Solar Engineering Of Thermal Processes

The Montreal Protocol is working, but it will take several decades for ozone to return to 1980 levels. The atmospheric concentrations of ozone depleting substances are decreasing, and ozone column amounts are no longer decreasing. Mid-latitude ozone is expected to return to 1980 levels before mid-century, slightly earlier than predicted previously. However, the recovery rate will be slower at high latitudes. Springtime ozone depletion is expected to continue to occur at polar latitudes, especially in Antarctica, in the next few decades. Because of the success of the Protocol, increases in UV-B radiation have been small outside regions affected by the Antarctic ozone hole, and have been difficult to detect. There is a large variability in UV-B radiation due to factors other than ozone, such as clouds and aerosols. There are few long-term measurements available to confirm the increases that would have occurred as a result of ozone depletion. At mid-latitudes UV-B irradiances are currently only slightly greater than in 1980 (increases less than ~5%), but increases have been substantial at high and polar latitudes where ozone depletion has been larger. Without the Montreal Protocol, peak values of sunburning UV radiation could have been tripled by 2065 at mid-northern latitudes. This would have had serious consequences for the environment and for human health. There are strong interactions between ozone depletion and changes in climate induced by increasing greenhouse gases (GHGs). Ozone depletion affects climate, and climate change affects ozone. The successful implementation of the Montreal Protocol has had a marked effect on climate change. The calculated reduction in radiative forcing due to the phase-out of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) far exceeds that from the measures taken under the Kyoto protocol for the reduction of GHGs. Thus the phase-out of CFCs is currently tending to counteract the increases in surface temperature due to increased GHGs. The amount of stratospheric ozone can also be affected by the increases in the concentration of GHGs, which lead to decreased temperatures in the stratosphere and accelerated circulation patterns. These changes tend to decrease total ozone in the tropics and increase total ozone at mid and high latitudes. Changes in circulation induced by changes in ozone can also affect patterns of surface wind and rainfall. The projected changes in ozone and clouds may lead to large decreases in UV at high latitudes, where UV is already low; and to small increases at low latitudes, where it is already high. This could have important implications for health and ecosystems. Compared to 1980, UV-B irradiance towards the end of the 21st century is projected to be lower at mid to high latitudes by between 5 and 20% respectively, and higher by 2-3% in the low latitudes. However, these projections must be treated with caution because they also depend strongly on changes in cloud cover, air pollutants, and aerosols, all of which are influenced by climate change, and their future is uncertain. Strong interactions between ozone depletion and climate change and uncertainties in the measurements and models limit our confidence in predicting the future UV radiation. It is therefore important to improve our understanding of the processes involved, and to continue monitoring ozone and surface UV spectral irradiances both from the surface and from satellites so we can respond to unexpected changes in the future.

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Ozone depletion and climate change: impacts on UV radiation

There has been an enormous infusion of new ideas in the field of solar cells over the last 15 years; discourse on energy transfer has gotten much richer, and nanostructures and nanomaterials have revolutionized the possibilities for new technological developments. However, solar energy cannot become ubiquitous in the world's power markets unless it can become economically competitive with legacy generation methods such as fossil fuels. The new edition of Dr. Stephen Fonash's definitive text points the way toward greater efficiency and cheaper production by adding coverage of cutting-edge topics in plasmonics, multi-exiton generation processes, nanostructures and nanomaterials such as quantum dots. This book's new structure improves readability by shifting many detailed equations to appendices, and balances the first edition's semiconductor coverage with an emphasis on thin-films. Further, it now demonstrates physical principles with simulations in the well-known AMPS computer code developed by the author. This classic text is now updated with new advances in nanomaterials and thin films that point the way to cheaper, more efficient solar energy production and, many of the detailed equations from the first edition have been shifted to appendices in order to improve readability. It carries important theoretical points are now accompanied by concrete demonstrations via included simulations created with the well-known AMPS computer code.

太阳电池器件物理 = Solar cell device physics

Climate change and air pollution are critical environmental issues both in the here and now and for the coming decades. A recent OECD report found that unless action is taken, air pollution will be the largest environmental cause of premature death worldwide by 2050. Already, air pollution levels in Asia are far above acceptable levels for human health, and even in Europe, the vast majority of the urban population was exposed to air pollution concentrations exceeding the EU daily limit values, and especially the stricter WHO air quality guidelines in the past decade. The most recent synthesis of climate change research as presented in the fifth IPCC Assessment Report (AR5) states that the warming of the climate system is unequivocal, recognizing the dominant cause as human influence, and providing evidence for a 43% higher total (from 1750 to the present) anthropogenic radiative forcing (RF) than was reported in 2005 from the previous assessment report.

Chemistry and the Linkages between Air Quality and Climate Change.

Abstract. The Tibetan Plateau (TP) has long been identified to be critical in regulating the Asian monsoon climate and hydrological cycle. In this modeling study a series of numerical experiments with a global climate model are designed to simulate radiative effect of black carbon (BC) and dust in snow, and to assess the relative impacts of anthropogenic CO2 and carbonaceous particles in the atmosphere and snow on the snowpack over the TP and subsequent impacts on the Asian monsoon climate and hydrological cycle. Simulations results show a large BC content in snow over the TP, especially the southern slope. Because of the high aerosol content in snow and large incident solar radiation in the low latitude and high elevation, the TP exhibits the largest surface radiative flux changes induced by aerosols (e.g. BC, Dust) in snow compared to any other snow-covered regions in the world. Simulation results show that the aerosol-induced snow albedo perturbations generate surface radiative flux changes of 5–25 W m−2 during spring, with a maximum in April or May. BC-in-snow increases the surface air temperature by around 1.0 °C averaged over the TP and reduces spring snowpack over the TP more than pre-industrial to present CO2 increase and carbonaceous particles in the atmosphere. As a result, runoff increases during late winter and early spring but decreases during late spring and early summer (i.e. a trend toward earlier melt dates). The snowmelt efficacy, defined as the snowpack reduction per unit degree of warming induced by the forcing agent, is 1–4 times larger for BC-in-snow than CO2 increase during April–July, indicating that BC-in-snow more efficiently accelerates snowmelt because the increased net solar radiation induced by reduced albedo melts the snow more efficiently than snow melt due to warming in the air. The TP also influences the South (SAM) and East (EAM) Asian monsoon through its dynamical and thermal forcing. Simulation results show that during boreal spring aerosols are transported by southwesterly, causing some particles to reach higher altitude and deposit to the snowpack over the TP. While BC and Organic Matter (OM) in the atmosphere directly absorb sunlight and warm the air, the darkened snow surface polluted by BC absorbs more solar radiation and increases the skin temperature, which warms the air above through sensible heat flux. Both effects enhance the upward motion of air and spur deep convection along the TP during the pre-monsoon season, resulting in earlier onset of the SAM and increase of moisture, cloudiness and convective precipitation over northern India. BC-in-snow has a more significant impact on the EAM in July than CO2 increase and carbonaceous particles in the atmosphere. Contributed by the significant increase of both sensible heat flux associated with the warm skin temperature and latent heat flux associated with increased soil moisture with long memory, the role of the TP as a heat pump is elevated from spring through summer as the land-sea thermal contrast increases to strengthen the EAM. As a result, both southern China and northern China become wetter, but central China (i.e. Yangtze River Basin) becomes drier – a near-zonal anomaly pattern that is consistent with the dominant mode of precipitation variability in East Asia. The snow impurity effects reported in this study likely represent some upper limits as snowpack is remarkably overestimated over the TP due to excessive precipitation. Improving the simulation of precipitation and snowpack will be important for improved estimates of the effects of snowpack pollution in future work.

Impacts of Tibetan Plateau snowpack pollution on the Asian hydrological cycle and monsoon climate

Black carbon aerosols variation in Kathmandu valley, Nepal

This paper presents a comparative study on organometal halide perovskite based solar cells using two different transparent conducting oxides such as TiO2 and ZnO as electron transporting materials. Simulation is an interesting tool for studying the behavior of every component of a solar cell device as well as for analyzing the performance of the full device. Solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS)-1D has been the tool used for numerical simulation of such devices. Influences of thickness of absorber and ETMs, interface trap density of states and dopant concentration of ETMs on the performance of photovoltaic solar cells are studied. Comparable efficiencies of 22.35% and 22.49% for PV devices made of spiro-MeOTAD/MAPbI3/TiO2 and spiro-MeOTAD/MAPbI3/ZnO, respectively, with 400/400/90 nm thicknesses under 1 Sun illumination are observed. The performance of both devices indicates the replacement of the TiO2 by a ZnO layer. It could be a good option to reduce the cost and increase the mobility of ETM for this type of solar cells. Generally, increase in thickness of MAPbI3 perovskite up to around 700 nm results into increase in the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the solar cells. On the other hand, TiO2 and ZnO layers thicker than 90 nm results into decrease in the efficiency of the devices. Furthermore, the increase in interface trap density is found to reduce the efficiency of the devices. (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Comparative study on MAPbI3 based solar cells using different electron transporting materials

This paper presents the global solar radiation (GSR) and cloud transmittance factor (cf) measured at the horizontal surface over a period of one year from 2009 to 2010 using CMP6 Pyranometer and NILUUV Irradiance Meter at Lukla (Latitude 26.69oN,Longitude 86.73?E and Altitude 2850 m) in the foothills of the Mt Everest (8850 m high). Monthly and seasonal variations of global solar radiation as well as correlation between clearness index and cloud transmittance factor at Lukla are presented. The annual average daily global solar radiation is about 3.83 kWh/sq·m/day which is sufficient to promote solar active and passive energy technology at high mountain terrain where there is no other viable alternative sources of energy. The maximum and minimum global solar radiation of 5.33 and 2.08 kWh/sq·m/day is recorded in April and September 2010 respectively. The seasonal variation of solar energy is about 2.87 kWh/sq·m/day and 4.83 kWh/sq·m/day in summer and spring respectively which is not in line with the general trend. The coefficient of determination (R2) between cloud transmittance factor (cf) and clearness factor (K) is found to be 0.97. This novel result can be utilized to estimate the global solar radiation at the horizontal surface where K and cf are available.

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Estimation of Global Solar Radiation Using Clearness Index and Cloud Transmittance Factor at Trans-Himalayan Region in Nepal

The intensity of solar radiation available at the horizontal surface are measured by a CMP6 Pyranometer in Biratnagar (26.45°N, 87.27°E), Pokhara (28.22°N, 83.32°E), Kathmandu (27.72°N, 85.32°E ) and Lukla (26.69°N,86.73°E), which are 72m, 800m, 1350m, and 2850m, above from the sea level. This paper compares the seasonal and altitude variations of total solar radiation measured at above mentioned sites. The maximum total solar radiation of about 704.51 W/m 2 , 815.97 W/m 2 777.27 W/m 2 and 914.03 W/m 2 , are observed in Biratnagar, Pokhara, Kathmandu, and Lukla respectively . Solar radiation available in any location is affected by topography and pollution. It is found that the more solar energy is available during spring than in summer in Lukla. The solar radiation is observed higher in Pokhara than in Kathmandu. It might be due to absorption of solar energy by air pollutants which are higher in Kathmandu as compared to Pokhara.In addition we also discussed the diurnal variation of measured and calculated data of solar radiation on clear sky day. The annual average solar energy measuring 4.95, 5.44, 5.19 and 4.61 kWh/m 2 /day is found in Biratnagar, Pokhara Kathmandu and Lukla respectively. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jie.v8i3.5944 JIE 2011; 8(3): 189-197

Solar Radiation Potential at Four Sites of Nepal

Rational and accurate solar energy databases, essential for designing, sizing and performing the solar energy systems in any part of the world, are not easily accessible in different localities of Nepal. In this study, daily global solar radiation, sunshine hours and meteorological data for Biratnagar, Kathmandu, Pokhara and Jumla have been used to derive the regression constants. The linear regression technique has been used to develop a model for Biratnagar, Kathmandu, Pokhara and Jumla. The model has calculated the global solar radiation for these locations. The values of global solar radiation estimated by the model are found to be in close agreement with measured values of respective sites. The estimated values were compared with Angstrom-Prescott model and examined using the root mean square error (RMSE), mean bias error (MBE), mean percentage error (MPE), coefficient of regression (R), coefficient of determinant (R 2 ) and correlation coefficient (CC) statistical techniques. Thus, the resultant correlations and linear regression relations may be then used for the locations of similar meteorological/geographical characteristics and also can be used to estimate the missing data of solar radiation for the respective site.

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Binod K. Bhattarai

Papers

Black carbon aerosols variation in Kathmandu valley, Nepal

Comparative study on MAPbI3 based solar cells using different electron transporting materials

Estimation of Global Solar Radiation Using Clearness Index and Cloud Transmittance Factor at Trans-Himalayan Region in Nepal

Solar Radiation Potential at Four Sites of Nepal

Estimation of Global Solar Radiation for Four Selected Sites in Nepal Using Sunshine Hours, Temperature and Relative Humidity