1. TEAK – Traveling Engineering Activity Kits
Solar Energy
TEAK – Traveling Engineering Activity Kits

2. What is Solar Energy?
Solar energy is radiant energy from the sun that reaches the Earth.
Radiant energy is energy from the rays of the sun.
This radiant energy can be collected and converted into other forms of energy, such as heat and electricity.
The diagram shows where the radiant energy goes once it reaches the Earth.

3. The Solar Energy Cycle
The solar energy cycle is how energy from the sun is captured and transformed throughout nature.
At the Earth's surface, incoming energy from the sun is absorbed by land, water, and atmosphere, where it is converted into measurable heat.
ON THE LAND - Plants absorb the sunlight and grow, animals eat the plants, and humans eat both the animals and the plants.
IN THE WATER - Water absorbs a lot of the sunlight that comes to the earth. When water absorbs heat it creates currents in the water, these currents bring nutrients and fish, and keeps the water ecosystem in balance.

4. Solar Power
Solar power is the conversion of the sun’s energy into electricity.
Solar power can be used to run anything that needs electricity, from ovens to lights to televisions.

5. Photovoltaic (PV) Cells
PV cells, or solar cells, capture the sun’s energy and convert that energy into electricity.
The diagram on the left shows how sunlight enters a PV cell.
A PV cell captures energy by using the energy from the sun’s rays to try and bump an electron off the solar cell. The electron that was bumped then forces the electrons in front of it to move, causing a chain reaction known as current.
The pictures on the left show PV panels, which are made up of multiple cells connected together.

6. Solar Heat
Solar heat is the collection of solar energy to heat air or a fluid.

7. Solar Active
Active heating requires the use of mechanical and electrical devices to move the heat.
LEFT – Shows a solar hot water heater that would be installed on a house (collector mounted on the roof). This system is used to heat the water in a hot water tank. The usable hot water never touches the fluid used in the solar system (uses heat exchanger method). Notice the pump that is used to move the fluid up to the collectors.
RIGHT – Shows a solar pool heater. The pool water itself moves through the solar panel. The water is moved by using the pool pump.

8. Solar Passive
Passive solar heating doesn’t require the use of mechanical and electrical devices to move the heat.
Solar passive design uses the energy from the sun to regulate the systems of a house or building without the use of active systems, such as pumps or fans.
LEFT – Notice the large windows on the left side of the house (south side). They let the solar radiation, and therefore solar heat, into the house. The thermal mass in the floor, usually cement, brick, or tile, absorbs the heat and slowly releases it to keep the room at a steady temperature. The overhang helps to let sun in the windows in the winter (when heat is needed) and keep the sun out in the summer.
RIGHT – The CAST building at RIT. The large windows on the left face south, and the overhang on the top of the building has the same purpose as the overhang on the house in the left picture.

9. Resources