NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Solar chimney

A solar chimney is an apparatus for harnessing solar energy by convection of heated air. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Solar Tower Buronga. ... Image File history File linksMetadata OzTowerCompare. ... Image File history File linksMetadata OzTowerCompare. ... For the solar heliostats based power plant technology Solar power tower For electricity power generation by solar-heated air in a chimney Solar chimney For the trademarked application of solar chimney technology in Australia, see Solar Tower For the sun observation structure see Solar tower This is a disambiguation page... Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ... Convection is the transfer of heat by currents within a fluid. ... Look up air in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In its simplest form, it consists of a black-painted chimney. During the daytime, solar energy heats the chimney, thereby heating the air within it, resulting in an updraft of air within the chimney. The suction this creates at the chimney base can be used to ventilate, and thereby cool the building below. In most parts of the world, it is easier to harness wind power for such ventilation, but on hot windless days such a chimney can provide ventilation where there would otherwise be none. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

This principle has been proposed for electric power generation, using a large greenhouse at the base rather than relying on heating of the chimney itself. Itaipu Dam is a hydroelectric generating station Electricity generation is the first process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ... A greenhouse in Saint Paul, Minnesota. ...

The main problem with this approach is the relatively small difference in temperature between the highest and lowest temperatures in the system. Carnot's theorem greatly restricts the efficiency of conversion in these circumstances. The Carnot heat engine uses a particular thermodynamic cycle studied by Nicolas LÃ©onard Sadi Carnot in the 1820s and expanded upon by Benoit Paul Ã‰mile Clapeyron in the 1830s and 40s. ...

Power station designs

History

In 1903, Spanish Colonel Isidoro Cabanyes described the first solar chimney in the magazine "La energía eléctrica" (Lorenzo, in Spanish)^[1]. One of the earliest descriptions of a solar chimney power station was written in 1931 by a German author, Hanns Günther. Beginning in 1975, Robert E. Lucier applied for patents on a solar chimney device; between 1978 and 1981 these patents, since expired, were granted in the USA^[2], Canada^[3], Australia^[4] and Israel^[5]. 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which is new, inventive, and...

More recently Schlaich, Bergerman and Partner, under the direction of German engineer Prof. Dr. Ing. Jörg Schlaich, built a small scale working model of a solar chimney in 1982 in Manzanares, (Spain), 150 km south of Madrid, which was funded by the German Government. This power plant operated successfully for approximately 8 years and was decommissioned in 1989. The chimney had a diameter of 10 metres and a height of 195 metres, with a collection area (greenhouse) of 46,000 m² (about 11 acres) obtaining a maximum power output of about 50 kW. 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Manzanares is a river in central Spain which passes through the countrys capital, Madrid. ... metre or meter, see meter (disambiguation) The metre (in the U.S., chiefly meter) is a measure of length, approximately equal to 3. ... kW is a measure of power, kilowatt. ...

During operation, optimization data was collected on a second-by-second basis. These data have been licensed to EnviroMission and SolarMission Technologies Inc. (USA based licence holder), who plan to develop the concept under the brand name Solar Tower. At the beginning of 2005 they started collecting meteorological data at a proposed site in New South Wales, Australia, with the intent to have a fully operational Solar Tower power station in 2008. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Solar Tower Buronga. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Emblems: Floral - Waratah (Telopea Speciosissima); Bird - Kookaburra (Dacelo Gigas); Animal - Platypus (Ornithorhynchus Anatinus); Fish - Blue Groper (Achoerodus Viridis) Motto: Orta Recens Quam Pura Nites (Newly Risen, How Brightly You Shine) Slogan or Nickname: First State, Premier State Other Australian states and territories Capital Sydney Government Governor Premier Const. ... 2008 (MMVIII) will be a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The maximum power output from the concept can be up to 200 MW. The proposed solar chimney was originally to be 1 km high, and the base 3.5 km in diameter (for a total of about 10 km²). The solar chimney would thus extract about 2% of the solar power (1 kW/m²) that falls on the area it covers. The megawatt (symbol: MW) is a unit for measuring power corresponding to one million (106) watts. ... kW is a measure of power, kilowatt. ...

However, reports now indicate that due to improved heat absorption materials being used for the greenhouse, the chimney height and base diameter will be substantially reduced to increase efficiency.

Byproducts

The most significant byproducts from proposed designs are distilled water (made from ocean water or ground water) and in certain instances agribusiness produce may be suitable under the outer perimeter of the greenhouse area of the power station is grown under the solar collector. Distilled water is water that has had virtually all of its impurities removed through distillation (boiling the water and re-condensing the steam into liquid water). ... Supermarket produce section Produce is a general term for a group of farm-produced goods, generally limited to fruits and vegetables. ...

Agribusiness including Fruits and vegetables, as well as medicinal and aromatic essential oils made from herbs and flowers, seaweeds and planktons, blue-green algae, have all been suggested as suitable crops for these scenarios. Residual biomass might also create additional heat during composting, as could the various distillation, food processing and manufacturing operations. Other byproducts may include ethanol and methane, biodiesel and all manner of vegetable and plant derivatives. Fruit stall in Barcelona, Catalonia. ... Vegetables in a market Venn diagram representing the relationship between (botanical) fruits and vegetables. ... A herb (see also pronunciation differences) is a plant grown for culinary, medicinal, or in some cases even spiritual value. ... Clivia miniata right hereflowers. ... Seaweed-covered rocks in the UK Biologists, specifically Phycologists, consider seaweed to refer any of a large number of marine benthic algae that are multicellular, macrothallic, and thus differentiated from most algae that tend to be microscopic in size [1]. Seaweeds are usually types of brown or red algae that... Photomontage of plankton organisms Plankton are drifting organisms that inhabit the water column of oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. ... Cyanobacteria (Greek: cyanos = blue) are a phylum of aquatic bacteria that obtain their energy through photosynthesis. ... Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol, is a flammable, colorless chemical compound, one of the alcohols that is most often found in alcoholic beverages. ... The simplest hydrocarbon, methane, is a gas with a chemical formula of CH4. ... Biodiesel sample Biodiesel refers to a diesel-equivalent, processed fuel derived from biological sources. ...

Comparisons

Solar chimneys will have a superior level of greenhouse abatement by producing only clean green sustainable electricity, no coal or gas fired electricity generator is able to compete with the clean emission free credentials of a solar chimney.

To replace a typical 2000 MW black coal-fired power station, about 10 solar chimneys of the capacity of the proposed test plant would need to be built (depending on scale and capacity). This would also abate more than 14 million tonnes of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere annually.

So an area of 100 km² (this is bigger than the Formentera Island) is required. And this only can replace one coal-fired power station. This makes this technology useful only for some countries and lands. Deserts could be an example, or zones as Almeria (in Spain) that could continue with the agrobusiness, make energy and provide water.

Several other technologies exist that can convert solar energy into electrical energy. Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ... Electrical energy or electromagnetic energy is a form of energy present in any electric field or magnetic field, or in any volume containing electromagnetic radiation. ...

The solar chimney is part of the solar thermal group of solar conversion technologies. There are two other designs that work in the same way. The first is the solar trough design and the other is the solar dish/stirling design. Of these technologies the solar dish/stirling has the highest energy efficiency (the current record is a conversion efficiency of 30% of solar energy). Solar trough plants have been built with efficiencies of about 20%. The solar chimney has an efficiency of less than 2%. However, due to its greater scale and simplicity, the solar chimney may have an economic efficiency approaching or exceeding that of the other methods. A parabolic trough is a type of solar thermal collector. ... A Stirling engine and generator set with 55 kW electrical output, for combined heat and power applications. ... A Stirling engine and generator set with 55 kW electrical output, for combined heat and power applications. ... In physics and engineering, including mechanical and electrical engineering, energy efficiency is a dimensionless number, with a value between 0 and 1 or with times 100 given in percent. ... There are several measures of economic efficiency: Pareto efficiency Kaldor-Hicks efficiency X-efficiency Allocative efficiency For applications of these principles see: Efficient market hypothesis Welfare economics Production theory basics See also Business efficiency Inefficiency ...

Australia's only existing solar power station, White Cliffs Solar Power Station, was originally built using solar dish steam boiler technology, but has now been upgraded to photovoltaic to obtain almost twice the electric output from the same dishes. White Cliffs Solar Power Station is Australias first solar power station. ... A solar cell, a form of photovoltaic cell, is a device that uses the photoelectric effect to generate electricity from light, thus generating solar power (energy). ...

See also

An Energy tower is a new concept for producing electrical power for consumer consumption, the brainchild of Professor Dan Zaslavsky. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Solar Tower Buronga. ... The concept of a Vortex Engine, proposed by Louis Michaud, aims to replace the physical chimney in the Solar chimney with a vortex of air. ...

External links

Articles

Categories: Articles to be merged | Renewable energy | Alternative energy | Solar design | Sun Wired is a full-color monthly magazine and on-line periodical published in San Francisco, California since March 1993. ... Wired is a full-color monthly magazine and on-line periodical published in San Francisco, California since March 1993. ... Active solar is a term which refers to the use of solar energy to actively convert the energy in sunlight into other forms. ... Bioalcohol is alcohol obtained from biological sources, not from petroleum. ... Biodiesel sample Biodiesel refers to a diesel-equivalent, processed fuel derived from biological sources. ... Biofuel is any fuel that derives from biomass â€” recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts, such as manure from cows. ... Biogas, also called digester gas, typically refers to methane produced by the fermentation of organic matter including manure, wastewater sludge, municipal solid waste, or any other biodegradable feedstock, under anaerobic conditions. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Blue energy is the energy retrieved from the difference in the salt concentration between seawater and river water with the use of osmosis or reverse electro dialysis (RED) with ion specific membranes. ... Deep lake water cooling uses cold water pumped from the bottom of a lake as a heat sink for climate control systems. ... Distributed generation is a new trend in electric power generation. ... Itaipu Dam is a hydroelectric generating station Electricity generation is the first process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ... An Energy tower is a new concept for producing electrical power for consumer consumption, the brainchild of Professor Dan Zaslavsky. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A fuel cell is an electrochemical device similar to a battery, but differing from the latter in that it is designed for continuous replenishment of the reactants consumed; i. ... The Sun is a natural fusion reactor. ... Thermally active area, New Zealand. ... Hydraulic turbine and electrical generator. ... Liquid fuels are those combustible or energy-generating molecules which can be harnessed to create mechanical energy, which in turn usually produces kinetic energy, and which also must take the shape of their container. ... View of a land based OTEC facility at Keahole Pointe on the Kona coast of Hawaii. ... Passive solar is a broad category of techniques for regulating a buildings indoor air and domestic water temperatures, using climate, site features, architectural elements, and landscape materials. ... A solar cell is a semiconductor device that converts photons from the sun (solar light) into electricity. ... Solar Panel (photovoltaic array) A Solar panel is a flat collection of solar cells or solar thermal collectors used for converting solar energy into electricity or heat. ... A Solar pond is large-scale solar energy collector with integral heat storage for supplying thermal energy. ... Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ... The major applications of solar thermal energy at present are heating swimming pools, heating water for domestic use, and space heating of buildings. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Solar Tower Buronga. ... Tidal power is a means of electricity generation achieved by capturing the energy contained in moving water mass due to tides. ... A Trombe wall is a sun-facing wall built from material that can act as a thermal mass such as stone, concrete, adobe or water tanks combined with an air space, insulated glazing and vents to form a large solar thermal collector. ... Kaplan turbine and electrical generator cut-away view. ... Wave power refers to the energy of ocean surface waves and the capture of that energy to do useful work - including electricity generation, desalination, and the pumping of water (into reservoirs). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Horizontal axis wind turbine, the Enercon model E-66 wind energy converter, in Germany. ... // Energy development is the ongoing effort to provide abundant and accessible energy resources through knowledge, skills, and constructions. ... Assembly of an Enercon E-70 wind turbine Modern technology uses large amounts of electrical power. ... Energy development is the ongoing effort to provide abundant and accessible energy, through knowledge, skills and constructions. ... A hydrogen economy is a hypothetical future economy in which the primary form of stored energy for mobile applications and load balancing is hydrogen (H2). ... The Hubbert peak theory, also known as peak oil, is an influential theory concerning the long-term rate of conventional oil (and other fossil fuel) extraction and depletion. ... Renewable energy (sources) or RES capture their energy from existing flows of energy, from on-going natural processes, such as sunshine, wind, flowing water (hydropower), biological processes, and geothermal heat flows. ... Hypermodernity is a type, mode, or stage of society that reflects a deepening or intensification of modernity. ... When plotted on a logarithmic graph, 15 separate lists of paradigm shifts for key events in human history show an exponential trend. ... Ecosystem services are processes by which the natural environment produces resources useful to people. ... Kardashev scale projections ranging from 1900 to 2100. ... The ton of oil equivalent (TOE) is a unit for measuring energy. ... The UN Human Development Index (HDI) measures poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy, and other factors. ... In economics, value of Earth is the ultimate in ecosystem valuation, and important to value of life calculations. ... Intermediate technology is infrastructural capital that is at least an order of magnitude more expensive than that prevalent in a developing nation but also at least an order of magnitude less expensive than that prevalent in a developed nation offering aid. ... Infrastructural capital refers to any physical means of production or means of protection beyond that which can be gathered or found directly in nature, i. ... An autonomous building is a building designed to be operated independently from infrastructural support services such as the electric power grid, municipal water systems, sewage treatment systems, storm drains, communication services, and (in some cases) public roads. ... Ecoforestry is forestry that emphasizes holistic practices which strive to protect and restore ecosystems1 instead of traditional forestry that maximizes economic productivity. ... Ecological economics is a branch of economics that addresses the interdependence and co-evolution between human economies and natural ecosystems. ... Earth sheltering is the architectural practice of using earth for external thermal mass against building walls. ... Development economics is a branch of economics that deals with the study of macroeconomic causes of long term economic growth, and microeconomica; the incentive issues of individual households and firms, especially in developing countries. ... Environmental design refers to taking environmental concerns into consideration in the design process. ... Timber Exploitation of natural resources is an essential condition of the human existence. ... Green building is the practice of: increasing the efficiency with which buildings and their sites use and harvest energy, water, and materials, and reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal â€” the complete building life cycle. ... Green Chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. ... Green Gross Domestic Product (Green GDP) is an index of economic growth with the environmental consequences of that growth factored in. ... Natural building involves a range of building systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability. ... Permaculture Mandala summarising the ethics and principles of permaculture design. ... Autonomy is the condition of something that does not depend on anything else. ... Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses straw bales as structural elements, insulation, or both. ... Sustainability is a systemic concept, relating to the continuity of economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects of human society. ... Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability, and prosperous farming communities. ... Sustainable design is the art of designing physical objects to comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability. ... Sustainable development is a process of developing (land, cities, business, communities, etc) that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs according to the Brundtland Report, a 1987 report from the United Nations. ... The earliest mention of the phrase sustainable industries appeared in 1990 in a story about a Japanese group reforesting a tropical forest to help create sustainable industries for the local populace. ... Sustainable living might best be defined as a lifestyle that could, hypothetically, be sustained unmodified for many generations without exhausting any natural resources. ... The Natural Step is a systematic definition of sustainability developed by Swedish scientist, Karl-Henrik RobÃ¨rt. ... Contents // Categories: Stub | United Nations specialized agencies | Sustainability | Development ... Human development theory is an economic theory that merges older ideas from ecological economics, sustainable development, welfare economics, and feminist economics. ... Maldevelopment is the state of an organism or an organisation that did not develop in the normal way (used in medicine, e. ... The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, often shortened to Rio Declaration, was a short document produced at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit. ... According to its web site, Rocky Mountain Institute is an entrepreneurial nonprofit organization that fosters the efficient and restorative use of natural, human and other capital to make the world more secure, just, prosperous, and life-sustaining. ... Sim Van der Ryn is acknowledged as a leader in sustainable architecture. ... Underdevelopment is the state of an organism or of an organisation (e. ... The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a coalition of 190 international companies united by a shared commitment to sustainable development via the three pillars of economic growth, ecological balance and social progress. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Earth Summit 2002. ... The precautionary principle, a phrase first used in English circa 1988, is the idea that if the consequences of an action are unknown, but are judged to have some potential for major or irreversible negative consequences, then it is better to avoid that action. ... Practical Action - the working name of Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) – is a charity registered in the United Kingdom which works directly in four regions of the developing world – Latin America, East Africa, Southern Africa and South Asia, with particular concentration on Peru, Kenya, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Nepal. ... For the physical concepts, see conservation of energy and energy efficiency. ... Energy-efficient landscaping is a type of landscaping designed for the purpose of conserving energy. ... General Motors EV1 // An electric vehicle, or EV, is a vehicle with one or more electric motors for vehicle propulsion. ... A Passive House is a building that meets the rigorous, voluntary, passive house standard for thermal performance. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Hydrogen vehicle. ... Superinsulation is an approach to building design, construction and retrofitting. ... Voluntary simplicity (or simple living) is a lifestyle considered by its adherents to be a sustainable, ecologically sensitive alternative to the typical, western consumerist lifestyle. ... Ecovillages are intended to be socially, economically and ecologically sustainable intentional communities. ... Waste inside a rubbish bin Waste, rubbish, or garbage is unwanted or undesired material. ... Similar or related terms: Near zero energy building, Zero energy house, Near zero energy house A zero energy building (ZEB) can be described as structure with a net energy consumption of zero over a typical year. ...