Illustrated Handbook of Solar Power Technologies

With the increasing demand of energy via greener methods and the gradual depletion of fossil fuels, solar energy conversion has regained the spotlight of the global energy activities. While the solar resource is virtually unlimited, conversion of solar energy to readily usable form is too expensive to be commercially successful at present. Additionally, reliable solar technology has to be complemented by energy storage system to accommodate the daily and seasonal variations in the solar radiation. From this perspective, many countries have formulated their long term solar energy utilization roadmap.

Illustrated Handbook of Solar Power Technologies provides an integrated and comprehensive reference on concentrating solar power (CSP) systems and technology, from the fundamental science to systems design and development, and on to real-world applications.

Solar Energy a clean renewable resource with zero emission has got tremendous potential of energy which can be harnessed using a variety of devices. With recent developments, solar energy systems are easily available for industrial and domestic use with the added advantage of minimum maintenance. Solar energy could be made financially viable with government tax incentives and rebates. Most of the developed countries are switching over to solar energy as one of the prime renewable energy source. The use of renewable energy increased greatly just after the first big oil crisis in the late seventies. At that time, economic issues were the most important factors, hence interest in such processes decreased when oil prices fell. The current resurgence of interest in the use of renewable energy is driven by the need to reduce the high environmental impact of fossil-based energy systems. Harvesting energy on a large scale is undoubtedly one of the main challenges of our time. Future energy sustainability depends heavily on how the renewable energy problem is addressed in the next few decades.

This Illustrated Handbook of Solar Power Technologies provides a comprehensive review of this exciting technology, from the fundamental science to systems design, development and applications.