Utility Solar Thermal and Industrial Solar Processes

Credit: Photovoltaic Panels by U.S. Department of Energy is public domain

Resource Description

Solar thermal energy is a vast renewable energy resource that has been harvested by human civilizations for centuries. Now as energy conversion technologies quickly develop, we look at solar thermal energy as a significant contributor to the future world's energy profile. Solar heat, when properly collected and stored, can provide cost-effective benefits to a wide array of industrial and residential applications. In EME 811, Solar Thermal Energy for Utilities and Industry, we talk about both the main principles of solar thermal energy conversion and some implementation scenarios, such as utilization of solar heat in buildings, solar cooling, solar desalination, solar drying, and chemical processing.

Course Number

EME 811

License

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

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Mark Fedkin

The main areas of my professional interest are renewable energy and environmental sustainability. I received my Ph.D. in Geo-Environmental Engineering from Penn State University in 2003. Over the past ten years, I worked for the Earth and Mineral Sciences Energy Institute at Penn State doing research on a variety of renewable energy technologies, especially electrochemical energy systems Ð fuel cells, electrolyzers, and electrochemical sensors. In my studies I was particularly focused on energy conversion mechanisms that take place at the micro-, nano-, and atomistic scale. At the same time, having a diverse *geo* background (I also have a BS in Geology), I have always been interested in global natural and anthropogenic processes, their trends and interactions in the planet history.

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