Solar Energy Efforts

Solar power is considered one of the cleanest and most abundant renewable energy sources available which is why solar technology is becoming a more popular idea to incorporate into new buildings and projects. While researching this topic, I came across a resources with a number of different solar projects that interested me and below, I have selected four to discuss how solar energy efforts are made around the world.

The Solar Ark in the geographical center of Japan is an ark-shaped photovoltaic power generation facility with over 5,000 panels that produce about 530,000 kilowatt-hours on a annual basis. This ark was designed to symbolize producing clean energy and was constructed by Sanyo Electric Company and completed in December 2001. Using cutting edge solar technology was a must for this project, which involved using crystal silicon and thin-film amorphous silicon with a 14-15% efficiency rate. Since the Solar Ark was constructed, data has been collected regarding the power-generating performance of the photovoltaic system.

Located in Dezhou, China resides the world’s largest solar-powered building. This building is a 75,000 square meter structure which features exhibition centers, scientific research facilities, meeting and training facilities, and a hotel all run on solar power gathered from the hundreds of solar panels located on the roof of this building. The sundial was an inspiration for this design in addition to the need to remind everyone of the urgent need to seek renewable energy sources.

Coming to the Arizona desert in 2015 is a large-scale solar energy project that entails building a full-scale solar tower. This tower is 800+ meters (2625 ft.) tall with 200-megawatt power generation capacity predicted to produce enough power for 150,000 US homes. How this giant tower is going to work is a simple idea that the sun will beat down on the large covered greenhouse area at the bottom, while warming up the air underneath it. The hot air produced will then want to rise so the center point will lead to tower in the middle with a lot of turbines at the base of this tower that will generate electricity from that natural updraft. This project is estimated to cost around $750 million to build and will run at an efficiency of about 60%, which is much more efficient and reliable than other renewable energy sources.

The Sahara Forest Project aims to “bring green to the desert”.  The goal is to create re-vegetation and green jobs through the production of food, water, clean electricity and biomass in desert areas. This project will implement materials that we have in abundance including CO2, salt water, sunlight, and desert areas and combining them with already existing and proven technologies. This project is projected to begin in 2015 and if successful, this will provide great benefits for our environment. For further reading on the Sahara Forest Project, this website provides interesting insights and valuable information, (http://saharaforestproject.com). 

As far as the wisdom of clean energy subsides goes, I found an article from The New York Times that questioned if this was the end of clean energy subsides. It stated that, “The federal government has given generously to the clean energy industry over the last few years, funneling billions of dollars in grants, loans and tax breaks to renewable power sources like wind and solar, biofuels and electric vehicles. “Clean tech” has been good in return”. Although it seems that the relationship between the progress in clean energy and the government is productive, the clean energy incentives that were provided by President Obama in 2009 are coming to an end. Funding for clean energy will be seeing a 75% decline over the next few years. It is debated if any real success in the clean energy sector would have been made without help from the government.

Works Cited

Blain, Loz. "Twice the height of the Empire State - EnviroMission plans massive solar tower for Arizona." Gizmag | New and Emerging Technology News. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. <http://www.gizmag.com/enviromission-solar-tower-arizona-clean-energy-renewable/19287/>.

"Home - Sahara Forest Project." Home - Sahara Forest Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. <http://saharaforestproject.com>.

Nusca, Andrew. "World’s largest solar-powered office building opens in China | SmartPlanet." SmartPlanet - Innovative Ideas That Impact Your World. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. <http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/worlds-largest-solar-powered-office-building-opens-in-china/2798>.

"SOLAR ARK | SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. | Panasonic." Panasonic Global Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. <http://panasonic.net/sanyo/solarark/en/index.html>.

"The End of Clean Energy Subsidies? - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-clean-energy-subsidies.html?_r=0>.

"The World’s 6 Coolest Solar Powered Projects top 6 solar projects around the world - Gallery Page 1 – Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building." Inhabitat | Design For a Better World!. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. <http://inhabitat.com/the-worlds-6-coolest-solar-powered-projects/solar-projects/>.