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Creating public awareness of renewable energy by combining of a photovoltaic system and nature

2017; Elsevier BV; Volume: 9; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.24084/repqj09.587

2172-038X

Arnold Knott, Dorthe Hedensted Lund, Thomas R. Andersen,

Experimental and Theoretical Physics Studies

Energy is seemingly permanently and nearly everywhere in the western world available to the end consumer. While a majority of the western civilization is aware of the downsides of fossil energy sources and is fa- voring renewable energy sources, the energy consumption is still increasing. The situation is quite clear to the ex- perts in the field, but further awareness in the public must be created. Therefore this paper addresses a method of creating this awareness: installations that stimulate con- versations of renewable energy. A solar tree was developed and built to serve young people with an AC outlet at a rock festival. The tree was real- ized under mechanical constraints and considerations of the electrical network to allow energy storage and conver- sion. This paper will introduce the principle of provotypes, which are provoking human thinking toward environmen- tal friendly technology. The mechanical requirements and the developed solution is shown, before providing inten- sive insight into the electrical configuration, consisting of a battery, photovoltaic cells and a DC-AC converter. Fur- thermore a low complexity charge controller is presented. The resulting solar tree is capable of attracting peoples attention, surviving in harsh environments and providing power up to around 100 W.