What is Energy?

Energy
• moves cars along the road and boats on the water.
• bakes a cake in the oven.
• keeps ice frozen in the freezer.
• lights our homes at night.
• helps our bodies to grow and our minds to think.
What is Energy?

Energy is defined as the ability to produce change

or do work.

Energy Produces

Light Heat Motion Sound Growth Technology

Forms of Energy

There are many forms of energy, but

they all fall into two categories:

1) Potential Energy is stored energy and

the energy of position, or gravitational
potential energy.
2) Kinetic Energy is motion—the motion of
waves, electrons, atoms, molecules,
substances, and objects.
Forms of Energy

• Chemical energy is energy stored in the bonds of atoms and molecules. It is

the energy that holds these particles together. Foods we eat, biomass,
petroleum, natural gas, and propane are examples of stored chemical energy.
During photosynthesis, sunlight gives plants the energy they need to build
complex chemical compounds. When these compounds are later broken down,
the stored chemical energy is released as heat, light, motion, and sound.

• Elastic energy is energy stored in objects by the application of a force.

Compressed springs and stretched rubber bands are examples of elastic energy.
Forms of Energy

• Nuclear energy is energy stored in the nucleus of an atom—the energy that

binds the nucleus together. The energy can be released when the nuclei are
combined or split apart. Nuclear power plants split the nuclei of uranium atoms
in a process called fission. The sun combines the nuclei of hydrogen atoms into
helium atoms in a process called fusion. In both fission and fusion, mass is
converted into energy, according to Einstein’s Theory, E = mc2.

• Gravitational potential energy is the energy of position or place. A rock resting

at the top of a hill contains gravitational potential energy because of its
position. Hydropower, such as water in a reservoir behind a dam, is an example
of gravitational potential energy.
Forms of Energy

• Electrical energy is the movement of electrons. Everything is made of tiny

particles called atoms. Atoms are made of even smaller particles called
electrons, protons, and neutrons. Applying a force can make some of the
electrons move. Electrons moving through a wire are called electricity.
Lightning is another example of electrical energy.

• Radiant energy is electromagnetic energy that travels in transverse waves.

Radiant energy includes visible light, x-rays, gamma rays, and radio waves.
Solar energy is an example of radiant energy.
Forms of Energy
• Thermal energy, which is often described as heat, is the internal energy in
substances— the vibration and movement of atoms and molecules within
substances. The faster molecules and atoms vibrate and move within a
substance, the more energy they possess and the hotter they become.
Geothermal energy is an example of thermal energy.

• Motion energy is the movement of objects and substances from one place to
another. According to Newton’s Laws of Motion, objects and substances move
when an unbalanced force is applied. Wind is an example of motion energy.

• Sound energy is the movement of energy through substances in longitudinal

(compression/rarefaction) waves. Sound is produced when a force causes an
object or substance to vibrate. The energy is transferred through the substance
in a wave.
Conservation of Energy

• Your parents may tell you to conserve energy. “Turn off the lights,” they say. But
to scientists, conservation of energy means something quite different.

• The Law of Conservation of Energy says energy is neither created nor

destroyed.

• When we use energy, we do not use it completely—we just change its form.
That’s really what we mean when we say we are using energy. We change one
form of energy into another.
Conservation of Energy
• Energy can change form, but the total quantity of energy in the
universe remains the same. The only exception to this law is when a
small amount of matter is converted into energy during nuclear fusion
and fission.
• A car engine burns gasoline,
• converting the chemical energy in the gasoline
into motion energy
that makes the car move. Old-
fashioned windmills changed the
kinetic energy of the wind into
motion energy to grind grain. Solar
cells change radiant energy into
electrical energy.
Energy Efficiency

• Energy efficiency is the amount of useful energy you can get out of a system.

• In theory, a 100 percent energy efficient machine would change all of the
energy put in it into useful work. Converting one form of energy into another
form always involves a loss of usable energy, usually in the form of thermal
energy.

• In fact, most energy transformations are not very efficient. The human body is
no exception. Your body is like a machine, and the fuel for your “machine” is
food. Food gives us the energy to move, breathe, and think.
Energy Efficiency
• Your body is very inefficient at converting food into useful work.
Most of the energy in your body is released as thermal energy.

• An incandescent light bulb isn’t efficient either. This type of light

bulb converts ten percent of the electrical energy into light and
the rest (90 percent) is converted into thermal energy. That’s why
these light bulbs are so hot to the touch.

• Most electric power plants that use steam to spin turbines are
about 35 percent efficient. Thus, it takes three units of fuel to
make one unit of electricity. Most of the other energy is lost as
waste heat. This heat dissipates into the environment where we
can no longer use it as a practical source of energy
Alternative Energy Sources

• 90% of the energy used today is in the

form of fossil fuels.

• Forms of energy OTHER than fossil

fuels are termed “alternative” energy
sources.
Energy Sources
• Nonrenewable energy sources :
cannot be replenished in a short period of time.
Petroleum, a fossil fuel, for example, was formed hundreds of millions of years
ago, before dinosaurs existed. It was formed from the remains of ancient sea life,
so it cannot be made quickly. We could run out of economically recoverable
nonrenewable resources some day.

• Renewable energy sources :

can be replenished in a short period of time.

Day after day, the sun shines, the wind blows, and the rivers flow. We use
renewable energy sources
mainly to make electricity.
Energy Sources

Coal Non Renewable

Petroleum Non Renewable
Solar Renewable
Hydropower Renewable
Wind Renewable
Uranium Non Renewable
Natural gas Non Renewable
Propane Non Renewable
Geothermal Renewable
Biomass Renewable
Renewable & Non-Renewable Energy Sources

Is electricity a renewable or nonrenewable source of energy?

The answer is neither. Electricity is different from the other energy sources
because it is a secondary source of energy. That means we have to use another
energy source to make it. In the United States, coal is the number one fuel for
generating electricity.
History of Solar Electric or Photovoltaic Systems

• The first in a long list of discoveries that led to commercial solar electricity
occurred in 1839 with Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel.

• He submerged two brass plates in a conductive liquid and then shined a light on
the plates and discovered that it generated an electrical current.

• This process became known as the photovoltaic effect.

• Years later, in the mid-1870s, Charles Fritts, an American inventor, devised an

electricity-generating solar cell.
History of Photovoltaic Systems

• Solar cells began their modern development phase in the 1950’s to meet the
needs of satellite and space vehicles.

• Space was the primary market for solar systems for over two decades. People
have relied on solar cells to power almost every satellite since 1958 due to
(1) No maintenance for about 5 to 10 years.
(2) Reliable and lightweight.
(3) provide max conversion efficiency.
(4) can recharge batteries too.
What is meant by Photovoltaics?

Photo comes from a Greek root meaning light. The suffix voltaic
comes from the word volt. A volt is a unit of electromotive force.
Put together, photovoltaic means “able to produce a voltage, or
electric current, when exposed to radiant energy.”
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SUNLIGHT
PARTICLE-WAVE DUALITY

Nature of Light → Conflicting viewpoint over the last few centuries.

(1) Late 1600s → Light is made up of small particles (Newton)

(2) Early 1800s → Interference effects in light beams, indicating light is made up
of waves (Young & Fresnel)
(3) 1860s → Light has a wide spectrum of EM waves with different λs (Maxwell)
(4) 1905 → Photoelectric effect, light is made up of discrete particles or quanta
of energy (Einstein)
PARTICLE-WAVE DUALITY

• This complementary nature of light is now well accepted. It is referred to as the

particle-wave duality, and is summarized by the equation

E = hf = hc/λ

• where light, of frequency f or wavelength λ , comes in ‘packets’ or photons, of

energy E, h is Planck’s constant (6.626 × 10–34 Js) and c is the velocity of light
(3.00 × 108 m/s).

• In defining the characteristics of photovoltaic or ‘solar’ cells, light is sometimes

treated as waves, other times as particles or photons.
BLACKBODY RADIATION

• A ‘blackbody’ is an ideal absorber, and emitter, of radiation.

• When metal is heated, it starts to glow; that is, to emit

electromagnetic radiation.

• The hotter it gets, the shorter the wavelength of light emitted and
an initial red glow gradually turns white.
BLACKBODY RADIATION

• Classical physics was unable to describe the wavelength distribution of light

emitted from such a heated object.

• However, in 1900, Max Planck derived a mathematical expression describing this

distribution, although the underlying physics was not understood until Einstein’s
work on ‘quanta’ five years later.

(1) Energy is not shared equally by electrons that vibrate with different frequencies.
(2) Energy comes in clumps. He called a clump of energy a quantum.

• He explained the spectrum of black body radiation and said that electron vibrating with
frequency f could only have an Energy of 1hf, 2hf, 3hf,…. (only DISCRETE value, NOT
INFINITE )
BLACKBODY RADIATION

• Above room temperature → Black body emits radiation at all λ’s.

The Black body spectrum

depends only on
TEMPERATURE and not what
it is made of

Light at different temperatures has a different distribution of energy

among the different wavelengths.
THE SUN AND ITS RADIATION

• The sun is a hot sphere of gas heated by nuclear

fusion reactions at its center .
• Internal temperatures reach a very warm 20
million K.
• As indicated in Fig. 1.2, the intense radiation
from the interior is absorbed by a layer of
hydrogen ions closer to the sun’s surface.
• Energy is transferred by convection through this
optical barrier and then re-radiated from the
outer surface of the sun, the photosphere.
• This emits radiation approximating that from a
blackbody with a temperature of nearly 6000 K,
as shown in Fig. 1.3.
THE SUN AND ITS RADIATION

• Figure 1.3. The spectral irradiance

from a blackbody at 6000 K (at the
same apparent diameter as the sun
when viewed from earth);
• from the sun’s photosphere as
observed just outside earth’s
atmosphere (AM0);
• and from the sun’s photosphere
after having passed through 1.5
times the thickness of earth’s
atmosphere (AM1.5G).
SOLAR RADIATION

• Although radiation from the sun’s surface is reasonably constant,

by the time it reaches the earth’s surface it is highly variable
owing to absorption and scattering in the earth’s atmosphere.

• When skies are clear, the maximum radiation strikes the earth’s
surface when the sun is directly overhead, and sunlight has the
shortest path length through the atmosphere.

• This path length can be approximated by 1/cosφ, where φ is the

angle between the sun and the point directly overhead, as
shown in Fig. 1.4.
SOLAR RADIATION

• This path length is usually referred to as the Air Mass (AM) through
which solar radiation must pass to reach the earth’s surface.
Therefore
AM = 1/cosφ

• This is based on the assumption of a homogeneous, non-refractive

atmosphere, which introduces an error of approximately 10% close
to the horizon.
SOLAR RADIATION

AM = 1/cosφ
• When φ = 0, the Air Mass equals 1 or ‘AM1’ radiation is being
received;

• when φ = 60°, the Air Mass equals 2 or ‘AM2’ conditions prevail.

• AM1.5 (equivalent to a sun angle of 48.2° from overhead) has

become the standard for photovoltaic work.
SOLAR RADIATION

• The Air Mass (AM) can be estimated

at any location using the following
formula:
𝑠
AM = 1+ ℎ
2

• where s is the length of the shadow

cast by a vertical post of height h,
as shown in Fig. 1.5.
SOLAR RADIATION

• The spectral distribution of sunlight outside

the atmosphere (Air Mass Zero or AM0), and
at AM1.5 are shown in Fig. 1.6.
• Air Mass Zero is essentially unvarying and
its total power density, integrated over the
spectrum, is referred to as the solar
constant, with a generally accepted value
(ASTM, 2000, 2003; Gueymard, 2004) of

γ = 1.3661 kW/m2
DIRECT AND DIFFUSE RADIATION

Global Radiation = Direct radiation + Diffuse radiation

( from sun ) (from elsewhere in the sky)

• different types of photovoltaic cells respond differently to different

wavelengths of light.

• 1000 W/m2, is the present standard used for rating photovoltaic products.
(maximum power received at the earth’s surface)
DIRECT AND DIFFUSE RADIATION

• Sunlight reaches the Earth’s surface in the form of direct and diffuse radiation.

• Direct Radiation is the portion of sunlight received directly from the sun
without scattering and reflection by the atmosphere and ground.

• Diffuse radiation is the sunlight that ultimately reaches the Earth’s surface after
having been scattered by molecules or particles in the atmosphere, which can
also cause sky color changes.
DIRECT AND DIFFUSE RADIATION
• Sunlight passing through the earth’s atmosphere is attenuated, or reduced, by
about 30% by the time it reaches the earth’s surface due to:

1. Scattering by molecules in the atmosphere, by aerosols and by dust particles.

2. Absorption by atmospheric gases such as oxygen, ozone, water vapour and
carbon dioxide (CO2)

a)MieScattering occurs when the particles causing the scattering are larger than the
wavelengths of radiation in contact with them.
b) Rayleigh scattering occurs when the particles are smaller than the wavelength of the light.
DIRECT AND DIFFUSE RADIATION

• Wavelengths below 0.3μm are strongly absorbed by ozone.

• Depletion of ozone from the atmosphere allows more of this short wavelength
light to reach the earth, with consequent harmful effects on biological systems.

• The absorption bands around 1μm are produced by water vapour absorption,
complemented by CO2 absorption at longer wavelengths.

• Changing the CO2 content of the atmosphere also has consequences for the
earth’s climatic and biological systems.
DIRECT AND DIFFUSE RADIATION

• Fig. 1.7 shows how atmospheric scattering results in a

diffuse component of sunlight coming from all
directions in the sky.
• Diffuse radiation is predominantly at the blue end of
the spectrum because of more effective scattering at
small wavelengths. Hence, the sky appears blue.

• AM1 radiation (radiation when the sun is directly

overhead), has a diffuse component of about 10% when
skies are clear. The percentage increases with
increasing air mass or when skies are not clear.
DIRECT AND DIFFUSE RADIATION

• Cloud cover is, of course, a significant cause of radiation

attenuation and scattering. Cumulus or bulky, low altitude
clouds, are very effective in blocking sunlight.
• However, about half the direct beam radiation blocked by
cumulus clouds is recovered in the form of diffuse
radiation. Cirrus, or wispy, high altitude clouds, are not as
effective in blocking sunlight, and about two thirds of the
direct beam radiation blocked is converted to diffuse
radiation.
• On a totally cloudy day, with no sunshine, most radiation
reaching the earth’s surface will be diffuse