Solar Energy
I'd also like to draw attention to solar technology which may be undergoing some revolutionary advances. Nanosolar will be unveiling its version of photovoltaic technology that claims to bring down the cost of production (the limiting factor at this point) to 60cents per watt, with a markup that probably would make it on a par (for cost with oil) in many energy sectors. Their products will be on the market next year and will be limited by production speed. Adoption of this technology in the U.S. may be slower due to bureaucracy, particularly related to the incorporation of PV technology in the electric grid.
The other question is how effective solar technology would be in Seattle. I believe that 30% efficiency of photon energy conversion is about the best we can expect from solar panels. With combined low sun angles and clouds in Seattle, how much of Seattle could be powered by roof-top solar? We should be able to put together a climatology of radiation from the atg. roof records.
Here are a few articles that I've found regarding Nanosolar:
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/flat/bown/2007/green/item_59.html
http://earth2tech.com/2007/07/30/10-questions-for-nanosolar-ceo-martin-roscheisen/
posted by photohydraulicturbine @ 8:35 AM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
It turns out that 3-tier has this information available through their modeling studies.
http://firstlook.3tiergroup.com/
Here's the output for the UW:
Direct Normal Radiation: 3.34 kWh/m^2 per day
Global Horizontal Radiation: 3.36 kWh/m^2 per day
Difuse Radiation: 1.52 kWh/m^2 per day
For comparison, Vantage, WA:
Direct Normal Radiation: 4.80 kWh/m^2 per day
Global Horizontal Radiation: 4.12 kWh/m^2 per day
Difuse Radiation: 1.50 kWh/m^2 per day
Los Angeles, CA:
Direct Normal Radiation: 5.30 kWh/m^2 per day
Global Horizontal Radiation: 5.11 kWh/m^2 per day
Difuse Radiation: 1.81 kWh/m^2 per day
Phoenix, AZ:
Direct Normal Radiation: 6.91 kWh/m^2 per day
Global Horizontal Radiation: 5.64 kWh/m^2 per day
Difuse Radiation: 1.47 kWh/m^2 per day
Annually averaged, Seattle would have approximately half the direct normal radiation of Phoenix and certainly a more seasonal signature in the radiation field.
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