Solar Electricity Handbook

Solar Electricity Handbook: 2010 Edition, A Simple Practical Guide to Solar Energy - Designing and Installing Photovoltaic Solar Electric Systems 

Renewable Energy Sources

The global energy scenario has undergone a drastic change. Energy consumption rate is increasing dramatically. The cost of fossil fuel as well as total annual demand of energy (coal, oil and natural gas) is increasing sharply. Consequently, the era of fossil fuel is gradually coming to an end and the attention is focused on the conservation of energy and search for renewable sources of energy.

General over View of Energy Resources (wind power)

Wind energy is one of the form of renewable energy which is depend on wind flow. Wind flow is responsible to rotate wind turbine which is specially designed and very sensitive. When the rotor rotates. Wind turbine converts the kinetic energy into mechanical power. Finally this mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy.
Wind energy is good form of energy. But when there is no wind, the turbine is not rotate. So no electricity is produced.

There are basically two types of wind turbine.

Horizontal axis design

Vertical axis design

General over View of Energy Resources (Hydropower)

Hydropower is developed on the basis of the force of water. The is force developed by using the height of the water. The force of moving water is extremely powerful to rotate heavy turbine. We get this energy by using  continuous natural water cycle. So this is one kind of renewable energy source.

 Process of Energy Production in Hydro power.....

Reservoir >>>>  Dam ( Pen stock) >>>>> Turbine >>>>>> Generator >>>>> power lines

General over View of Energy Resources ( Nuclear Energy )

              Nuclear Energy the most complicated energy source among all other energy sources.Basically nuclear energy comes from the nucleus of the atom like Uranium.It is a continuous process.Modern world is looking for this energy to produce huge energy at a time.The total amount of Radioactive element is not unlimited.So now a days energy is produced by using artificial nucleus.However,the final efficiency of the nuclear energy is not enough that modern world can rely on the nuclear energy.The cost of the nuclear energy is also high.This is one of the major drawback of this source of energy.Another drawback is that initial installation cost is extremely high which is impossible to bear for the third world nation.Waste management is also a major fact which is really dangerous to handle

General over View of Energy Resources (Coal)

Coal is the most important fuel for generating Electricity in power plants. It provides 20% to 23.5% of total global energy demand and 35% to 38% of electricity production. It is widely used because coal is the cheapest of fossil fuels and it is attractive to power generators. However transport is the major fact.

Coal is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels. So it  produce  large quantities of

ash, sumptuous emissions, nitrogen oxides emissions and carbon

dioxide.

Solar energy

Solar energy is based on the sun's energy and light to provide heat, light, electricity, and cooling, for houses, shops and small industries. 

The relative stability of Earth’s temperature suggests a near balance between planetary input and output of energy. The input is almost entirely solar radiation, which amounts to 173,000 TW.

                                                 
There are various technical methods that have been developed to take advantage of solar energy. Those are as follows 

  

Photovoltaic Systems

Producing electricity directly from sunlight. Solar cells convert sunlight directly into electricity.When sunlight is absorbed by these cell materials, the solar energy penetrate electrons loose from their atoms. This process of converting light (photons) to electricity (voltage) is called the photovoltaic (PV) effect.

                  

Most solar cells are designed for concentrated sunlight. These cells are built into concentrating collectors that use a lens to focus the sunlight onto the cells. As the lenses must be pointed at the sun, the use of concentrating collectors is limited to the sunniest parts of the country. Some concentrating collectors are designed by using tracking devices. The performance of a solar cell is measured in terms of its efficiency.

 Solar Hot Water

Heating water with solar energy.

 Solar Electricity

By using the sun's heat to produce electricity. Now a days most of the power plants use coal, gas, oil. These fuels uses as a heat source to boiler. But is really expensive. Moreover Fossil fuels are not unlimited.
So now  a days scientists are developing solar power systems, which is used as a heat source. There are three main types solar power systems.
parabolic-trough
dish/engine
power tower.

Energy Sources

Introduction of Energy Engineering

Energy Engineering is also called ESE (Energy Systems Engineering).It is also related with power systems engineering as well as electrical power systems,distribution systems,transmission systems,generation of electrical power.