Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Concentrated Solar Power

All About: CSP
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/12/eco.about.csp/
  • Combined solar power collects heat from the sun and heats liquids to high temps. Steam is used to drive turbines to create electricity.
  • Needs direct sunlight, but in deserts, creates electricity much more cheaply than PV."
  • Over in Europe, however, a group of scientists, politicians and renewable energy experts who call themselves The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) have made claims on a much bigger scale and with far bigger ramifications. TREC is backing an ambitious project straddling Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EU-MENA), which is based on the calculation that an area less than 0.3% of the Sahara Desert filled with CSP plants could power the entire region -- and could slash the EU's electricity-generated greenhouse gas emissions by 70% in the process."
  • Waste heat can be used to desalinate sea water.

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