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Environmental Research & Clean Energy Centre |
Solar Electricity
Solar photovoltaics (solar PV) convert sunlight into electrical energy through an array of solar panels that connect to a building's electrical system and/or the electrical grid. Below, you’ll find an overview of the important policies and topics one should understand when thinking about installing solar PV.
Wind Energy
Wind turbines harness wind energy to produce electricity that can be used to power homes and businesses across the global.
Wind power systems range from small turbines that power a single home or business to large, multi-turbine wind farms that feed into the grid and generate enough electricity to power thousands of homes.
A turbine’s total height is commonly referred to as the blade tip height, which is the distance from the base of the tower to the tip of the blade at its highest point.
Wind projects can provide long-term benefits for building and facility owners and project developers in the form of price stability, savings on future energy costs and income generated by selling excess electricity.
Tidal Energy
Tidal energy is a form of hydropower that converts the energy of the tides into electricity or other useful forms of power. The tide is created by the gravitational effect of the sun and the moon on the earth causing cyclical movement of the seas. Tidal energy is therefore an entirely predictable form of clean energy. Tidal Range is the vertical difference in height between the high tide and the succeeding low tide.
Artificial tidal barrages or lagoons may be constructed to capture the tide. Turbines in the barrier or lagoon generate electricity as the tide floods into the reservoir; water thus retained can then be released through turbines, again generating electricity once the tide outside the barrier has receded.
Hydropower Energy
Hydropower creates electricity by capturing the energy of falling or flowing water, typically using it to turn a turbine. Traditionally, dams impound rivers to create a pond or reservoir that is at a higher elevation than the water discharge location. This difference in elevation, or head, is critical to the generation of power; the other key variable is the volume of water over time, or flow, that passes through the facility.
Hydropower has a long history in Massachusetts, where it helped power the Industrial Revolution. Some dams that were built in the nineteenth century to generate hydromechanical power were long ago converted to hydroelectric facilities. Many of these facilities (as well as more recently built ones) can be upgraded to be more efficient, more environmentally friendly, or both.
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