Online learning about solar electricity

September 17, 2006 1:20 PM

Does anyone have any information about, or experience with, SEI's online PV courses?

I've always been interested in solar electricity, even more so in the last few years, and want to learn as much about it as I can. Unfortunately, there aren't any local workshops or curriculums at the local colleges focused on PV technology, or any alternate energy source for that matter, so I thought I'd turn to online study. Any other suggestions beyond SEI?

posted by bjork24 to Science & Nature (1 answer total)

While not focused, the internet in general (with the inclusion of discussion forums, and the tappable expertise of fellow enthusiests) has all you need to know on the electrical/engineering side. My assumption is that what you're paying for in the SEI thing is the convenience of a structured, focused, course.

My approach has tended to be "make it a hobby for six months". Build a simple solar robot, or flashlight, or whatever. Where is performance or usefulness lacking, and why? How could that be improved? Scale up - what about a solar charger for a laptop? Then a small lead-acid battery with an inverter. Where can you get good inverters cheaply or free? What kind of efficiency do they have? Does it vary?

A course is probably the quickest way to gain the focused knowledge, but if you have more time availible for the topic, spending the price of the course on parts for a series of construction projects that you designed from the ground up, of ever increasing complexity and (hopefully) performance. You'll lose time to mistakes that the course might have warned against, but you'll be getting hands on experience in where you are weak as a designer.

Or do both :) But my suggestion is that just jumping in and trying stuff is a viable way to learn. It seems daunting at first, but it works.
posted by -harlequin- at 3:03 PM on September 17, 2006