Which is more efficient: electric or solar heating?
Which is more efficient: electric or solar heating?
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Which is more efficient at making electricity: solar panels or thermal electric (Peltier) chips?
By the square inch of surface, which can produce more electricity: solar panels or thermal electric chips (otherwise known as Peltier effect chips)?
For an explanation of TEC’s (Peltier Effect modules) see:
http://www.fujitaka.com/pub/peltier/english/thermoelectric_power.html
It seems to me that TEC’s (thermal electric chips), which convert heat to electricity as the heat moves from one side of the chip to the other, could effectively be used in place of solar panels. The question is whether there would be a reason for doing so.
It is common knowledge that modern-day solar panels, while much more efficient than in the past, are still a poor energy value because they are not very efficient and still are costly.
I am interested in experimenting with a TEC panel, cooled on the back side with recirculating water (rain water and grey water).
Any first-hand knowledge, thoughts, or ideas?
That is a great question.
I have learned a lot about renewable energy by watching these free videos.
hope this helps
A Small Solar Powered Sterling Engine Capable Of Generating
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April 21st, 2010 at 3:45 am
Don’t confuse "green" or cost with engineering efficiency. The efficiency should be calculated as the amount of energy converted into temperature increase of the air or the water (total mass of, say, water times the specific heat of the water time the delta T) divided by the amount of heat put in. If your experiment uses the same mass of water for the solar heater and for electric heater, then heat gained is directly proportional to the delta T (higher delta T = higher efficiency). Then the hard part is figuring out how much heat was put in. With the electric heater, this is straight forward, just calculate Kw-hours or joules. For the solar heating, it is a little more difficult to measure how much heat went in. I would guess that Electric could be more efficient because, with a good design, virtually all the electric power could be converted directly into heating water (with some heat going into the container and some going into radiation heat loss). With solar, there may be more heat going into the container and maybe more radiant heat loss. On the "green" side, the sunlight is free.
hope this helps
April 21st, 2010 at 3:45 am
solar heating is more efficient
as it cost less and is largely available
April 21st, 2010 at 3:45 am
what do you mean by more efficient?
any heating system, the energy has to come from somewhere, solar is somewhat available, whenever it is available.
now if you add storage devices to have energy when the sun is not there and if you need to have the output (like the temperature in your home) to be regulated, = constant
then it becomes a bit more difficult
if you measure efficiency in terms of cost, then solar is far more expensive for now in some areas of the world.
But this is changing
eventually it will be affordable everywhere.
Guru
April 21st, 2010 at 3:45 am
Efficiency is one thing and cost is another.