2. Installing solar panels on a house- video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtVt-6Kbmvg&feature=related

3.

4. A short report – a) Solar power is one of the cleanest sources of energy available. Solar energy—power from the sun—is a vast and inexhaustible resource. Once a system is in place to convert it into useful energy, the fuel is free and will never be subject to the ups and downs of energy markets. Furthermore, it represents a clean alternative to the fossil fuels that currently pollute our air and water, threaten our public health, and contribute to global warming. Given the abundance and the appeal of solar energy, this resource is poised to play a prominent role in our energy future. In the broadest sense, solar energy supports all life on Earth and is the basis for almost every form of energy we use. The sun makes plants grow, which can be burned as "biomass" fuel or, if left to rot in swamps and compressed underground for millions of years, in the form of coal and oil. Heat from the sun causes temperature differences between areas, producing wind that can power turbines. Water evaporates because of the sun, falls on high elevations, and rushes down to the sea, spinning hydroelectric turbines as it passes. But solar energy usually refers to ways the sun's energy can be used to directly generate heat, lighting, and electricity. The amount of energy from the sun that falls on Earth's surface is enormous. All the energy stored in Earth's reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas is matched by the energy from just 20 days of sunshine. Outside Earth's atmosphere, the sun's energy contains about 1,300 watts per square meter. About one-third of this light is reflected back into space, and some is absorbed by the atmosphere (in part causing winds to blow). The amount of energy from the sun that falls on Earth's surface is enormous. All the energy stored in Earth's reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas is matched by the energy from just 20 days of sunshine. Outside Earth's atmosphere, the sun's energy contains about 1,300 watts per square meter. About one-third of this light is reflected back into space, and some is absorbed by the atmosphere (in part causing winds to blow). By the time it reaches Earth's surface, the energy in sunlight has fallen to about 1,000 watts per square meter at noon on a cloudless day. Averaged over the entire surface of the planet, 24 hours per day for a year, each square meter collects the approximate energy equivalent of almost a barrel of oil each year, or 4.2 kilowatt-hours of energy every day. Although Solar energy is considered to be one of the cleanest and renewable sources of energy among the available sources but is has some environmental impacts too. Solar energy uses photovoltaic cells to produce solar power. However, manufacturing the photovoltaic cells to produces that energy requires silicon and produce some waste products. Inappropriate handling of these materials may lead to hazardous exposure to humans and the environment. Installing solar power plants may require large piece of land, which may impact existing ecosystems. Solar energy does not pollute the air when converted to electricity by solar panels. It is found in abundance and does not help in global warming. Currently, solar power is available to home owners in various ways, mainly through photovoltaic panels (PV) and solar heating. A solar heating system is designed to reduce the need for conventional water heating by about two thirds, according to an estimate by the U.S. Department of Energy. Therefore it impacts positively on our dependency on fossil fuel and conventional electricity and mitigates a household’s impact on the environment.

Usually, solar heating systems have two parts: a solar collector and a storage tank. The collector heats the water and the heated water is held in the storage tank, ready for use. A conventional system co-exists with the solar system in order to provide any additional heating, when necessary. There are active and passive solar heating systems. The former use electric pumps and controllers to circulate water. The latter rely on gravity and water’s natural tendency to circulate when heated. These are more reliable (due to the absence of electrical components), easy to maintain and they tend to last longer. Besides helping the environment, solar heating systems can also provide a source of financial savings. The U.S. Energy Policy Act implemented a 30% tax credit for consumers who install solar water heating systems. To quality for this tax break, the systems must be certified by the Department of Energy's non-profit partner, the Solar Rating & Certification Corporation (SRCC). However, in Florida and Hawaii residents can use their area’s own certification programs. Those who would like to benefit from solar heating without installing any equipment, passive solar technology should be of help. It is a concept that informs the design of a building, which will be planned to collect, store and distribute solar energy as heat in the winter and mitigate solar heat in the summer. In general, no mechanical and electrical designs, such as pumps and fans, are required. According to Energy Savers, a governmental agency dedicated to energy efficiency, there are five elements that constitute a complete passive solar home design to generate solar heating. These are aperture (the entry point of solar light), absorber (the hard, dark surface of the storage element), thermal mass (the materials that retain or store the heat produced by sunlight, distribution (how solar heat circulates from the collection and storage points to different areas of the house) and control (elements to shade the aperture area during summer months, such as roof overhangs). The latter’s purpose is to ensure the house will be comfortable during summer as well. Passive solar design can range from total reliance on solar power or just partial use of this type of renewable energy to produce solar heat. That will depend on design and geographical location. Wind patterns, topography, vegetation and amount of sunshine in the area play a key role in passive solar design and the performance of the building. Passive solar design principles can be applied to new constructions or adapted to existing buildings, which will need to be retrofitted. Solar technology is now poised to play a larger role in the future, thanks to new developments that could result in lower costs and improved efficiency. In fact, the solar PV industry aims to provide half of all new U.S. electricity generation by 2025. More and more architects are recognizing the value of active and passive solar and learning how to effectively incorporate it into building designs. Solar hot water systems can compete economically with conventional systems in some areas. Perhaps the future is here now. Shell has predicted that 50% of the world's energy will come from renewable sources by 2040. In recent years manufacturing costs of photovoltaic cells has dropped by 3-5% per year while government subsidies have increased. While to some such facts about solar energy seem trivial, this makes solar energy an ever-more affordable energy source. In the next few years it is expected that millions of households in the world will be using solar energy as the trends in USA and Japan show. Aggressive financial incentives in Germany and Japan have made these countries global leaders in solar deployment for years.

8. 1. 1) активна система; 2) ефективність колектора; 3) покривна пластина; 4) пряма радіація; 5) плоский колектор; 6) гравітаційна конвекція; 7) теплова ємкість акумулятора; 8) тепловий насос; 9) нічне охолодження; 10) вертикальна труба; 11) теплоємкість; 12) сонячна константа; 13) теплоємкість; 14) електросітка; 15) максимальна яскравість сонця; 16) комутаційний блок; 17) концентруючий колектор; 18) паралельне з’єднання; 19) первинна батарея; 20) термофотоелектричний елемент.

2. 1 –с; 2 –а); 3 –е); 4 –b); 5 –d); 6 –h); 7 –f); 8 –j); 9 –g); 10) –i).

3. 1 –d); 2 –b); 3 –a); 4 –c; 5 –f); 6 –g); 7 –e); 8 –i); 9 –j); 10 –h).

9. 1. 1.b); 2.a); 3.c); 4.a); 5c); 6.b); 7.a); 8.b); 9.c); 10.a); 11.c); 12.a); 13.b); 14.a); 15.c); 16.b); 17.c); 18.a); 19.b); 20.c)

2. 1.a); 2.b); 3.c); 4.d); 5.b); 6.a); 7.d); 8.c); 9.a); 10.b).

3. 1.а); 2.с); 3.b); 4.а); 5.d); 6.a); 7.b); 8.c); 9.d); 10.b).

4. 1.b); 2.а); 3.с); 4.d); 5.а); 6.с); 7.а); 8.b); 9.с); 10.а).

5. 1.a); 2.c); 3.b); 4.d); 5.a); 6.d); 7.a); 8.b); 9.c); 10.b).

10. 1.

1. They can make electricity that's as cheap—sometimes cheaper—as what consumers pay their utilities. 2. Thermal mass is any material that can be used to store heat—heat from the Sun in the case of solar energy. 3. Solar energy may be used in a water stabilisation pond to treat waste water without chemicals or electricity. 4. These reflectors can reach temperatures of 450–650 °C and have a fixed focal point, which simplifies cooking. 5. Thermal mass systems can store solar energy in the form of heat at domestically useful temperatures for daily or seasonal durations. 6. Shadow effects can shut down the weaker (less illuminated) parallel string (a number of series connected cells) causing substantial power loss and even damaging excessive reverse bias applied to the shadowed cells by their illuminated partners. 7. The efficiency of a solar cell may be broken down into reflectance efficiency, thermodynamic efficiency, charge carrier separation efficiency and conductive efficiency. 8. Light absorbing materials can often be used in multiple physical configurations to take advantage of different light absorption and charge separation mechanisms. 9. Such surfaces can usually only be formed on single-crystal silicon, though in recent years methods of forming them on multicrystalline silicon have been developed. 10. Thermal processing techniques can significantly enhance the crystal quality of the silicon and thereby lead to higher efficiencies of the final solar cells.

2. 1. Assemblies of solar cells are used to make solar modules which are used to capture energy from sunlight.

2. Photovoltaics is the field of technology and research related to the practical application of photovoltaic cells in producing electricity from light.

3. Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies.

4. The Earth receives 174 petawatts of incoming solar radiation (insolation) at the upper atmosphere.

5. Earth's land surface, oceans and atmosphere absorb solar radiation, and this raises their temperature.

6. Sunlight has influenced building design since the beginning of architectural history.

7. Agriculture and horticulture seek to optimize the capture of solar energy in order to optimize the productivity of plants.

8. The history of lighting is dominated by the use of natural light.

9. Solar-charged lanterns have become popular in developing countries where they provide a safer and cheaper alternative to kerosene lamps.

10. Solar distillation can be used to make saline or brackish water potable.

11. 1.

1. Сонячне проміння абсорбоване океаном та суходолом підтримує середню температуру на поверхні Землі, що в наш час становить 14 °

2. На верхні шари атмосфери Землі постійно поступає 174 сонячної радіації (інсоляції).

3. Термін «фотоелектричний» походить від грецького (фосфор), що означає "світло" і "вольт", від назви італійського фізика Вольта, в честь якого була названа одиниця електрорушійної сили, напруга.

4. Сонячні інвертори мають спеціальні функції адаптовані для використання разом з фотоелектричними елементами, в тому числі точку оптимальної міцності та анти- захист повторного підключення генератора до розподільної мережі.

5. Установка сонячної батареї використовується для виробництва сонячних модулів, які призначені для збору енергії сонячного світла.

6. Активні сонячні методи включають в себе використання фотоелектричних панелей і сонячних теплових колекторів, щоб використовувати енергію.

7.Деякі сонячні технології включають в сонячне обігрівання, сонячну фотоелектрику, сонячну теплову електрику і сонячну архітектуру, яка може зробити значний внесок у вирішення найбільш актуальних проблем які в даний час стосуються використання енергії.

8. Загальна кількість сонячної енергії, що поглинається земною атмосферою, океанами і сушею становить близько 3850000 ексаджоулей (EJ) в рік.

9. В залежності від географічного розташування чим ближче до екватора, тим доступнішою стає "потенційна" ​​сонячна енергія.

10. Найпоширенішими типами сонячних водяних обігрівачів є: трубний колектор (44%) і засклений плоский сонячний колектор (34%), які зазвичай використовуються для гарячого водопостачання і неполіровані пластикові колектори (21%) в основному використовується для обігріву басейнів.

2. 1. Monocrystallines are most complicated and expensive because their manufacture requires crystalline silicon, though they are the most efficient (14% -20% conversion of light into electricity).

2. An important aspect of solar cells is their temperature.

3. A solar cell is a solid state electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity .

4. Prospects for solar energy is also reduced due to global dimming - anthropogenic reduction of solar radiation that reaches Earth's surface.

5. Solar collectors are made from available materials: steel, copper, aluminum, etc., without the use of scarce and expensive silicon.

6. It is also possible to use passive solar heating, without using electrical or mechanical equipment, and we can count on the design and structure of the house for collection, storage and distribution of heat in the building.

7. Photovoltaic cells produce electricity used to power the onboard vehicle or motor electric vehicles.

8. In Italy and Japan, photovoltaic cells are installed on the roof of railway trains. They conduct electricity for air conditioners, lighting and emergency systems.

9. Solar energy is widely used for water heating and electricity production.

10. Medium-collectors are usually flat plates and are used to heat water for residential and commercial use .