Latest questions

1. Exciting stuff: For the US, power from renewable sources surpassed that of coal in 2022 - 22% vs 20%. There ought to be equally exciting news on CO2 emissions front, right? By how much did the CO2 emissions of USA change in 2022 (from 2021)?

2. The Cornish village of Kehelland recently (Jan 2023) achieved what enviable status?

3. A mineral by the rather complicated name perovskite is becoming popular because of its use in what?

4. What % of the world's population sun dry their clothes?

5. Solar panels used in its earliest versions were on spacecraft in the late fifties. What was the technology of the solar panels?

6. Which is the world’s largest renewable power source, by actual contribution to electricity?

7. In 2021, approximately what % of India’s total electricity was from solar and wind power together?

8. What is the order of magnitudes of temperatures being reached in nuclear fusion reactors being experimented?

9. Which of the following companies pioneered Solar Power as a Service model, globally?

10. What does the island of Andaman use to generate power?

11. End of 2021, the world had about 950 GW of solar PV and about 850 GW of wind power. What were the respective numbers in 2010?

12. Which country uses geothermal to heat almost 90% of its homes?

13. How many geothermal power generation plants are commercially operational in India?

14. How much bio-natural gas can a Kg of biogas yield?

15. How much biomass would a 1 MW biomass power plant require per year?

16. Which of the following forms of fuels can pyrolysis produce?

17. How much more electricity can an offshore wind farm generate compared to that of an onshore farm?

18. In India, annual O&M costs for solar are typically about 1% of total cost of the solar power plant. How much are these for onshore wind farms?

19. What percentage of industrial heating requires temperatures lower than 100 degrees C? (approx global average)

20. At the end of 2021, solar PV had a cumulative global installed capacity of about 950 GW. How much global capacity does CSP have globally?

21. How much does a 3 MW wind turbine weigh, approx?

22. Solar water heaters can provide temperatures up to about 70 degrees C…some innovations take it to about 100 or a bit higher. What is the highest temperature that concentrating solar thermal can provide?

23. In addition to the fact that they use land otherwise unused and also result in less water loss through evaporation, what is another key benefit of having solar panel over water surfaces?

24. What are virtual solar power plants?

25. Which of the following countries is planning to put up large solar farms and export solar power to Singapore?

26. Which of the following countries is pioneering efforts in offshore solar farms?

27. What is the emerging field of growing crops in the same space as solar farms (typically under solar panels) called?

28. A MWh from a thermal power plant requires about 3000 liters of water. How much does a MWh from a solar power plant require?

29. Why are we not able to produce liquid biofuels economically from agro waste?

30. Burning biomass for heat power also releases CO2, though its net effect on carbon emissions is low or zero. What of the following pollutants are emissions from biomass heating lower in?

31. At the current watt peak capacities of solar panels, how many solar panels would be needed for a large scale solar farm of about 500 MW?

32. Both pyrolysis and torrefaction refer to heating biomass in an inert or oxygen deficient environment. What is the main difference between the two?