Questions tagged [renewable-energy]
Energy sources that do not rely on the consumption of an exhaustible fuel. Tidal, geothermal, and the direct and indirect solar energies (direct: photovoltaics, CSP, solar thermal; indirect: wind, wave, biomass) are renewable energy.
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Wind generators - why so few blades?
Why commercial wind generators usually have just 2-3 blades?
Having more blades would allow to increase power OR decrease diameter.
Decreased diameter would also reduce stress due to different wind ...
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Why are solar panels kept tilted?
I have noticed that, in my country India, most of the solar panels are tilted southward at an angle of ${45}^{\circ} .$ Even on buildings with inverted V-shaped roofs, solar panels are still oriented ...
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Is plant photosynthesis more efficient than solar panels?
Is photosynthesis more efficient than solar panels? If so, by how much?
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Are tidal power plants slowing down Earth's rotation?
Are tidal power plants slowing down Earth's rotation to the speed of the orbiting moon? (1 rotation per 28 cca days)
Are they vice versa increasing the speed of moon orbiting by generating some ...
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Where does electricity go from a solar panel that is not plugged in to anything?
I found a similar question here on this site, but my question is slightly different. If a solar panel is exposed to sunlight but is not plugged in to anything--dc load, inverter, etc--where does that ...
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Theoretical physics for better batteries?
It is Earth day, so I started thinking about the theoretical physics problems that could help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and fight climate change.
We actually have a reasonable range of ways to ...
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Why is the ground warm during winter and vice-versa?
I was just looking at the geothermal house heating in Iceland, and came to know that in the winter the water is warm, hence cools the house, but how is it hot, not about us feeling it.. My question is ...
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Is nuclear power desireable in the long term, given the fact that it's an unnatural heat input to our planet? [closed]
I've been reflecting on whether we want nuclear at all in the long term (compared to renewables like wind, solar, and hydro). There's a certain amount of heat (energy) entering our planet and leaving ...
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Are Fresnel lenses widely used for solar electricity? If not, why not?
I was just wondering why Fresnel Lenses are not widely used in the production of solar electricity. Their use there would mean that you could produce heat within a fraction of a second, up to a few ...
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Where does the electricity, generated by a solar panel, go if you don't use the electricity?
I'm sorry if this question is too trivial for this Q&A forum. I am a layman when it comes to physics (though I did cover the high-school physics courses).
I was wondering what happens to the ...
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Does the second law of thermodynamics imply that renewable energy also leads to global warming/climate change?
So I have this (possibly dumb) question about the implications of the second law of thermodynamics to the use of renewable energy for the world, so please bear with me. Here goes: Apart from the ...
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Energy from man-made tornadoes
Peter Thiel just paid $300,000 to Canadian inventor Louis Michaud who is working to construct useful "man-made tornadoes" or "atmospheric vortex engines" which could be components of future power ...
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What does the quantification of causes and effect look like, for clouds in offshore wind turbine wakes?
At Horns Rev windfarm off the coast of Denmark, sometimes in winter, clouds appears in the wake of the turbines. I've only seen photos of the phenomenon when the wind direction is exactly aligned with ...
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Is Keshe's technology for real?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrN99RELqwo (Video Title: "Keshe Foundation Promo Intro Video (english with multiple subtitles) === PLEASE SHARE ===")
In this video they claim that they can create ...
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What new breakthrough energy technologies are close to being realized? [closed]
Energy production is one of the burning issues for humankind. There has been some talk about future energy technologies including Fusion, Anti-matter annihilation and Zero-point-energy (from most to ...