EME 812
Utility Solar Power and Concentration

Summary and Activities

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Summary and Activities

Readings and activities in this lesson give you a general perspective of this course and set the context without yet addressing the specific science of the solar energy conversion technologies. Here, we try to figure out what aspects and what impacts would be important when the conversion technologies are scaled up to the utility level. Hopefully the materials of this lesson also provided you with a good refresher of such basic concepts and terms as energy conversion, efficiency, power, power density. 

Lesson 1 Assignments
Type Description / Instructions
Reading Complete all necessary reading assigned in this lesson.
Discussion  Discussion Forum "Environmental Impact of Solar Power" 
  • Read the review article Hernandez, R.R. et al., Environmental Impacts of Utility Scale Solar Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 29, 766 (2014) in section 1.4 of this lesson.
  • Choose one beneficial and one adverse environmental impact of the utility scale solar energy development that you believe are most important. Do you think the pros outweigh the cons? Express your opinion in your post on the Lesson #1 Discussion Forum.
  • Comment on at least two other posts (choose those not yet commented upon). Respond to all comments to your post.
Reading Quiz Complete the Lesson 1 Quiz.

References for Lesson 1

Brownson, J.R., EME 810 Solar Resource Assessment and Economics. 2.2. Basic Solar Jargon for Energy and Power

Crabtree, G.W. and Lewis, N.S., Solar Energy Conversion, Physics Today, 60(3), 37 (2007).

Duffie, J.A. and Beckman, W.A., Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes, John Wiley & Sons 2013.

Hernandez, R.R. et al., Environmental Impacts of Utility Scale Solar Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 29, 766 (2014).

Radovic, L. Efficiency of Energy Conversion