Literature Review on "Application of Solar Thermal Systems in the UK"

Literature Review 15 pages (4790 words) Sources: 15

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Solar Thermal Systems

According to Mallik (2008), the technology that generates clean and sustainable energy from a number of sources such as water, sun, plants and wind is termed as renewable energy technology. In the year 2007, the Energy Information Administration reported that in the United States, around nine percent of the electricity generation and seven percent of whole energy consumption is due to the renewable energy technologies. There are numerous benefits of renewable energy technology. The prime and the foremost benefit is that it makes the energy economy of the country very strong and sustainable (Mallik, Bhave, & Mate, 2008, pg 45-48).

Biomass technology

It is the technology, which converts the animals waste and other types of wastes into productive use. It converts these wastes into fuels, power and chemicals. This technology takes the sun's energy, which is stored in the organic matter through breaking it. There are different processes, which are used to break the organic, but the process is based on the form of organic matter and the final user.

Bio power

This technology is used for generating heat and electricity from the biomass resources. There are three main processes in the bio power, which are co-firing, anaerobic digestion and direct combustion.

Bio fuels

Mallik (2008) sated that these fuels are mostly used in vehicles but besides this, they are also used in the production of electricity. These fuels are also beneficial for the economic growth and environment of the country. Two main forms of bio fuels are the biodiesel and the ethanol.

Solar Photovoltaic cells

These cells are used to transform sunlight into electricity. Since 2002, the use of photovoltaic cells has been increasing at a rapid rate of twenty percent every year. This proves that this technology is growing very vastly. Up until now many photovoltaic plants has been built around the world and some are under construction. Many of these plants use tracking system to track the sun and produce more energy.

Affect on environment on the use of energy

Mallik (2008) wrote that in this modern age people are highly aware of the fact that the combustion of fossil fuels is very dangerous for the environment. Beside this, global change in the climate is also another factor. Carbon dioxide emission in the environment at a high rate is making matters worse. It is commonly seen that most of the industries, power plants and automobiles directly emit carbon dioxide in the environment.

In addition to this, Abbasi (2011) stated that lack of trees in the environment is also harmful because forests are being cut rapidly to avail the land for the construction of houses. The emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and cutting of trees are the main causes of green house gases. These green house gases in turn results in global warming and according to a number of researchers, global warming is increasing at a rapid rate. However, on the other hand, the renewable energy technologies have no adverse affect on the environment (Abbasi., 2011,pg 34).

Nicholson (2009) recommended that in order to make the world a better place to live, we should adopt the usage of renewable energy technologies so that global warming can be stopped. There are numerous examples of these renewable energy technologies, for instance wind energy produces no harmful substance. Beside this, it does not produce either air or water pollution. In addition to this, solar power systems also do not produce any air pollution but there is a criticism about manufacturing of solar power systems. Though, its manufacturing requires some amount of energy but if comparison is made with the conventional systems, the solar power systems requires less energy. As far as combustion of bio mass is concerned, it produces air pollution. However, the amount of air pollution depends upon the type of process used in the combustion of bio mass.

Demand of renewable energy in the future

According to a recent report published by the UN, the prices of renewable energy technology will reduce in the coming future due to the latest developments. Because of this reduction in the prices and increase in demand for the clean and sustainable energy, it can be easily predicted that the demand for renewable energy will increase in the future. In addition to this, the report that since people is now much aware about global warming, they are taking keen interest in the development of renewable resource technologies (Nicholson, 2009, pg 39-47).

The demand for electricity is also increasing with the rapid increase in population. This also shows that the increased demand for renewable technology in future because it is a safer and clean method of generating electricity. Apart from this, as it is mentioned above that renewable energy plays a positive role in the development of an economy therefore it also predicts that its demand will increase rather than decreasing. Another recent report told that in 2050, renewable energy would control the entire world by seventy-seven percent.

Herring (1988) told that the Government of United Kingdom is taking major steps for a bright future of clean energy in the country. The Government is planning to establish a bank named as Green investing bank to assist in providing financial facilities in the development of renewable technologies.

As far as funds are concerned, around $US35 billion (a$32.7 billion) has been given by the department of energy of United States in order to assist the projects of clean energy.

Beside this, the government has also announced to give $10 billion for the Clean Energy Financial Corporation. The CEFC will contribute in a vital way for gaining investments from the private sector.

Usage of energy in the commercial sector of United Kingdom

According to research, the commercial sector of United Kingdom consumes three times more energy as compared to the domestic sector. This consumption in the commercial sector is likely to grow at a faster and constant rate. As far as the office sector is concerned, the demand in this sector for the air conditioners is very high and this results in heavy emission of car bon dioxide gas. Not only is this, but the workers are now looking for more comfort, ease and luxury. This demand for comfort by the workers results in the usage of technology. The growing rate of consumption of energy in the commercial sector of the United Kingdom clearly reveals the fact that there is an expansion in the lighting, floor space, heating, air conditioning and information technology (Herring, Hardcastle, Phillipson, & Energy, 1988, pg 107-117).

According to Quaschin (2005), growth in the floor space of commercial sector has been observed since the year 1970 and from this year to 1994, floor space for the ware house increased at a drastic rate of 114% whereas the floor space for offices were doubled and 54% increase occurred in the floor space of retail. The same trends were observed in the leisure industry but this industry did an agreement on reducing the energy consumption with the government. Leisure industry is the first to make such an agreement of energy consumption with the government. A large part of the leisure business is comprised of restaurants; medium and small size pubs etc.

In the year 1981, it was determined that the commercial sector consumed around 6.4 per cent of the total energy. The most significant fuel for the commercial sector is electricity and the consumption of electricity as well as other fuels depends upon the services rather than the number of employees.

There are certain techniques available for the energy conservation. The users as well as the owners of the business should be well aware about the cost and the outcome that will be generated by using the fuels. It is also imperative that fuel prices are clear to the owners of the buildings as it helps the decision makers in taking an appropriate and efficient decision (Quaschning, 2005, pg 67-73).

Energy can also be saved through the commercial buildings in a variety of ways. For instance, microprocessors can assist in informing the managers about the energy patterns and in this way, a sophisticated and organized control can be made in the business.

According to Probst (2011), commercial sector has a high demand of fuels but on the other hand, this sector also emits carbon dioxide in multiple ways. Some of the industries in the commercial sector are using latest technology to avoid the emission of CO2 but a large part of commercial sector is paying no attention to this side in spite of being aware about its dangers.

The Association for Energy Conservation has proposed legislation and according to the legislation, the main property freeholders that include pension funds, insurance companies etc. should make their buildings energy efficient. In addition to this, the legislation also requires that there should be an audit for energy after every five years and the audit will be done to ensure that the performance of the business in terms of energy is according to the standards… READ MORE

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