Solar Energy

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Faculty of Law Pursuing PHD Program in Law P58462 Musbri Mohamed DIL; ADIL ( ITM ) MBL ( UKM )

A SUSTAINABILITY PRIMER Sustainability, according to its first and best-known definition, entails meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The term reflected a concern that nations [must] find ways to grow their economies without destroying the environment or sacrificing the well-being of future generations. In short, sustainability urges economic growth, but in a new form. To be sustainable, a society needs to meet three conditions: its rates of use of renewable resources should not exceed their rates of regeneration; its rates of use of non-renewable resources should not exceed the rate at which sustainable renewable substitutes are developed; and its rates of pollution should not exceed the assimilative capacity of the environment.

GREEN IS GOOD The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that green, for lack of a better word, is good. Green is right. Green works. Green clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Green in all of forms green for life, for money, for love, knowledgehas marked the upward surge of mankind. And green, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A. As adapted from Wall Street WALL STREET (20th Century Fox 1987) (as modified by the author, replacing greed with green throughout). In the film, Michael Douglass character Gordon Gekko extols the virtues of greed, not green, modeled on Ivan Boeskys 1986 commencement address at the University of California, Berkeley.

The developing countries indicated they were prepared to themselves take mitigation actions to reduce their emissions growth, but that they needed the developed countries (that caused most of the problem) to take the lead through deep emissions cuts and through financial and technology transfers to support the developing countries actions.

The move towards sustainability requires top-level commitment and a high level of engagement from all stakeholders. Its success depends on the provision of clear policy and adequate resources, strengthening of the planning system and capacity to make multisector and integrated decisions. This initiative, albeit at the initial stage, is significant in serving as a living example of the praxis of sustainability. It has the potential to contribute to a sustainable world, not only by its substantive physical inputs and outputs, but by educating the broader audience about what is possible when there is commitment from key bureaucrats as well as tacit political will.

As a community, we must be sustainable. Several habits that sustainable community should practice to be proactive and cultivate are: 1) To be proactive and cultivate interdependence 2) To begin with end in mind through sustainable development action planning 3) To priorities the important 4) To first fully understand before acting 5) To think win-win-win and ensure that sectors of society benefit 6) To synergies actions to improve all aspects of human development 7) To continually improve A green economy gives the impression of an economy that is environmentally-friendly, sensitive to the need to conserve natural resources, gives off minimal pollution and emissions during the production process, and promotes environmentally-friendly lifestyles and consumption patterns.
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Rio Earth Summit

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the "Earth Summit," was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. The Earth Summit (held on the 20th anniversary of the first U.N. Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm 1972) made history by bringing global attention to the understanding that environment protection and natural resource management were closely linked to economic and social conditions, such as poverty. It recognized that social, environmental, and economic needs must be met in a balance with each other for sustainable outcomes in the long term. It captured this concept in the term "sustainable development" defined as ". . . development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

The Rio Summit had partially answered these questions by providing a basic framework that the environment must be integrated within development, and not be taken separately. Thus the need to protect the environment should not be at the expense of the developing countries right to development. From this sprang the concept of sustainable development, with its three pillars of environmental protection, economic development and social development.

Increasing public awareness: The Department of Environment organized events in conjunction with Malaysian Environment Week (MEW), the Earth Day (April 22), the World Environment Day (June 5), International Ozone Day (September 16), and Clean Up the World Day (September 17). Public recognition and the use of awards and incentives schemes help to encourage the development and marketing of environmental initiatives among the public. Langkawi Award which is the most prestigious award scheme by the Malaysian Government has been organized annually to acknowledge contribution by individuals who have made a significant impact in the environmental protection.

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At first glance, the green economy appears to be a simple idea whose time has come. Surely we all want to conserve natural resources and minimise pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. What better way than to turn the economy green? There is, however, no scientific agreement yet on how to achieve a green economy, nor is there an international consensus on what it means and how to move towards one.
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Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of everevolving technologies. Solar radiation , along with secondary solarpowered resources such as wind and wave power , hydroelectricity and biomass , account for most of the available renewable energy on earth. Only a minuscule fraction of the available solar energy is used.

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Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute solar energy. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air .

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The Earth receives 174 petawatts (PW) of incoming solar radiation (insolation ) at the upper atmosphere . Approximately 30% is reflected back to space while the rest is absorbed by clouds, oceans and land masses.

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The total solar energy absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land masses is approximately 3,850,000 exajoules (EJ) per year. In 2002, this was more energy in one hour than the world used in one year. Photosynthesis captures approximately 3,000 EJ per year in biomass. The amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the planet is so vast that in one year it is about twice as much as will ever be obtained from all of the Earth's non-renewable resources of coal, oil, natural gas, and mined uranium combined. Solar energy can be harnessed in different levels around the world. Depending on a geographical location the closer to the equator the more "potential" solar energy is available.

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What happens when fossil fuels such as gas and petroleum run out.where do you think energy companies are going to turn to for their supply..solar power, wind power and the surges of the ocean waves are already being tapped by developed nations as ecologically and environmentally friendly alternative energy sources.

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Instead of installing fanciful gadgets here and there to provide visual entertainment for the passing motorists along our roads, the government and its local city councils would do better to install solar panels to collect energy and channel it to run our government buildings electrical equipments, light up roads and highways, tunnels..it's environmentally friendly, doesn't pollute the air, contaminate the water, can be used to cool down our public facility buildings..let's harness the power of the sun..Malaysia Boleh.Insyallah.

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If Los Angeles can move towards solar the city is aiming for 35 per cent of its energy from renewables there is no reason Malaysia cant move in that direction nowif we start now, we can pre-empt any move towards nuclear power plants, which, knowing our maintenance culture, would be a disaster waiting to happen.. well, why dont we seriously consider solar?

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Solar energy is not only green and safe, theres going to be a huge demand for it..instead of going down the nuclear energy path, we should be checking out the solar energy sector, which is booming. Over in the United States, the Daily Journal of Commerce in Portland, Oregon reportsin 2007, the solar industry nationally marked its best year ever, raking in $20 billion. ..but those close to the industry say the best is yet to come..in 10 years, the industrys revenues are expected to triple.

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Solar energy is not just a dream; it is already creating green collar jobs lots of them.German officials readily acknowledged that they are embracing solar technology not just for its environmental benefits German firms that manufacture photovoltaic panels and other components have prospered under the new energy act and now employ 40,000 people. An additional 15,000 people work for companies in the solar-thermal business, which make heating systems for homes and businesses.

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If cloudy Germany can tap into solar power, shouldnt we be taking a closer look at it.why go down the nuclear power route or build so many dams like there is no tomorrow..we have an abundant solar energy source: plenty of sunshine in Malaysia ..at least on days when it is not hazy.. but do we have the vision to see clearly ?

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Greenhouses convert solar light to heat, enabling year-round production and the growth (in enclosed environments) of specialty crops and other plants not naturally suited to the local climate. Primitive greenhouses were first used during Roman times to produce cucumbers year-round for the Roman emperor Tiberius . The first modern greenhouses were built in Europe in the 16th century to keep exotic plants brought back from explorations abroad.

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The history of lighting is dominated by the use of natural light. The Romans recognized a right to light as early as the 6 th century and English law echoed these judgments with the Prescription Act of 1832. In the 20th century artificial lighting became the main source of interior illumination but day lighting techniques and hybrid solar lighting solutions are ways to reduce energy consumption.

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Solar House 1 of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, built in 1939, used seasonal thermal storage for year-round heating. In the United States, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems account for 30% (4.65 EJ) of the energy used in commercial buildings and nearly 50% (10.1 EJ) of the energy used in residential buildings. Solar heating, cooling and ventilation technologies can be used to offset a portion of this energy.

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The Solar Bowl in Auroville , India, concentrates sunlight on a movable receiver to produce steam for cooking. Solar cookers use sunlight for cooking, drying and pasteurization . They can be grouped into three broad categories: box cookers, panel cookers and reflector cookers. The simplest solar cooker is the box cooker first built by Horace de Saussure in 1767. A basic box cooker consists of an insulated container with a transparent lid. It can be used effectively with partially overcast skies and will typically reach temperatures of 90150 C. Panel cookers use a reflective panel to direct sunlight onto an insulated container and reach temperatures comparable to box cookers. Reflector cookers use various concentrating geometries (dish, trough, Fresnel mirrors) to focus light on a cooking container. These cookers reach temperatures of 315 C and above but require direct light to function properly and must be repositioned to track the Sun.
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Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity , either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar powers (CSP). CSP systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. PV converts light into electric current using the photoelectric effect .

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The 71.8 MW Lieberose Photovoltaic Park in Germany. A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell (PV), is a device that converts light into electric current using the photoelectric effect. The first solar cell was constructed by Charles Fritts in the 1880s. In 1931 a German engineer, Dr Bruno Lange, developed a photo cell using silver selenide in place of copper oxide. Although the prototype selenium cells converted less than 1% of incident light into electricity, both Ernst Werner Von Siemens and James Clerk Maxwell recognized the importance of this discovery. Following the work of Russell Ohl in the 1940s, researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin created the silicon solar cell in 1954. These early solar cells cost 286 USD/watt and reached efficiencies of 4.56%.

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Development of a solar powered car has been an engineering goal since the 1980s. The World Solar Challenge is a biannual solar-powered car race, where teams from universities and enterprises compete over 3,021 kilometres (1,877 mi) across central Australia from Darwin to Adelaide . In 1987, when it was founded, the winner's average speed was 67 kilometres per hour (42 mph) and by 2007 the winner's average speed had improved to 90.87 kilometres per hour (56.46 mph). The North American Solar Challenge and the planned South African Solar Challenge are comparable competitions that reflect an international interest in the engineering and development of solar powered vehicles.

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In 1974, the unmanned Astro Flight Sunrise plane made the first solar flight. On 29 April 1979, the Solar Riser made the first flight in a solar powered, fully controlled, man carrying flying machine, reaching an altitude of 40 feet (12 m). In 1980, the Gossamer Penguin made the first piloted flights powered solely by photovoltaics. This was quickly followed by the Solar Challenger which crossed the English Channel in July 1981. In 1990 Eric Scott Raymond in 21 hops flew from California to North Carolina using solar power. Developments then turned back to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with the Pathfinder (1997) and subsequent designs, culminating in the Hpathfinder Elios which set the altitude record for a non-rocket-propelled aircraft at 29,524 metres (96,864 ft) in 2001. The Zephyr , developed by BAE Systems , is the latest in a line of record-breaking solar aircraft, making a 54-hour flight in 2007, and month-long flights are envisioned by 2010.
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The Star; Wednesday February 23, 2011 Malaysia's first solar power plant TNB to call for tender for the project in Putrajaya soon By ANITA GABRIEL PETALING JAYA: Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has completed the pre-qualification tender process for Malaysia's first solar power plant to be located in Putrajaya. The utility will very soon call for tenders for the project that is estimated to cost some RM60mil, according to TNB president and CEO Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh.

Barack Obama speaks at the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Centre, in the USA.
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Surging oil prices, increasing environmental awareness, growing imports of oil and unutilized resources of renewable energy are the factors driving the Malaysian Government to vigorously promote renewable energy in the country. In the Eighth Malaysia Plan, a target of five percent was set for renewable energy out of the total electricity production but the target has not been achieved due to poor implementation.

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Since Malaysia is situated in the equatorial region with an average radiation of 4,500 KWh per square meter, it is an ideal location for large scale solar power installations. Considering that Malaysia gets on an average 4.5 hours to 8 hours of free and bountiful sunshine everyday, the potential for solar power generation is very high. However, the real harnessing of this renewable energy source is way below its actual potential.

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At present, Solar Photovoltaic (PV) applications in Malaysia are restricted to rural electrification, street and garden lighting, and telecommunications, while solar water heaters are basically used for heating purposes in hotels, the food and beverage industry, and upperclass urban homes. Malaysia built its first centralized solar power station in 2003 in a remote tropical village of Kampung Denai on the eastern coast. While the necessity and opportunity to build many more such units are high, it is not an easy task to get such projects off the ground. Several factors contribute to this restraining impact on a potential market for solar power.
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Climate change concerns, coupled with high oil prices, peak oil, and increasing government support, are driving increasing renewable legislation, incentives and commercialization . New government spending, regulation and policies helped the industry weather the global financial crisis better than many other sectors. According to a 2011 projection by the International Energy Agency , solar power generators may produce most of the worlds electricity within 50 years, dramatically reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases that harm the environment.

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As for your statement about the utilities not being strong price hawks, you're simply wrong. I know from direct experience how hawkish the utilities are on prices for renewables. Yes, contract prices are passed through to ratepayers, but utilities hate to have their rates go up more than they deem necessary for their own investments ("rate-base") because rate increases inevitably draw ratepayer complaints and increased regulatory scrutiny. So when utilities are trying to convince the CPUC to allow them to make their own billions of dollars in investments in improved transmission infrastrucuture, they hate to have renewables further increase prices. Many renewable energy contracts are in fact below the market price referent, including many solar projects from 5-20 MW in size forwarded to the CPUC by SCE for approval earlier this year. The recent trend in CA is for auction programs (like the RPS and the new RAM program) to lead to prices well below the MPR. This is a bit of a problem b/c I think it's very likely symptomatic of a "race to the bottom" rather than real ability to build projects at the prices I'm hearing (well below the MPR). But time will tell.

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My feeling is that even if ratepayers are on the hook for a small premium for renewables they are still getting a very good deal overall because of the environmental and economic benefits that result from renewables. Germany has led the way on solar, wind and biomass and has been highly successful with its feed-in tariff program in bringing these global industries to scale. We are now reaping the rewards of Germany's labors with dramatically reduced solar prices, among other things (and of course many other nations' efforts, including the US, with feed-in tariffs and other support policies). The future looks bright and it's not been because of a strict adherence to a narrowly economistic approach. Rather, policymakers in many nations have recognized the broader benefits of renewables and acted accordingly.

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A "Free Market" can not exist with electricity distribution as long as utilities maintain a monopoly. You get once choice and that's decided by where you live. Otherwise, you live off the grid, in which case solar with storage is a bargain compared to bringing the grid to your house or gas/diesel generator power. Your utility does not want your solar is not because it's variable distributed solar is no less "reliable" than any other power plant - utilities must maintain spare capacity at all times to deal with the sudden loss of 1GW or more at a fraction's notice. With distributed solar you don't have this issue, especially if you utilize any type of weather forecasting at all. The real reason is that because distributed generation cuts into their profits by reducing the cost of distributing electricity - most utilities are regulated such that they can not profit on energy costs, only distribution costs.

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That's 3 levels of Big Government: (1) subsidization of my purchase (65% tax credits); (2) forced purchase by my utility; and (3) market-turf protection for the utility. The free market cannot possibly function to sift/sort winners from losers (I know what's the best smart phone to buy, touchpad, PC, etc. because I've got a plenitude of buyers and user reviews to consult, and the best products naturally rise to the top; I simply don't and won't have that presented to me in the Solar PV market, so long as the Politicians and Bureaucrats keep obtruding the natural sorting process). Add a fourth level: Erecting trade barriers against Asians willing to transfer vast wealth to us (severely discounted labor, hyper-subsidized production) via "predatorily priced" Solar PV panels (bring it on! we'll get more jobs and free electricity installing/servicing PV systems then we'll ever reap producing Solar panels).

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To those who'd justify subsidizing green power because crony capitalism has done the same for brown power -- you cannot deny that two wrongs don't make a right. I've got no problem taxing brown power, and de-subsidizing it. In fact, I'm in favor of taxing 'bad behavior' in general, It galls me that solar fan boys mindlessly yahoo anything that has the word 'solar' in it, whether it makes technological/market sense or not. That only empowers politicians, who've recently (and repeatedly) demonstrated that they're the LAST people we want picking energy market winners and losers. And it saddens me that greenies rationalize subsidy-mongering without even asking basic questions like whether the local and national grid can even handle all the variable power solar produces (it cannot, got a couple trillion to fix that problem?) and whether cost-feasible electricity storage exists for it (it does not). These deal-killer obstacles simply go unaddressed in the daily slew of pro-Solar articles found in the Solar Trade press, which drumbeats for more subsidy dollars (OUR money) at any cost.

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My personal opinion is that orbital solar power is the only reliable and scalable base load generator that we have available to us that does not involve nuclear power. Beaming down solar power from photovoltaic cells in geosynchronous orbit via microwave to approximately 6x8 mile receiving zones in some of those same desert areas marked for solar arrays of one variety or another is both practical and doable. What we cannot do is provide all the raw materials for such an effort by sending up rockets from Earth. Of course, we can build a demonstration unit that way, but materials need to come from some external source that does not require us to pollute our atmosphere by firing up thousands of rockets. We can do that by hauling small asteroids into Earth orbit. The materials in such bodies is highly pure and will need minimal processing before it can be used to produce power arrays. In addition, such asteroids will provide highly protected bases for construction and maintenance of solar power satellites and possibly many other types of satellites.

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Solar cells in space have access to a much broader spectrum of wavelengths, and a much higher concentration of power per square meter than can be found here on Earth, in addition to being available full time instead of for far less than 12 hours a day. Such units are also not subject to weather blocking or weather damage, though they are subject to solar mass ejections which can be compensated for. The reason why this is not being done is not because the technology is unavailable, but because the upfront capital cost is high enough to make it a government only project, at least in the beginning. As long as the only projects that we can undertake are those small enough to be managed by corporations, the really big things that need doing on this Earth will go begging and we will all pay for that.

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An experience .. Many years ago, when I worked in the corporate world, I was losing a $20,000 item once a month because the company would not make a one time purchase of a $15,000 item that would prevent the loss. The reason they would not make the $15,000 purchase was that it had to come out of the fixed assets budget instead of the operating budget. Rather than watch $240,000 disappear out of my operating budget over the next year, I just authorized the purchase, thus saving $225,000. That is what we have going on here. The free market cannot properly handle many decisions because it does not have access to all the costs of decisions on a subject. The fact that "brown" fuels cause hundreds of billions in damages to life, health, our infrastructure, our economy, and our national security is only marginally within the decision making purview of any competitor in a marketplace. That competitor only sees his profits for the next quarter or two. If we want rational decision making, the government that is supposed to represent all of us has to make regulatory or tax decisions that express those other factors. This is where we are on the "green vs. brown" question. Power companies want to produce the most watts for the least dollars so that they can compete and the companies want the most watts they can get for the least dollars with only minor consideration for the other factors that I have noted above. If we don't want governments to choose the winners in such a field of competition, we need to level the playing field by providing those taxes or regulations that will properly include all or most of the actual costs of energy production.

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Right now, the biggest problem with solar and wind power production is that they are not good candidates for base load power production that represents the 24x7x365 load ever present on our power production system. Any use of them for base load requires storage of some kind, which is always expensive.

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All desirable technologies in their infancy require some help to get adopted, Once mainstream, they will not need any help and the benefits will outweigh any initial costs. You can't expect a fledgling technology with no track record to be held to the same investment standard as blowing up mountains and burning what you dig up. How do you take into account the cost of destroying mountains, blocking rivers, poor air quality, lung cancer, spilling oil in the ocean? Even closer to the nub, how do you apportion the cost of insuring the nuclear industry, there is no cost for that until there is, and then it could bankrupt the country.

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There is a need for some perspective. Giving grants to pioneers who may solve the problems we face is a good investment. It does not always work out, but that is the risk of new technologies. Otherwise, just be a consumer nation with no technical advantage and watch all the jobs leave.

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In the global economy and society of the 21st century, all children will be left behind if their education is not organized with a global context in mind.

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Why can't everybody just figure out the BEST solar option, and then brainstorm from there ? Here is a list of mandatory parameters: Efficiency, Be made for almost free by advanced machine automation, Integration into the cheapest energy storage, No massive bull dozing, Least amount of infrared emittance?, Greatest EROEI, Simplicity, And longevity... Any other parameters? Musbri Mohamed January 2012

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