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Archive for the ‘Solar Power’ Category

Question by haili: How much does it cost to make a solar power plant?
How much does it cost to make a solar power plant so it gives off the same amount of power as a Nuclear power plant?

Best answer:

Answer by rahychy
this is a question with several differant answers…..

depending on consuption if its going on a consuming structure co-generating

or a stand alone generation station. the most cost effective would be a hybrid

thermal/photovoltaic

the thermal would heat a closed contained liquid and make steam to turn large turbine.

0,000US will get u quite the little generator. ,000,000US u have a major player

my general rule is us per sq ft of heating/cooling space.

I am presently puting together the single largest solar project of its kind. entire subdivisions of low cost modular homes with the entire roof as the mini-generating station. so if u put up say 400 units. when this hole subdivision comes on line u have a major Generating Station.

maitaining a plant with no moving parts to wear-out, well except to send some one to clean the panels off once every 6 months wound not be much up-keep……

the panels have 20 to 25yr warrenties and 30yr life

some put up in the late 60′s r still generating.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_does_it_cost_to_build_and_maintain_a_power_plant_for_generating_electricity_with_solar_energy#ixzz1eVJOFNPl

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Question by I. C. Warming: Can solar power be stored as kinetic energy?
For instance, if a solar powered winch lifted a weight, could the subsequent downward motion of that weight drive an electric generator that operated after dark?
Or is there some other efficient way to store solar power that is not about a battery, or about just storing heat?

Best answer:

Answer by Joheye
You could use a capacitor but that is just about as inefficient as a battery. Storing energy is really tricky because it is so inefficient. You could heat up a substance to a extremely high temperature and use that to boil water to convert it to steam to power a generator. That would be better than a gigantic battery.

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Question by Vaibhav: How to light a bulb using solar power?
I have got a project from school that I have to make a bulb or a LED glow using solar power.
I googled it and really got confused.
If you can help me then i would be really thankful!!
I just have to generate a little power.
And I do not want It to be toooo costly.
thanks in advance

Best answer:

Answer by Entang Suratman
You can not light bulb in the night by a solar power. Instead you have to charge a battery in the day and left the battery lights the bulb in the night. take a used battery of acar if you have one.
Just select bulb of same voltage to the battery/solar power and that is it.
To light led, you have to know the voltage rating of the leds.
Some leds has 1.5 volt rating and some 3 Volt.
You have to connect 8 sets of led in series if you use 1,5 V leds or take 4 of 3 volt led in series.

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Question by nanda: Anyone can help me how to find solar power for home usage?
I want to know more about solar power that can be used in individual homes, where do we get it and what about the cost?

Best answer:

Answer by Jim W
familyhandyman.com October 2011 issue has an article on solar for homes. I haven’t read it yet, but hat is one lead for you to check out.

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Question by Amy: How easy is it to turn off solar power?
I need to know for a school project how easy it is to turn off solar power when you no longer need it? thanks

Best answer:

Answer by Soc the Poetic Chemist
You need a breaker switch.

Follow all manufactureres rules

do not dissconnect with sun shining

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Question by David Schwarz: I need a lightweight form fitting solar panel with the best power potential?
it will be form fitted to a kayak boat, obviously must be waterproof and provide me with as close to 400 watts or more that I can get. It will be a solar powered kayak. The important factors are waterproof first, then weight, then power output per area, then form fitting. I could mount the panels even if they are not flexible to the hull of the boat, but of course I would like it to look nice and flex around the boat.

Best answer:

Answer by Rudydoo
Hey David, the device you are looking for is called an, “Amourphous,” solar panel. They are flexible, sometimes made to be rolled up and stuffed inside a backpack for camping, or they can come in a roll with adhesive backing, and so forth.

It sounds like you might not have done the math on this one yet. I assume you have calculated 400 watts by looking at what the motor will use, that would be around 2/3 horsepower or so. Are you driving the kayak with an electric trolling motor? The kayak will run fine, but a 400 watt amourphous panel will need almost 50 square feet of exposed sun area to run at that output. I’m guessing your kayak doesn’t have the square footage.

I did see a home built electric kayak like this in Seattle once, it was really very impressive, all wood, with just the motor end of a trolling motor mounted below the hull just ahead of the rudder. The driver steered with his feet of course, but had a small flat wood surface area just ahead of him that a thin panel was glued down to. It was probably only 20 or 30 watts, but the output was used to charge a marine battery that was mounted on the floor between his legs. He could troll for quite a while on the battery at various speeds, but the panel would slowly recharge the battery anytime it was in the sun, this included sitting on top of the roof of his truck while he was driving. It also acted to extend the battery time while kayaking in the sun, as it added an amp or two to the battery while the motor was taking 20 or so out.

There is also the fact that a battery acts as a natural voltage regulator for a solar panel, so the voltage being fed to the motor stays right near 12 volts instead of varying from 1 to as high as 19 depending on how much sun there was and what speed the motor ran at. If you end up building this, you also have to consider a charge controller, or the lack of one. A rule of thumb is if the maximum amp output of the panel you are using is less than 2% of the battery amp hour capacity, then you do not need a controller. Controllers cost money, and they are usually what breaks down first in a solar system. Let’s say you have a marine deep cycle trolling battery, it might be rated at 80 amp hours. If you bought a 30 watt panel, which is usually wired for 18 volts, then its maximum amperage would be 1.6, which would just work. (30 watts / 18 volts = 1.6 amps) (80 amp hour X 2% = 1.6 amps) Anything above this 2% and you’ll need a charge controller to keep from overcharging the battery. If you decide to go with more solar and use a smaller lighter battery for weight, that’s fine, just make sure you get a charge controller that can handle whatever amperage your total solar array will develope. I’ll list some sources for you to check out below David. Good luck on your kayak, and take care ,Rudydoo

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Question by : How can I get my solar-power-system connected up and its rebate in SA?
I live in SA and i want to know about connecting my solar-power-system to my house and the grid so that I can sell my overflow electricity to the grid and still use the grid electricity if and when i need it.
Also I want to know if I could get a rebate for the costs of installing the system (because its Eco-friendly).
I don’t know where to find the info for this kind of procedure with SA government so anyone got any clue of even where to start?

Best answer:

Answer by J.
http://www.gov.za/

http://www.info.gov.za/view/DynamicAction?pageid=528

If you do not find the information there, chance are there is no rebate.

One option for you is to wire your house to have a second set of wirring dedicated to the solar power system.

If it were me- I would not worry about connecting it to a grid, that is just social engineering to keep people attached to the grid.

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Question by Perfection Queenie: What are some good cheap solar power refridgerater,ovens and microwaves?
I’m mainly looking for a solar power refridgerater,i found one online but it looks too small and doesnt come with a freezer!
I live somewhere where the electricity men always take my electricity out for 2 hours and all my food goes bad,you would think I could get money from my insurance for my food going bad but no way!

would it just be cheaper to get that back up power supply thing or could I save money with one of these?

Best answer:

Answer by Stephen M
It would be far cheaper just to have a backup generator that kicks on and powers things when your line voltage is out.

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Question by Jake: Could someone help me with this Solar power Advocacy speech?
So i need to write an advocacy speech about solar power. Does anyone have any useful resources or tips on this topic? Since its an advocacy speech i need to try and persuade my audience into believing in my topic, or something like that. It only needs to be 7-9 minutes long so its not too in depth, any help full solar power resources or tips on how to write an advocacy speech would be awesome.

Best answer:

Answer by Rudydoo
Hey Jake, here’s a few facts for your speech: If you invest properly in solar power today and take advantage of any grants and tax incentives, even if your electric rates do not go up as they are forecast too, you will get your money back over time, well within the lifetime of the equipment, and sooner if there is a rate increase in the future. There are also enviromental benefits. At one time there was an argument that a solar panel will never produce as much power as was used to manufacture it. First of all, this is not correct. The, “Embodied Energy,” in a solar panel is earned back in 2 – 6 years, depending on the type panel, where the raw materials were shipped from, and how it was installed and used in the end. Most panels are warrantied to last at least 25 years, and most last much longer than that. But the argument is not important anyway. We have been living with electricity for over a century now, so it isn’t going away anytime soon. The question is, “What is the best way to produce it?” If you build a panel, and put it along side a similar sized natural gas fired turbine generator for example, which earns back its embodied energy sooner? The answer is the gas turbine never does, because once you build it, ship it and install it, you now have to feed it natural gas for the rest of its life, so it keeps on digging itself a deeper and deeper embodied energy hole that it can never crawl out of. At least the panel has a chance to get even environmentally. So manufacturing and using solar panels in the end releases less pollution into our environment.

There are also mechanical and political benefits. We all know after the oil embargo of 1973, and the gulf war what it means for our country to rely on foreign oil. Wouldn’t it be nice if we only shipped in 20% of our energy instead of 60% the next time something like that happens? Our home has been powered by the wind and sun for years now, but we still remain connected to the electric grid. Last year alone there were two power failures in our county that lasted about a half day each. In both cases, we were not aware of them because our solar array kept on feeding the house. It’s difficult to put a price tag on something like that. Did you know that there are over 100,000 homes and businesses in the United States alone that use some level of solar power to operate their electrical devices, that’s good news.

Beyond the mechanical, political and environmental benefits however, lies a less obvious benefit, the social benefit. Right now we pump oil out of the ground, and mine for coal. The process of getting those materials to market involves shipping, military escorts and other activities that use up a good portion of that energy as well as putting lives at risk. Jobs in alternative power are higher tech than jobs in coal mining, oil drilling and shipping, and there are more of them. Using more alternative power would require us to put more people to work, and increase our education base because the work involved requires certain skills. I would personally like to take all those people out of the coal mines, send them to school and put them to work building solar panels. Nobody would have to die again in one of those dark holes in the ground trying to find food for our hungry power plants. They could work on a factory floor where they would not be exposed to coal dust, radon and other toxins and dangers. Most of our solar and wind resources are spread pretty evenly over the middle half of our globe, so everyone has access. This puts people in Bogota on a more equal footing with people in Boca Raton by giving them access to electricity, heat and clean water, and the education to use the solar, wind and biomass resources that provide those things. Oil, coal and natural gas is generally piled up in a few places, such as Russia and the Middle East. This gives those countries and the richer governments that rule them more horse power in bargaining for the other resources of our planet. These are the things that wars are made of.

There are other reasons, but I think you get the picture. For us, solar energy has become something of a hobby It will probably never save us any real money, utility power in most places is really very inexpensive, but it’s a little like growing your own tomatoes. It’s usually cheaper to buy them at the grocery, but lots of people go to the work and expense to maintain a garden instead. We just grow electrons in ours. If you really want to learn more about the subject, there are some great sources to look into, I will list some below. Good luck, and take care, Rudydoo

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Question by goatshower12: How much would it cost to power my home using solar power?
What would be the approximate cost to power a 3500 squ. ft. home and a water well through solar power?

Best answer:

Answer by Joey h
Chinese made or Sri Lankan made Solar panels ?

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