Ben Straffon Topic 10f (20 marks)
Explain how new technologies could be used to increase energy supplies in the future
One way in which supplies of energy can be increased is by using new technology to get more out of existing energy sources and be able to exploit new resources. Three main issues shadow the development of new energy technologies, depletion of existing resources as they become more rapidly extracted, increasing demand, and environmental pollution as new technologies are restricted by carbon emissions regulations in Europe and the United States for example.
To start with, energy technology has already been greatly developed over the last few decades to get technology to where it is now. For example, the first photovoltaic panels were only 4%-10% efficient, and some of the best are now over 30% efficient in converting energy. This is partly down to the development of multi-junction PV panels which use a wider range of materials, and absorb a greater range of wavelengths of light and therefore produce more electricity. Another development in solar energy has been anti-reflective coatings, as ordinary PV panels reflect about 30% of the sunlight these coatings are textured and reflect more sunlight towards the PV cell and thus produce more electricity. The use of parabolic reflectors and heliostats intensifies solar energy, and increases energy density. This has essentially improved efficiency in solar power and it has been proven it can produce on a large scale at the PS10 and PS20 solar power plants near Seville, in southern Spain. Together they produce 71.4 MWh per year, which is enough to power 180,000 homes, equivalent to the population of Seville. This would not have been possible without new technologies.