R.Keedy+Energy+Wiki

=Solar Power=


 * [[image:http://www.daviddarling.info/images/domestic_solar_power_system.jpg]] [[image:http://i.treehugger.com/files/th_images/osakasolar.jpg width="271" height="223"]]

1. What is the problem at hand?** The world today is faced with a difficult decision. The problem we are having to face is that after 20-30 years what are we going to use for energy and fresh water. After 20-30 years the fossil fuel supply that we have been using will be all gone. Fossil fuel supply is what our world has been using and now we are faced with a difficult decision as to what should we use next to get our energy and fresh water. In addidition, the burning of fossil fuels has emmited a large amount of CO2. The large quantity of CO2 emmited has ended up changing our global climate. We are now in a state of global warming and if we don't change the way we get energy for the world soon, we will end up ruining our world. The driving force of the problem is that our main energy source is from burning fossil fuels. Cars run off of gasoline which is a fossil fuel. This is just one of many things that we depend on daily. Unfortunetly, fossil fuels are not good for the environment and are creating too much CO2 that is is ruining our atmosphere and creating global warming. Some people are trying to solve the problem but unfortunetly more people are ignoring it. Today, our president Bush ignores the fact that global warming is something that needs to be stopped soon. Bush, like many others are into their industries that make them rich and they don't care if it worsens the state of our world. They brush it off and say well at least I won't have to deal with it in my life time. What these people don't realize is that actually they will have to deal with it. In just 20-30 years all of the fossil fuel supply will be gone. Contrary, some people are coming up with other ways to create energy that are more environmental friendly. Solar energy is a very good alturnative to fossil fuels.
 * 2. What is the driving force of the problem?**
 * 3. What are poeple currently doing or not doing to solve the problem?**
 * 4. Pick your favorite of the following list**

Solar power works by using the sun for energy. The earth takes in 3850 zettejoules per year. With this energy being taken in, we can use this for our benefit. When the sun's rays hit our earth it gives us energy. With this energy, we can use this in many different ways. Solar energy is a great source for energy because energy rays are already hitting our earth.
 * 5. Explain how it works. THIS IS A BIG ONE!**

6. How much CO2 it produces or inhibits? The use of solar power would reduce CO2 emmisions by 4.3 million tons a year. This is equivelent to about 850,000 cars. One way to purify water is to distill it. To distill water you can use a solar still which uses solar energy. In this process, you pour impure water through a cone. The water starts to evaporate from the sunlight as it travels through a plastic tube. The water vapor condences on the top. The water then drip off of the container and is collected. The water is now pure and clean. Another way to purify water by using solar energy is solar water pasteurization. Fill a container three quarters of the way full with the impure water. Keep this water at a temperature of 60 degrees celcius for a period. Then, shake the water violenty for 20 seconds. When you leave the container out in the sunlight, the sun's UV rays shine into the container which makes the oxygen in the water become reactive. Just by this happening, many organisms in the water are killed. These two methods of purifying water are very effective and are realiable. There are many pro aspects of solar power. Just some of these aspects include: water heating and puryfying, lighting, heating and cooling of homes or buildings, and electricity. Those aspects are hugely important in order for people to live. Many critics like the idea of using solar power. It would cut down the energy costs and it would be much cleaner for the environment. Most critics are for the use of solar power. Oil company owners on the other hand are not for the use of solar power. Even though they understand it would be a much more efficient alturnative, they don't care and want to just make money off of their industry. Generally though, most critics are for the use of solar energy. Solar energy does not make up a large quantity of the world's fuel/energy supply. The use of sunlight turned into electricty is called photovoltaic effect. In the year 2004 only 0.04% of the world's energy was provided by photovoltaic effect. Also, 0.471 Zj of energy consumption was used by the use of solar power in the year 2004. Generally, solar power doesn't make up a large amount of the fuel and energy supply today. The main reason for this is because people think that since the use of burning fossil fuels work why should we use something else? Unfortunetly, many people do not understand the consequence of using fossil fuels on our environment and that after 20-30 years the supply will be all gone. I believe that once people start realizing that we will need to use a new method for our fuel and energy supply solar power will become a very popular alturnative.
 * 7. determine the amount of water it can generate or purify**
 * 8. highlight the best aspects of it**
 * 9. describe how the critics would discuss it**
 * 11. If it doesn't make up much of the world's fuel/energy supply explain why.**

13. Try to include quotes from scientists or policy makers.** "Because we are now running out of gas and oil, we must prepare quickly for a third change, to strict conservation and to the use of coal and permanent renewable energy sources, like solar power." JIMMY CARTER, televised speech, Apr. 18, 1977 "The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun." RALPH NADER, //Loose Talk//
 * 12. Try to include a lot of pictures.

"Clearly, we need more incentives to quickly increase the use of wind and solar power; they will cut costs, increase our energy independence and our national security and reduce the consequences of global warming." HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, speech at Cleantech Venture Forum VIII, Oct. 25, 2005 The use of solar power could deffinetly help solve some problems that we have with our world today. Solar power can pretty much do anything. Some things that solar power can do for the world include: agriculture, water heating, purifying water, solar lighting, ventilation, heating, cooling, cooking, electricty and even vehicles. When using solar power for water heating it is a much better alturnative for coal or any other energy source. The use of solar power for water heating first appeared in the 1890's. It was replaced by a cheaper alturnative. Lately though, the use of solar power for heating has increased. Solar hot water systems has increased about fifteen to twenty percent per year. In Israel 90% of homes use solar power for water heating. Also, in China 80% of the market uses solar power for water heating. An example of what solar power can do for heating is by using it on roofs. On some houses, solar roofs are used. The way that they work is that during the day, the sunlight is attracted to the solar roofs and provides the heat for the night. If you need to cool your house down to a comfortable temperature, during the day cover the solar roof. The solar roof can attract the heat out from the house. Then during the night uncover the solar roof, and the heat leaves the roof. This is a very good alturnative for many heating and cooling systems that are not friendly to the environment. A problem with our world is the system we use for cooking. By either using fossil fuels or the burning of firewood it is not good for the environment. A box cooker can be used. This is a container that has a glass lid with reflectors on the top. The reflectors attract the sunlight and go through the container. By this method, the food cooks fast because it is at a higher temperature. Although this sounds good, you do need to have sunlight for it to work. On a stormy day, this method of cooking might not be the best. An example of electricity used by solar power is calculators. On some calculators there is a part on them that attracts light to them. When the calculator is put in light, the numbers show up on the screen and it works. These are just some examples of how solar power can help solve some problems that we are encountering today in our world. 15. Explalin what it would take to do your thing better or in a larger scale.** Solar power is a good alturnative to other energy sources. In order to make solar power a more common user, I think that more information needs to be put out about it and more people need to hear about it. Most people probably don't know much on how many things solar power can do. A way for solar power to become more known is to either write more more articles on it in the newspaper or magazines for a good alturnative or have commercials for it on tv. Solar power needs to be known to the common people, and it needs to be advertised. Once that is done, I believe many more people will start to use solar power. Not many people use solar power. Some people though, are remodeling their houses and putting solar panels on their roof. These are some examples of homes and buildings with the solar panels on them. Some city halls and colleges have decided to use solar power. Some of these include: Austin city hall, Seattle city hall, University of Wisconsin, and university of Oregon. Some reasons to why solar power isn't used much is because our state right now is ok. We still have enough oil for fuel. Later on though, we will not and many more people will start using solar power.
 * 14. Explain how it could help solve some of the problems or contributes to those problems.**
 * [[image:http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/NASA45/23/23_Helios.jpg width="349" height="286"]]
 * 16. Explain who uses that technology and why. If it isn't used very much explain that instead.**

I wouldn't change anything on how it's used because it is working good. I would however, really try to advertise how solar power is a much better and cheaper alturnative. If people see this other, much better method, many more people will start to use it. Also, I think it would be good if all new homes and buildings that were being built had to be built with solar panels on the roofs. States should start to think about the future and make that a new law. I would do this because in the next 20-30 years all of fossil fuels will be gone. What are we going to do then? The answer is to use solar power.
 * 17. After learning about it what would you do next to change how its used? why?**