What type of solar energy system is needed for these kinds of applications?

Some solar energy systems produce high-temperature water for industrial applications and produce steam to run turbines that generate electricity.
What type of solar energy system is needed for these kinds of applications?

A. A flat-panel solar collector system
B. A solar collector system using mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight
C. A passive solar system that uses building design to block summer sunlight
D. A flat non-tracking array of photovoltaic panels
E. A passive solar system that uses building design to collect winter sunlight

5 thoughts on “What type of solar energy system is needed for these kinds of applications?”

  1. Sounds to me like you would need a solar collector system using mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight for those types of applications. Here is why:

    The passive systems for collecting winter sunlight and blocking summer sunlight work great to help keep your home comfortable temperature or lower your energy costs, but that doesn’t have any way of actually generating electricy.
    The flat non-tracking array of photovoltaic panels generate electricity directly, however some of the energy is lost in the conversion, and if some industrial process requires heating water as well then more energy will be lost while converting the electricity to heat. It is much more efficient to heat the water directly, but more importantly, much cheaper. Photovoltaic cells can be much more expensive than mirrors.

    The flat-panel solar collector system that would capture the heat in water can raise temperature of that water to temperatures that may be comfortable for bathing, and can save you energy in your home, but for high temperatures required to generate steam and run turbines you’re going to need the solar collector system using mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight.

    Therefore the correct answer would be B!

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