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Solar Thermal Energy

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About this book

This volume of the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, Second Edition, describes technologies that actively convert solar radiation into useful heat in a temperature range from just above ambient up to more than 1,000°C. Applications cover a broad range of energy services such as space heating, cooking, domestic hot water supply, electrical power generation, and high temperature thermochemical processes. The major developments that have led to currently available technologies for solar thermal energy applications were initiated mainly after the first oil shock in 1973. Solar thermal energy is widely used already for heating purposes (water, space) in the “low” temperature range up to about 100°C employing mainly nonconcentrating collectors, whereas higher temperatures can be achieved with more sophisticated solar collector technologies. Temperatures over 200°C typically require concentrating solar radiation using mirror systems. Several different technologies are described in detail in this volume, including solar collector systems in the lower temperature range, the direct use of solar radiation for food processing, namely cooking and drying, the production of electricity through conversion of solar radiation first to heat, driving a mechanical conversion system coupled to an electric generator, the use of solar radiation to drive chemical processes, and many more.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter

Introduction

Frontmatter
Solar Thermal Energy: Introduction
Spiros Alexopoulos, Soteris A. Kalogirou, Christoph Richter
Solar Thermal Energy: History
Soteris A. Kalogirou

Solar Thermal Concentrated Systems

Frontmatter
Estimation of Concentrated Solar Power Potential
Spiros Alexopoulos
Parabolic Trough Solar Technology
Eckhard Lüpfert
Linear Fresnel Collectors
Andreas Häberle
Concentrating Receiver Systems (Solar Power Tower)
Spiros Alexopoulos, Bernhard Hoffschmidt
Solar Dish Systems
Joe Coventry
Solar Updraft Towers
Gerhard Weinrebe, Rudolf Bergermann, Jörg Schlaich

Application of Solar Thermal Concentrated Systems

Frontmatter
Parabolic Trough and Solar Tower Power Plants, Measuring Systems, Testing, and Monitoring Methods
Markus Sauerborn
Dynamical Behavior of CSP Plants
Tobias Hirsch, Jürgen Dersch, Kareem Noureldin, Bijan Nouri, Daniel Maldonado Quinto, Peter Schwarzbözl, Ralf Uhlig, Stefan Wilbert
Solar Simulators
D. Laaber
Porous Materials for Solar Energy Harvesting, Transformation, and Storage
Christos Agrafiotis, Thomas Fend, Martin Roeb
Thermal Energy Storage
Rainer Tamme, Doerte Laing, Wolf-Dieter Steinmann, Thomas Bauer
Solar Energy in Thermochemical Processing
Anton Meier, Aldo Steinfeld

Non-concentrating Solar Thermal Systems and Their Application

Frontmatter
Solar Collectors, Non-concentrating
Stefan Fortuin, Gerhard Stryi-Hipp, Wolfgang Kramer, Korbinian Kramer
Solar Cookers and Dryers to Conserve Human and Planet Health
Shyam S. Nandwani
Solar Cooling Systems
Hans-Martin Henning
Solar Detoxification and Disinfection of Water
S. Malato, I. Oller, Inmaculada Polo, P. Fernández-Ibañez

Common Closing Subject

Frontmatter
Solar Thermal Systems: Life Cycle Assessment
Spiros Alexopoulos, Gautam Valiveti
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Solar Thermal Energy
Editors
Spiros Alexopoulos
Soteris A. Kalogirou
Copyright Year
2022
Publisher
Springer US
Electronic ISBN
978-1-0716-1422-8
Print ISBN
978-1-0716-1421-1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1422-8