Comments on: Solar thermal electricity http://www.stuartmcmillen.net/2010/04/28/solar-thermal-electricity/ Thoughts and ideas Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:32:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Fire Basket  http://www.stuartmcmillen.net/2010/04/28/solar-thermal-electricity/comment-page-1/#comment-295 Fire Basket  Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:38:08 +0000 http://www.stuartmcmillen.net/?p=301#comment-295 amorphous type solar cells are the cheapest option that we cant get if we want solar power`~; amorphous type solar cells are the cheapest option that we cant get if we want solar power`~;

]]> By: david http://www.stuartmcmillen.net/2010/04/28/solar-thermal-electricity/comment-page-1/#comment-289 david Wed, 06 Oct 2010 10:08:19 +0000 http://www.stuartmcmillen.net/?p=301#comment-289 Hi Logan, That's a very simplistic statement. It's not clear whether you are talking about solar thermal or solar photovoltaic - or even whether you understand the difference. It's also quite ambiguous as to what you define as "very" efficient. If you've read Stuart's post, you will realise that solar thermal uses essentially the same turbines that conventional power stations use, and hence achieves effectively the same energy conversion efficiency. If you're talking about solar photovoltaic, then currently the efficiency is lower than solar thermal, because photovoltaic panels utilise only part of the light spectrum. However, making up for this is the fact that it can be manufactured at household scale, and located at the point of use. This enables cost efficiency gains by not requiring additional land and transmission infrastructure. And of course, through all of this it is important to ask what "efficiency" really means - bearing in mind that the cost of fossil fuels is increasing and the cost of sunlight is zero. david Hi Logan,
That’s a very simplistic statement. It’s not clear whether you are talking about solar thermal or solar photovoltaic – or even whether you understand the difference. It’s also quite ambiguous as to what you define as “very” efficient.

If you’ve read Stuart’s post, you will realise that solar thermal uses essentially the same turbines that conventional power stations use, and hence achieves effectively the same energy conversion efficiency.

If you’re talking about solar photovoltaic, then currently the efficiency is lower than solar thermal, because photovoltaic panels utilise only part of the light spectrum. However, making up for this is the fact that it can be manufactured at household scale, and located at the point of use. This enables cost efficiency gains by not requiring additional land and transmission infrastructure.

And of course, through all of this it is important to ask what “efficiency” really means – bearing in mind that the cost of fossil fuels is increasing and the cost of sunlight is zero.
david

]]> By: Logan Baker http://www.stuartmcmillen.net/2010/04/28/solar-thermal-electricity/comment-page-1/#comment-288 Logan Baker Wed, 06 Oct 2010 09:16:58 +0000 http://www.stuartmcmillen.net/?p=301#comment-288 solar cells these days are not yet very efficient in generating electricity:*~ solar cells these days are not yet very efficient in generating electricity:*~

]]> By: david http://www.stuartmcmillen.net/2010/04/28/solar-thermal-electricity/comment-page-1/#comment-85 david Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:57:54 +0000 http://www.stuartmcmillen.net/?p=301#comment-85 Hi Stuart, For some great pics of solar thermal, do a google image search for solar power tower. There's some nice looking ones with arrays of mirrors all beaming sunlight up to the central tower. And from side-on the pics capture a kind of angelic glow :) david Hi Stuart,
For some great pics of solar thermal, do a google image search for solar power tower. There’s some nice looking ones with arrays of mirrors all beaming sunlight up to the central tower.
And from side-on the pics capture a kind of angelic glow :)
david

]]> By: Stuart McMillen » Blog Archive » 100% renewables in 10 years http://www.stuartmcmillen.net/2010/04/28/solar-thermal-electricity/comment-page-1/#comment-84 Stuart McMillen » Blog Archive » 100% renewables in 10 years Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:44:31 +0000 http://www.stuartmcmillen.net/?p=301#comment-84 [...] plan uses current, proven, commercially available technologies in a 60/40 split between solar thermal and wind. Their plans maps the sites of the solar and wind modules to areas with appropriate sun [...] [...] plan uses current, proven, commercially available technologies in a 60/40 split between solar thermal and wind. Their plans maps the sites of the solar and wind modules to areas with appropriate sun [...]

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