Concentrated Solar Power
Main article: Concentrated solar powerAlso known as Solar thermal, this technology uses various types of mirrors to concentrate sunlight and produce heat. This heat is used to generate electricity in a standard Rankine cycle turbine. Like most thermoelectric power generation, this consumes water. This can be a problem, as solar powerplants are most commonly located in a desert environment due to the need for sunlight and large amounts of land. Many concentrated solar systems also use exotic fluids to absorb and collect heat while remaining at low pressure. These fluids could be dangerous if spilled.
Read more about this topic: Environmental Impact Of Electricity Generation
Famous quotes containing the words concentrated, solar and/or power:
“Royalty is a government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting actions. Accordingly, so long as the human heart is strong and the human reason weak, Royalty will be strong because it appeals to diffused feeling, and Republics weak because they appeal to the understanding.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“Senta: These boats, sir, what are they for?
Hamar: They are solar boats for Pharaoh to use after his death. They’re the means by which Pharaoh will journey across the skies with the sun, with the god Horus. Each day they will sail from east to west, and each night Pharaoh will return to the east by the river which runs underneath the earth.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)
“Coal lay in ledges under the ground since the Flood, until a laborer with pick and windlass brings it to the surface. We may will call it black diamonds. Every basket is power and civilization. For coal is a portable climate.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)