Leiding Wang Econ 3253 Ouyang Yusi Dec 04, 2014 China’s Solar Photovoltaic Energy Development With the rapid economic development, China has surpassed US and become the world’s largest economy. In the same time, China also become the largest emitter of Carbon Dioxide (Co2) which is the most important reason for world’s climate change. During the development of economy, China used Coal too much and Coal would be converted to Co2. However, Coal is one of a fossil Fuel which means it is non-renewable. For the future development and environmental concerns, China has the sufficient reason to find another resource instead of Coal. Indeed, China is trying to extend application of renewable energy such as wind power, hydropower and solar energy. Especially, solar energy developed very well last decade in China and China become the leading manufacturer of PV (Photovoltaic— solar energy). According to article China’s Solar Photovoltaic Industry Development: The Status Quo, Problems and Approaches, “solar PV energy supply is destined to become one of the main global energy supply carriers by 2030 and a leading energy source by 2050. EU and USA plan to expand the gross installed capacity of the PV industry to over 1500 million KW by 2050. China aims to create a PV industry with a gross installed capacity of 1050 GW by 2030.” (Hongzhang P222) Based on information above, it is easy to notice China’s potential in PV industry and PV market will create value for China’s economy.
Energy is an important factor in todays society, it is neccesary to power business, manufacturing and the transportation of goods and services all around the world. Solar powered energy is energy from the sun. This energy can be conerted into different energy like heat and electricity. Heat can be used to heat water or heat spaces, for example heating for houses, buildings or even swimming pools. Solar energy can be converted in two ways, by Photovoltaic or “solar cells” which change sunlight directly into electricity or by concentrating solar power plants which generate electricity by using heat from solar thermal collectors. Coal powered energy has played an important role in
China, home to more than 1.35 billion inhabitants, is the most populated country and largest developing nation in the world. China’s economy is thriving and continues to grow at a rapid pace, but that economic development comes with high costs as China is now biggest polluter in the entire world (“China Biodiversity Threat”). Additionally, China’s rapid industrial growth has increased greenhouse emissions, increased the need of foreign resources and produced environmental destruction. China has doubled the amount of coal-fired power stations being built from one a week to
Commonly, renewable energy is defined as energy which is able to be captured from existing natural resources that are replenished rapidly, such as flowing water, sunshine, wind, geothermal heat flows and ocean [2]. Renewable energy technologies are required to provide technologies to use one or several renewable energy resources. There are some different types of renewable energy technologies, which include solar energy, bioenergy, hydropower, wind energy, geothermal energy and tidal energy. This thesis project will focus on the solar photovoltaic which is currently one of types of solar energy technologies, and this technology using photovoltaic cells to converts sunlight directly into electricity.Solar photovoltaic system can generate electricity from sunlight through using PV modules, and the system can be integrated into building designs, installed on rooftops, or large scale power plant. With the development of photovoltaic technologies, solar photovoltaic capacity has been increased from 3.7 GW (2004) to 177GW (2014) [3]. Figure 2 shows this change from 2004 to 2014, there is a big trend of increase in these years. The increase of PV capacity can reduce the carbon emission and provides more job opportunities. It also helps to reduce air pollution and make a friendly environment for living. One of the common PV system is
Solar energy is constantly improving, whether that be financially or more efficiently. As a result, solar panels, a large focus in solar technology, are becoming less expensive. The price of producing panels has decreased dramatically. However, a popular belief is that solar energy is more expensive than fossil fuels. A recent Arabia
Recently, the price of unrenewable energy resource such as oil, coral and natural gas is increasing by time because of rare and more and more usage for individual and industries. Solar panels which use energy from Sun are considered as renewable energy through the form of solar radiation, UV. Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on the way they
In addition, solar energy operational costs are manageable. It is free from monthly charges compared to conventional sources of energy. Solar energy does not require raw materials such as oil and coal, and once the panels are built, there will be no monthly charges. In addition, the prices of fossil fuels are increasing day by day, and this means conventional energy will be very expensive. Solar energy will remain the most capable world’s future power supply because, it is cost effective once the plants are built, and there will be no transport costs like for conventional energy sources. Therefore, solar energy is cost-effective, and will help in future energy supply, as the maintenance cost is affordable, as long as they are installed properly, and are working efficiently ( Hans, 2012). Furthermore, with the improvement and advancement of technology, it will increase its efficiency, and cost of production thus, making it more cost effective and the world’s best
As a growing concern around the globe, pollution has become quite a problem. Albert and Xu (2016) advocate the view that throughout China’s economic rise, its GDP grew on average 10 percent each year for more than a decade. But China has soared at the expense of its environment and public health of its citizens. Albert and Xu (2016) further noted that China is currently the world’s largest source of carbon emissions as it was responsible for 27% of global commissions in 2014. China accounts for approximately half of global consumption of coal as the world’s largest coal producer. Coal has become a huge part of China’s energy source as it accounts for two-thirds and is largely to blame for the degradation of the air quality, especially in major cities. Albert and Xu (2016) points out the doubts of Chinese government commitment to reduce the usage of coal when in 2015, there has been an increase of 55% China’s coal power plant capacity, and the approval of 155 new coal-fired plants. China also admitted that they have been underreported its annual consumption since 2000 which tells us a lot of their terrible quality of air pollution (Albert & Xu, 2016).
The future of solar energy technology is poised for significant growth in the 21st century (Union of Concerned Scientists). It has been said that more
Energy and power do indeed mark the pillars of any national economy and China is no different. China, with one of the world's largest populations has an economy which is founded on the context of high labour, great deals of labour and thus needs the relevant resources of energy to support these moves, amid a high level of competition. This is particularly exacerbated by the fact that in the last ten years, China has gone through marked industrial and urban development at record speed with the strong development of the gross domestic product (Best & Levina, 2012). This created a doubled consumption of their energy demands; making China the leading energy consumer in the world (Best& Levina, 2012). Thus, certain details like pricing, the mechanisms of pricing, the ability to transport and other choices mean that a range of factors come into play given the decisions connected to China selecting coals at the main means of their electric generation planning.
Solar power has been around for many years. The very first silicon based photovoltaic was invented by Bell Labs back in 1954. At this time the cost per watt was high at $285 and in 2009 it dropped to a mere $3.00 per watt (Solar Tech USA, 2014). Solar energy dates back as far as the 2nd century with the Greeks and Romans starting fires through broken glass. Indirect benefits from solar have been used way back to even photosynthesis (Bengtson, 2012). Passive solar energy was used to heat building by using the design to capture the sun for heating and lighting. Moving into the 20th century major changes have accrued and there is now concentrating solar power technologies for centralized solar thermal plants (Bengtson, 2012). The public believes that solar is not yet ready to take charge and become a major source of power, yet some experts disagree.
Reducing the carbon footprint or lessening the human impact on the earth has only become increasingly popular as societies are now striving towards environmental sustainability. One of the major drivers towards sustainability is to reduce the global dependency on non-renewable resources such as coal, oil, and natural gases. At the current rate in which the world population is expanding, along with the progressively quicker depletion of the world’s non-renewable energy resources, the current energy situation is not sustainable for future generations. There are practices in place to promote alternative renewable energy sources sector such as wind, solar, or tidal power to ensure sustainability. However, in ensuring the global
From this study, it was concluded that the hazardous emissions that are connected to photovoltaic technology are only connected the consumption of energy in the manufacturing process. In 2010, a research project was funded by the Clean Energy Fund. This project only focused on understanding the effects of photovoltaic to the environment. According to this research, photovoltaic energy is in a perfect position to be included in low carbon energy technologies to sustain future energy. The study also concluded that the amount produced was too low to pose adverse effect to the environment.
In recent times, due to worries of declining fossil fuel reserves and hence energy production, many, including the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans in the United States of America (USA) , recognize that alternative energy production is an essential way to go. Among the many alternative energy sources, solar energy has been shown to provide significant environmental benefits as compared to its conventional counterparts . Solar energy has been thought to be a clean efficient alternative to the dirtier energy production method from conventional fossil fuel combustion. Solar energy, according to Tsoutsos et al. , enables the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions like Carbon Dioxide and Nitrous Oxides because there is no or minimal air emissions or waste products generated during the power facility operation.
However, the photovoltaic efficiency and production costs has not reached up to the highest level because of the cost related issues and this technology is not able to replace the conventional sources of energy such as coal, gas and nuclear powered generating facilities. Photovoltaic power is used in remote applications such as communications, villages and homes in many developing countries. In many areas the rooftop installation of solar panels is smaller but it is rapidly increasing at a great pace. As the industrial sciences narrow down the cost gap, more applications are increasing and the use of photovoltaic panel has increased.
Abstract: The current energy situation with fossil fuels as the main source of the world’s energy has two main flaws: fossil fuels contribute to global warming via the greenhouse effect and they are limited in the quantity that remains. Solar power solves both of these problems and can be captured by utilizing photovoltaic cells. However, photovoltaic cells have their own drawbacks due to their high costs of installation and maintenance.