Socioecology Research Today

Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are frequently installed in climates with significant snowfall. To better understand the effects of snowfall on the performance of PV systems, a multi-angle, multi-technology PV system was commissioned and monitored over two winters. A novel methodology was introduced and validated with this system, which allows for the determination of snowfall losses [...]

At the moment, the widespread use of renewable energy in buildings is limited by its intrinsic discontinuity: consequently integration of plants with energy storage systems could represent an efficient solution to the problem. Within this frame, hydrogen has shown to be particularly fit in order to be used as an energetic carrier.In this aim, in [...]

A micro combined heat and power (CHP) plant operating through an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) using renewable energy is analysed. The reference system is designed to produce 50 kWe. The heat sources of the system are geothermal energy at low temperature (80–100 °C) and solar energy. The system uses a solar field composed only by [...]

The conversion of light into free electron–hole pairs constitutes the key process in the fields of photodetection and photovoltaics. The efficiency of this process depends on the competition of different relaxation pathways and can be greatly enhanced when photoexcited carriers do not lose energy as heat, but instead transfer their excess energy into the production [...]

Visibly transparent photovoltaic devices can open photovoltaic applications in many areas, such as building-integrated photovoltaics or integrated photovoltaic chargers for portable electronics. We demonstrate high-performance, visibly transparent polymer solar cells fabricated via solution processing. The photoactive layer of these visibly transparent polymer solar cells harvests solar energy from the near-infrared region while being less sensitive [...]

Development of a huge wind-sailing solar cell raft (SCR) with dimensions of is proposed, which can generate electricity comparable to a 1,000-MW nuclear power plant in low-latitude Pacific Ocean. Solar energy of or more is targeted because the SCR navigates in fine weather using weather satellites. The generated electricity will be transported by battery tankers [...]

This article reports an innovative integrated system utilizing solar energy as power for decentralized wastewater treatment, which consists of an oxidation ditch with double channels and a photovoltaic (PV) system without a storage battery. Because the system operates without a storage battery, which can reduce the cost of the PV system, the solar radiation intensity [...]

Growth in biofuel production, which is meant to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fossil energy demand, is increasingly seen as a threat to food supply and natural habitats. Using photovoltaics (PV) to directly convert solar radiation into electricity for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is an alternative to photosynthesis, which suffers from a very low [...]

This paper aims to examine the sustainability and environmental performance of PV-based electricity generation systems by conducting a thorough review of the life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of five common photovoltaic (PV) systems, i.e., mono-crystalline (mono-Si), multi-crystalline (multi-Si), amorphous silicon (a-Si), CdTe thin film (CdTe) and CIS thin film (CIS), and some advanced PV systems. [...]

The most marked difference is in the cost of acquiring customers. German installers spend seven cents per watt of installed capacity on things like marketing and designing systems for specific customers. U.S. installers spend 10 times that amount. Costs for permitting, connecting the systems to the grid, and having them inspected are also far higher [...]