Talk:Solar energy

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link dead

The reference pdf ^ a b Philibert, Cédric. "The Present and Future use of Solar Thermal Energy as a Primary Source of Energy" (PDF). International Energy Agency. Retrieved 2008-05-05. is a dead link.

Is there a better way to report this kind of stuff than posting it here? Maybe that's an idea for Wikipedia to consider implementing in the future. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.125.40.26 (talk) 21:08, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The best solution is to replace the link with a working link (which I have done). Better yet is to Webcite it (see http://www.webcitation.org/index). Regards, Ariconte (talk) 00:06, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

potential NYT resource

Storehouses for Solar Energy Can Step In When the Sun Goes Down by MATTHEW L. WALD published New York Times January 2, 2012 97.87.29.188 (talk) 00:57, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Improving article

As this article is one of the more developed on wikipedia i was wondering why there isn't a section for environmental issues with solar like wind or coal. Perhaps something tetrachloride production and disposal, cadmium usage etc. Not to sure about non PV problems (though vaguely remember about some conflicts with conservationists) but I sure someone with more knowledge in the sector could give some contribution — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.175.189.20 (talk) 00:41, 16 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

A better place to put this is either in the Photovoltaics article or the Solar power article. This article deals with the general uses of solar energy, not the specific uses - either for the generation of electricity, in the case of solar power, or in a specific technology, in the case of the photovoltaics article. One of the biggest differences between coal and photovoltaics is polluting the planet while you are making energy vs while you are building the power plant. Building the power plant causes pollution in both cases, but there is no on-going pollution with photovoltaics. Apteva (talk) 04:36, 29 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Idiot mistakes detected

The Earth receives 174 petawatts (PW) of incoming solar radiation (insolation) at the upper atmosphere.[2]
=1.74*10^17 W

The total solar energy absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land masses is approximately 3,850,000 exajoules (EJ) per year.[7]
=3.85*10^24 W even if we won't count comma as a decimal delimeter it is completely idiotic anywaysVetMax (talk) 12:45, 27 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

A Joule is a watt-second. There are approximately 31.536 million seconds per year. The first number is in watts, and the second is in Joules, and the diagram shows that out of the 174 PW only 122 PW is absorbed. Multiply 122*10^15 times 31,536,000 seconds and you get 3.847393*10^24 J which is where the 3,850,000*10^18 comes from. You can only get solar energy from the 89 PW that reaches the surface, but the reason 122 was used was to emphasize the percentage of energy that leads to wind energy. EJ was used as a common factor so that it is easier to compare the energy received vs the energy used. There should be more recent figures than 2005, though. Apteva (talk) 04:27, 29 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Edit request on 17 July 2012

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Please link "Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems" (see following paragraph form section Development, deployment and economics) to the corresponding Wiki-Article Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE:

The 1973 oil embargo and 1979 energy crisis caused a reorganization of energy policies around the world and brought renewed attention to developing solar technologies.[103][104] Deployment strategies focused on incentive programs such as the Federal Photovoltaic Utilization Program in the US and the Sunshine Program in Japan. Other efforts included the formation of research facilities in the US (SERI, now NREL), Japan (NEDO), and Germany (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE).[105]

153.96.32.62 (talk) 08:43, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Not done. Is there a reason you can't create an account and edit the article yourself? It also may seem like a COI request to some editors.--Canoe1967 (talk) 06:14, 21 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

pvt

There should be some mention of PVT - photovoltaic thermal hybrid systems in this main article. --Garthbb (talk) 23:36, 8 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Edit request on 12 February 2013

It is requested that an edit be made to the semi-protected article at Solar energy. (edit · history · last · links · protection log)

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http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy06osti/29913.pdf is a dead link it is cited twice. I think it should be http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy99osti/24499.pdf I have a wiki account but can't get you to email the password to me. 75.81.252.77 (talk) 16:07, 12 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]