PV Gap

Gordon Said:

Solar Radiation and Latitude: Need Help Please?

We Answered:

2.), 1).

The Earth is a sphere and it's axis is tilted at 23 deg. Sunlight is closest to perpendicular (straight overhead) at the equator. The smaller the number of north or south latitude (5 deg. in this case) would be the closest to the equator and get the most sunlight.

Juan Said:

Helppp pleasee Solar Radiation and Latitude?

We Answered:

At the distance we are fromthe sun, the light rays basically travel in a straight line. If held up a sheet of paper between the earth and the sun, it would forma perfect circle and all the rays would hit the paper with the same intensity (power) and each ray would cover the same amount of area.

But the earth being a sphere the top edge of the paper and of the paper are folder aaway fromthe sun. The rays at the top and bottom must now cover move area, so in that area the intessity is lower for the same area that.

At the equator: 2. the suns rays strike directly and have the same area to cover.
greatest amount experieced closet to equator: 1. only 5 degrees noth of equator. Note: 5 degree south will get same as 5 degree north at the opposite time of year.

Latitude affect the intensity of the rays because at high latitiudes ( away from equator) they rays have to cover more surface area.

The season are caused by the fact that the earth is tipped about 15 degeees from vertical in relation to the sun, as the earth orbits the sun (over the year) the north tips toward the sun in summer, henece warm weather due to more intensity of rays over a smaller area. At that same time its winter in the southern hemisphere, because the light rays are covering a larger area.

Jesus Said:

Can you see anything wrong with The Solar Roadway™? ?

We Answered:

Three core problems.

Firstly - Cost - taken from their own data "Adding the cost of the power plants and tripling the cost of the asphalt roads, we get a total cost of $48,059,670,000,000. Divide this amount by the 4.84 billion Solar Road Panels™ required to replace the asphalt, and we get a target cost of $9923.16 per panel. This number is considerably higher if you pad in the costs of utility poles and relay stations that will no longer be needed with the Solar Roadways™ system."

That is US $48 Trillion

which is over 3 times the US annual Gross Domestic Product.

Secondly, no account is made of how hard it is to obtain the raw materials to produce solar cells in this kind of quanity.

Thirdly, the numbers used assume 100% efficiency is power transmission, which is unphysical. This dramatically increases the costs of an already prohibitively expensive solution.

Edit

Shortage of raw materials for constructing solar cells is already a limiting factor in the industry for the much smaller capacities currently being demanded.

"Material shortage deals industry a hard blow
On average, the solar panel export industry in China has grown by 25 percent each year for the past 10 years.

But while the country's growth rates appear to be very high, they are actually lower than worldwide demand growth rates of solar panels and products.

One of the main reasons for this is a severe lack of solar cells, which is the result of a worldwide shortage of hyperpure or semiconductor-grade silicon, the base material for solar cells. Since the material is also extensively used in the electronics industry, solar cell makers have had to compete with chip makers for the material.

Due to this extreme shortage, solar cells are mostly available only to those solar panel suppliers capable of purchasing them in bulk. These makers sometimes buy up to a year's supply of solar cells in advance. As a result, many small and midsize makers in China with limited capital have either closed down in the past year or have switched to other products.

Apart from the shortage of solar cells, the high start-up investment for solar panel making is keeping new makers from venturing into the industry. "

Roy Said:

Technical Poster - Abstract & Introduction?

We Answered:

An abstract is fundamentally different in that it covers the scope of your work and is essentially a summary (similar to an executive summary in other works) of the whole thing.

The introduction only introduces the work and whilst it may broadly delineate the breadth of the work, the argument will subsequently be developed in the respective sections including the conclusion.

Never heard of it applied to a poster but hey, that's modern education for you.