History of Solar Energy
Even though most people think solar energy is a recent invention, it has been around for centuries, even in ancient times. Efforts to design and construct devices for supplying renewable energy began 100 years before the height of the Industrial Revolution. Engineers and scientists worried about what would happen to the world’s nations after using up the fuel supply. Most of the environmental visionaries realized that the potential rewards of solar power outweighed the technical barriers. Solar pioneers developed techniques for capturing solar radiation and used it to produce steam to power the machines of the era. We will explore the historical evolution of solar energy, from ancient times to modern, and learn about the contributions of the most prominent inventors of solar powered devices.
In the first century B.C., the first ideas for implementing solar power rose upon religious, military, and industrial reasons. The Chinese and the Greeks found uses for solar power in their religious ceremonies. Concave mirrors were used to relight the sacred flame of Delphi when in went out. The ancient Egyptians used the sun as part of their mummification process, in which they used the sun to dry dead bodies. This was a form of passive solar power. In 100 A.D., a historical writer by the name of Pliny the Younger built a house in northern Italy that had mica windows in one room. The mica windows stored heat and later gave it off. The additional heat generated by this room reduced the amount of wood that had to be burned.
In the second century B.C., the Romans started starting experimenting with solar power. They placed their buildings in such a way as to capture ...
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...ed their backs on the sun. In the mid 1990’s there were few incentives for solar electric homes or heating systems. Approximately, 1.2 millions buildings in the United States are solar heated.
Concluding Notes
Solar power has come a long way. From its humble beginnings in ancient times, to the sophisticated uses of the present day, solar power will most likely always be with us. Solar pioneers had the difficult task of convincing skeptics to see that solar energy was something more than a curiosity. To the general population, improving and adapting existing power technology seemed less risky than trying to establish alternative energy sources. But alternative energy sources are necessary. Solar power is so useful because as long as the sun’s rays continue to hit the earth, solar power can always be a viable means of generating heat.
H J McCloskey intelligently put his thoughts together and shared his beliefs in his article called “On Being an Athiest” addressing some key arguments discussed in atheism and theism from an atheistic point of view. He makes no apologies for bringing up a difficult topic and for trying to argue persuasively for his views. He makes a great point when he states, “…I make no apology for doing so, as it is useful for us to remind ourselves of the reasons for and virtues of our beliefs (50).” Whether a theist or an atheist we should know what we believe and why we believe what we believe. This paper will use the material recently studied in Philosophy to respond to “proofs” and ideas put forth by McCloskey in his article.
In his article, "On Being an Atheist" Mccloskey gives a few contentions that look to support the non-presence of God, Atheism. This he does utilizing a few cases made by theists on a general level and in addition centering all the more on the Christian God. The cases are isolated into a few segments whereupon he lays his countering contentions. At the presentation, he gives a concise review of the contentions exhibited by theists, who he alludes to as "confirmations," guaranteeing that none of the evidences make enough avocation to accept that God does exist. Despite the fact that one of the verifications may not indicate the presence of God, all the evidences together give a solid confirmation to the presence of God acknowledging their accord or absence of disagreement. In any case, if the presence of God is focused around such demonstrates, his verifications or complaints that God does not exist are questionable, too.
Three types of heat transfers help solar cookers use the sun’s energy to cook food. Heat is always transferred from the warmer object to the cooler object. Heat is also transferred to and through some materials better than others. The three types of heat transfers are radiation, conduction, and convection. Convection is the heat transfer by movement through materials such as air or a liquid. Materials like these are called mediums. Convection is the primary way heat can be transferred through liquids and gases. To classify a heat transfer as convection, hot air has to rise up to equally heat the air around it. Box solar cookers have to retain this hot air to cook food, so the cookers have to have lids with a transparent covering. The transparent covering shuts in all of the hot air and keeps out the cool air. The second heat transfer is the transfer of heat between two objects, or substances, that are directly in contact with each other. This heat transfer, called conduction is the primary way heat can be transferred through solids. In gases and liquids, conduction works poorly because the atoms have a great deal of space between them. Since they have a lot of space between each other, they can’t communicate heat to one another. The solid, aluminum foil, is commonly used in homemade solar ovens because it is a metal. It is well known metal is a great conductor of heat. Since metal (aluminum) is a great conductor of heat, whatever comes in contact with it will gradually absorb the heat from the metal. The third type of heat transfer is radiation. Radiation is the transfer of energy (heat) through space by electromagnetic waves. Solar energy reaches Earth by radiation (Pearson 485). When an energy wave comes directly in contact with...
They renamed that department to Turbomach Division in 1980. Soon after, Solar Turbines became owned by Caterpillar
Preview: Today I will discuss the potential that solar power has to become this country’s main supply of energy and the latest research that can make solar power more efficient and cost effective. I will also present the environmental benefits that come with using solar power over other and more harmful forms of energy.
How Efficient is Solar Energy Technology? Engineering Challenges. n. d. a. d. a. d. d. 8 April 2014. http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9082.aspx>. How do Nuclear Plants Work?”
In which McCloskey rejects it. This argument is like the cosmological argument; it too begins with the existence of the cosmos. It claims that because the world has complex design, this is evidence of a designer. Just as if something is carried then there must be a carrier, so if there is design there must be a designer. McCloskey implies that the evidence and examples for this argument are not genuine and are disputable examples, meaning that they must not be proven wrong and opposes that certain claims are needed and irrational in the clear fact that God cannot be definite. About the teleological argument, “To get the proof going, genuine indisputable examples of design and purpose are needed, first let me state the standard he sets for the supporter of the argument is one he cannot live up to himself, so no I don’t think they are reasonable, I think his “very conclusive objection” is inconclusive. “I believe the argument here is not whether the design in the universe infers that there is someone who designed it, but whether the order and intricacy in the universe does represent design. Throughout this article McCloskey stresses the fact of the existence of evil, he addresses the idea that suffering and evil is contrary to the idea that there is a perfect all powerful God. Why would a perfect person create a world of suffering
In the article “On Being an Atheist” by H. J McCloskey, he tried to reason why atheism is a much more comfortable belief then Christianity. It would seem as if McCloskey grounds for his belief has little to no proof. McCloskey argues that his indisputable view given by the cosmological proof, that talks about God being perfect and powerful cannot help being solved the problem about the existence of God. Although he believes that the proofs do not provide a valid proof for the existence of God, but there is a need to provide the causes of all the existence things in the world. Mr. McCloskey reasoned against three theistic proofs, the cosmological argument, theological argument and the argument from design. These three arguments that he
The existence of God has been a topic of controversy for centuries. In 1968, the article “On being an Atheist”, was written by H.J. McCloskey discussing his personal views and reasons, as an atheist, for not believing in the existence of God. McCloskey attempts to discredit the arguments for the existence of God. In doing so, he critiques the cosmological and teleological arguments as well as discusses the presence of evil and suffering in order to show sufficient evidence to reject the belief in God.
United States policy and legislature developments regarding solar energy include the SunShot Initiative, the American Recovery and Rehabilitation Act (ARRA) of 2009, and the Energy Improvement and Extension Act (EIA) of 2008. The SunShot Initiative was enacted in February 2011 and aims to “make the total cost of solar energy fully economically-viable for everyday use, so that all Americans can benefit from this clean renewable energy source.”1 The ARRA invested $114 million into the solar energy industry for the research and development of photovoltaic systems, solar power concentration and high penetration solar deployment.2 The ARRA and EIA created tax credits for homeowners and businesses for their investment in solar power.3 The implementation of these policy and legislature initiatives promote the growth and development of the solar energy industry and therefore positively impact Sun Edison.
About half of all American adults and about one-quarter of all American children are obese or overweight.(Schlosser 240) Those stats have risen steeply during the last few decades, along with the growing number of people eating fast food. The obesity rate among American adults is twice as high today as it was in the early 1960’s. (Schlosser 83-86)
Two people who believe this are reporters at the Breit Bart News Network. Julian Morris and Victor Nava believe that, “‘Green’ energy subsidies benefit the politically connected while harming future generations as hundreds of millions of dollars are added to the country’s debt burden with each green failure.” In a way Morris and Nava are correct. According to Mathias Aarre Maehlum, “Residential solar systems are typically sized from 3 to 8kW and end up costing between $15,000 and $40,000.” This can add up to become very expensive when implementing solar energy throughout the country. However, with the advancements in technology growing every year the cost will decrease over time. The cost of implementation can in fact go down as well through the use of community solar gardens. This helps the homes that are shaded and cannot absorbs the Sun’s energy. The energy from the community solar gardens are shared through out those homes. Switching to solar energy can also save money over time. Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association confirms this. Resch says, “Today, the solar industry employs nearly 175,000 Americans and pumps more than $15 billion a year into the U.S. economy – and we’re just scratching the surface of our enormous potential” (qtd. in
Kate Chopin, an U.S author of many short stories and novels in the late nineteenth Century. Most of her best-known work focuses on the lives of sensitive, intelligent women in the old strict society. “The Story Of An Hour” is one of her short fiction, which was written in 1894 (Shmoop Editorial Team). This fiction story makes the reader curious through its title, also the setting is reasonable for situation happens, in addition the unexpected ending is one of the factors make the story more interesting.
“The Story of an hour” by Kate Chopin, is unique in its kind. The plot is as if M. Night Shyamalan might have written it. There are only four characters in the controversial story; they are, Mrs. And Mr. Mallard, Josephine, and Richards. Though this is a short story, every characters plays an important role. As the story unfolds it takes the reader down one road but in the end the reader finds him or herself facing a whole new direction. Comprehending a story is important, but in this story the reader must understand the underlining meaning that makes this story unique.
Household energy conservation is a very practical and realistic approach to conserving energy within our society. US households consume a tremendous amount of natural gas as well as electric energy. It has been calculated that the amount of energy consumed within the US increased exponentially from about 1850 to 1975. If energy continued to increase at this rate, we would be experiencing severe energy shortages in our current society. Luckily, steps towards conservation, including various energy regulations, have curbed that growth somewhat, brining the predicted 160 Qbtu/yr for the year 2000 down to around 93.8 Qbtu/yr by the year 1996. However, household energy usage is still a major issue as households consume about 38% of the total consumed energy and contribute greatly to natural gas consumption and issues such as global warming. Therefore, it is important that people understand how we use energy in the household and what steps can be taken to conserve that energy.