Proposal Project
Background Research
Introduction
Currently we are having great problems finding renewable energy. Energy on college campuses consists of twenty-two percent of energy use. This means we have a really big impact on the environment and everything else around us. As the number one university in Florida and one of the biggest in size it is our duty to find sustainable or harmonious, urban development that requires cities to function. With this our research mostly consists of using solar power dishes to generate energy. We thought it would be the most beneficent because it doesn’t take a lot of space and it tracks the movement of the sun. With the highest peak efficiency the solar power dishes are capable of achieving the greatest, they don’t need large cooling systems and they can be placed on slopes or uneven terrain. Research for this proposal will help answer the question whether we need an effective method for UF to reduce their carbon footprint and pursue alternative energy sources to power our campus. This method will decrease the burning of fossil fuels significantly by implanting sources to generate solar energy to power the buildings. This would help us achieve a more sustainable campus in energy use and create a long-term behavior change and savings for the University on the long run.
Results
The need in this solar energy development is assessed through solar energy efficiency in Florida. We can improve our sustainability through efforts to prevent and control climate change by becoming a green campus. A proposal request was submitted from the University of Florida Office of Sponsored Research, we chose a topic based on a project that follows the desired prompt: A project that “significantly improves the quality of life of students and immediately improves the quality and competitiveness of American industry within the global marketplace”. We conducted a research that included primary and secondary sources through the use of surveys. This included journals, articles, and reports with data about energy, Florida weather, and cost. This initiated our interest for concentrating solar power (CSP) and began our researching for a solar power system that would best fit the University of Florida.
Plan
The plan is to construct multiple solar powered parabolic dishes. Different methods of renewable energy were taken into consideration when we conducted a survey and found that according to weather patterns in Florida the most beneficial was to have concentrating solar power (CSP). A technology that harnesses the sun’s energy potential into reliable renewable energy that works even when the sun is not out. This technology has the capacity to provide many people in the United States in particular the southwestern states that has the nation’s most abundant solar energy resources. Concentrating Solar power is unique because it can produce electricity whenever needed because of thermal energy storage performing like a traditional power plant. It can also be integrated with traditional methods that have fossil based sources to create a hybrid that can make fossil fuel projects run cleaner while operating at the same or lower cost. This is important because renewable sources can meet the growing demand in Gainesville and other cities as well as contribute to the economic, social, and environmental energy conditions.
Design and Cost
The Parabolic Dish works using large mirrors that are connected in lines and track the sun’s movement directing sunlight into a central engine. The heat is reflected off the mirror and sent to a heat transfer fluid pipe that has the temperature of approximately 650ºC. The thermal energy from the heat fluid generates electricity and steam in a turbine or heat engine driving a generator. The steam drives a turbine and generates power in the same way as conventional power plants. “Two general schemes are possible for power conversion; the less popular has a heat transfer fluid system connecting the receivers of several dishes, conducting thermal energy towards a central electricity generation system. This design is less convenient as it requires a piping and pumping system resilient to very high temperatures, and suffers from transport thermal losses. The more prevalent system mandates a heat engine be mounted near/at the focal points of individual dishes. The heat engine absorbs thermal energy from the receiver, and uses it to produce mechanical work, which an attached alternator then converts into electricity. “Heated fluid can also be stored and use to generate electricity when the sun is not out. This is later cooled by a radiator and closed water system. Mirrors are arranged in the shape of a parabola and concentrates into the receiver. The dish tacks the sun in the two axes. The dish consists of a concentrator, cavity receiver (“A thermal receiver can be a bank of tubes with a cooling fluid—usually hydrogen or helium”), tracking mechanism and measurement systems.
Parabolic dish collectors are high-cost devices: they have large mirrors that have to be fitted to concavity to concentrate solar radiation the more precise cost will be the most effective. They also contain expensive materials and are also very heavy. Technology is advancing towards the goal of being reasonably affordable.
Materials
The receiver is made up of Copper and Inconel tubes and placed in a hemispherical shape. The outer surface of the structure is covered with ceramic wool insulation and steel. The layout of the power plant including the solar parabolic dish consists of collectors being placed in the east, west, north and south directions and includes a stem turbine generator.
Discussion
Solar energy has been one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. Due to the efforts made to make solar energy “fully cost competitive” with other energy sources. One of these methods includes the SunShot’s initiative launched by the department of energy (DOE). This Initiative has reduced the cost of materials and has made it easier for businesses, independents and state/local governments to go Solar.
Energy is the largest contributor of carbon dioxide emissions, which is the leading cause of climate change. As a higher education Institution we have the responsibility of reducing our carbon emission and making this earth a better and cleaner place for future generations.
We found out that the nation’s higher education institutions spend almost $14 billion annually on energy. Also that implementation of sound energy management strategies can reduce energy bills by 30 percent or more.
Findings from this 78-page college energy report are:
• In the past year, the colleges in the sample spent an average of $745 per full-time enrolled student on electricity.
• 18.75% of participants used solar energy generated by their institutions for purposes of heating and/or electricity.
• Colleges with less than 2,500 students saw an average 15% decrease in electricity use on campus during spring break.
• For the 2010-11 academic year, 4-year colleges had a mean of 9,776.85 total kilowatt hours of consumption per full-time enrolled student, well above the entire sample mean of 6,481.52.
In addition, universities are starting to recognize that students and employees expect them to be an active part of the global energy sustainability solution. Doing so not only supports the environment and saves money but also makes more aware and conscious students that will continue to fight for a cleaner earth in their future careers.