Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-tn8tq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-30T06:53:32.450Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Solar Photothermal Power Generation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Aden Baker Meinel  and
Marjorie Pettit Meinel
Aden Baker Meinel
Affiliation:
Professor of Astronomy and Optical Sciences, formerly Chairman, Department of Astronomy, and Director, Optical Sciences Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, U.S.A.
Marjorie Pettit Meinel
Affiliation:
Research Associate, Optical Sciences Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, U.S.A.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Solar energy could be a major resource for the semiarid regions of the United States and the world. This source of energy is a popular topic in the media at this time, but is it really the option which many would like to see or is it more likely to remain the illusion it has been up to now? Many ways of using solar energy have been proposed, and each appears to have a good technological basis. The additional factors that will see many solar schemes fall by the wayside are the hard facts of economics and the realities of social assimilation of technological advances.

The major options of house-heating and cooling and electrical power production need to be examined. Home uses depend upon the degree to which people are willing to put up with the inconveniences associated with bulky roof-top units. It is more likely that solar energy will subsequently find wider acceptance when it can be converted into power and transportable fuels at remote solar power-farms located in the arid regions of the United States and other lands that are fortunate enough to have these sunny regions. The savings to the environment could be very considerable.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , Spring 1976 , pp. 15 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arnon, I. (1972). Crop Production in Dry Regions, Volume I: Background and Principles. Plant Science Monographs Ed. Polunin, Nicholas, Hill, Leonard, London, and Barnes & Noble, New York: xxii + 650 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Bockris, J. O'M. (1974). The coming energy crisis and solar sources. Environmental Conservation, 1(4), pp. 241–9, 7 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bockris, J. O'M. (1975). Possible means of large-scale use of wind as a source of energy. Environmental Conservation, 2(4), pp. 283–8, 3 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirsch, R. L. & Rice, W. L. S. (1974). Nuclear fusion power and the environment. Environmental Conservation, 1(4), pp. 251–62, 13 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalecsinsky, A. Von (1902). Über die ungarischen warmen und heissen Kochalzseen als natürliche Wärmeaccumulatoren. Ann. Physik IV, 7, pp. 408–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meinel, A. B. & Meinel, M. P. (1971). Is it time for a new look at solar energy? Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 10, pp. 32–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meinel, A. B. & Meinel, M. P. (1972). Physics looks at solar energy. Physics Today, 02, pp. 44–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nielsen, C. E. (1975). Salt-gradient solar ponds for solar energy utilization. Environmental Conservation, 2(4), pp. 289–92, fig.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tabor, H. (1963). Large-area solar collectors for power production. Solar Energy, 7, pp. 189–94, illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tabor, H. (1966). Solar ponds. Science Journal, 66, pp. 66–71, illustr.Google Scholar