2008 Woodie Awards
Extra solar power to be sold to TVA
Jessica Hornbuckle
Issue date: 6/29/05 Section: News
MTSU will announce its partnership with Tennessee Valley Authority at an event held in the Vocational Agriculture building at 10 a.m. Thursday.
For more than 20 years now, Cliff Ricketts, professor of agribusiness and agriscience, has been experimenting with alternative fuels like soybean oil, hydrogen and even cow manure.
When MTSU's solar panels were first put up in March 2004, they were the biggest ones in the state outside the TVA. With solar panels that big, they create a lot of energy, and there is a lot left over.
"What happens is, [the solar unit] is working all the time and it's going into the electric grid system of TVA. So, actually, what we're doing, we're putting the sun in the bank ... we're storing it," Ricketts explained.
Even on a cloudy day, the solar panels are producing some energy. Ricketts conserves all the solar energy he can.
"I could charge this truck directly off the solar unit, but I choose not to do that because if I only used that solar unit when I needed it, then I would lose probably 95 percent to 96 percent of the efficiency. I've roughly banked 16,000 kilowatts, and the TVA pays the university 20 cents a kilowatt," Ricketts said.
At the event, they will be demonstrating how engines run on alternative fuels by running vehicles fueled with hydrogen, made by combining solar power and water.
"A lot of people think you have to have solar panels on board a vehicle for a solar vehicle, but that's not really right," he said.
An engine is fueled using solar power and water by creating a hydrogen solid with the two elements.
"Then, in the presence of heat, we'll hook the metal hydrogen tank up to an engine, and hot water from the engine will flow around a jacket outside of the tank, and in the presence of hea,t the solidified hydrogen turns back into gaseous hydrogen and will run the engine" Ricketts said.
"My lifelong passion, a career goal, is to run engines off of nothing but sun and water. I don't think there is anything better out there," Ricketts added.
For more than 20 years now, Cliff Ricketts, professor of agribusiness and agriscience, has been experimenting with alternative fuels like soybean oil, hydrogen and even cow manure.
When MTSU's solar panels were first put up in March 2004, they were the biggest ones in the state outside the TVA. With solar panels that big, they create a lot of energy, and there is a lot left over.
"What happens is, [the solar unit] is working all the time and it's going into the electric grid system of TVA. So, actually, what we're doing, we're putting the sun in the bank ... we're storing it," Ricketts explained.
Even on a cloudy day, the solar panels are producing some energy. Ricketts conserves all the solar energy he can.
"I could charge this truck directly off the solar unit, but I choose not to do that because if I only used that solar unit when I needed it, then I would lose probably 95 percent to 96 percent of the efficiency. I've roughly banked 16,000 kilowatts, and the TVA pays the university 20 cents a kilowatt," Ricketts said.
At the event, they will be demonstrating how engines run on alternative fuels by running vehicles fueled with hydrogen, made by combining solar power and water.
"A lot of people think you have to have solar panels on board a vehicle for a solar vehicle, but that's not really right," he said.
An engine is fueled using solar power and water by creating a hydrogen solid with the two elements.
"Then, in the presence of heat, we'll hook the metal hydrogen tank up to an engine, and hot water from the engine will flow around a jacket outside of the tank, and in the presence of hea,t the solidified hydrogen turns back into gaseous hydrogen and will run the engine" Ricketts said.
"My lifelong passion, a career goal, is to run engines off of nothing but sun and water. I don't think there is anything better out there," Ricketts added.
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