Solar Thermal Energy

514 Pages·2022·29.966 MB·English

by  Spiros Alexopoulos (editor), Soteris A. Kalogirou (editor)

Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science
and Technology Series
Editor-in-Chief: Robert A. Meyers
Spiros Alexopoulos · Soteris A. Kalogirou
Editors
Solar Thermal
Energy
A Volume in the Encyclopedia of
Sustainability Science and Technology,
Second Edition
Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science
and Technology Series
Editor-in-Chief
RobertA.Meyers
The Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology series (ESST)
addresses the grand challenge for science and engineering today. It provides
unprecedented, peer-reviewed coverage in more than 600 separate articles
comprising 20 topical volumes, incorporating many updates from the first
edition as well as new articles. ESSTestablishes a foundation for the many
sustainability and policy evaluations being performed in institutions
worldwide.
An indispensable resource for scientistsandengineers indeveloping new
technologies and for applying existing technologies to sustainability, the
EncyclopediaofSustainabilityScienceandTechnologyseriesispresentedat
theuniversityandprofessionallevelneededforscientists,engineers,andtheir
studentstosupportrealprogressinsustainabilityscienceandtechnology.
Althoughtheemphasisisonscienceandtechnologyratherthanpolicy,the
EncyclopediaofSustainabilityScienceandTechnologyseriesisalsoacom-
prehensive and authoritative resource for policy makers who want to under-
stand the scope of research and development and how these bottom-up
innovationsmapontothesustainabilitychallenge.
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttps://link.springer.com/bookseries/15436
(cid:129)
Spiros Alexopoulos Soteris A. Kalogirou
Editors
Solar Thermal Energy
A Volume in the Encyclopedia of Sustainability
Science and Technology, Second Edition
With360Figuresand 51Tables
Editors
SpirosAlexopoulos SoterisA.Kalogirou
Solar-InstititutJülich(SIJ) DepartmentofMechanicalEngineering
FHAachenUniversityof andMaterialScienceandEngineering
AppliedSciences CyprusUniversityofTechnology
Jülich,Nordrhein-Westfalen,Germany Limassol,Cyprus
ISBN978-1-0716-1421-1 ISBN978-1-0716-1422-8(eBook)
ISBN978-1-0716-1423-5(printandelectronicbundle)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1422-8
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Dedicated to our families for the support offered during the
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Series Preface
Our nearly 1000-member team recognizes that all elements of sustainability
scienceandtechnologycontinuetoadvanceasdoesourunderstandingofthe
needsforenergy,water,cleanair,food,mobility,andhealth,andtherelationof
every single aspect of this vast and interconnected body of knowledge to
climatechange.Ourencyclopediacontentisatalevelforuniversitystudents,
professors,engineers,andotherpracticingprofessionals.Itisgratifyingforour
teamtonotethatouronlinefirsteditionhasbeenheavilyutilizedasevidenced
by over 500,000 downloads, which of course is in addition to scientists’
utilizationoftheencyclopediaandindividual“spin-off”volumesinprint.
NowwearepleasedtohaveaLivingReferenceonlinewhichassuresthe
sustainabilitycommunitythatweareprovidingthelatestpeer-reviewedcon-
tentcoveringthescienceandtechnologyofthesustainabilityoftheEarth.We
arealsopublishingthecontentasaseriesofindividualtopicalbooksforease
usebythosewithaninterestinparticularsubjects,andwithexpertoversightin
each field to ensure that the second edition presents the state of the science
today. Our team covers the physical, chemical, and biological processes that
underlie the Earth system, including pollution and remediation and climate
change, and we comprehensively cover every energy and environment tech-
nology as well as all types of food production, water, transportation and the
sustainablebuiltenvironment.
Our team of 15 board members includes two Nobel Prize winners (Kroto
and Fischlin), two former directors of the NSF (Colwell and Killeen), the
formerpresidentoftheRoyalSociety(LordMay),andthechiefscientistofthe
Rocky Mountain Institute (Amory Lovins). And our more than 40 eminent
sectioneditorsandnowbookeditorsassurequalityofourselectedauthorsand
theirreviewpresentations.
Theextentofourcoverageclearlysetsourprojectapartfromotherpubli-
cationswhichnowexist,bothinextentanddepth.Infact,currentcompendia
ofthescienceandtechnologyofseveralofthesetopicsdonotpresentlyexist
and yetthe content iscrucialtoany evaluation and planning for the sustain-
abilityoftheEarth.Itisimportanttonotethattheemphasisofourprojectison
scienceandtechnologyandnotonpolicyandpositions.Rather,policymakers
will use our presentations to evaluate sustainability options. Vital scientific
issuesinclude:humanandanimalecologicalsupportsystems,energysupply
and effects, the planet’s climate system, systems of agriculture, industry,
forestry, fisheries andthe ocean, fresh water and human communities, waste
vii
viii SeriesPreface
disposal, transportationandthebuilt environmentingeneral andthevarious
systems on which they depend, and the balance of all of these with sustain-
ability.Inthiscontext,sustainabilityisacharacteristicofaprocessorstatethat
can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely even as global population
increasestowardninebillionby2050.Thepopulationgrowth,andthehopefor
increaseinwealth,impliessomethinglikea50%increaseinfooddemandby
asearlyas2030.Atthesametime,theproportionofthepopulationthatlivesin
an urban environmentwill go up from about 47% to60%. Global economic
activity is expected to grow 500%, and global energy and materials use is
expectedtoincreaseby300%overthisperiod.Thatmeanstherearegoingto
besomerealproblemsforenergy,agriculture,andwater,anditisincreasingly
clearthatconflictingdemandsamongbiofuels,foodcrops,andenvironmental
protection will be difficult to reconcile. The “green revolution” was heavily
dependentonfertilizerswhicharemanufacturedusingincreasinglyexpensive
and diminishing reserves offossil fuels. In addition, about 70% of available
freshwaterisusedforagriculture.Clearly,manynaturalresourceswilleither
becomedepletedorscarcerelativetopopulation.
PalmDesert,CA,USA RobertA.Meyers,Ph.D.
September2021 Editor-in-Chief
Volume Preface
The impact of greenhouse effect on climate is taking on big dimensions.
A high frequency of huge mega-fires in dry areas of California and Canada,
Siberia, the tropics, Australia, and the Mediterranean area as well as floods,
longerdroughtperiods,andmanyotherclimatic extremesaredirectlycorre-
latedtothisglobalhuman-madeeffect.Additionally,theworldpopulationis
growing nonstop, which results in a strongly increasing energy demand
globally.InordertofacetheseproblemsandreducetheglobalCO emission,
2
differentapproachesareconsidered.Oneofthemwhichisconsideredinthis
volumeistheexpansionoftheuseofsolarthermalsystems(concentratedand
non-concentrating)forenergy,heat,andcooling.
Solarthermalenergyasarenewablesourceofenergyhasbeenusedalready
since ancient times; thus, there exists a broad knowledge about this energy
carrier, which include environmentally sound, economically viable, and
sociallyacceptabletechnologicalsolutionsforefficientenergyprovision.
Theoverarchinggoalofthisvolumeistogiveanupdateaboutthevarious
solar thermal technologies, concentrated and non-concentrated; the different
conversion pathways for the provision of heat, electricity, and/or cooling; as
well as selected superior aspects related to different applications of solar
thermal energy. Following this setting, the present volume consists of the
followingparts:
(cid:129) PartI,Introduction.Ageneraloverviewofsolarthermalenergysystemsis
givenwithinthisvolumetosetthesceneforthefollowingexplanations.An
additionalhistoricalintroductioninthisfieldisprovidedaswell.
(cid:129) PartII,SolarThermalConcentratedSystems.Initially,themethodologyfor
theestimation ofconcentrated solar poweris presented. Then eachofthe
concentratedsolarpowertechnologiesisdescribedindetail.
(cid:129) PartIII,ApplicationofSolarThermalConcentratedSystems.Measurement
andmonitoringmethodsforconcentratedsystemsarepresented.Animpor-
tantfocusissetonporousmaterialswhicharewidelyusedinthesesystems.
Further applications include solar thermal storage and different thermo-
chemicalprocesses.Nowadays,animportantroleisgiventothedynamic
behaviorofsolar-concentratedplants,especiallyasthesolarirradiationisa
volatileenergysourcethatimposesvariationsinavailableenergy,andalso
to solar simulators, which have the ability to create a temporally stable
radiationwithaspectrumclosetorealsunlight.
ix
x VolumePreface
(cid:129) PartIV,Non-concentratingSolarThermalSystemsandTheirApplication.
In this part, solar thermal systems excluding concentrated ones are
described together with their applications, such as solar cooling, solar
detoxificationanddisinfectionofwater,solarcooking,andsolardrying.
(cid:129) Thevolumecloseswiththeconsiderationofsomegeneralaspectsregard-
ingthelifecycleanalysisofbothconcentratingandnon-concentratingsolar
thermalsystems.
It should be emphasized that while solar thermal engineering has been
developed rapidly for nearly four decades, many challenging scientific and
technological issues need to be solved. It is a long-term task to develop and
promotethisfield,andexchangeofideasandknowledgebetweenscientistsis
necessary.ThefirsteditionofthisvolumeeditedbyDr.Richterwaspublished
in 2013. It is ourgreat honor to edit the second edition of this volume. This
volume is suitable for scientists, professors, researchers, R&D industrial
specialists, students, scholars, technicians, and managers working in the
relatedfields.Itpresentsfundamentalprinciplesandcutting-edgetechnologies
for sustainably harnessing this vital resource and provides a comprehensive
introductiontothosewhoarenewtothesefields,aswellasnewinsightsfor
advancedresearchersandindustryexperts.Wehopethisvolumeisbeneficial
tothereadersandcanpromotethedevelopmentofsolarthermalengineering.
Wewishtothankthenewauthorsofthesecondeditionfortheirvaluable
contributions as well as their high motivation and strong engagement. We
wouldalsoliketothanktheauthorsofthefirsteditionfortheirwillingnessto
participateagaininthiseditionandtoupdateandrevisetheirchapters.Without
theirsupport,thispublicationwouldnothavebeenpossible.Additionally,we
wouldliketothankthepublisherforthepositiveandstraightforwardcollab-
oration. We are especially grateful to Sunali Mull and Neha Thapa for their
continuous support based on very pleasant and extremely helpful
communications.
Aachen,Germany SpirosAlexopoulos
Nicosia,Cyprus SoterisA.Kalogirou
February2022