Explore Challenges
- 13 OCTOBER 2010: Plastic pollution in the oceans
- 1 DECEMBER 2010: Can the UK ever be sustainable?
- Natural disasters: how can we improve?
- Not In My Back Yard
- Digital Divide in the UK?
- Importing goods, exporting drought?
- The challenges and opportunities of an ageing society
- Engineering our climate
- The future shape of Capitalism
- Migration: skills and the job market
- Razing the Rainforest
- London under water
- Concreting the countryside
- Future of low carbon energy
- Africa in the 21st Century
Solar energy
Passive Solar Design
Using design (such as south-facing windows) to avoid excess heat loss and capture solar radiation. This minimises need for heating and lighting
Minimising the capture of solar radiation and using natural ventilation, helps to reduce reliance on air conditioning
Active solar water heating
Uses collectors, usually on the roof of a building, to capture and store the sun’s heat via water storage systems
Collectors provide heat to a fluid that circulates to a water tank. The heat is normally used for heating water in houses, commercial and industrial buildings
Solar photovoltaics (PVs)
Photovoltaic solar panels (PVs) convert sunlight directly into electricity
Panels are made up of individual cells which contain semiconductor material , such as silicon. The energy in the light is absorbed and creates an electric flow when they are hit by solar rays
PV’s can vary from small panels for domestic use, to large collections of panels which act as separate solar power plants and contribute directly into the electricity grid
Germany are often considered to be market leaders in solar energy. In the city of Freiburg, there are more solar panels than in the whole on Britain
The average domestic PV system costs £10-18k. The UK government will provide a grant of £2500 to contribute to the cost
Comments
- Melanie Kaisharis said
- 28th September, 2009 at 8:51am
- Charalambos Kyriacou said
- 23rd December, 2009 at 1:25pm
I am a y10 student of mrs kaisharis and yup i total agree with her:)
I live in Cyprus, a country that recives 360 days of sun a year. Instead of our government investing in solar power technology they are toying with nuclear energy and a wind farm. Even my Year 8 students are outraged. In addition, why is the European Union giving Cyprus funds to build a wind farm; surely they should be encouraging more PV systems for domestic use; considering over 50% of our carbon emissions come from Electricity and Heat production.