Group # 9

Universidad de San Carlos

Engineering
Technical English II

Solar Energy Vs
Eolic Energy

ENERGY
Energy can be found in many things, and takes many forms. There is a kind of
energy called kinetic energy in objects that are moving. There is something
that scientists call potential energy in objects at rest that will make them
move if resistance is removed.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
It is the energy that is generated from natural processes that are continuously
replenished. This includes sunlight, geothermal heat, wind, tides, water, and
various forms of biomass. This energy cannot be exhausted and is constantly
renewed.

The technologies featured here will make our families healthier, more secure,
and more prosperous by improving our air quality, reducing our reliance on
fossil fuels, curbing global warming, and adding good jobs to the economy.
EOLIC ENERGY
Wind is the movement of air from an area of high pressure to an area of low
pressure. In fact, wind exists because the sun unevenly heats the surface of
the Earth. As hot air rises, cooler air moves in to fill the void. As long as the sun
shines, the wind will blow. And as long as the wind blows, people will harness it
to power their lives.
Today, more and more people are using wind turbines to wring electricity
from the breeze. Over the past decade, wind turbine use has increased at

more than 25 percent a year. Still, it only provides a small fraction of the
world's energy.
Wind is a clean source of renewable energy that produces no air or water
pollution. And since the wind is free, operational costs are nearly zero once a
turbine is erected. Mass production and technology advances are making
turbines cheaper, and many governments offer tax incentives to spur windenergy development.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Most wind energy comes from turbines that can be as tall as a 20-story
building and have three 200-foot-long (60-meter-long) blades. These
contraptions look like giant airplane propellers on a stick. The wind spins the
blades, which turn a shaft connected to a generator that produces
electricity. Other turbines work the same way, but the turbine is on a vertical
axis and the blades look like a giant egg beater.
SOLAR ENERGY
The sun is probably the most important source of renewable energy available
today.
Traditionally, the sun has provided energy for practically all living creatures on
earth, through the process of photosynthesis, in which plants absorb solar
radiation and convert it into stored energy for growth and development.
Scientists and engineers today seek to utilize solar radiation directly by
converting it into useful heat or electricity.
A Swiss scientist, Horace de Saussure, built the first thermal solar collector in
1767, which was later used to heat water and cook food. The first commercial
patent for a solar water heater went to Clarence Kemp of the US in 1891.
-Producing electricity from solar energy was the second discovery.
In 1839 a French physicist named Edmund Becquerel realized that the sun's
energy could produce a "photovoltaic effect" (photo = light, voltaic =
electrical potential).
Two main types of solar energy systems are in use today:

1.

2.

3.

SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAICS: Photovoltaic systems convert

solar radiation to electricity. The most common
approach is to use silicon panels, which generate an
electrical current when light shines upon it. The efficiency
of a solar cell is the percentage of available sunlight
converted by the photovoltaic cell into electricity.

SOLAR THERMAL SYSTEMS: Many different approaches

can be employed here, including active systems, such as
solar hot water heaters, and passive systems, in which
careful engineering design results in a building that
automatically stores and utilizes solar energy.
Greenhouses are a prime candidate for passive solar
design, in which they collect solar energy on sunny days
in winter and utilize it to keep the house warm at night.

THE PARABOLIC TROUGH SYSTEM: uses this kind of system.

Here, troughs are designed to direct the sun's energy to
absorber tubes as long as the sun is up. Many of these
parabolic troughs are installed to collect massive energy
for the rods to heat water to turn turbines

SOLAR PANEL
It is a collection of solar cells. Lots of small solar cells spread over a large area
can work together to provide enough power to be useful. The more light that
hits a cell, the more electricity it produces. So spacecraft are usually designed
with solar panels that can always be pointed at the Sun even as the rest of
the body of the spacecraft moves around.
HOW DOES THE SOLAR PANEL WORK?
1. Silicon is what is known as a semi-conductor, meaning that it shares
some of the properties of metals and some of those of an electrical
insulator, making it a key ingredient in solar cells
2. Sunlight is composed of miniscule particles called photons, which
radiate from the sun. As these hit the silicon atoms of the solar cell, they
transfer their energy to loose electrons, knocking them clean off the
atoms
3. It then needs to herd these stray electrons into an electric current. This
involves creating an electrical imbalance within the cell, which acts a
bit like a slope down which the electrons will flow in the same direction
4. By squeezing small quantities of other elements into this structure, two
different types of silicon are created: n-type, which has spare electrons,
and p-type, which is missing electrons, leaving holes in their place.
5. When these two materials are placed side by side inside a solar cell,
the n-type silicons spare electrons jump over to fill the gaps in the ptype silicon. This means that the n-type
silicon becomes positively charged, and
the p-type silicon is negatively charged,
creating an electric field across the cell.
Because silicon is a semi-conductor, it
can act like an insulator, maintaining this
imbalance

EOLIC ENERGY VS SOLAR ENERGY

According to the Nature Climate Change may be helpful to discuss initiatives
finances reducing greenhouse gas emissions with alternative energy projects.
In this case specifically discuss two types of energy: wind and solar
COMPARISON TABLE

Eolic Energy
Advantages

Wind power is twice cheaper than

solar energy.
It does not pollute.
Wind is an inexhaustible resource,
is renewable.
Can produce electric energy.
For power generation has no
impact on the physicochemical

characteristics of the soil or

erodibility as any contaminants
incident on this medium does not
occur, nor discharges or large
earthworks.

Wind energy is independent of

any political or commercial
relationship is obtained
mechanically and is therefore
directly usable.
The electricity produced by a
wind turbine prevents daily burn
thousands of gallons of oil and
thousands of pounds of black
lignite power plants.

Disadvantages
A negative impact is the noise
produced by the rotation of the
rotor, but its effect is more
pronounced than that generated
by an industrial facility similar
entity, provided that we are very
close to the mills.
Select a nearby park if live birds,
the mortality risk on impact with
the blades, but there are solutions
about how to paint in bold colors
blades.
The air to be a smaller specific
gravity fluid, involves making large
and expensive machines
accordingly. Its height can be
equal to a building of ten or more
plants, and the blades reaches
twenty feet, thus increasing their
production

Solar Energy

Advantages
Solar panels produce renewable
green energy.
Installation is quick and easy work.
The initial investment is recovered
within a few years and will have
free electricity.
The most important advantage is
that ecologically speaking is a
constant supply of renewable
energy for your home or business.

Disadvantages
The manufacture of photovoltaic
cells is still dependent on nonrenewable energy, so in that
aspect it adversely affects the
environment.
Perhaps the most awkward little
disadvantage in sunny areas is
that there are many clouds
seasons to ration a little energy
consumption to avoid depleting
the stored.
It also has the disadvantage that
solar panels are unsightly.

PROYECT
HOMEMADE SOLAR PANEL
The ingenuity and innovation can build amazing works of technology such as
a solar panel, constructed of materials that can be found in the home. There
are many ways to construct one of this, in this project we will discuss about
one of them: a solar panel made of the refrigerator grill.
MATERIALS

A refrigerator grill

Black nylon

A wooden frame

2 probes leg

12 half inch screw

A bucket with a tap

A Styrofoam frame size

A thermos bottle

CONSTRUCTION PROCESS
1. Join the wooden frame with grill refrigerator.

2. Cover the Styrofoam with nylon and put it under the grill refrigerator.

3. Screw the wooden frame to cover.

4. Connect one end of the probe to the input of the grill and the other
end to the tap of the bucket.
5. Connect one end of the probe to the output of the grill and the other
part to the thermos bottle.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

First consider the height that is the tray and the amount of water it contains.
When you open the faucet water at considerable speed drops to tour the
nearly 2.4m of pipe having the grid. The blue line is the water input and the
red line is the back of the water (see Figure 5). It takes about 1 minute 30
seconds to travel the entire system.
WHY IT GETS HOT?
It turns out that one of the grill materials is copper. Copper is one of the best
conductors of heat behind metals such as gold and aluminum. This allows the
energy captured from the sun can be absorbed by the grill and the nylon to
maximize the amount of heat. And the Styrofoam reduce energy loss through
the back panel, keeping it at the front

BENEFITS
Using solar energy produces no air or water pollution and no
greenhouse gases. Solar energy is predictable and is most efficient
when utility rates are the highest.

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Solar energy production consumes much less water than other

technologies, such as nuclear or coal.
Wind energy is a zero emission energy source, which means it is
produced without directly emitting any greenhouse gases or hazardous
air pollutants
Wind infrastructure requires minimal amounts of land and has a much
lower impact on local ecosystems than fossil fuel extraction and
processing.

CONCLUSIONS

The most important source of renewable energy available today is the

sun.

A solar panel is a good way to obtain energy without destroying the

environment.

In every movement or action we make, we need energy. That is why it

is so important.

REFERENCE GUIDE

http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/vss/docs/spaceenvironment/1-what-is-energy.html

http://extension.psu.edu/natural-resources/energy/what

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/globalwarming/wind-power-profile/