The air-conditioning energy consumption, for cooling or heating, has currently a growing trend. The purpose of this work is to develop a method suitable to design optimal threedimensional building forms to reduce air-conditioning needs in a chosen location by using weather data. The method exploits in particular both diffuse and direct solar radiation; not independently but rather in relation w...

This paper presents a new CSP performance model for the SAM tool developed by NREL and Sandia National Lab. The Generic Solar System (GSS) provides a general and flexible tool for predicting the annual performance and financial viability of concentrating solar power (CSP) systems. With the GSS, the modeler can specify the solar field optical and thermal performance using a lookup table and poly...

"Magnetic clouds" (MCs) are a subset of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) characterized by e n h a n d magnetic fields with an organized rotation in direction, and low plasma p. Though intensely studied, MCs only constitute a fraction of all the ICMEs that are detected in the solar wind. A comprehensive survey of ICMEs in the nearEarth solar wind during the ascending, maximum and ea...

At higher latitudes, most organisms use the periodic changes in day length to time their annual life cycle. At the equator, changes in day length are minimal, and it is unknown which cues organisms use to synchronize their underlying circannual rhythms to environmental conditions. Here, we demonstrate that the African stonechat (Saxicola torquatus axillaris)-an equatorial songbird-can use subtl...

Quantifying Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Potential for Regional Renewable Energy Policy L.K. Wiginton, H. T. Nguyen, J.M. Pearce Abstract Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology has matured to become a technically viable largescale source of sustainable energy. Understanding the rooftop PV potential is critical for utility planning, accommodating grid capacity, deploying financing schemes and formulat...

In this communication an attempt has been made to find out distribution of solar radiation, using the concept of solar fraction inside a conventional (single slope) solar still by using AUTOCAD 2000 for a given solar azimuth and altitude angle and latitude, longitude of the place. Further the experimental validation of the model developed earlier has been carried out for design and climatic par...

Biomass, as a renewable source of energy, can be used in many industries to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. However, due to the significantly high and varied moisture content of biomass, its use has several drawbacks, such as low total efficiency and process instability. Drying biomass before combustion or gasification can eliminate these drawbacks. Besides these benefits, there ar...

The use of solar collectors with coloured absorbers for water heating is an area of particular interest when considering their integration with buildings. By matching the absorber colour with that of the roof or façade of the building, it is possible to achieve an architecturally and visually pleasing result. Despite the potential for the use of coloured absorbers very little work has been unde...

It has been suggested in the past that an AeffectiveB cloud fraction can be used to take into account cloud geometry effects in solar radiation parameterizations. All such models have been based on the reflected flux from non-plane-parallel cloud fields. In this study, it is shown that the Ž . AeffectiveB cloud fraction based on absorption or transmission could differ considerably from that bas...