Is Solar Energy Reliable?

Solar power is becoming a way of life for many people across the globe. From isolated communities to inner city suburbs, solar energy is becoming a very popular choice to better the environment.

Solar energy has been in existence ever since life on our planet began. We have been using the strength of the sun in many different ways, past and present. The more modern technique of using solar energy has been through the use of solar panels.

Solar energy is 100% reliable, if our planet did not receive this energy, or if the energy increased or dropped significantly, then the earth would more than likely struggle to support mankind. However, some methods regarding how we use solar energy are by no means 100% reliable.

The more modern method of harnessing solar energy has been through the use of solar panels. The technology used to turn sunlight into electricity is still in its infancy. Newer and better technologies are emerging every year, and one day we can be hopeful that solar panels could easily support a large household in a reliable way.

Many people have had great success using solar panels to power their home, and this can be down to a range of factors. The main problem associated with the reliability of solar panels is the cost. Due to the more expensive panels been out of the price range of your average consumer, more and more people are opting for budget solar cells, which provide a much lower output, resulting in the disappointment of the consumer.

The people who achieve a reliable and efficient power output from solar cells either integrate these solar panels with a small home wind turbine or ground source heat pump.

The “green dream” is by no means a dream. We do have the technology available to provide 100% of a households power supply, yet cost is the bridge that places the green dream a long way away.

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How is Solar Energy Produced?

In this day and age of growing technology, scientists are working diligently to find ways to harness solar energy in order to power the Earth. Producing cars and products powered by solar energy will reduce the emission of harmful gasses and chemicals into the atmosphere. Our Earth is a precious commodity and we need to take care to protect it.

What is solar energy? Solar energy is radiant heat and light that is emanated from the Sun. This light helps to influence the climate on Earth and allows not only humans and animals – but also fish to live. Solar energy has been harnessed for power since the ancient times by humans through the use of different technologies.

The Earth can receive 174 petawatts of solar radiation or insolation in its upper atmosphere. Close to 30% of that is reflected back into space and the rest is absorbed by the clouds, land masses, and the oceans. The spectrum of solar light on the surface of the Earth is predominantly spread across near infrared and visible ranges and a small part in the near ultraviolet. The solar light that is absorbed is able to heat the land surface, atmosphere, and oceans.

Solar energy as well as hydroelectricity, wind, and wave power make up 99.97% of the renewable energy that is available on the Earth. The total amount of solar energy that the Earth?s atmosphere, land masses, and oceans absorbs is close to 3,850 zettajoules a year. Studies show that in 2002 this was more energy in one single hour then what the world would use in a total year.

The amount of solar energy that the Earth?s surface can capture is so large that in a single year it will be twice the amount that we can obtain from non-renewable resources of oil, coal, and natural gas. Because of this consumers themselves are seeking to purchase their own solar energy systems to help save them money and to keep the Earth safe.

What is Solar Energy? How it Works and Why

Solar energy is radiated from the sun through forms of heat and light, this powers the Earth’s climate and sustains life. Today’s technologies can make use of this energy resource. Simply, solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electric power. The technologies that are used to convert the sunlight into power are called photovoltaics, there are also other technologies that have been used such as concentrating solar thermal devices but a lot of the experimental devices such as thermal converters, solar chimneys and solar ponds have also been used.

Solar energy is a much safer and energy efficient way of creating electricity, the use of solar energy has now become an important component to consider when designing a building. This is what thermal mass is used for; because it preserves the heat that the sunshine delivers to the building and can then transfer that heat into electricity. There are also solar water heaters which are a much more efficient way of heating swimming pools, and are a great idea for large hotels and sports pools, which use up a lot of the earths non-renewable fuels.

We also use solar power in agriculture, in particular greenhouses, in case you’ve always wondered what they are for, now you know, because they grow specialty crops, which are difficult to grow out side in the normal atmosphere, instead, the greenhouse uses the photovoltaics, which cause the plants to photosynthesize, which causes them to grow faster and stronger. There are also photovoltaic-powered water pumps for grazing cattle. There are also evaporation ponds which can work in the city and in the country; they are used to harvest salt and clean streams of contaminants.

In the poorer areas of the world, solar distillation and disinfection techniques produce potable water for millions of people. Also for families, and large buildings, family-scale cookers and larger solar kitchens concentrate sunlight for cooking, and in the more industrial work places, more sophisticated concentrating technologies magnify the rays of the sun for high-temperature material testing, metal smelting and industrial chemical production. A range of prototype solar vehicles provide ground, air and sea transportation.

How do the solar power technologies work? Here is an example:

The simplest form of solar energy collection is the FLAT PLATE COLLECTOR, this is a long flat rectangle which ideally would be fixed on to a roof or building in a sunny area.

Dark metal plates absorb and preserve the heat. Coils of tubing are looped throughout the collector, next to the metal plates with air, water or an anti-freeze solution circulating within them. The heat is transferred into the coils and thus the fluid/air as it circulates through the tubing. The air or fluid is either used immediately (as hot water or to heat a room, pool, etc.) or it is transferred to a well insulated holding tank for later use.

These are capable of reaching temperatures of 82 degrees Celsius which is great for heating water or a room.

What Are The Drawbacks From Using Solar Energy?

What are some drawbacks from using solar energy? I know that it is expensive, and it only works when the sun is out, what are 3 other drawbacks?

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The Importance of Solar Energy to our Everyday Lives

Daily headlines make everyone aware of the dangerous situation in which our environment must operate. The human population has historically overtaxed its natural resources and today we are seeing the long-term effects of this selfish behavior. While many people try to reduce their ?carbon footprint? by recycling, spending their money in more effective ways and eating a more ?earth friendly? diet, one of the most important practices we should all begin is improving our energy efficiency.

One of the most well developed methods of becoming energy efficient is through the use of renewable energies such as outdoor solar lights. In fact solar power is the best developed and most broadly applied of the modern energy technologies and almost anyone can use it to reduce their traditional energy consumption.

How? It is actually quite simple to recognize the ways in which the sun?s energy can be put to use in even the most basic methods. For example, during the hot summer months a home owner or apartment dweller could close all window blinds, curtains or shades to reduce their need for air conditioning or home cooling. (Imagine a summer without warnings about ?rolling blackouts? because everyone has to keep their air conditioner turned to its highest settings simply because they allowed the sun to pound into the room all day long.) Alternately during the winter months they could easily rely on the sun?s warmth to heat up a room during the earlier hours of the day and then close the blinds before dusk in order to capture the remaining heat.

Those who have the financial means can use solar energy in a significantly wider number of ways, and not just to heat their domestic hot water or supply their homes with some energy. While such functions are ideally where all home owners should be headed, currently the materials and equipment required to convert a home?s energy supply entirely to a solar powered system are not within everyone?s budget or ability. Home owners can however employ a wide number of solar powered LED lights and appliances (including radios, solar landscape lights, ovens and attic fans) as an effective approach towards energy efficiency.

Finally, solar power has finally reached the automobile industry and several major manufacturers have promised consumers that they will make cars with rooftop solar panels available by the year 2010. While such vehicles may not be fully powered through solar energy it is clearly a step towards a healthier planet.

Solar Energy Explained – A Simple Guide

Science has proved that our Sun is a huge burning mass of whirling gases with tremendous heat. The heat is so intense that any object approaching within thousands of miles of the sun?s radius would instantly vaporize. The rays of Sun when they reach the earth bring with them the heat latent it them. This heat is diluted when the rays of Sun disperse in the whole atmosphere. But it is possible to concentrate the rays by a magnifying glass to such a point that the latent heat in them also gets concentrated so much that the object placed at that point starts to burn. In using a magnifying glass in the sunlight, what we effectively do is we trap the solar energy present in the sunlight and focus it at a point to produce heat. This principle is the basis of harnessing the potential of solar energy. This solar energy is present everywhere where the sun?s rays reach. We must try to trap this energy as much as possible so that long after the sunset, we can use it to warm our homes and hearths.

We may find the sunlight very pleasant to be in. If we continue to sit in the sunlight for a long time, we find our skin becoming hot because it absorbs the heat present in the sunshine. But since the sunshine is percolating every nook and corner where the sun?s rays reach, the heat is not felt easily. The heat gets dissipated with the atmosphere. That is why it is difficult to capture the heat in the sunlight to such a point that it can be put to use to provide heat and energy to its full potential.

To trap the latent heat in the sunlight sufficiently so that we can use it to warm our homes after the sunset, we need to use the principle in the magnifying glass, that is, we need something that will garner the heat of the sunshine and concentrate it upon a particular area. That something is a solar collector, just like a magnifying glass. It captures the sunlight falling upon it and allows the sunlight to pass through and into the area beyond it. The articles in the space beyond the solar collector absorb and capture the solar heat. The solar collector provides only a one way passage to the heat and traps it so that it cannot get back to its source. One example of solar collector is glass which allows passage of the sunrays through the glass and into container beyond it. The Sun?s rays making up the sunshine travel in straight lines so that once they are through the solar collector, they are not able to turn back themselves. Thus the solar collector effectively traps the heat energy present in the sun?s rays and the area under the glass becomes warm or hot. The articles in the area under the glass absorb the heat and prevent it from escaping back. Thus the area under the glass is heated by solar power and it remains hot for a long time since the heat is trapped there.

The greenhouses make use of this great natural solar collector, that is, glass. The glass walls trap the heat in the sunshine and the greenhouse remains warm long after the sunset or when the sunshine does not reach the greenhouse because of cloudy atmosphere. Thus the warm atmosphere inside the greenhouse is maintained even during cold seasons.

You Can Help Make Solar Energy Accessible

Solar energy is likely the largest, single answer to this nation’s dependence on fossil fuels. With enough solar energy, U.S. citizens can ignore the threat of Peak Oil, the more visible threat of oil embargoes from Mideast countries, the rising cost of fossil fuels and the air pollution that is making large cities virtually uninhabitable.

Getting to that goal isn’t easy. There are a lot of solar incentives out there, from utility companies sponsoring solar installation to local, state and federal governments offering funding or tax rebates to homeowners installing a photovoltaic (PV) system. Unfortunately, these incentives are all over the board, vary from state to state and even region to region depending on the utility, are rarely publicly advertised to make homeowners aware of their existence, and change from one year to the next depending on the whims of Congress.

Most homeowners, when presented with the 10,000 hoops required to get some kind of incentive package, shrug their shoulders and walk away. Life is complicated enough. If president-elect Barack Obama truly wants to meet his eco-friendly energy goals – five million “green collar” jobs, negative oil imports in by 2018, and 10 percent of energy coming from renewable sources like solar – he will first need to translate this mishmash of incentives into a cohesive, comprehensive and comprehensible national policy.

What if, for example, instead of searching DSIRE’s (Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy) map for your state, then searching the more than 100 entries for a program that matches your qualifications and expectations, you could simply rely on the fact that state, regional and utility incentives all offered a specific program?

Better yet, what if an agency of the federal government, like the U.S. Department of Energy, took over all incentives and offered a flat rebate not subject to change every time Congress was in session? Can you imagine the numbers of individuals who – currently stymied by a maze of regulations and stipulations – would flock to install solar energy panels? I can, and it would give the solar energy industry a boost not seen since Henry Ford first introduced an affordable automobile.

You can make this happen by writing your representative and demanding a uniform, timeless, renewable energy incentive program. Better yet, join a social networking site and start your own petition, or contact renewable energy advocate sites (the American Solar Energy Society is a good start) and ask them to start a petition asking Obama and his transition team to develop such a program.

The future of solar energy is you, and tomorrow is already here.

Step by Step Solar Energy Classes

Solar power systems for home come in a wide variety of types and sizes.? One of the first things you’ll need to know is exactly how you’ll be using your free energy.? The PV cells of a solar array absorb the sun’s ultraviolet rays and convert that energy into electric current… but that doesn’t mean you can use it right away.? The ‘juice’ created by the photovoltaic process is direct current (DC) and needs to be changed to alternating current (AC) before it can be used for your household electric needs.? This requires the use of an inverter.? There are some uses for DC current within the household, but most solar power in homes consists of electricity that’s been already transformed into a more standard usable form.

The next thing to consider is how you’ll be gathering this free, clean, renewable energy from the sun!? When most people think of home solar heating panels they think of those great big monstrosities that used to clutter rooftops back in the 70’s and 80’s.? Those ugly eyesores did little to promote the industry, and if anything they hurt the image of solar energy for decades to come.? Luckily in today’s world, advances in PV cell technology have made it so that you can harness the sun’s rays in a multitude of new ways.?

Rooftop solar panels installation is much simpler, easier, and a LOT more attractive these days!? Panels are smaller and better looking, and they can be mounted flush to the roofline.? Solar shingles are another way to go… you can build entire home photovoltaic systems that look the same as asphalt shingles or ceramic glazed roofing.? By tiling the top of your home with thousands of these tiny cells, you can harness free green energy year-round.? These systems go up easily with just a few solar panel installation classes, and in a few days or even hours you can begin lowering your electric bills while making the planet a cleaner place to live.

Solar heaters for pools are another popular do it yourself project.? You can install a diy solar pool heater in just a matter of hours, saving you hundreds of dollars over the summer in pool heating costs.? Either the sun warms water in an insulated tank, or a vacuum tube system is utilized to make the most of the day’s UV rays.? Water tanks can also be used in the home – for showers, dishwashers, washing machines, or anywhere hot water is required.

You can even take solar energy classes that will instruct you on the guidelines of step by step solar system setup.? From determining the angle of installation to drilling the struts that will support the array, one of the best ways to learn is through watching home solar panel kit videos.? The visuals and knowledge obtained by learning from these videos will give you the confidence to begin solar panels installation on any scale project, small or large.?? You don’t have to have previous experience with any type of green energy – the instructions are all that you need.

And when it comes to installation, usually only a few small tools are required: a laser level, a chalkline, a drill and a socket set.? In most cases connectors will snap together, but you may also need a soldering gun.? The hardware that comes with a home solar power kit is designed to attach to the backs of your PV panels and then be bolted or clamped right to the mounting struts.? In many cases these mounts will be adjustable so you can tilt them toward the sun no matter which month it is.? This allows you to maximize your solar exposure as the sun changes position (relative to your roof) throughout the year.

What Are Engineering Challenges To Develop Solar Energy For Comfort/home Uses?

What are engineering challenges to develop solar energy for comfort/home uses?

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The Cost Of Solar Energy

Solar energy is a natural source of energy that comes directly from the sun. When solar energy hits the earth it spreads over the earth’s surface and provides warmth evenly. If you could capture the sun’s rays into a particular area for a long period of time it would provide enough warmth for nighttime or on cloudy days. Learning where to find solar energy can help you to get started today. Solar energy does not cost anything because it comes from the sun. The source that you choose may cost some but in the long run it should be your only expense, unlike gas or oil heaters that you continue to pay for monthly in order to have power or gas heat in your home. Solar power can provide heating, cooling and ventilation.

If you want to make your own solar power to capture the energy for heating its easy to do if you can find a solar collector, which is anything that attracts the heat from the sun in a concentrated amount, such as glass or clear plastic. Getting into your car that has sat out in the hot sun all day long can be extremely hot and you have to roll down your windows to cool it off inside. That is because the glass has attracted the sun and the objects in your car, including your seats, have trapped the heat not allowing it to escape. When you roll your windows down you are allowing the heat to escape causing your car to cool down. The same thing is true about greenhouses. The glass or clear plastic can attract the sun and not allow it to escape causing the greenhouse to maintain the heat for the plants to grow effectively.

In order to heat your home using solar energy, you need to know the information on a passive and an active home. These two types of solar homes offer the homeowner options to choose from and your cost of heating may be down. Solar energy does not only heat your home but it also heats your water and if you use solar energy lights it can light your home at night.

Passive homes do not use any equipment to heat the home. Passive homes use windows that are made to allow the maximum amount of sunlight into your home. The sunlight is controlled by keeping the doors closed in the hottest part of the day not allowing any heat to escape. At night thick curtains may be used on these windows so that the warmth stays inside during the night. This allows the sun to naturally heat your home without any help.

Active homes do use equipment to help circulate the heat in the home. Some of the equipment that may be used includes pumps, blowers and an alternative heating source in case the sunlight was not enough during the daytime. In order to heat the home with sunlight these homes use special boxes on the outside that attract the sunrays to it. They are made from a dark colored metal to help attract the sun more. The water or air that is carried in the pipes and ductwork is heated by this glass box that has captured the sunlight. Then the heated water or air is then carried to the rest of the home.

In the long run, solar energy helps to heat the home naturally and without depending on a company to supply it for you. Solar energy can be found anywhere the sun is.

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