1.5 Refresher on Units and Terminology

At the conclusion of this lesson, I want to refer you to some resources on basic energy units, conversions, and terminology that specifically applies to solar energy systems. If you have just completed the EME 810 course, you will find many of these things familiar. For example, can you clearly answer these questions:

What is the difference between power and energy? And what are their units?
What is the difference between power and power density?
What is irradiance? What is irradiation? Is there difference?
What are the symbols for irradiation on hourly and daily steps?

Video (8:46)

Refresher on solar resource units and terminology. You can also revisit Basic Solar Jargon for Energy and Power [1] in EME 810 to get more details on how solar radiation is quantified at a particular place and time.

Credit: Mark Fedkin

Also, it would be useful to look through the original technical paper by Beckman et al. (1978), too, and use it in the future if any notation questions arise. The main purpose of this material is for everyone to be on the same page when analyzing the solar energy conversion technologies further in this course.

Supplemental Materials:

These presentations provide additional explanations and illustrations to the concepts of energy conversion and efficiency. These resources are optional, but can be helpful if you need to revisit the basics.

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[3]