Creating Public Awareness of Renewable Energy by Combining a Photovoltaic System and Nature
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24084/repqj09.587Abstract
Energy is seemingly permanently andnearly everywhere in the western world available to theend consumer. While a majority of the western civilizationis aware of the downsides of fossil energy sources and is fa-voring renewable energy sources, the energy consumptionis still increasing. The situation is quite clear to the ex-perts in the field, but further awareness in the public mustbe created. Therefore this paper addresses a method ofcreating this awareness: installations that stimulate con-versations of renewable energy.A solar tree was developed and built to serve young peoplewith an AC outlet at a rock festival. The tree was real-ized under mechanical constraints and considerations ofthe 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 andthe developed solution is shown, before providing inten-sive insight into the electrical configuration, consisting ofa 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 peoplesattention, surviving in harsh environments and providingpower up to around100 W.