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Identifying Human Factors and Ergonomics Issues in Green Jobs
Published in Andrew Thatcher, Klaus J. Zink, Klaus Fischer, Human Factors for Sustainability, 2019
Margaret Hanson, Andrew Thatcher
In terms of current generation capacity, there are two dominant types of solar power: solar heating and solar photovoltaic energy (PV). Solar heating involves using radiant heat from the sun to heat a liquid (usually water), which is then used for heating (e.g., bathing or cleaning) or cooling. Solar photovoltaic power, on the other hand, converts light energy from the sun to produce electrical current directly that can then be used for other purposes. According to the International Energy Agency (2017), there was 401 GW of installed PV worldwide by the end of 2016, which is expected to grow to more than 1000 GW by as soon as 2023. Most of the installed PV is in China, the United States, Japan, and Germany. Worldwide there was an estimated installed capacity of 472 GW of solar heating at the end of 2017, although growth has been slowing. The occupational health risks of solar power are mainly related to the materials used in their production, which are known to be harmful to health and to the environment (e.g., Anam et al., 2015), and the musculoskeletal risks associated with their installation.
Heating Systems
Published in Fred Hall, Roger Greeno, Building Services Handbook, 2017
With diminishing fossil fuel resources and inevitable rising fuel prices, solar heating is encouraged as a supplement or even an alternative to conventionally fuelled systems. For use as the sole energy for a heating system there is still considerable scope for research and development. Technological developments are improving, particularly with the `heat bank' or storage facility shown. In time it may become viable even with the UK's limited solar energy in winter months.
Solar Heating Systems and Industrial Process Heat
Published in D. Yogi Goswami, Principles of Solar Engineering, 2023
Energy for heating buildings and hot water consumes approximately one-quarter of the annual energy production in the United States. In many areas of the United States and the world, solar heating can compete economically with other types of fuel for heating, without even considering the environmental benefits.
Robust design of a strategic network planning for photovoltaic module recycling considering reclaimed resource price uncertainty
Published in IISE Transactions, 2019
Qiaofeng Li, Kanglin Liu, Zhi-Hai Zhang
Renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind power, hydraulic power, and geothermal energy are playing an increasingly significant role in modern society, due to increasing environmental and energy issues. Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the sun that is harnessed using various continuously evolving technologies, such as solar heating, photovoltaics, solar thermal energy, solar architecture, molten salt power plants, and artificial photosynthesis. Compared with other energies, solar energy has significant advantages, such as providing reliable, secure, and independent energy (https://cleantechnica.com/2013/10/08/advantages-disadvantages-solar-power/). In 2011, the International Energy Agency (IEA) pointed out that:
Assessment of thermal, economic, and environmental performance of solar capillary-mat heating systems in hot-summer/coldh-winter zones
Published in International Journal of Ambient Energy, 2022
Dengke Xu, Chaomin Mu, Zhongqing Li, Wenqing Zhang
Economic and environmental performance of the system is a concern, so the annual energy savings, payback period and CO2 emissions reduction were calculated. According to the historical meteorological data of the Huainan region, there are approximately 111 days (heating demand period) with average daily temperatures that are below 8°C and the weather is sunny for approximately 49 days during the heating demand period. The annual energy for heating provided by solar collectors is estimated from the data for a typical day, resulting in the calculation of annual energy savings of approximately 5540.9 MJ (113.08 × 49). Investment in a solar heating system, including equipment costs and installation costs, are estimated to be 3550 yuan for the collector, 450 yuan for the circulating pump, 1600 yuan for the hot water storage tank, 200 yuan for pipe, and 350 yuan for labour costs, for a total cost of 6150 yuan. For convenience in the assessment of the economic and environmental performance, required data including heating value, efficiency and the unit prices of various energy sources (electricity, natural gas, and fuel oil) compared to solar, are shown in Table 4. If the energy contributed by solar collectors were replaced by a boiler with electricity, natural gas or fuel oil, the annual cost differences are 972, 524, and 981 yuan, respectively. The corresponding payback periods for solar system investment are 6.3, 11.7, and 6.26 years. Moreover, the solar system can reduce CO2 emissions to the environment by 1615, 360, and 477 kg/year, respectively. The results show that the system is environmentally friendly and has a good economic benefit.
A theoretical parametric analysis to optimize the bed depth of packed bed solar air collector
Published in International Journal of Green Energy, 2022
Vimal Kumar Chouksey, Anil Singh Yadav, Sheela Raha, Vipin Shrivastava, S. P. Shrivas
Energy from undepletable sources attracts the researcher’s community of the world due to the depletion of conventional energy sources and their adverse effects on the environment. Solar energy has huge potential and its small quantity is sufficient for accomplished the energy demand of the world (Agrawal et al. 2018). Solar heating is better for the environment, particularly because it does not require the use of fossil fuels. The general solar-heated air applications are found in drying of various commodities, heating-cooling of buildings and as pre-heaters in industries in which temperature is below 60°C (Kabeel et al. 2017; Kunwar et al. 2019; Shrivastava, Yadav, and Shrivastava 2021). However, the applications in the energy sector are limited. According to the published studies, traditional solar air heaters have a low heat-transfer coefficient between the absorber surface and the air, which results in poor performance (Chamoli et al. 2021; Yadav and Thapak 2016). To improve thermal efficiency, numerous approaches have been suggested, including the use of fins, artificial roughness, and a packed bed. Many experimental and simulation studies were performed on different artificial roughness patterns such as transverse circular ribs (Yadav 2015), transverse equilateral triangular ribs (Yadav and Sharma 2021), semi-circular ribs (Yadav et al. 2021a), etc. In addition to experimentation, several numerical works have been carried out to find possible increases in heat transfer by changing the geometry of flow passage. Nusselt number and friction factor correlations have also been developed and reported in the literature by various investigators using numerical data (Yadav et al. 2021b, 2021c). In order to increase the efficiency, the convective heat transfer from absorber plate to air must be increased. Therefore, several arrangements of solar collector were suggested in the past and packed bed type is one of them (S. Singh and Dhiman 2016).