Solar Energy

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Last year a unique concept in alternative energy won the “Forward Thinking” award in the RE:VOLT Electrifying Ideas competition. What was this new concept? Solar balloons developed by Israeli scientists Joseph Cory and Dr. Pini Gurfil for Sun Hope.

What are Solar Balloons?

Historically the term “solar balloon” has referred to simple black balloons that were filled with air. According to Wikipedia, “as sunlight shines on the balloon, the air inside is heated and expands, causing an upward buoyancy force, much like an artificially-heated hot air balloon. Some solar balloons are large enough for human flight, but usage is limited to the toy market as the surface-area to payload-weight ratio is rather high.”

As technology evolves, terminology evolves as well. Now the title of “solar balloon” can also refer to a balloon like “platform” that contains embedded photovoltaic arrays or solar arrays in order to convert solar energy into electrical energy. In the case of the Joseph Cory and Dr. Pini Gurfil’s Sun Hope design we see a lighter-than-air helium filled fabric balloon as the platform or base. Each fabric balloon is tied to the ground with two cables – one for helium refills, the other for passing generated electricity to a control panel.

Sun Hope isn’t alone in their quest for a cost effective, functional solar balloon design. Another solar balloon design comes from Cool Earth Solar. Cool Earth Solar uses plastic balloons that are suspended on wires. To get a visual, imagine a 2 meter wide mylar balloon. These plastic balloons also have concentrated solar photovoltaics where light is magnified onto solar cells to maximize electricity generation output. A common concern about solar balloons is their ability to stand up in high wind environments, according to Cool Earth Solar, their system can withstand wind speeds of up to 100 miles per hour.

While solar balloons show promise as a photovoltaic implementation there are some concerns to be noted. These concerns however, are no different than those found with medium to large wind power installations. Depending upon the size and location of installation one may have to consider items like air traffic regulations and potential bird collisions.

Solar balloons provide impressive value in isolated, off-grid locations as well as temporary portable power supplies. In situations such as these, solar balloons provide a route to escaping a fossil fuel dependency.

Concentrating Solar Power

In both of examples of solar balloons, the efficiency of the photovoltaic cells are improved by concentrating solar power (CSP). According to the US Department of Energy, “concentrating solar power’s relatively low cost and ability to deliver power during periods of peak demand – when and where we need it – mean that it can be a major contributor to the nation’s future needs for distributed sources of energy.”

Concentrating solar power system work by using mirrors or other reflective surfaces to intensify the energy of the sun to a specific point. This concentration of energy can improve the efficiency of photovoltaic cells. According to Cool Earth Solar, “multi-junction, high efficiency cells derived from satellite technology allow CPV systems to generate the same amount of electricity as traditional flat panel PV systems while using up to 500 times less solar cell material.” With diminishing supplies of raw materials required to manufacture photovoltaic cells, concentrating solar power can provide more energy with less raw materials.

While today solar balloons are a new technology, in the near future they may be a solution to curing our nation of it’s dependence on fossil fuels. The Cool Earth team recently received $21 million which they plan to use to build a 10 megawatt plant using their solar balloon technology. Thanks to forward thinking, environmentally conscious investors, a solar balloon based solar power plant may be a reality in the next few years, someday it may even power your home.

By: Sam Greyhawk

With the inflating oil prices, the other optimal and viable alternative suggested is : “ Solar power” which though was once considered as a minor power source compared to mighty oil.

Comparing oil and solar energies

There was tremendous industrial revolution when we were able to find the power of oil and coal. And after the solar cells discovered in 1950s, the quest for more and more energy at cheaper rates is still going on!!

The very obvious advantage of solar power is that you don’t have to pay for it and the power of solar, the sun, is free. It is freely available as a resource in every country, regardless of location, economic strength and so on since the sun shines everywhere. The entire process of translating sunlight into electricity or heating produces no greenhouse gases. This results in zero pollution and nil global warming.

Now considering oil, that has still more advantages over solar. The total cost of converting industry, vehicles and such to solar or any other power source would be huge. Another factor to be considered is that oil also has an advantage in that it is easier to use in a wide variety of applications, such as vehicles. One simply can’t power a vehicle with solar power, not on a practical level.

If the area is large then certainly oil is still a superior choice to solar as energy resource. The technology simply does not exist to provide solar energy solutions for vehicles, national electrical grid systems and so on. Advancements in solar technology, however, may be changing this fact in the very near future.

Ongoing research is going on such as quantum dots, essentially microscopic solar panels that could exist in the paint on your home, may make oil a thing of the past.

Though presently oil is strength of power industry upon which our energy needs sit, but certainly in the next 5, 10 or 20 years, solar power is going to take over this with its USP’s ranging from zero expense and free availability!!

By: Jakob Culver