Homemade Solar Cell

If you’re interested in renewable energy, then you’ll have heard about things like solar energy, hydro power and wind energy. One that not everyone has heard about though is geothermal power. This is the kind that gets its energy from the ground. It can be used to heat your home through a heat pump, or to generate electricity in a power plant.

Geothermal Power Plants

You don’t hear a lot about geothermal power plants, because they are not used that much. The reason for this is that there are not many locations that they are going to work efficiently enough in order to be worth building.

They work on the same principles as conventional sorts of power plants. What happens is that water is heated, and this produces steam. The steam rises, and this makes turbines spin. The spinning turbines produce electricity.

The crucial difference comes with how the water is heated. With a conventional power plant that is done with non-renewable resources like natural gas. However when it comes to the sorts of power plants which utilize geothermal energy, it is the heat which is extracted from the ground which heats up the water.

The tricky part, of course, is extracting the heat from the ground. The way that is done is through digging deep down, where there is a lot of heat in the Earth, and putting pipes down there which have refrigerants running through them. The refrigerants are good at extracting heat (which is why they are used in fridges).

How do Ground Source Heat Pumps Work?

The way that ground source heat pumps work is much the same as geothermal power plants, although on a smaller scale. Also, the intention is not to heat water in order to create electricity, the water is heated simply to provide you with hot water.

There are two ways to install the pipes that collect the heat from the ground. One way is the same as with the power plants, installing them vertically in a deep hole. This creates the most amount of heat, but also is more expensive.

An alternative to having the coils installed deep done is simply to have trenches dug instead. That is called a horizontal installation, and while it is cheaper, you won’t get quite as much heat. Also, you’re going to require more space for it of course.

How Efficient are Heat Pumps?

In terms of how much energy you get, it depends somewhat on the sort of installation that you get. However, with ground source heat pumps you get a coefficient of performance of 3-5. This means that for every unit of energy that you put in to it, you get 3-5 units of energy you get out.

The way that this works practically is that to get the pumps to work, you have to supply a certain amount of electricity. However for all the electricity it takes to run the heat pump, you get 3-5 times more heat energy from it.

If we were talking about a normal boiler, then the efficiency would be 300-500%. However it’s impossible to actually get more energy out of a closed system than you put in, so 100% is the maximum. Practically speaking though that is never possible, the 90s is all you can expect in the real world.

Alternatives

If you want to use renewable heating for your home, then it doesn’t have to be with ground source heat pumps. You can also get air source heat pumps, as well as solar thermal panels to use solar energy.

For expert advice on which would be the best option for you, it’s best to contact professionals. They will be able to take in to account all of your personal circumstances before making a recommendation.

Connor Shaw has written much more about ground source heat pumps at geothermal power. Discover how much money you can make, as well as the way everything works. If you happen to be interested, you can also obtain a free solarinstallation quote.

If you’re looking to be able to save money on your energy bills by using renewable energy, you only have a few options. One is to use solar energy, either by generating electricity with PV solar panels, or for heating with solar thermal panels. Another option though is to use heat pumps, with ground source heat pumps that make use of geothermal power being one of the main ones.

Geothermal Power Uses

There are two ways that geothermal power can be used, either to produce electricity or else to heat water with a heat pump. When it comes to electricity production, power stations using this sort of energy are rare as there aren’t many places where it is very efficient.

If you are going to use a ground source heat pump though, you won’t need so much heat so they can work anywhere. If they do not provide enough heat for your needs, then your regular boiler will be able to take on any additional heating needs.

Efficiency Of Heat Pumps

From now on we will be focusing attention on the use of ground source heat pumps, as this is the only kind of geothermal energy which people can actually use. The question then, is how efficient is a heat pump of this sort? Well actually that is not the best question, because efficiency takes in to account all energy, not just how much we put in.

Instead, what we need to think about is the coefficient of performance. This measures how much energy you get out as related to the amount that you had to put in. A certain amount of energy has to be put in to the system, in the form of electrical energy, in order to get the pumps to work.

So when we look at the coefficient of performance, that has a value of 3-5 with ground source heat pumps. That means for every unit of electrical energy put in, you get to 3-5 times more heat energy out. If we were to translate that in to efficiency, it would mean it was 300-500% efficient.

Environmental Benefits

What this means for the environment is that you have to use a lot less in terms of conventional energy to provide your heating needs. This means that you will be reducing your carbon footprint by a significant amount.

The reason that the carbon footprint is so important of course is because of global warming. Man-made global warming is caused by the dumping of thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide in to the atmosphere. CO2 is a greenhouse gas, so this leads to warming. By reducing the amount emitted, we lessen the effects of global warming.

Financial Benefits

Of course by demanding less energy from your conventional supplier, you are also naturally reducing your energy bills. If it weren’t for the cost of the installation then, this is something that everybody would be doing. But the installation costs cannot be ignored of course.

If cost is a particular concern, then it might not be ground source heat pumps that you want at all though. Air source heat pumps are a cheaper option, although not quite as effective. The most effective option is to get a vertical ground source heat pump installation, as that gets you the most amount of heat. A cheaper alternative is a horizontal installation.

In order to make heat pumps more financially attractive though, the UK government is about to introduce the renewable heat incentive. This will apply to geothermal power, and means that you get money for each unit of heat energy you create with a ground source heat pump.

To find out more regarding heat pumps, George Reynolds has written a lot more on this issue at http://geothermalpower.org.uk. Learn more regarding the way all of it functions, for example how much money you can make, and obtain a free quotation for a solar installation.

I was first introduced to solar energy in the movie, Race the Sun with James Belushi and Halley Berry in the lead. It was a story about low- income and under achieving Hawaiian students encouraged by their teacher to join the Solar Car race. In the movie, a car shaped like a cockroach and covered with solar panels used the sun’s rays as an alternative energy source to run the car.

Solar energy is the light and the heat from the sun. Solar energy is free and its supplies are unlimited. There are n air and water pollution caused about by using solar energy. But there is still some impacts on the environment although indirect.

Photovoltaic cells used to convert sunlight into electricity uses silicon and also produce some waste materials. There are also large solar thermal farms and these farms can also be harmful to the environment and desert ecosystems if not properly managed.

Solar energy can be used on different aspects. Solar energy can be used in agriculture. Greenhouses (which is entirely different from greenhouse gas) convert solar light to heat to be maximized in enhancing the growth of plants and crops. Greenhouses has been around since the Roman times and modern greenhouses were built in Europe in 16th century. Greenhouses are still an important part of horticulture nowadays,

Daylight systems are also being used to maximize the energy released by the sun. It is used to provide interior illumination replacing the artificial lighting. Daylight systems include sawtooth roofs, light shelf, skylights, and light tube. Daylight systems when they are properly implemented can reduce lighting-related energy consumption by 25 percent.

Solar energy can also be developed into solar thermal technologies which can be used for water heating, space heating, space cooling and process heat generation. Solar energy can also be used to distil water and make saline or brackish water potable or drinkable.

The solar water disinfection or SODIS involves exposing water-filled plastic polyethylene terephthalate or PET bottles. This process takes a long time, since the exposure time varies on the weather conditions. It requires a minimum of six hours to two days during days with overcast conditions. Currently, there are two million people in developing centuries use SODIS for their daily drinking water needs.

Also sunlight can be converted into electricity using photovoltaics or PV. PV has been mainly used to power small and medium-sized things like a calculator powered by a single solar cell. There are homes powered by photovoltaics. Using solar energy for water and space heating is the most widely use application of solar energy. While ventilation and solar air heating is also growing in popularity.

There are three main ways in using solar energy. The main way of using and converting solar energy is by using the solar cells. Solar cells convert light directly into electricity. Solar cells are also called photovoltaic or photoelectric cells.

Meanwhile, solar furnaces use a huge array of mirrors to concentrate on the Sun’s energy into a small space and produced very high temperatures. Solar furnaces are also called “solar cookers”. A solar cooker can be used in hot countries to cook food.

With all the benefits if using solar energy, there is still a downside for this alternative energy source. It does not work during night time. The cost of setting up solar stations is expensive, but the benefit of using solar energy when accumulated is so much more.

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