Solar energy - The choice for the future.
By DeeBee3
The sun is 4.5 billion years old, with a surface temperature of 5,700 degrees celsius.It has a radius of 696,000 km, in comparison to the earth's 6,376 km, and is situated approximately 150 million km away from the earth.
Human beings have used the rays of the sun for heating purposes for thousands of years, but it has been only recently that they have been able to save and store this energy
When one mentions the term solar energy, most of us think only in terms of solar panels, but in fact the sun is the harbinger of most of the alternative energy systems, including wind power, hydro- electric energy and bio-mass fuels.
Solar power by means of panels is becoming one of the most popular sources of alternative energy due to it's size of appliance and it's attractivness for developing countries and remote or isolated locations, as it negates the need for expensive grid infrastructure.
It is also a myth that only sunny countries benefit from solar panels. The United Kingdom, reknowned for it's low cloud cover and rainfall, has one of the highest instance of customer base.
Solar panels collect solar radiation from the sun and activly convert that energy into electricity.A solar panel is comprised of several individual solar cells. These cells function like a large conductor to utilise a large area p-n junction diode. When the solar cells are exposed to sunlight the p-n junction diode converts this energy from sunlight into electricity.
The cost of a 3KW (4x3 m) panel produces around 2.703 hours of energy, at a cost of around £8,000/ $ 10,000. This in turn could supply upto 90% of an average family living in a three bed house, electricity for a year. With each panel coming with a 25 year guarantee.
on a larger scale, whole areas of the world are now being turned into giant solar power plants.The largest Solar power plant is in the Mojave Desert in the U.S.A. It covers an area of 1,000 acres, and incredibly produces 90% of the world's current commercial energy there.
The largest plant in Europe is in Germany, this plant provides 12 MW of energy to 3,500 households by way of 1,400 movable panels.
The world's leader in the use of domestic solar power is Japan.
For info on wind turbines click here.
- Wind-The way forward.
Wind is caused by air flowing from areas of high to low pressure.Since the earth is continually rotating, this air does not flow in a straight path, but is deflected to the right, in the northern hemisphere,...
Comments
The age of the sun is a guess. And solar seems great on the surface, but how do we produce the panels? How long do they last? How much pollution is created in the process? Are we using Solar to create the panels or fossil fuels? I'm very much in favor of Solar Power. But I wouldn't call Panels manufactured out of petroleum truly "alternative". That's the real problem, everything non-petroleum is in vogue until you look at the role that petroleum plays in manufacturing the products.
You make a very good point MikeNV. We need to use petroleum products to manufacture and transport alternative energy systems. More efficient trucks, trains and other carriers will, over time cut costs. More local production will also cut transport costs and create jobs so more people can afford energy and other living costs. Manufacturers who will be gradually using more alternative energy for production will lower costs and the amount of fossil fuel used. This is going to take time and support from local, state and federal governments.
On the transport issue, we are certainly looking for other methods of running vehicles without the need of petroleum, electric cars, bio fuels, as time goes on we can hope that there is as much research put into the manufacture of this to help our green energy along.
As for the 'panels' you're right of course about them being made of petroleum based products, but ditto to resaerch in that area too, one hopes. Thanks for your comments guys.
Even if fossil fuels are being used to create & deliver the panels, once the panels have been delivered they stop taking from the planet. Surely this is better than the alternatives that that also use fossil fules to create and deliver and then just keep on taking. Or am I missing a point here?
lsfloro 2 years ago
Using solar energy can be as simple as heating water with the sun. I live in southern Arizona and tried a simple experiment. I bought a long length of black hose and laid it out along side of my house. This was in the early summer when the temperature was just starting to heat up. I filled the hose with water and by afternoon it was scalding hot. I had hot water for only a few dollars. Longer lengths of hose added to the quantity. Using solar energy can be very economical.