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Search - 21st Century Solar Energy, Solar Power, Solar Cells, Photovoltaic (PV), Solar Thermal Electric Technologies, Research Plans and Programs: Series on Renewable ... Bioenergy, and Biobased Products (Ringbound)
21st Century Solar Energy Solar Power Solar Cells Photovoltaic Solar Thermal Electric Technologies Research Plans and Programs Series on Renewable Bioenergy and Biobased Products - PV - Ringbound Author:U.S. Government This important printed report provides a guide to the development of viable solar energy technologies. It includes a Department of Energy report, entitled Solar Energy Technologies Program Technical Plan 2003-2007 and Beyond. Topics covered include: Solar Cells * photovoltaic (PV) power * flat-plate PV * concentrating PV * off-grid * on-grid ... more »* conversion efficiencies * solar thermal electric * the existing solar industry * DOE research goals and targets * Thermal dishes * towers * troughs * central generation * passive solar * solar water heating * solar heating and lighting * nanotechnology solar cells * organic solar cells * abbreviations and acronyms. The report states: "The sun's energy is the primary source for most energy forms found on the earth. Solar energy is clean, abundant, and renewable. Solar energy holds tremendous potential to benefit our nation by diversifying our energy supply, reducing our dependence on imported fuels, improving the quality of the air we breathe, and stimulating our economy by creating jobs in the manufacture and installation of solar energy systems. Although solar energy is clean and abundant, it is diffuse and must be captured, concentrated, stored, and/or converted to be used in the highest value energy forms. The solar energy industry has grown steadily in just two decades and currently markets more than $2 billion annually in products. The U.S. Department of Energy's challenge is to lead the effort to research, develop, and deploy cost-effective technology to achieve its mission of expanded solar energy deployment. This first integrated solar plan includes research, development, deployment, analytical efforts, and partnerships aimed at producing photovoltaic, concentrating solar power, solar heating, and solar lighting systems that are cost effective. These solar systems have the potential to achieve penetration in markets that include residential solar water/space heating, distributed (electric) energy, process heating, cooling and refrigeration, daylighting, portable power, and village (non-grid-connected) power, and larger solar power plants. At the heart of this document are detailed technical plans for four solar energy areas: Photovoltaics, Concentrating Solar Power, Solar Heating and Lighting, and New Concepts. Each technical section includes a technology status overview, programmatic goals and objectives, description of key technical challenges, detailed technical targets (often for each component of the identified solar energy system), detailed technical barriers, a roster of activities that address the target barriers, and a summary chart that highlights key programmatic milestones and decisions anticipated over the next 5 years." "The following are key drivers for pursuing greater use of solar energy: Solar technologies provide electricity, heating, cooling, and daylighting, and can even be used to produce hydrogen, which is a clean transportation fuel for the future. Solar energy is the most plentiful and widely available form of renewable energy in the United States and throughout the world. Solar energy is the origin for all fossil fuels, and we never need to worry about solar energy being depleted, as long as the sun continues to shine. Using current solar technology, an area just 100 miles by 100 miles (10,000 square miles) in the southwestern United States could generate as much energy as the entire nation currently consumes. To put the land area in context, 40,000 square miles of Wyoming overlies coal beds. Though generating all the electrical energy we use via solar energy is not the goal of the Solar Energy Technologies Program, it does show that solar has the potential to be a significant part of a diversified national energy portfolio. Viable solar energy is not limited to the Desert Southwest, however. In fact, the average sunshine across the United States is 1,800 kilowatt-hours per square meter (kWh/m2) annually, whereas the average sunlight in the Dese« less
