Abstract

The atmosphere is a global public asset under increasing pressure, requiring

protection. Human activities damage the atmosphere, and yet there is currently no
systematic way to assess a loss of functionality or measure the costs of
degradation. Geographically, there is no method for identifying how atmospheric
services are distributed, or where conflicts between services arise. Coupling of the
earth’s surface with the atmosphere is achieved through an exchange of
momentum, energy, and mass in the atmospheric boundary layer. This paper
summarizes some of the challenges in managing and exploiting sunlight or solar
energy as a resource.

Keywords: pressure, degradation, atmospheric services, coupling, momentum,

atmospheric boundary layer, sunlight or solar energy.
Introduction

The natural resources, especially those of land, soil, water, forest, plant and
animal diversity, vegetation, renewable energy sources, climate change and
ecosystems services are fundamental for improving livelihoods and achieving
sustainable development. However, how best to manage natural resources to
improve livelihoods, reduce poverty and advance economic growth while
maintaining and enhancing the sustainability and resilience of the natural resources
base remains an elusive goal and daunting challenge for research, teaching,
development practice, community actions and policy.

However, understanding and tackling this complex challenges demands

creative, integrative and holistic approaches by multiple stakeholders, to bring
multiple and complementary perspective, knowledge and skills to facilitate a
socially equitable, economically efficient and environmentally sound development.
In the book, the terms environment generally refers to a natural resource base that
provides sources and perform sink functions (Bucknall, 2000). The chapter
introduces the concepts of atmospheric resources as an environmental resource.
The second part examines the challenges in managing and exploiting sunlight or
solar energy as a resource.

After reading this article, readers should be able to understand and improve
their knowledge about atmospheric resources as an environmental resource.
Readers will be aware of the multiple challenges and opportunities and prospects
for managing and exploiting sunlight or solar energy as a resource.
ATMOSPHERIC RESOURCE AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE

What is a Resource? A resource is a source or supply from which a benefit

is produced and that has some utility. Resources can broadly be classified upon
their availability — they are classified into renewable and non-renewable
resources. Examples of non renewable resources are coal, crude oil etc. Examples
of renewable resources are air, water, natural gas, wind, solar energy, etc. They can
also be classified as actual and potential on the basis of level of development and
use, on the basis of origin they can be classified as biotic and abiotic, and on the
basis of their distribution, as ubiquitous and localized (private resources,
community-owned resources, natural resources, international resources). An item
becomes a resource with time and developing technology. Typically, resources are
materials, energy, services, staff, knowledge, or other assets that are transformed to
produce benefit and in the process may be consumed or made unavailable. Benefits
of resource utilization may include increased wealth, proper functioning of a
system, or enhanced well-being. From a human perspective, a natural resource is
anything obtained from the environment to satisfy human needs and wants. From a
broader biological or ecological perspective, a resource satisfies the needs of a
living organism (see biological resource).

The concept of resources has been developed across many established areas
of work, in economics, biology and ecology, computer science, management, and
human resources for example - linked to the concepts of competition,
sustainability, conservation, and stewardship. In application within human society,
commercial or non-commercial factors require resource allocation through
resource management.

What Is an Environmental Resource? An environmental resource is any

material, service, or information from the environment that is valuable to society.
This can refer to anything that people find useful in their environs, or surroundings.
Food from plants and animals, wood for cooking, heating, and building, metals,
coal, and oil are all environmental resources. Clean land, air, and water are
environmental resources, as are the abilities of land, air, and water to absorb
society's waste products. Heat from the sun, transportation and recreation in lakes,
rivers, and oceans, a beautiful view, or the discovery of a new species are all
environmental resources. Some resources are renewable, or infinite, and some are
non-renewable, or finite. Renewable resources like energy from the sun are
plentiful and will be available for a long time. Finite resources, like oil and coal,
are non-renewable because once they are extracted from the earth and burned they
cannot be used again. These resources are in limited supply and need to be used
carefully. Many resources are becoming more and more limited, especially as
population and industrial growth place increasing pressure on the environment.
Before the Industrial Revolution, for example, people relied on their own strength
and their animals for work and transportation. The invention of the steam engine in
the 1850s radically altered peoples' ability to do work and to consume energy.
Today we have transformed our environment with machines, cars, and power
plants and in the process we have burnt extraordinary amounts of coal, oil, and
natural gas. Some predict that world coal deposits will last another 200 years,
while oil and natural gas reserves will last another one hundred years at current
rates of consumption. This rate of use is clearly not sustainable. The terms finite
and infinite are important because they indicate how much of a given resource is
available, and how fast people can use that resource without limiting future
supplies. Some resources that were once taken for granted are now becoming more
valuable. One of these resources is the environment's ability to absorb the waste
that people produce. In Jakarta, Indonesia, people living in very close quarters in
small shanties along numerous tidal canals use their only water supply for bathing,
washing clothes, drinking water, fishing, and as a toilet. It is common to see people
bathing just downstream from other people who are defecating directly into the
river. This scene illustrates a central problem in environmental resource
management. These people have only one water source and many needs in order to
live. The demands that they place on these resources seriously affect the health and
quality of life for all the people, but all of the needs must be met in some way.
Thoughtful management of these environmental resources, like building latrines,
could alleviate some of the strain on the river and improve other uses of the same
resource. People all over the world have taken for granted the valuable resources of
air, land, and water quality so that many rivers are undrinkable and unswimable
because they contain raw sewage, chemical fertilizers, and industrial wastes. As
people make decisions about what they will take from their environment, they also
must be conscious of what they intend to put back into that environment. Resource
economics was established during a time in human history when environmental
resources were thought to be limitless and without value until they were harvested
and brought to market. From this viewpoint, the world is big enough that when one
resource is exhausted another resource can be found to take its place. Land is
valuable according to what can be taken from it in order to make a profit. This kind
of management leads to enormous short term gains and is responsible for the speed
and efficiency of economic growth throughout the world. One the other hand, this
view overlooks longer term profits and the reality that the world is an increasingly
small, interconnected, and fragile system. People can no longer assume that they
can find fresh new supplies when they use up what they have. Very few places on
earth remain untouched and unexploited. The world's remaining forests, if
managed with care, could supply all of society's needs for timber and still remain
relatively healthy and intact. Forest resources can be renewable, since forests grow
quickly enough to replace themselves if used in moderation. Unfortunately, in
many places forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate. In Costa Rica, Central
America, 25% of the remaining forest land has disappeared since 1970. These
forests have been cleared to harvest tropical hardwoods, to create farmland and
pasture for animals, and to forage wood for cooking and heating. In a country
struggling for economic growth, these are all important needs, but they do not
always make long term economic sense. Farmers who graze cattle in tropical rain
forests or who clear trees off of steep hillsides destroy their land in a matter of
years with the idea that this is the fastest way to make money. In the same way,
loggers harvest trees for immediate sale, even though many of these trees take
hundreds of years to replenish themselves. In fact, the price for tropical hardwoods
has gone up four-fold since 1970. The trees cut and sold in 1970 represent a huge
economic loss to the Costa Rican economy, since they were sold for a fraction of
their present value. Often, the soil on this land quickly erodes downhill into
streams and rivers, clogging the rivers with sediment and killing fish and other
wildlife. This has the added drawback of damaging hydroelectric and irrigation
dams and hurting the fishing industry.

Despite these tragic losses, Costa Rica is a model in Central America and in the
world for finding alternative uses for its natural resources. Costa Rica has set aside
one fifth of its total land area for nature preserves and national park lands. These
beautiful and varied parks are valuable for several reasons. First, they help to
protect and preserve a huge diversity of tropical species, many undiscovered and
unstudied. Second, they protect a great deal of vegetation that is important in
producing oxygen, stabilizing atmospheric chemistry, and preventing global
climate change. Third, the natural beauty of these parks attracts many international
tourists. Tourism is one of Costa Rica's major industries, providing much needed
economic development. People from around the world appreciate the beauty and
the wonder—the intangible values—of these resources. Local people who would
have been hired one time to cut down a forest can now be hired for a lifetime to
work as park rangers and guides. Some would also argue that these nature
preserves have value in themselves without reference to human needs, simply
because they are filled with beautiful living birds, insects, plants, and animals.
Much of the dialogue in environmental resource management is about the need to
balance the needs for economic growth and prosperity with needs for sustainable
resource use. In a limited, finite world, there is a need to close the gap between the
rates of consumption and rates of supply. The debate over how to assign value to
different environmental resources is a lively one because the way that people think
about their environment directly affects how they interact with the world. Major
forms of environmental resources include:

a. Atmospheric Resource
b. Water Resource
c. Human Resource
d. Land Resource
e. Vegetation Resource
f. Mineral Resource

ATMOSPHERIC RESOURCES

These are those elements such as wind, sunlight and gases found in the
atmosphere which is of benefit to man, animals and plants. They are also those
resources in the atmosphere, such as solar energy, wind, gases, rain water.

Importance of atmospheric resources

1. Atmospheric gases: this includes oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water

vapour.
a. Oxygen is used by plants and animals for respiration. It also supports
burning of materials. Oxygen supports human life and also combines with
water (oxidation) for chemical weathering and is also used for industrial
purposes.
b. Carbon dioxide is required by plant for photosynthesis
EXPLOITATION AND MANAGING OF SUNLIGHT OR SOLAR ENERGY

Solar energy is any type of energy generated by the sun. Solar energy is
created by nuclear fusion that takes place in the sun. Fusion occurs when protons
of hydrogen atoms violently collide in the sun’s core and fuse to create a helium
atom. This process, known as a PP (proton-proton) chain reaction, emits an
enormous amount of energy. In its core, the sun fuses about 620 million metric
tons of hydrogen every second. The PP chain reaction occurs in other stars that are
about the size of our sun, and provides them with continuous energy and heat. The
temperature for these stars is around 4 million degrees on the Kelvin scale (about 4
million degrees Celsius, 7 million degrees Fahrenheit). In stars that are about 1.3
times bigger than the sun, the CNO cycle drives the creation of energy. The CNO
cycle also converts hydrogen to helium, but relies on carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen
(C, N, and O) to do so. Currently, less than 2% of the sun’s energy is created by
the CNO cycle. Although more and more of our electrical energy is coming from
sources where supply is variable -- whether from wind turbines, solar parks or
biomass facilities -- grid structures, industry and private households alike are not
yet prepared to deal with the inevitable fluctuations. Smart energy management
systems are the way to put robust supply networks in place and to ensure that
renewables are harnessed as efficiently as possible. Researchers from the
Fraunhofer Energy Alliance will be showcasing their energy solutions for energy
providers, small and medium-sized enterprises and homes at this year's Hannover
Messe. "Wind, solar and biogas are all energy sources with their own strengths and
weaknesses. And it's by combining the strengths of each in a smart way that we'll
be able to guarantee Germany's energy supply into the future," says Dr. Kurt
Rohrig, deputy director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy
System Technology IWES in Kassel. But what happens when, instead of a big
power plant, you have a host of individual small energy producers feeding in
energy to the grid at varying times? Is reliable operation of the grid still technically
feasible? In the "Combined Power Plant 2" research project, both science and
industry have answered the question with a resounding yes. Their concept: to use a
software platform to bring together a multitude of small energy providers within a
"virtual power plant."
Ways in Managing Sunlight or Solar Energy

1. Software platform brings decentralized providers together

Experts have already conducted a test showing that this setup does indeed work
reliably in practice, having combined numerous wind parks, biogas and
photovoltaic facilities delivering a total output of over 80 MW in a virtual
combined-cycle power plant. Because small providers work together, regional
variations in wind and sun can be evened out via the grid or using biogas facilities
that can be regulated according to requirement. Surplus energy is either stored or
converted into heat. The result is a powerful network that remains decentralized
but can still operate as a larger unit in energy trading markets. And it's not just the
facilities brought together in the virtual power plant that can be managed and
monitored via the software platform; the energy generated can be marketed, too.

"The results of the Combined Power Plant 2 project demonstrate that network
reliability can be guaranteed even when relying purely on renewables," says Dr.
Rohrig. Fraunhofer IWES offers the relevant control mechanisms and forecasting
systems for a variety of applications, including the Wind Power Management
System and Regional Virtual Power Plant for the energy industry.

2. Dynamic energy management systems

More and more companies are generating energy themselves, using solar
installations or systems that recover energy from manufacturing waste, in an effort
to cut costs. Now, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation
and Automation IFF in Magdeburg have developed dynamic energy management
systems that manage distributed energy providers, storage and current energy
consumption efficiently. Installed in a company, such a system determines whether
enough renewable energy will still be available to charge the fleet of electric
company cars once power has been supplied to the HVAC system. So that the
system can operate fully automatically, the amount of energy required and the
amount of power expected to be produced on a given day are measured at first for
general planning. In the detailed planning stage, data are supplied for the next
fifteen minutes. The researchers use neural networks trained specifically for the
particular complex infrastructure to make a forecast, which the system then uses to
optimize energy use in the next quarter of an hour automatically.
"We need to change our thinking from the now common generation of power
geared toward consumption to consumption geared toward providers. Smart and
dynamic management systems ensure that energy is used efficiently all the time,"
explains Dr. Przemyslaw Komarnicki from the Fraunhofer IFF.

3. Technologies for smart energy use in the home

With solar cells on the roof and small combined heat and power plants in the
basement, homes are also generating energy. But the energy a household generates
is seldom sufficient to meet its combined energy requirements throughout the year.
The only option is to buy in energy -- preferably when it is at its cheapest. "There
are significant savings to be made if you can cleverly combine independently
generated energy with variable energy tariffs and storage," says Jasmin Specht
from the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Erlangen. In an effort to
make this a reality, researchers from Fraunhofer IIS, Fraunhofer ISE and
Fraunhofer IWES are working on an open software platform called OGEMA 2.0
that will allow modular energy management systems to be developed efficiently.
OGEMA 2.0 energy management systems can control energy producing, storing
and consuming devices to achieve their optimal use. Not only do they facilitate the
best possible use of independently generated energy in houses or apartments, they
also allow users to store excess energy and to recall it when it is required. On top
of providing key management functions, the system can also communicate with
other participants in the smart energy network. This allows to actively contribute to
supply stability and the inclusion into a virtual power plant.

4. Secure energy management via apps

The smart energy management system can be accessed via various interfaces,
including smart phones, tablets and computers. For example, OGEMA 2.0 enables
apps that tell users whether they would be better off using the energy generated by
their solar cells themselves or whether they should feed it in to the grid. Such apps
are also capable of tracking variable energy tariffs and automatically calculate
when and how best to use connected devices such as heat pumps, storage systems,
air conditioning systems and other smaller consumers of energy. OGEMA 2.0 even
helps charge electric vehicles cost-effectively, with the E-Car Communication
Manager (ECM) coordinating communication among various charge spots (direct
and alternating current), the driver and the car's battery system. The system
features the maximum security level in line with the protection profiles of the BSI
(Federal Office for Information Security). This means Smartphone users also have
secure access to OGEMA 2.0 while on the move.

The exploitation of natural resources is the use of natural resources for

economic growth, sometimes with a negative connotation of accompanying
environmental degradation. It started to emerge on an industrial scale in the 19th
century as the extraction and processing of raw-materials (such as in mining, steam
power and machinery) development much further than it had in preindustrial areas.
As the world population rises and economic growth occurs, the depletion of natural
resources influenced by the unsustainable extraction of raw materials becomes an
increasing concern.

The ways to exploit solar energy “directly” are undergoing further

developments in order to improve their performances and, above all, their
economic viability. The oldest way is the use of thermal collectors, for direct
heating of premises or water circuits. It is an attractive solution that has been
promoted by gurantees, subsidies and technological improvements. Another one,
based on thermodynamic, was developed some years ago with installations in
France such as the Odeillo solar furnce or the Themismn 2 MW power plant, and is
now used on a larger scale in Carlifornia. The direct transformation of sunlight into
electricity, i.e photovoltaic power, constitutes the potentially most promising way
forward. For some ten years, the CEA has been working) box, p.26_ on developing
its advantages and minimizing constraints.

In terms of effectively exploiting solar energy, there are in fact two main,
industrially applicable routes available through which this solar energy can be
converted into viable forms of energy suitable for human consumption. There are
other ways that are however still in the nascent stage of research and will not be
highlighted here, such as thermoelectric behaviour. . The easiest way of looking at
this problem is to think of it as an energy conversion problem. One option is to
approach this problem as converting solar energy to an electrical impulse (i.e.,
electricity) using devices referred to as ‘solar cells’. This allows for immediate use
of the solar energy in a manner that is conventional and familiar to society at 356
RESONANCE | March 2018 GENERAL ARTICLE large. Solar cells are devices
comprising multiple chemical layers and the main functioning is based on the
photovoltaic effect which is closely related to the photoelectric effect. The
principle driving all the solar cells (1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation of these devices)
stem from absorption of a photon of energy to obtain an excited electron and a hole
(charge carriers). The sole aim of the solar cell is to ensure that these excited
species do not recombine but instead are separated effectively without loss of
energy and are viably extracted from the device (via opposite electrodes)
generating electricity. Another popular direction is converting solar energy into
some form of stored energy. This stored energy is very commonly thought of being
stored inside chemical bonds. As such, a molecule is synthesized using the solar
energy and this energy therefore is effectively converted into chemical energy
yielding ‘solar fuels’. The molecule can subsequently be combusted (or participate
in another chemical reaction) at a later date to release the energy. One of the main
advantages of such route is that the captured energy is stored, and can be used at
will and perhaps at a different location from where it was captured. Currently, the
formation of some of the most common types of solar fuels being researched is
hydrogen, methane, and methanol. Furthermore, these molecules can not only be
used for transport and electricity generation, but also as feedstock in (the chemical)
industry.

Since sunlight only shines for about half of the day in most parts of the
world, solar energy technologies have to include methods of storing the energy
during dark hours. Thermal mass systems use paraffin wax or various forms of salt
to store the energy in the form of heat. Photovoltaic systems can send excess
electricity to the local power grid, or store the energy in rechargeable batteries.

There are many pros and cons to using solar energy.

Advantages

1. A major advantage to using solar energy is that it is a renewable resource.

We will have a steady, limitless supply of sunlight for another 5 billion
years. In one hour, the Earth’s atmosphere receives enough sunlight to
power the electricity needs of every human being on Earth for a year.
 2. Solar energy is clean. After the solar technology equipment is constructed
and put in place, solar energy does not need fuel to work. It also does not
emit greenhouse gases or toxic materials. Using solar energy can drastically
reduce the impact we have on the environment.
3. There are locations where solar energy is practical. Homes and buildings in
areas with high amounts of sunlight and low cloud cover have the
opportunity to harness the sun’s abundant energy.
4. Solar cookers provide an excellent alternative to cooking with wood-fired
stoves—on which 2 billion people still rely. Solar cookers provide a cleaner
and safer way to sanitize water and cook food.
5. Solar energy complements other renewable sources of energy, such as wind
or hydroelectric energy.
6. Homes or businesses that install successful solar panels can actually produce
excess electricity. These homeowners or business owners can sell energy
back to the electric provider, reducing or even eliminating power bills.

Disadvantages

1. The main deterrent to using solar energy is the required equipment. Solar
technology equipment is expensive. Purchasing and installing the equipment
can cost tens of thousands of dollars for individual homes. Although the
government often offers reduced taxes to people and businesses using solar
energy, and the technology can eliminate electricity bills, the initial cost is
too steep for many to consider.
2. Solar energy equipment is also heavy. In order to retrofit or install solar
panels on the roof of a building, the roof must be strong, large, and oriented
toward the sun’s path.
3. Both active and passive solar technology depends on factors that are out of
our control, such as climate and cloud cover. Local areas must be studied to
determine whether or not solar power would be effective in that area.
4. Sunlight must be abundant and consistent for solar energy to be an efficient
choice. In most places on Earth, sunlight’s variability makes it difficult to
implement as the only source of energy.
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