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Global fossil fuel reserves are declining due to differential uses, especially for power generation. Everybody can help to do their bit for the environment by using solar energy. Geographically, Bangladesh is a potential zone for harnessing solar energy. In March 2021, the renewable generation capacity in Bangladesh amounted to 722.592 MW, including 67.6% from solar, 31.84% from hydro, and 0.55% from other energy sources, including wind, biogas, and biomass, where 488.662 MW of power originated from over 6 million installed solar power systems. Concurrently, over 42% of rural people still suffer from a lack of electricity, where solar energy can play a vital role. This paper highlights the present status of various forms of solar energy progress in Bangladesh, such as solar parks, solar rooftops, solar irrigation, solar charging stations, solar home systems, solar-powered telecoms, solar street lights, and solar drinking water, which can be viable alternative sources of energy. This review will help decision-makers and investors realize Bangladesh’s up-to-date solar energy scenario and plan better for the development of a sustainable society.

Most of the world’s mountain glaciers have been retreating for more than a century in response to climate change. Glacier retreat is evident on all continents, and the rate of retreat has accelerated during recent decades. Accurate, spatially explicit information on the position of glacier margins over time is useful for analyzing patterns of glacier retreat and measuring reductions in glacier surface area. This information is also essential for evaluating how mountain ecosystems are evolving due to climate warming and the attendant glacier retreat. Here, we present a non-comprehensive spatially explicit dataset showing multiple positions of glacier fronts since the Little Ice Age (LIA) maxima, including many data from the pre-satellite era. The dataset is based on multiple historical archival records including topographical maps; repeated photographs, paintings, and aerial or satellite images with a supplement of geochronology; and own field data. We provide ESRI shapefiles showing 728 past positions of 94 glacier fronts from all continents, except Antarctica, covering the period between the Little Ice Age maxima and the present. On average, the time series span the past 190 years. From 2 to 46 past positions per glacier are depicted (on average: 7.8).

Abstract The upward energy demand, along with the depletion of conventional energy sources, demands improved utilization of renewable energy resources. Among all renewable energy resources, solar energy is the most appropriate alternative to conventional energy sources owing to its inexhaustibility and green property. Solar collectors are devices that convert solar radiation into heat or energy. However, the efficiency of the solar collector is still not adequate. The competent step to enhance the efficiency of the solar collector is to use nanofluids. This study is carried out different phases viz. characterization and stabilization while both qualitative and quantitative methods used to evaluate the stability of nanofluids thermophysical properties of Al2O3 and CNC nanofluids such as thermal conductivity measured at four different temperature using KD2 Pro, viscosity and specific heat determined at similar temperature range by viscometer and differential scanning calorimetry respectively. The experiment is executed with a fixed flow rate and in steady-state conditions under extensive solar radiation. The experimental study has revealed that up to 2.48% and 8.46% efficiency of solar collector enhanced by using 0.5% Al2O3 and 0.5% CNC nanofluids respectively. Moreover, nanofluids show good to moderate stability performance. Besides, the thermal conductivity of nanofluids increased while viscosity is in a decreasing trend with increasing temperature. Nanofluids could enhance the efficiency of a flat-plate solar collector.

The Galapagos Islands have been declared a World Heritage site due to their unique biodiversity, which makes them a living museum and a natural laboratory for humankind. However, to fulfill the energy needs of its habitants and foreign visitors, the islands have depended on fossil fuel energies that have produced levels of lead and chemical agents that are affecting the islands’ air quality, flora, and fauna. Therefore, zero-carbon initiatives have been created to protect the islands, wherein solar and wind power plants have been studied as reliable alternatives. In this way, Geographical Information Systems based on Multicriteria Decision Methods constitute a methodology that minimizes the destruction and disturbance of nature in order to assess the best location for the implementation of these alternative energy sources. Therefore, by exploring the geographical information along with the Analytical Hierarchical Processes and the Ordered Weighted Average methods, it was possible to identify the potential for solar power plants of 10 MW on each island; likewise, for wind power plants, it was found that the islands possess implementation potential that has been analyzed in the field, showing that the best location is on Baltra Island, but is not limited to it.

We examine the possibility of making useful climate extrapolations in inner basins. Stressing the role of the local geographic features, for a practical example we focus our attention on the Red Sea. We observe that in spite of being an enclosed and relatively small Sea, its climate conditions are heavily affected by those of the larger neighboring regions, in particular the Mediterranean and the Arabian Seas. Using existing high-resolution information of the recent decades, we use both reasoned extrapolation and knowledge of, past and future, longer term general climatic information to frame what is presently possible to assess for the Red Sea. Specifically, the northern part, influenced by the Mediterranean Sea, shows a clear decreasing trend of both the meteorological and wave conditions in the recent decades. However, within a longer span record of 100 years, this decrease appears to be part of a 70-year cycle, which may be overturning, partly at least, in the coming decades. These trends are consistent with the expectations inferred from regional climatic indices, such as North Atlantic Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. No similar long term trend has been found for wave, hence implicitly the wind, conditions in the southern part of the basin. As expected, some correlation exists with the typical patterns of the Indian Ocean, but without any specific indication of a future trend. We suggest that, suitably adapted for the specific local conditions and dominant patterns, similar correlation and physical patterns may exist in several of the enclosed areas of the world, opening the possibility of exploring their possible trends in the future decades.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy systems are one of the most widely deployed renewable technologies in the world. The efficiency of solar panels has been studied during the last few decades, and, to date, it has not been possible to displace the production of energy using crystalline silicon wafer-based technology whose efficiency has reached values around 26.1%. Moreover, using solar tracking PV systems has become a feasible alternative to increase the electric output of PV silicon technologies instead of using the conventional fixed PV installation on a flat or sloping surface. The following study has compared fixed and dual-axis sun-tracking PV panels in order to quantify the enhancement associated with the amount of energy harvested when using dual-axis tracking PV systems in the city of Manta, located in a coastal region of Ecuador. In order to carry out this study, an IoT monitoring system based on Raspberry Pi3 and Arduino platforms was used. Measurements of solar radiation (W/m2), light intensity (Lux), temperature (°C), short-circuit current (A), and open-circuit voltage (V) were taken every minute for both systems. The results prove that the dual-axis tracking PV system produces, on average, 19.62% more energy than the static PV system. These results present an 8.62% energy increase with respect to a previous study carried out in an equatorial region with similar characteristics to those of the city of Manta, where a one-axis tracking PV system was used.