Page 25 - Solar Power in Building Design The Engineer's Complete Design Resource

INTRODUCTION xxiii

Figure I.2 Growth of CO 2 in the atmosphere. Courtesy of
Geothermal Education Office.

It is not hard to imagine what countries, such as China and India, with increasing
population and economic growth, can do to the state of the global ecology.
The most significant feature of solar energy is that it does not harm the environment.
It is clean energy. Using solar power does not emit any of the extremely harmful
greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. There is a small amount of pol-
lution when the solar panels are produced, but it is miniscule in comparison to fossil
fuels. The sun is also a free source of energy. As technology advances, solar energy will
become increasingly economically feasible because the price of the photovoltaic mod-
ules will go down. The only concern with solar power is that it is not energy on demand
and that it only works during the day and when it is very sunny. The only way to over-
come this problem is to build storage facilities to save up some of the energy in bat-
teries; however, that adds more to the cost of solar energy.

A Few Facts about Coal-Based Electric

Power Generation

At present the most abundant fossil fuel resource available in the United States is coal.
Coal-based electric power generation represents about 50 percent of energy used and is
the largest environmental pollution source. Coal burned in boilers generates an abundance
of CO , SO (sulfur dioxide), NO (nitrogen dioxide), arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury,
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soot particles, and tons of coal ash, all of which pollute the atmosphere and water. At
present 40 percent of the world’s CO emissions comes from coal-burning power plants.
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