Apr 13 2010

Solar energy simplified

Category: Solar EnergyAnders Eriksson @ 8:47 pm

This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding Solar Energy. A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about Solar Energy.

The sun shines, we collect the sunlight, we convert the sunlight into usable forms, and we enjoy the benefits. You can’t get any simpler than that. But okay, I know you need more explanations. You’ve been looking all over the web for information and you need, no you deserve, more than just a single sentence. The following would be my attempt in simplifying the concept of solar energy and I just hope you get something out of it.

The sun produces huge amounts of energy. But what the earth gets is a pretty small share of that energy. However, even if we get only a miniscule amount, the energy we receive from the sun is more than enough for our needs. Believe it or not, a day’s worth of sunlight when harnessed properly can power a big country like the US for more than a year.

So if that’s how much energy we can get from the sun, why do we rely too much on fossil fuels which will disappear in 40 to 50 years time? The main problem is that the sun shines all throughout the world. That energy is so spread out that harnessing it is really a challenge. But still, there are other factors at work here, political, economical, and even cultural in nature which contributes to the slow progress of solar technologies. But that will need a whole chapter, nay, a whole book to discuss so let’s leave that alone for a moment.

There are various ways how we harness sunlight and the specific way may depend on how we plan to use that energy. But we can divide the usage into two general concepts, converting solar power into heat and the other one is converting it into electricity.

Using solar power to heat homes is a pretty good example of the first category. There are two ways that can be used, the first one relies on the positioning of the house’s windows and the second one involves the use of some mechanical devices to distribute the heat throughout the house.

Knowledge can give you a real advantage. To make sure you’re fully informed about Solar Energy, keep reading.

Solar water heaters are also now available. What you do is provide a solar collector where the heat from the sun is trapped and collected. That heat is then transferred to the after that goes out of your faucets and showers.

Converting solar power into electricity, however, needs a little bit more explanation. There are basically two ways we can get electricity out of solar power. The first one involves the use of photovoltaic cells and the second one is using various solar thermal systems.

Photovoltaic cells are more commonly known as solar cells. These cells are made from silicon wafers and phosphorous. When sunlight strikes the surface of the silicon wafers, free electrons are produced. The electrons are then harnessed via attaching a wire to the cells. As the electrons leave the cells and pass through the wire, an electronic current is produced.

One major flaw of the photovoltaic cells is that they can be quite expensive plus they only convert a small amount of sunlight. Hopefully these cells can be cheaper, more efficient and more suitable to the needs of consumers in the future.

The great thing about solar energy is that it does not produce any kinds of pollution unlike fossil fuels which spit out substantive amounts of pollutants in the air and even in the water. Plus the sun is pretty much in good health ad it is still very far from dying. We can utilize more than enough energy from the sun that will last us for a lifetime.

Now you can understand why there’s a growing interest in Solar Energy. When people start looking for more information about Solar Energy, you’ll be in a position to meet their needs.

About the Author
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Apr 06 2010

Facts about Solar Energy ? Some Things to Ponder and Why

Category: Solar EnergyAnders Eriksson @ 4:25 pm

Do you ever feel like you know just enough about Solar Energy to be dangerous? Let’s see if we can fill in some of the gaps with the latest info from Solar Energy experts.

What are the facts about solar energy that you know? It is given that this comes from the sun. This was developed by people in order to take advantage and benefit from everything that the sun can provide. You can also easily guess the goals of these people why they opt to develop such technology. For one, they want to make lives easier to live. Second, they want to find other resources that people can use in their everyday lives. Maybe they also want to profit from the experience because if this will all be successful, people, businesses and industries will gain a lot from what is being developed.

During the first years of its introduction, people deem that this technological advancement can only be used by wealthy people. It used to cater mostly for the can afford types of individuals. What if it can heat pool and can run spas? Why should an ordinary John Doe care when he couldn’t find time to have a good rest because times are hard?

But the evolution of the solar energy is just starting. Nowadays, the benefits can be felt even by ordinary citizens. Researchers keep thinking of ways to arrive at this state. And this is proving to be good for everybody’s sake.

1. The scientists developed solar panels that can power up homes. They made this available not only for the rich and famous, but they sold the idea to governments. The latter used the innovation to bring electricity to people in their countries who still haven’t experienced to live in the comfort of having this kind of power source. As a result, many people experience how it is like to have lights. They have also resorted to businesses that can be aided by such technology. The maintenance is still on-going while the technology is still being pursued. But the fact remains that this has been made available even for the ordinary John Doe.

How can you put a limit on learning more? The next section may contain that one little bit of wisdom that changes everything.

2. Aside from electricity, solar energy can be used to heat water and cook food. Life is really becoming easier as people find ways to achieve such state. While the developments are still under way, people are finding ways to make such resource available for everybody. Different organizations and government agencies help in making this product affordable for everyone no matter what your status in life is.

As time passes by, people will be able to develop more and more gadgets and tools to make lives easier. There will come a time when almost everybody can benefit from this. The first notion that the solar energy is only for the wealthy will cease to be remembered.

The responsibility now lies on to people’s hands to take care of nature. They must give back to nature for everything that they have also gotten in the process. Technological advancements can be better achieved if people will consider how these can affect the natural habitat in general. It is okay to get what people want and what people need. But this must always be done with precaution and by thinking of the effects that these will have on everything.

It is fun to learn some facts about solar energy every once in a while. These will excite you about the process. But more so, these must open your eyes to the whole scheme of nature and how important it is to take care of your surroundings to be able to benefit more in the long run.

It never hurts to be well-informed with the latest on Solar Energy. Compare what you’ve learned here to future articles so that you can stay alert to changes in the area of Solar Energy.

About the Author
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Apr 05 2010

The Pros and Cons of Solar Energy

Category: Solar EnergyAnders Eriksson @ 11:51 pm

Solar energy is one of the best forms of renewable energy. But why don’t we rely on it so much compared to other countries? The answer is simply that there are pros and cons with using this form of alternative energy.

The pros of using solar energy is that the system is easy to install, there are no energy costs once it is set up, there are no emissions like air pollutants or greenhouse gas and the sun is widely available.

A solar energy system is composed of the solar panels, the inverter, battery, charge controller, wires and support structure. For you to produce a kilowatt of power, you will need 10 to 12 solar panels that will occupy an area of 100 square feet. If you are worried that this will cause damage to your roof, don’t because it is made of light weight materials.

When you call a contractor, it will usually take a day or two to install and cost around $10,000. Not that many people will have cash on hand to pay for it so they can avail of a home equity loan to pay for it.

If you use a kilowatt of solar energy, you can save 170 lbs. of coal from being burned, about 300lbs of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere or 105 gallons of water that most homeowners use up every month.

The cons are solar cells are expensive, the rays can only be collected during the day time, the weather and where you are located will play a factor in how much sunlight you can get and you will need a big area to collect the power.

The information about Solar Energy presented here will do one of two things: either it will reinforce what you know about Solar Energy or it will teach you something new. Both are good outcomes.

But some experts believe that price of these cells and its ability to collect power will improve in the future.

Right now, a kilowatt of solar energy can only produce 1,600 kilowatts of hours per year in sunny climate. That means you will receive 5.5 hours of electricity per day. If you produce about 750 kilowatts of power, you will only get 2.5 hours of power per day.

Solar panels come in various colors and usually have a 5 year warranty. Since manufacturers are aware that solar energy can only work when the sun is out, they have installed batteries so you get more than 5 hours of power even during cloudy days and nights. This is because the batteries are designed to absorb, insulate, transmit and reflect rays coming from the sun.

But solar energy can be applied to other things and not just powering our homes. It can be used to power small devices like calculators to bigger things like planes, satellites and cars. Since these are easy to maintain, you don’t have to worry about anything.

Now that you know the pros and cons of solar energy, the question remains, should people get into it or not? If you look at it, the answer is definitely yes because is a renewable source of energy that does not cause any harm to the environment. It will also greatly reduce our need for oil which has become a very hot issue especially when the price per barrel went out to more than a hundred dollars early on this year.

People should take this seriously especially when this is not a renewable source of energy.

About the Author
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Mar 11 2010

Things You Should Know Before Investing in Solar Energy

Category: Solar EnergyAnders Eriksson @ 12:43 am

There is no doubt that there are a lot of benefits in using solar energy. Aside from protecting the environment, you get to save a great deal of money. But before you switch to solar energy, here are a few things you should consider.

First, is your roof right for solar power? Most solar power systems can be installed as long as the roof is flat and made of material such as bitumen, composite shingle, cement tile, metal or tar and gravel. If this is how your roof is positioned, then there shouldn’t be any problems.

The solar panels will be installed parallel to the roof surface. If you are concerned that the weight could be too heavy for your roof, don’t be since this is very light and quite rare that you have to do some structural work before installing the system.

When you are looking for a contractor, find out how much it will cost to install the system. You should compare these first before you decide in picking the best one. But you should know right now that installing solar powered cells are a bit expensive. There are also no financing programs you can avail of. Your best bet if you don’t have enough money is to apply for a home equity loan.

If you are planning to install this in a commercial establishment, the various loans you can avail of include the capital equipment loan, equipment secured loan, property secured loan or the SAFE-BIDCO energy efficiency loan.

It seems like new information is discovered about something every day. And the topic of Solar Energy is no exception. Keep reading to get more fresh news about Solar Energy.

Non-profit organizations may also avail of special loans for solar energy and the best one is through third party financing. In this case, the non-profit organization and the contractor will purchase the system and make use of the tax credits. The third party will then pass on the charges for the produced power to the non-profit and after the system has depreciated, this is sold to the non-profit at a discount.

The end result is that you pay for less than what you are currently paying for because it is maintenance free.

In fact, people are encouraged to borrow money to pay for solar energy. This is because you borrow money at a fixed rate and in return recouped your investment of about 7-11% annually as the utility rates increase so you pay less for it every month. This makes investing in solar energy very similar to other investments such as bonds, property and stock.

Will installing a solar system have any effect on your property? The answer is yes. In fact, it will increase the resale value of your property without having to pay much more in terms of property taxes. If you have a lot of space to spare, you may even be able to zero out your electric bill as long as the sun comes out so you can convert sunlight into electricity.

Aside from increasing the properly value, you will also be able to avail of tax credits from the government.

Solar energy can power your home in the same way you get electricity from the grid. You won’t be able to use it when there is a power outage or when the sun is shining but fortunately, this doesn’t happen daily so it is still an alternative form of energy worth considering.

You can’t predict when knowing something extra about Solar Energy will come in handy. If you learned anything new about Solar Energy in this article, you should file the article where you can find it again.

About the Author
Have you visited Anders’ latest site for adsense publishers? Download new fresh sites in this all new site, called Adsense Ready Websites


Feb 02 2010

Using solar energy goes way back

Category: Solar EnergyAnders Eriksson @ 5:54 pm

This article explains a few things about Solar Energy, and if you’re interested, then this is worth reading, because you can never tell what you don’t know.

Recollecting the history of solar energy brings us back to the 1970s energy crisis and oil embargo which caused long lines in gasoline stations, high gasoline prices, and even caused panic among consumers and investors alike in the United States. Knowledge about oil being a non-renewable resource has been around since the 1800s. But it was only during and after the 70s energy crisis that people really began to realize the consequences of depending too much on an already depleting energy resource.

However, utilizing the sun’s energy is not really a recent development. It has been used by ancient civilizations for warmth, for food and crop preparations and various agricultural purposes. What’s new are the technologies involved in harnessing this energy and utilizing it for man’s daily use.

The technology began in the 1830′s when Edmund Becquerel made public his studies on how solar light can be harnessed into usable energy. However, nobody followed up on this idea nor explore any practical use. The next breakthrough on solar power came after thirty years Becquerel published his works.

In 1860s, the French Monarch commissioned Augusted Mouchout to find other sources of energy. And Mouchout looked up in the sky for inspiration. His series of solar powered contractions were quite impressive back then. His inventions included a motor that run on solar energy, a steam engine that uses the sun’s light, and an ice maker that fully rely on solar power.

Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:

After Mouchout, there were several other notable achievements in the line of solar power. Among these is the works of William Adams in the 1870s which utilized mirrors to channel the power of the sun to make a steam engine run. Adams’ power tower design concept is still in use today. Another notable work is by Charles Fritz in the early 1880s. His studies were attuned on turning sunlight into electricity, which he later accomplished.

But one of the most significant development in modern solar energy occurred in the 1950s. Early in the decade, R.S. Ohl discovered that sunlight produces large numbers of free electrons when it strikes silicon. Then in the mid-1950s Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller, and Daryl Chaplin was able to capture those free electrons and convert them in electricity. Today, silicon cells are used to make solar cells and solar panels for harnessing the sun’s energy.

Immediately these solar cells were made into good use and the first among to use them was the field of space aeronautics. These silicon based solar cells were used to power satellites that orbit the earth. The satellite Vanguard I was the first one launched out to space which rely on solar cells for power. More satellites followed.

Nowadays, more and more research and studies are being conducted on how best to utilize the sun’s energy. Especially today where it is said that about 30-50 years from the now, the world oil reserves will be totally depleted. Thus, the search for alternative sources of energy continuous. The sun is expected to die out in a couple of thousand of years, it’s to long to worry about and man can have all the sun’s energy until that day.

The challenge today is creating solar energy power in more efficient and cost effective e way. Admittedly, the costs of those photo cells are not that cheap to be accessible by most of the ordinary consumers. The movement today in the science and technology committee is to be able to provide cheap alternative source of energy.

You can’t predict when knowing something extra about Solar Energy will come in handy. If you learned anything new about Solar Energy in this article, you should file the article where you can find it again.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, author of this Free Adsense eBook — make sure to claim your free adsense ebook download!


Jan 30 2010

The downsides of solar energy

Category: Solar EnergyAnders Eriksson @ 8:28 am

If you have even a passing interest in the topic of Solar Energy, then you should take a look at the following information. This enlightening article presents some of the latest news on the subject of Solar Energy.

Not that I’m against using solar energy or anything but there are some downsides of using solar energy. My intention is to illustrate these disadvantages so that people can realize the other side of the coin to prepare them and not so much as to dissuade them from using solar energy. I am for everything that can save the planet. View this article as an introduction where we can still improve the current technologies involving solar energy.

One of the first and major drawbacks of using solar power is the costs. The expense is considerably higher than the conventional electric installation. From the purchase to the initial installations of the solar panel unit, the cost is a significant factor to consider. The high costs of solar power panels lie on the expensive semi-conductor materials that convert sunlight into electricity.

However, as technology progresses and as the need slowly increases, the costs of solar panels are expected to go down, something on the level of being competitive with other energy resources.

Another to consider is space. We’re talking about installing a solar panel which is not small. It requires a significant amount of space which also helps maximize the amount of sunlight it can collect and convert into electricity. Some households will have the panels installed on their roof others will designate a place for it on the year or on top of a pole. The same space problems will need to be readdressed once you decide to add panels when your current setup is no longer enough for your family’s needs.

Think about what you’ve read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about Solar Energy? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?

Positioning is also vital. The solar panels will need to be facing a direction where it will receive the most amount of sunlight in a day. However, there is always a solution. If space does not permit such installations, there are some add-ons that can help maximize sun exposure.

Aside from the location and positioning of the panels relative to the sun, another aspect that you might want to consider is the amount of pollution in your areas. The degree of air pollution in the area might also be a factor in producing electricity. The smog as well as the clouds in the area can affect the amount of sunlight that reaches the panels. One way around this predicament is to purchase more panels so can gather more than enough sunlight to power your home.

At night, you might encounter a problem with relying solely on solar power. Although the solution here is to purchase batteries which you can charge during he day and use at night. You will need a couple of batteries though to be able to sustain your electricity needs through cloudy, stormy or smoggy or foggy times during the day.

As far as solar powered transportation services go, there are still some quirks that need to be fixed before mass production of such vehicles is rolled out. The most noticeable difference is the speed. Solar powered cars are far slower that their counterparts. But again, due to the fast development of the solar car and the technologies that go with it, this drawback will soon disappear.

When you look at the things that I mentioned about the disadvantages of solar energy, you will see that most of them have solutions while others you just need to compromise a bit. I still think that harnessing the power of the sun is the way to go, so these downsides of solar energy are just a small obstacle that we need to overcome.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, author of this Free Adsense eBook — make sure to claim your free adsense ebook download!


Jan 17 2010

Solar energy simplified

Category: Solar EnergyAnders Eriksson @ 3:10 pm

The following article lists some simple, informative tips that will help you have a better experience with Solar Energy.

The sun shines, we collect the sunlight, we convert the sunlight into usable forms, and we enjoy the benefits. You can’t get any simpler than that. But okay, I know you need more explanations. You’ve been looking all over the web for information and you need, no you deserve, more than just a single sentence. The following would be my attempt in simplifying the concept of solar energy and I just hope you get something out of it.

The sun produces huge amounts of energy. But what the earth gets is a pretty small share of that energy. However, even if we get only a miniscule amount, the energy we receive from the sun is more than enough for our needs. Believe it or not, a day’s worth of sunlight when harnessed properly can power a big country like the US for more than a year.

So if that’s how much energy we can get from the sun, why do we rely too much on fossil fuels which will disappear in 40 to 50 years time? The main problem is that the sun shines all throughout the world. That energy is so spread out that harnessing it is really a challenge. But still, there are other factors at work here, political, economical, and even cultural in nature which contributes to the slow progress of solar technologies. But that will need a whole chapter, nay, a whole book to discuss so let’s leave that alone for a moment.

There are various ways how we harness sunlight and the specific way may depend on how we plan to use that energy. But we can divide the usage into two general concepts, converting solar power into heat and the other one is converting it into electricity.

Using solar power to heat homes is a pretty good example of the first category. There are two ways that can be used, the first one relies on the positioning of the house’s windows and the second one involves the use of some mechanical devices to distribute the heat throughout the house.

How can you put a limit on learning more? The next section may contain that one little bit of wisdom that changes everything.

Solar water heaters are also now available. What you do is provide a solar collector where the heat from the sun is trapped and collected. That heat is then transferred to the after that goes out of your faucets and showers.

Converting solar power into electricity, however, needs a little bit more explanation. There are basically two ways we can get electricity out of solar power. The first one involves the use of photovoltaic cells and the second one is using various solar thermal systems.

Photovoltaic cells are more commonly known as solar cells. These cells are made from silicon wafers and phosphorous. When sunlight strikes the surface of the silicon wafers, free electrons are produced. The electrons are then harnessed via attaching a wire to the cells. As the electrons leave the cells and pass through the wire, an electronic current is produced.

One major flaw of the photovoltaic cells is that they can be quite expensive plus they only convert a small amount of sunlight. Hopefully these cells can be cheaper, more efficient and more suitable to the needs of consumers in the future.

The great thing about solar energy is that it does not produce any kinds of pollution unlike fossil fuels which spit out substantive amounts of pollutants in the air and even in the water. Plus the sun is pretty much in good health ad it is still very far from dying. We can utilize more than enough energy from the sun that will last us for a lifetime.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest acquisition: Free Google Traffic System and make sure to visit my bonus site!


Jan 11 2010

The Benefits of Solar Energy

Category: Solar EnergyAnders Eriksson @ 10:38 pm

When you think about Solar Energy, what do you think of first? Which aspects of Solar Energy are important, which are essential, and which ones can you take or leave? You be the judge.

Solar energy will benefit a lot of people and not only the rich. This is why some governments have increased funding for this type of technology because they are aware of its many benefits.

For one, solar energy is very cheap compared to other technologies. It is also renewable unlike coal or the rest which are non-renewable and hard to maintain.

It also improves the health of people since it does not produce any carbon dioxide emissions unlike kerosene lamps that give out fumes which are just as deadly as smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day. It also reduces the incidents of fire that are often associated with the use of kerosene, candles, diesel fuel and gasoline for generators.

Solar energy is almost maintenance free because the solar cells used will last for 20 years or more before it has to be replaced. You just have to keep the panels clean so it is able to absorb sunlight and convert that into electricity.

These are also very useful in remote locations where power lines are not yet available. Some examples of these include fish houses, highway signs, marine applications, remote lighting and telecommunication.

If countries focus on solar energy and other renewable techniques, they will be able to conserve their foreign exchange because they no longer have to use it to pay for foreign oil. This money can then be used for other things such as health care, infrastructure projects and education.

It’s really a good idea to probe a little deeper into the subject of Solar Energy. What you learn may give you the confidence you need to venture into new areas.

Solar energy will also reduce your electricity bills because you are no longer dependent on electricity coming from the power company. The only downside to solar energy is the initial cost in setting it up.

Yes you will have to buy a lot of solar panels which are quite expensive but in the long run, you will be able to save more because you don’t have to pay for anything else to keep them running. Should the cost of solar cells be beyond your budget, you can probably invest in used systems first then try to acquire the brand new ones later on.

Another benefit of using solar energy is that you get to conserve fossil fuels and other natural resources that are quickly diminishing as a direct result of an increase in the world’s population which could compromise the needs of the future generations.

So should people get into solar energy? The answer is yes because it is safe, cheap and good for the environment. You only have to worry when the sun isn’t shining because when this happens, rays from the sun won’t be able to produce electricity so you have to rely on other means to get power. The same also goes when there is a blackout or brownout because you will soon lose power from your solar system.

The demand for solar energy is increasing and you should join in. Aside from reducing your electric bill, homeowners who use solar energy may claim up to $2,000 in federal investment tax credit in the first year while businesses may claim a 30% federal investment tax credit.

Believe it or not, solar energy has one other benefit and that it increases the value of your home. According to home appraisers, a dollar decrease in your energy bill results in a $20 increase in its property value so do the math and you can easily figure out how much your home will be worth after you decide to invest in solar energy.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest acquisition: Free Google Traffic System and make sure to visit my bonus site!


Jan 05 2010

An Overview on the Interesting Facts about Solar Energy

Category: Solar EnergyAnders Eriksson @ 9:53 am

There are lots of interesting facts about solar energy. Educating yourself about this will prove to be beneficial in the long run. You can share the information to your loved ones. You can teach them of ways on how they can help to conserve the energy. You can also do your share to help this method to advance if you are a genius in the field. But if you are an ordinary citizen who only wants to enjoy, then feast on. But remember that you also have responsibilities to the environment that you must accomplish in order to do your part in the whole scheme of things.

The Facts that Matter
1. Solar radiation makes it possible for the energy coming from the sun to be used as power source and energy that can in turn be used for many purposes. The technology on this aspect is characterized in two ways. They can either be passive or active. This will depend on the methods that are used to get, convert and allocate sunlight.

What are active solar techniques? These utilize pumps, photovoltaic panels and fans to renovate sunlight into useful resources. These aim to increase the energy supply that is why these can also be referred as supply side technologies. The passive solar techniques, on the other hand, use only selected resources with constructive thermal properties, utilize the kind of spaces that can circulate air naturally and apply the position of buildings and structures towards the sun. These will lessen the need for other sources and can also be referred as the demand side technology.

2. Solar energy has influenced many factors that surround people. This can be referred in planning and designing buildings. This process can be rooted back at the early days of the architectural history. The Greeks and the Chinese first used such factor in building and constructing their architectural pieces and on their planning methods.

It’s really a good idea to probe a little deeper into the subject of Solar Energy. What you learn may give you the confidence you need to venture into new areas.

3. Solar energy is also being utilized by the agricultural sector because they rely heavily on its benefits in order to gain more harvest. They developed ways in order to plant the kind of crops that will grow according to the amount of sun that they will be getting for the season. This can also be used to dry the crops, pump water, brooding of chicks and to dry animal manures that can later be used as fertilizers.

4. On seasons like the Little Ice Age, fruit walls were used by French and Chinese farmers to be able to collect and store solar energy to help them keep the plants warm and to speedy up the process of ripening of fruits. These walls serve as the thermal masses. The fruit walls that were first developed were perpendicular to the ground and faced the south direction. Over time, innovations were done and slopping walls were used to gain more advantage from the sun.

5. To convert the solar light into heat, people have developed greenhouses. These enable the production and cultivation of specialty crops all year round. Such innovation made it possible for crops to be produced in untimely seasons and in places where you think that those plants won’t grow.

And these are only some of the interesting facts about solar energy. These give you a good peek at how wonderful nature is and how people have developed ways to use it to advance in many aspects of their lives.

You can’t predict when knowing something extra about Solar Energy will come in handy. If you learned anything new about Solar Energy in this article, you should file the article where you can find it again.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest acquisition: Free Google Traffic System and make sure to visit my bonus site!


Dec 29 2009

Arguments against solar energy

Category: Solar EnergyAnders Eriksson @ 1:08 pm

Between you and me, we know that solar energy is a good renewable energy resource and that we should start to utilize it more especially when the Earth’s fossil fuel reserves are slowly dwindling and will run out in 30 to 50 years. We better look at the various alternative energies and begin a fast tracking of development to hasten our independence on non-renewable fossil fuels. And solar energy is as good as any other alternative energy resource out there. However, several arguments against solar energy have been raised through the years. But probably the most convincing argument is the high costs of solar energy utilization.

The problem with solar energy is that you can only harness it during the daytime. And even when the sun is up, the sunlight will be interrupted by occasional cloud covers, rains, fog, and even smog. So in order to harness the sun’s energy we need equipment that can get as much solar power as possible at a given time and we need some way of storing that energy so we can use them without ay interruptions.

We do have the technology to harness the sun’s energy, convert it into usable electricity, and store them for future use. And that technology itself is the primary reason why solar power has not caught on even today. The process of making solar panels as well as the technology for storing that harnessed power remains to be quite expensive.

The good thing about this fact today is that due to the recent increase in the costs of fuel and gas, solar power is no longer a far fetched alternative. The gap between the costs has gone down considerably and hopefully in the near future, the costs of solar energy production will be quite competitive.

I trust that what you’ve read so far has been informative. The following section should go a long way toward clearing up any uncertainty that may remain.

Furthermore, the costs of photovoltaic cells are indeed quite expensive that contemporary oil and gas equipment. But one of the flaws of the argument of costs is that people tend to limit their perspective of solar energy as to only referring to photovoltaic cells. There are other means of harnessing solar energy and not all of them are as expensive as PV cell manufacturing.

One way of getting the sun’s energy and converting it into usable electricity is the concept of solar thermal plants. In solar thermal technology, various solar collectors are utilized to generate heat which can be applied from the simplest heating and ventilation of houses to the production of massive amounts of electricity. The use of mirrors or lenses to reflect sunlight to towers equipped with liquids that heat up and produce steam. The steam then turns turbines which in turn generates the electricity needed.

The process adds another step compared to photovoltaics which converts solar energy directly into electricity. Nevertheless, solar thermal systems of power production is cheaper that the production of PV cells. For a larger consumer market, it seems that solar thermal energy is the way to go.

Regardless, the point here really is to emphasize that solar energy has more to offer. The cost of production is a valid argument against solar energy but still there are ways around it. Costs can be minimized by using other techniques of harnessing solar energy or future developments in the field of science and technology will produce products that are more cost efficient that what are available today.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest acquisition: Free Google Traffic System and make sure to visit my bonus site!



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