HR: 0830h
AN: A31C-0062    [PDF]
TI: Alternate Energy from the Desert
AU: * Malek, E
EM: emalek@mendel.usu.edu
AF: Utah State University, 4820 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-4820 United States
AB: Due to rapid growth of the world's population and more demands for energy, and due to limited amount of fossil fuels (which provide 95 % of the world's energy needs), harnessing of alternate energy sources such as solar and wind power should be considered. In addition to the mountain passes with usually high wind, vast and flat desert areas could be good candidates for harvesting both solar and wind power. We set up a weather station in the middle of a desert, approximately 65 km east-west by 130 km north-south, located at Dugway (40\deg 08' N, 113\deg 27' W, 1124 m above mean sea level) in northwestern Utah, USA, in 1999. This station measured the incoming (Rsi) and outgoing (Rso) solar or shortwave radiation using two CM21 Kipp \& Zonen pyranometers (one inverted), the incoming (Rli or atmospheric) and outgoing (Rlo or terrestrial) longwave radiation, using two CG1 Kipp \& Zonen pyrgeometers (one inverted), and the net (Rn) radiation using a Q*7 net radiometer (Radiation Energy Balance System, REBS). We also measured the 3-m wind speed (U3) and direction (R.M. Young wind monitor) and precipitation (Campbell Sci., Inc.) and some other weather parameters. The measurements were taken every two seconds, and averaged into 20-min, continuously, throughout the year. The two-year (January 2000 - December 2001) period comparisons of global or solar radiation and windiness with two other stations in central (Hunter) and northern (Logan) Utah, indicate higher average solar radiation [Rsi,Dugway = 601 MJ / (m2-month) vs. Rsi, Hunter = 5371 MJ /(m2-month) and Rsi, Logan = 516 MJ /(m2-month)] and much higher 10-m average wind (UDugway = 478 km/d vs. UHunter = 323 km/d and ULogan = 275 km/d) throughout the period over the desert. These data reveal the possibility of simultaneously harvesting these two sources of clean energies at this vast and uniform desert area. Keywords: Desert, energy, radiation balance, solar and wind energies, windiness.
DE: 0394 Instruments and techniques
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting