A systems analysis of solar power potential in coming decades

Energy is a very important aspect of human life. In the past few centuries, energy consumption has increased dramatically to a point where humans are very much dependant of energy. Under the current nonrenewable energy extraction technique of burning fossil fuels there are many externalities that are negatively impacting the earth. Society is approaching a limit where these formerly cheap forms of energy will become increasingly more expensive due to the difficulty of their extraction. As such, it is apparent that new renewable forms of energy will develop out of necessity to fulfill the energy demand. The purpose of this paper is to examine the different aspects of the promising area of solar energy. The conclusions of the analysis show that a portfolio of alternative energies will be necessary in the future with solar energy, in particular photovoltaic cells, filling the bulk of the energy generation.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Bateman, Chris (Chris B.)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Christopher L. Magee.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40400

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40400