Solar energy is energy from the Sun in the form of heat and light. This energy drives the climate and weather and supports virtually all life on Earth. Heat and light from the Sun, along with secondary solar resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for over 99.9% of the available flow of renewable energy on Earth.

Solar energy technologies harness the sun’s heat and light for practical ends such as heating, lighting and electricity. These technologies date from the time of the early Greeks, Native Americans and Chinese, who warmed their buildings by orienting them toward the sun.

Solar power is used synonymously with solar energy or more specifically to refer to the conversion of sunlight into electricity. This can be done with photovoltaics, concentrating solar thermal devices and various experimental technologies

Alternative energy is a term used for some energy source that is an alternative to using fossil fuels. Generally, it indicates energies that are non-traditional and have low environmental impact.

The term alternative is used to contrast with fossil fuels according to some sources, and some sources may use it interchangeably with renewable energy

Today, you might have seen a lot of solar panels installed in buildings, in private homes and cars. This is because of the rising cost of oil since the 1973 oil embargo imposed by OPEC. However, the use of solar energy dates back since humans existed in the planet.

Because of the oil embargo, many scientists and researchers have been finding ways to develop an alternative. They have found that the sun’s energy can be used for it. One reason for the oil embargo imposed by OPEC is because of the exhausting fuel supply.

Researchers have been focusing to develop renewable energy to minimize the use of non-renewable energy. The solar power is by far the most successful development in the renewable energy development. The technology of harnessing the sun’s energy dates back since World War I where it was used for heating or cooking food. It was, however, forgotten for about 50 years.

Today, since the OPEC oil embargo, solar power is used as an alternative for oil. It was also used because of the clean air act since oil or coal used for producing electricity produces a lot of pollution.

The first solar motor ever recorded in history was invented by Auguste Mouchout, an instructor at Lyce de Tours. He began his work on solar power in 1860 after he expressed concerns about his country’s dependence on coal for power. He told the leaders of his country that the coal supply will be used up. For this reason, he invented a motor that runs on solar power. During the process of inventing the first solar motor, he laid out the foundation for the modern understanding of converting solar energy to mechanical energy.

He also invented a refrigeration device where he displayed it in the Paris Exposition in 1878. He wanted to impress the audience and his government backers of this invention where he explained that the sun’s rays can make it possible to make ice. For this invention, he was awarded a medal for his accomplishments.

Another inventor named William Adams developed another device to harness the sun’s rays. He was stationed in India where he was the registrar for the English Crown in Bombay and wrote a book titled “Solar Heat: A Substitute for Fuel in Tropical Countries”. William Adams noted that he was intrigued by Mouchout’s solar steam engine.

He also noted that the design was impractical, very costly and inefficient to track the sun. He claimed that his design would be cheaper and very efficient to track the sun by building a large rack of small mirrors and adjust each one to reflect the sun’s rays in a specific direction arranged in a semi circle. The entire semi circle rack can be rolled around a semi circular track, projecting the concentrated radiation into a stationary boiler.

Today, because of advancement in technology, many people now use the sun’s rays to generate electricity and heat. They now place solar panels on the roof of their house or in the sides of the buildings to provide electricity. Because of this, they now cut their electric bills in half and sometimes they don’t pay anything at all. This is a great way to save a lot of money on electric bills. Not only that, it is a great way to reduce pollution in the environment.

Since the invention of solar panels, it has been very popular for many people in tropical countries or in places where sunlight is abundant.

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People have been using solar energy to provide electricity, heat water, cooking, for producing salt and even for desalination. Solar energy, as its name suggests, comes from the sun’s rays, it may seem that it is very abundant but solar energy entering the Earth is quite dilute.

You have to know that solar energy has its own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to using one. So, before you try and collect solar energy, you must first understand what are their advantages and disadvantages in order to make use of the sun’s powers a lot more efficient.

To start with, the main advantage of solar energy is that it’s clean. Since it is only the sun’s rays that solar energy uses to produce electricity or heat, you don’t need any fuel like coal or gas, which produces a lot of air pollutant, to produce heat. You will just need a solar energy collector or solar power panels in order to collect solar energy.

Another advantage of solar energy is that it’s cheaper than electric heating. You can save a lot of money on heaters by just using solar energy. Therefore, it will meant lower electric bills and it also means that you don’t have to maintain heaters.

With the right location, you can have electricity even on areas where there are no power lines. This means that you can power your own home in remote areas where power companies couldn’t reach. This will eliminate those high electric bills because you are producing your own electricity. Solar energy has a lot of uses in your home and where it can provide you anything from heating water, electricity, and even cooking.

Solar energy is also used for desalination in areas where fresh, drinkable water is scarce. This works by letting the solar energy evaporate brine and leaving the salt crystals in the bottom of the basin. The water in turn condenses back in another basin where it is now drinkable. You can by these devices or you can simply make one for you to produce fresh and drinkable water from brine.

However, as useful and convenient solar energy may seem, it also has its disadvantages. So, before you decide to harness the power of the sun for your building or home, you should first consider the following before you decide on it.

The main disadvantage of solar energy is that it’s dilute. This means you have to have a lot of solar collectors installed around your house. Solar energy may be very cheap but the solar collectors are relatively expensive and require maintenance in order to work properly and efficiently.

The location is also a factor you should consider when you want solar energy. Not all people in different location around the planet can harness solar energy. This is because in some areas, the sun isn’t always there. In some areas, the sun’s rays are almost always covered in clouds making solar energy collectors useless. You should first know if the sunshine in your area is abundant for the most part of the year. Desert areas like in Arizona or Mexico produces a lot of sunshine for the most part of the year and is ideal for solar energy collecting.

Solar energy is very clean and an alternative to conventional heating and electrical systems. However, you should first consider that it also has its own disadvantage. You should first determine the several factors above in order to determine if solar energy is for you or not.

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Most of the power plants that are operating not only in the United States but also around the world currently use non-renewable energy such as fossil fuels as its power source. The use of such energy source has been present since man learned how to generate power from Earth’s resources.

However, since it is a non-renewable energy source, there will come a time that fossil fuel resources will run out especially every year the demand for power supply is increasing variably. Thus, it can result to massive power shortage. Operations of different industries such as manufacturing, production, business, and others will be affected.

Just think of an environment with no electricity at all. It is just like living back on a primitive era.

Fortunately, energy sectors with its specialists together with the government are finding other means of power production using renewable sources. For instance, locations with high water falls are experimenting on building a hydro-electric power plant, which turns out to be successful. Other locations with high wind speed make use of a power wind mills that can convert wind power into electricity. Thermal and tidal powers are good alternatives.

One of the viable sources of energy that is widely used in the United States is the solar energy, or the energy derived from the light of the sun. What makes it a practical alternative is that every place in the world can be reached by sunlight. In addition, it seems to be limitless—the sun’s remaining life span is estimated to be 4.5 billion years.

Rate of Energy from the Sun

The rate at which the sun’s radiation reaches a certain unit of area in space in the region of the Earth’s orbit is estimated to be at 1,400 watts per square meter. Out of this, photovoltaic cells (also known as solar cells) can capture 19 to 56 watts per square meter (for 15% efficiency) or an equivalent of 0.45 to 1.35 kilowatt per hour (kWh) in an annual day and night average.

Therefore, if there would be more area that will be covered by several solar panels, these panels can produce slightly more energy in the form of electricity than what is currently available from oil, gas, and other sources of energy combined (assuming 8% solar cell efficiency).

Conversion of Solar Energy

There are two ways of conversion of solar energy. First is the direct solar energy which involves only one conversion into a usable form. For instance:

• Sunlight hits the solar cell, converting it into electricity.

• Sunlight hits the absorber surface of a solar thermal collector, converting into thermal energy which can be used to heat homes during cold season.

The second is the indirect solar energy which involves more than one conversion to reach a usable form. For instance:

• Plants use photosynthesis to transform solar energy to chemical energy, which can be burned later as fuel to generate electricity (also known as bio-fuel technology).

• Hydroelectric dams and wind turbines are indirectly supplied by solar energy through its interaction with the Earth’s atmosphere.

Ins and Outs of Solar Energy

Just like any other types of energy resources, solar energy has its ins and outs.

Ins:

• Pollution-free.

• Solar facilities can be run with little extra input or maintenance.

• It is abundant. As mentioned earlier, most of the inhabited areas here on Earth can be reached by sunlight.

Outs:

• Although it is abundant, non-tropical locations can receive little sunlight. Thus, power that will be produced in these locations is minimum.

• Not available during night time.

• Photovoltaic cell technologies generate direct current (DC) power which needs to be converted to alternating current (AC) power used in distribution grids.

Once massive development of the use of solar energy is materialized, expect that every household or industry in the world will now be powered by solar energy. It is not just a dream, it will be a dream come true.

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