Renewable Energy – A Broad Outline of One year Self Study

  • Posted on: 28 October 2015
  • By: ashok
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PART A: Introduction

  • Renewable Energy
    • Lack of a Rigid Definition
    • Can energy be consumed?
    • Law of conservation of mass and energy
    • Second law of Thermodynamics or entropy
  • Critical Thinking – the most important skill to acquire.
    • Critical Reading Skills
    • Critical Thinking Skills
    • Critical Writing Skills
    • Theory of Knowledge -limited exposure
  • Is Nuclear energy a renewable energy?
    • Opposing views
    • Skepticism about including nuclear in the list despite it being the cause of Sun's energy.
  • Direct Sun Energy
    • Solar Constant
    • Nature of Sun's spectrum and energy content of three components of Sun light.
    • Absorption of Sun energy during its passage from Earth's stratosphere.
    • Earth's Surface area receiving sun light
    • Derivative energies from Sun
    • Wind Energy
    • Tidal energy
    • Bio-Mass
    • River Flow
  • Is there any other source of renewable energy other than sunlight and its derivatives?
    • Black Body Radiation of Earth's Core
    • Cosmic Rays
    • Gravity

Part B The Two Opposing Points of Views:

  • The Common Point of View
    • Earth has a limited set of resources
    • Mankind is already consuming far more than what can be sustained
  • The Unconventional Point of View
    • If only direct sun-light energy is taken into account, from that source alone, Earth can sustain a population 700 to 20,000 times more than the present with everybody consuming energy at US level.
    • Buckminster Fuller Critical Path
  • The Common Point of View
    • Work of Jay Forrestor in Industrial Dynamics
    • Oil Shock & the Club of Rome and Limits to Growth
    • Limits to Growth 2nd Edition
    • Peak Oil
    • Peak Copper and other peaks of the past
  • The Neutral Historian
    • Writings of Vaclav Smil

Part C: Trends

  • Patterns of Energy Consumption of man kind
  • Heat
    • Limitations on Efficiency imposed by Carnot Cycle
  • Non Carnot Cycle conversions of Energies
  • Energy Consumption patterns in Transportation
  • Energy Consumption patterns in Agriculture
  • Energy Consumption patterns in Home
  • Energy Consumption patterns in Industry
  • Empherlization
  • Energy Transitions history

Part D: Technologies

  • History of Solar Cell
    • Discovery of Quanta
    • Bell Lab Transistor
    • First Generation Solar Cell and Efficiencies achieved
    • Amorphous Solar Cells Second Generation Solar Cells -inefficient but effective
    • Effect of heat on First Gen Solar Cells
    • Two attempts of increase output of Gen 1 Solar Cells
  • Solar Cooking
    • Box Type cookers
    • Inverted Box Cookers
    • Parabolic Cookers
    • Community Type Parabolic Cookers
    • Retained Heat Cooking
    • Industrial Cooking
    • Broad Band Solar Heaters
  • Large Solar Arrays – Helio-stats
  • Solar Heaters
    • Water Heaters
    • Food Dryers
  • Wind Mills
    • Power Equations
    • Unsteady nature of wind
    • Vertical Wind Mills
    • Horizontal Wind mills
    • Roof Top Wind Mills
    • Wind Power to vibrating strings
    • Unconventional Vertical Wind Mills – Ventury Effects
  • Hydro Energy
    • Large Dams
    • World Bank Report on Large Dams
    • Flow of river projects -Archimedes screw
    • 1Kw venturi effect power generation