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