Professor Gopal Nath Tiwari, born on July 01, 1951 at Adarsh Nagar, Sagerpali, Ballia (UP), India. He had received postgraduate and doctoral degrees in 1972 and 1976, respectively, from Banaras Hindu University (B.H.U.). Over several years since 1977, He has been actively involved in the teaching programme at Centre for Energy Studies, IIT Delhi. His research interest in the field of Solar Thermal Applications are solar distillation, water/air heating system, greenhouse technology for agriculture as well as for aquaculture, Earth to air heat exchanger, passive building design and hybrid photovoltaic thermal (HPVT) systems. He has guided about 50 Ph.D. students and published over 400 research papers in journals of repute. He has authored eleven books associated with reputed publishers namely Pergaman Press UK, CRC Press USA, Narosa Publishing House etc. He is a co-recipient of ‘Hariom Ashram Prerit S.S. Bhatnagar’ Award in 1982. Professor Tiwari has been recognized both at national and international levels. His contribution for successful implementation of hot water system in the IIT campus has been highly appreciated. He had been to the University of Papua, New Guinea in 1987-1989 as Energy and Environment Expert. He was also a recipient of European Fellow in 1997 and been to the University of Ulster (U.K.) in 1993. Besides, he had been nominated for IDEA award in the past. He is responsible for development of Solar Energy Park at IIT Delhi and Energy Laboratory at University of Papua, New Guinea, Port Moresby. Dr. Tiwari had visited many countries namely Italy, Canada, USA, UK, Australia, Greece, Thailand, Singapore , PNG and Taiwan etc. for invited talks, chairing international conferences, expert in renewable energy, presenting research papers etc. He has successfully co-coordinated various research projects on Solar distillation, water heating system, Greenhouse technology, hybrid photovoltaic thermal (HPVT) etc. funded by Govt. of India in recent past. Recentl

Advanced Renewable Energy Sources

By G. N. Tiwari, R. K. Mishra

The Royal Society of Chemistry

Copyright © 2012 G. N. Tiwari and R. K. Mishra
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-84973-380-9

Contents

Dedication,
Authors’ Profiles,
Approximate Values of Some Constants in Renewable-Energy Sources,
Chapter 1 General Introduction,
Chapter 2 Solar Energy,
Chapter 3 Photovoltaic and Photovoltaic Thermal Systems,
Chapter 4 Biofuels,
Chapter 5 Biopower,
Chapter 6 Hydropower,
Chapter 7 Wind Energy,
Chapter 8 Geothermal Energy,
Chapter 9 Ocean Thermal, Tidal, Wave and Animal Energy,
Chapter 10 Sustainable Environment,
Chapter 11 Energy and Exergy Analysis,
Chapter 12 Economics of Renewable Energy,
Appendix I,
Appendix II,
Appendix III,
Appendix IV,
Appendix V,
Appendix VI,
Appendix VII,
Appendix VIII,
Glossary,
Subject Index,

CHAPTER 1

General Introduction

1.1 ENERGY: ITS DEFINITION AND BASIC CONCEPT

Energy is one of the major building blocks of society and it is needed to create goods from natural resources. Global economics development and improved standards of energy are complex processes that share a common denominator i.e. the availability of an adequate and reliable supply of clean energy. With an oil embargo in 1973, continuing with the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the Persian Gulf War of 1991, political events had made many people aware of how crucial clean energy is for everyday functioning of our society. The energy crises of the 1970s were almost forgotten by the 1980s, that period brought an increased awareness of other environmental issues. The global warming, acid rain and radioactive waste are still very much with us today, and each of these topics is related to our energy security.

In the present scenario all sectors of society, e.g. labour, environment, economics and international relations, etc. in addition to our own personal livings, i.e. housing, food, transportation, recreation and communication, etc., strongly depends on energy. The use of energy resources has relieved us from much drudgery and made our efforts more productive. Human beings once had to depend on their own muscle energy to provide the energy necessary to do the daily work. Today, muscle energy supplies less than 1% of the work done in the industrialised world.

Energy is a globally conserved quantity, i.e. the total amount energy in the universe is constant. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be transformed from one state to another. Two billiard balls colliding, for example, may come to rest, with the resulting energy becoming sound and perhaps a bit of heat at the point of collision.

Energy, environment and economic development are closely related. The proper use of energy requires consideration of social impact as well as technological ones. Indeed, sustained economic growth of a country in this century along with improvements in the quality of everyone’s lives may be possible only by the well planned and efficient use of fossil fuel and other resources and the development of new renewable energy technologies.

1.1.1 Basis Concept of Energy

In physics, energy is defined as “the capacity of a physical system to perform work”. The word is used by each of us with many different connotations, but in physics, it has a very definite meaning:

Work = Force × Displacement along the direction of force

or, “Work is the product of force and displacement thr