • One voltage probe
  • One NXT adaptor
  • NXT with light sensor
  • One light source
  • Labview VI vi
  • Ruler
  • Colored film filters
  • Excel sheet

 

Set up

  • Plug battery on NXT with light sensor
  • Plug the NXT adaptor to NXT with light sensor through a USB cable (code number 1)
  • Connect voltage probe to a solar cell by cables (red-red) and (black-black)
  • Connect USB cable between computer and NXT with light sensor

20160219_120311

 

Experimental processes

1) Measure voltage output by light intensity at different distances

  • Open Labview
  • Put Solar on top of flashlight which is zero distance.
  • Use ruler to measure the distance between flashlight and solar cell.

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  • Choose 4 more different distances to measure
  • Press START on the Labview program to record the voltage ouput
  • At the first experiment, we only got 10 numbers of data for each test
  • Open Excel File after each test to calculate the average those ten numbers to get one final result.
  • To calculate average, we tried to get the sum of 10 numbers then divided by ten.

For example : (0.39587 + 0.34455 + 0.33172 + 0.42153 + 0.31889 + 0.33172 + 0.33172 + 0.37021 + 0.38304 + 0.31889)/10 = 0.354814 V

  • Or you can calculate on Excel Spreadsheet using its functions
  • Finally, we come up with with this final result for the first experiment

 

sci3sci7

 

After this experiment, my teammate and I learned that when the flashlight and solar cell are far away from each other, the light will be less power and the voltage ouput will decrease. However, it is a little weird at distance 4 cm and 6 cm where the voltage output increase and decrease at distance 8 cm. Over all, we got a nice graph and data.

 

2) Measure voltage output by light intensity at the same distance with different colored film filters

  • Open the labview program
  • We chose 4 cm as the only distance in this experiment
  • There is 4 colored film filters: orange, light blue, dark blue, and light purple
  • Put each of them in front of the flashlight for each test.
  • Press START to record the data
  • Open Excel Spreadsheet and calculate average of 10 numbers for each color as what we did in the first experiment.
  • Finally, we came up with this result for the second experiment

 

sci5sci6

 

In this experiment, we made a mistake at the first test. We though that it would come up 10 numbers each time as what we did in the first experiment. However, the numbers countinued to exceed 10 numbers so my teammate decided to press STOP. It immidiately affected our data. We tried to take the last 10 numbers but I though that we couldn’t get a correct data. Then, we tried to stop at the number 10 for the next test. When we got the average of voltage output for each of colored film filters, I assumed that the voltage ouput would decrease at any ligh colored film filters such as light blue and light purple as what we got.

 

Conclusion

After doing this kind of experiment, I learned that the voltage output can be afftected by distance and color. When the distance is far away from the light source, the voltage output will also decrease because the light is not powerful and strong at the logh distance. Additionally, even though the light source and solar cell stay at the same direaction for whole experiment, the voltage output still be changed by the different color. When we use dark color, the voltage output will increase and vice versa. It is same situation when we wear black and red in a hot day, we will feel more hot because dark colors can get more temperature and energy than the light one.