Some questions for the day...
1. Real-time, interactive wind maps of the lower 48 (like the one here), while not as useful for siting windmills or win farms, are still pretty awesome.
2. When thinking about the future evolution of electricity generation and distribution, why is it important to consider where population density is the greatest. Why are considerations of the evolution of where Americans live particularly important for the potential future of solar energy?
3.How does electricity consumption vary throughout the day? How does this variation change seasonally? Why is this relevant to discussions of electricity generation from solar energy?
4. How does an industrial-scale solar thermal electricity generation plant work? What are the two basic designs? How does residential (or commercial or small-scale industrial) solar thermal work? How is it different from industrial-scale solar thermal? What are the specific advantages and disadvantages of solar thermal?
5. How does solar PV work (ei how do solar PV panels produce electricity)? What are the four basic categories of solar PV cells? Which are currently the most efficient? Which are currently the most commonly used? Why is there a difference? What % of campus energy is supplied by our new solar PV installations on the parking deck and the Law School? Is the W&L parking garage a net producer or consumer of electricity? Where are the best places in the lower 48 to site solar resources? What are the specific advantages and disadvantages of solar thermal?
6. What are the factors that will determine whether a state will be a net importer or exporter of electricity? What is "the grid"?
Slides from lecture today are on Sakai. Your reading assignment for Wednesday's class is here.
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