Paper Outline

Evaluating the Viability of Solar Thermal Energy Collection

I. Introduction

1. What is solar thermal energy

a. background on solar energy, solar ovens, water heaters

b. solar thermal power plants, different kinds

2. Energy production in the united states

a. traditional fossil fuel plants

b. renewable energy in US

3. Energy production in AZ

a. Renewable energy goal

b. ideal place for solar energy

II. Advantages of Solar Thermal Energy Collection

1. Renewable, ideal in desert environments

2. collected energy can be stored as thermal energy

a. HTFs

b. methods of storage

c. allows energy to be generated at all hours

3. Most solar energy is collected because of concentration

III. Disadvantages

1. Cost

a. initial investment

2. inherent inefficiencies

3. problems with HTFs

4. Limited by location

a. Need for land, water, sunlight

IV. Development of New HTF

1. benefits of higher temperatures

2. Types of Heat Transfer Fluids

a. Molten Salts

b. Synthetic Oils

V. Work in the lab

1. Developing new molten salt

2. Describe the apparatus and procedure

3. Describe the data collected

4. Describe each step of analysis

5. Describe results

VI. Other areas of development

VII. Comparison to other methods of energy generation

a. fossil fuels

b. other renewable sources

VIII. Conclusion