Related Links

• Science Fair Project Guide

Project Summary

Difficulty	8
Time required	Long (a couple of weeks)
Prerequisites	A mentor who has experience with solar energy systemes (design, hands-on, or both) in the building trades is highly recommended for this project.
Material Availability	Readily available
Cost	Very Low (under $20)
Safety	No issues

Share this Project Idea! |

Donate to Science Buddies

Abstract

Objective

The goal of this project is to investigate the costs and benefits of active and passive solar energy systems. Specific questions that an Investigator might pursue with this project are:

• Is it worthwhile for a homeowner with a 2000 square foot home and a family of four in Sacramento, CA to invest in a home solar thermal electricity energy system for electricity, home heating, and hot water?
• Which home solar energy components are most efficient in terms of energy saved per dollar of investment?
• Can passive solar design techniques (heating, lighting) be included in remodeling plans and pay for themselves in savings?

Introduction

There are lots of reasons for interest in renewable energry sources, for example: the rising cost of crude oil and natural gas, concerns about the limits of the global supply of these commodities, greenhouse gases and global warming, air pollution, dependence on foreign suppliers, to name just a few. This project focuses on one renewable energy source: solar energy.

As you do your background research for this project, you'll find that the term "solar energy" covers a huge range of technologies. There are "passive solar" design techniques to make maximal use of sunshine for heating and lighting needs. There are also "active solar" systems, such as photovoltaic arrays, that directly convert sunlight into electricity and solar thermal electricity systems that use solar heat to generate electricity (and, possibly, hot water for home heating and domestic use). Depending on your interests, you may choose to do a survey-type study comparing the costs and benefits of a number of different technologies. Or, you may want to focus on one particular technology and investigate the costs and benefits under different scenarios.

This project challenges you to answer the kind of question that engineers (and ordinary homeowners) face all the time: How much does a particular technology (or design element) cost, and what is the value of the benefit(s) it provides? This project will require lots of background research.

You can probably come up with hundreds of examples of this type of question, but for your science fair project, you'll just need one good one. Some sample questions are provided in the Objective section, above, and in the Variations section, below. The good thing is that you can tailor this project to your own interests. For the purposes of illustration, we'll use the first question as our example: Is it worthwhile for a homeowner with a 2000 square foot home and a family of four in Sacramento, CA to invest in a home solar thermal electricity energy system for electricity, home heating and hot water?

Terms, Concepts and Questions to Start Background Research

To do this project, you should do research that enables you to understand the following terms and concepts:

• active and passive solar energy devices,
• "green" building designs,
• photovoltaic arrays,
• solar thermal electricity energy systems.

Questions

• How do solar energy system manufacturers and installers come up with their estimates for energy savings from their systems?

Bibliography

• The California Energy Commission's "Consumer Energy Center" website is a good place to start looking for information on renewable energy sources. The first link leads to information about various renewable energy sources, and the second has information on California's rebate program. You should explore the rest of this site for more information, including links to other sites.
  • Consumer Energy Center, 2006. "Renewable Energy Choices," California Energy Commission [accessed February 8, 2006] http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/renewables/index.html.
  • Consumer Energy Center, 2006. "california�s emerging renewables rebate program," California Energy Commission [accessed February 8, 2006] http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/erprebate/program.html.
• Although it is an older website, the Solar Energy Society of Canada, Inc. (SESCI) is another good place to start learning about various solar energy technologies.
  • SESCI, 1997. "Passive Solar Energy," Solar Energy Society of Canada, Inc. [accessed February 7, 2006]:
    http://www.newenergy.org/sesci/publications/pamphlets/passive.html.
  • SESCI, 1997. "Active Solar Energy," Solar Energy Society of Canada, Inc. [accessed February 7, 2006]:
    http://www.newenergy.org/sesci/publications/pamphlets/active.html.
  • SESCI, 1997. "Photovoltaic Solar," Solar Energy Society of Canada, Inc. [accessed February 7, 2006]:
    http://www.newenergy.org/sesci/publications/pamphlets/photovoltaic.html.
• A Web search on "future electricity costs" will give you lots of material to choose from. Here's just one example:
  Woolf, T., 2003. "Benefits of Green Buildings: Future Outlook for Electricity Prices," Synapse Energy Economics, presentation for Boston Green Buildings Task Force [accessed February 8, 2006] http://www.cityofboston.gov/bra/gbtf/documents/woolf-green-buildings-electricity.pdf.

Materials and Equipment

To do this project you will need the following materials and equipment:

• computer with Internet access,
• notebook,
• calculator and/or computer spreadsheet program (e.g., Microsoft Excel or WordPerfect QuattroPro).

Experimental Procedure

1. Do your background research on solar energy technologies. Pick a technology that interests you and come up with a well-defined cost-benefit question to answer. For example: Is it worthwhile for a homeowner with a 2000 square foot home and a family of four in Sacramento, CA to invest in a home solar thermal electricity energy system for electricity, home heating and hot water?
2. Make a list of what you'll need to find out in order to answer your question. Here are some examples to get you started:
   1. How much will the homeowner have to pay for the system components and installation? Get estimates for typical systems from contractors with experience installing these types of systems. You can also ask about expected energy savings. You may want to consider the effect of government-sponsored rebate or tax credit programs.
   2. What are the annual energy costs for a typical household? Research this on the Internet or check with your local utility company for information.
   3. What energy savings will be realized after installation of the system? Will the system replace 70% of the household's energy needs? 85%? 100%? What data is available to support this replacement percentage?
   4. Related questions to consider are: What happens on days when there is little sun? Does the utility company provide a credit on days when the system supplies net energy to the electrical grid?
3. Do research to gather the needed information.
4. One of the difficulties you face in answering cost-benefit questions is how to deal with unknowns. For example, when calculating the energy savings, a huge consideration is the future cost of electricity from the utility company. In order to calculate how much the homeowner might save, you have to make some assumptions about how much electricity will cost in the future. One good approach is to try to bracket your estimates with a "best case" and a "worst case" analysis. Here are some additional suggestions to keep in mind when researching unknowns:
   1. Try to gather information from as many different points of view as you can. When you find disagreements, read the arguments and counter-arguments carefully. Is one argument more convincing than another? Why?
   2. Do a "reality check": look for independent verification of the facts and statistics used to support each case.
5. State your assumptions clearly. Justify your assumptions. Always provide your research sources. If new information later becomes available to you (or your readers), you will be able to go back and see how the new information might change your analysis and conclusions.
6. Crunch the numbers. Here is where a spreadsheet program can be really helpful. You'll probably want to do your analysis for a matrix of different scenarios. For example: high, medium and low-cost systems (each with a different rate of energy savings); above-average, average and below-average annual family energy usage; best-case, average-case, worst-case analysis for future energy costs.
7. Compare and present the results. For example, create a graph to show for each scenario how many years it will take for the system to pay for itself in energy savings.

Variations

• For a family of four living in an average-sized home in New England, how many years will it take for a home solar thermal electricity system to pay for itself in savings?
• For new home construction, pick 3–5 passive solar design techniques and analyze design and construction costs and potential energy savings. Compare to a house of the same size built on a similar location without these features.
• Has your house been remodeled recently? Were any improvements made for energy efficiency (solar systems, better insulation, passive solar heating, better lighting)? Compare your family's energy costs for a similar time period before and after the remodeling (remember that energy usage often varies seasonally). Did the improvements save you money? Analyze the cost of the remodeling work that was specific to energy efficiency (for example, if your house got a new roof, and insulation was added, find out what was the extra cost for the insulation, don't use the entire cost of the roof). Calculate how long it will take for the energy savings to pay for the improvements.
• How much of a factor would geography play in your analysis? Some possible effects to consider: differences in seasonal temperature swings and patterns of energy use, differences in available sunlight, differences in average home size, differences in construction costs.

• For more science project ideas in this area of science, see Energy & Power Project Ideas.

Credits

Andrew Olson, Ph.D., Science Buddies

Last edit date: 2006-04-07 15:46:58

Career Focus

If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring careers in Energy & Power.

	Nuclear Engineer Nuclear engineers harness the power of the atom to help solve large and difficult problems facing humanity. They design power plants that create energy to power homes and businesses without producing greenhouse gases. They develop machines that image the human body and destroy cancer cells, sterilize food and medical equipment, and create new pest or drought-resistant seeds. They work to make the world a better place.			Power Distributors and Dispatcher Think of all the things in your home or school that use electricity, like the lights, TV, refrigerator, washer, microwave, music players, computer, and electronic devices. Now think of how you feel when the power goes out, even for just a moment. Power plant distributors and dispatchers have an important job—they work to keep electricity flowing to homes and businesses by carefully watching and planning for problems like big storms that could damage transmission lines, heat waves that cause a big surge in demand for power, or normal construction work, which could take transmission lines out of service.
	Power Plant Operator No matter what time of the day or night, or what the weather is like, power plant operators work to ensure that homes and businesses have a reliable source of power. They switch the plant generators on and off, as needed, and monitor and maintain generators, turbines, and pumps to prevent failures.			Nuclear Power Reactor Operator One in five United States homes and businesses is powered by nuclear power, and nuclear power reactor operators are the people who ensure that those reactors are operating safely and efficiently at all times. They monitor all equipment continuously, and implement procedures if malfunctions are observed. They also control and adjust the amount of power being generated, and the reactor coolant temperature as power demands change through the day and during weather events, like heat waves.

Join Science Buddies Become a Science Buddies member! It's free! As a member you will be the first to receive our new and innovative project ideas, news about upcoming science competitions, science fair tips, and information on other science related initiatives. Support Science Buddies If this website has helped you, won't you consider a small gift so we may continue developing resources to help teachers and students?