Friday, July 30, 2010

Solar Energy History – A Brief Overview


Solar energy history is immense. Contrary to popular belief, the uses of solar energy have been used from a very long time in the past and not just in the 21st century. Although the useful properties of the sun were studied by ancient astronomers from almost 2000 years back by ancient Indian astronomers, actual serious developments that could be used for useful purposes happened only in the 19th century around the time when the Industrial Revolution started to take shape. Once people in the 19th century realized that coal and petroleum resources would not last for a very long time, various efforts were made to try and produce energy from other sources which led to the development of solar energy as a source of energy which could be used for producing useful energy that could be used for day-to-day purposes.

Various efforts were made by scientists back in the 19th century to try and make use of the energy from the sun and use its heat for useful purposes. Perhaps one of the earliest of such efforts was made by Auguste Mouchout, a French scientist who built a device that use the sun's heat to power a steam engine which helped to make ice. This was considered to be a breakthrough in the solar energy field by many people at that time. This was probably one of the first dates in solar energy history that can be considered pretty significant.

Now we have all seen what an important role electricity plays in our lives. Recently, there has been significant development in this field and there has been plenty of research done in this area. Perhaps one of the earliest attempts to convert this solar energy into electricity was made by Charles Fritz. In 1883, he built a solar cell that had a really good conversion rate of about 1%. Considering the fact that even the most modern photovoltaic cells cannot achieve effeciencies of more than 50%, 1% at such a long time back in solar energy history is indeed significant.

Mean while throughout the 1880's, there was constant research being conducted in the field of solar energy with more solar steam engines that were similar to the original model developed by Auguste Mouchout being developed by different scientists with constant improvements in the effeiceincies being made. There were various efforts made by people like Aubrey Eneas and Henry Willsie to try and develop solar energy companies that however did not become very successful due to various reasons.

Frank Shuman, another enterpreuner who saw the enormous potential in the solar energy field formed a company named Sun Power Co. Which was built over an area of more than 10,000 square feet to try and produce enough power to generate useful electricity. This proved to be only partly successful but had to be shut down because of the large costs involved. This was, however, in the early part of the 20th century when the major part of the solar energy history was being developed.

It was in 1954 that the first major breakthrough was made in this field. Thanks to the development of silicon and other semi-conductors, Bell Laboratories became the first company to construct solar panels which had efficiency rates of as much as 6%. This subsequently led to the development of commercial solar cells which were pretty expensive and used in smaller devices such as calculators and watches. In the 1950's and the 1960's, these solar cells were developed on a bigger scale and were used in satellites to generate electricity for use inside the satellites. After that the solar energy history has literally snowballed into becoming one of the largest and most widely used industries in the world.

Recently, there has been the development and research involved in the solar energy field thereby encouraging many scientists to pursue this actively. More and more efficiency is being achieved in the photovoltaic cells these days making it possible for people to set up solar panels in their houses. Many countries and governments have also begun to use solar powered devices to generate electricity and provide tax incentives for those that do use solar energy to satisfy their energy needs.

This was a brief summary on solar energy history
and how solar energy has evolved into the energy source that it is today.

Cheers,

Andy.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Solar Energy Grants – How you can Save a LOT of Money


Solar Energy Grants are said to be the driving force behind the reason why a lot of people have decided to set up solar panels or solar powered electricity systems in their houses. This innovative idea by various governments has helped save not only a lot of money but also our environment. This is because it helps and encourages more and more people to start using renewable sources of energy which in turns prevents tonnes of carbon dioxide which is emitted by cars, vehicles and industries every year. So what are these solar energy grants and how will they help you save money? Read on to find out how.

Before I do that, let me explain to you as to what exactly these solar energy grants
are and how they can actually help you save a lot of money. In the US, ever since President Obama came to power, there has been a lot of money spent in the renewable energy sector which amounts to billions of dollars. This has resulted in the realization by the government that the renewable sources of energy such as solar energy are extremely important for us and that the government must do all it can to try and encourage its usage. Therefore, this resulted in the relaxation in a lot of rules by the government for those individuals who do use these types of energy for generating their own energy and power supplies at home.

One of the main areas where these solar energy grants exclusively focus on is the energy taxes that a imposed on people who generate their own power. Keep in mind that this is not only for individuals but also for large businesses and corporations. Well, this is very helpful because corporations and businesses are always looking to save money and are constantly trying to please shareholders by making profits. Now, the taxes that are imposed on these corporations is a lot more than that imposed on individuals and this encourages these companies to look for ways to cut down on their costs. Since energy costs constitute a large part of the overall costs that a company spends every quarter, even a little money saved can turn out to be big. This is where renewable sources of energy such as solar energy and the solar energy grants come into picture. Unlike the typical citizen or individual who is always short of money to make a large investment, large companies always have a lot of money to spend and would not mind spending on solar energy especially if it promises returns.

However, keep in mind that solar energy is not the only source of energy for which grants are available. There are also plenty of other sources such as wind energy and geothermal energy which can be equally helpful in saving a lot of money for you as an individual or a business. The best part is yet to come. Because of the nature of the industry, you can be almost certain when you say that this will investment will pay off in the future. This is because solar energy is expected to be the source of energy that will fulfil all our energy needs in the future and therefore, the situation can only get better.

This is because the government will only make improvements and increase its spending on solar energy grants and try to make it possible for more and more people to start using it. Therefore, this means that you will have a big lead and advantage over everyone else when you set up your own solar panels and solar powered appliances in your house.

So make use of these various tax incentives and other benefits that you can get thanks to the various solar energy grants provided by your government and save money. Check with your city to see if you can get better deals and perhaps, more incentives.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Solar Energy Facts for Kids


There is a lot of information on the internet about solar energy these days especially since it has become so relevant for all of us because of it is being considered as a natural replacement for other renewable sources of energy which is predicted to get exhausted soon. However, this information is pretty complex and has a lot of information that many people will probably not understand. Besides, there is a need for our children to learn about these facts because they are the future citizens of this world and they need to understand what is happening around them so that they can grow up to understand the importance of solar energy and implement it in their world for future generations. So in this blog post, I aim to write about the same information in simpler terms. Here are some solar energy facts for kids –

We all know about the different energy sources in the world today. From heat to electricity, we are able to survive in the world today thanks to the energy sources that nature provided for us which we used to form other sources of artificial energy such as electricity. Solar energy is considered to be one of the primary sources of energy because of which other forms of energy on the earth exist. Because of the latest innovations in this field, solar energy can now directly be used to convert to electricity and can also be used for a variety of applications such as for cooking food and heating water etc. This is considered to be a very useful energy source since the sun is expected to keep shining for another few millions of years which is more than enough for humanity. This is one of the main solar energy facts for kids.

All living beings directly or indirectly depend on solar energy to survive. Plants, for example, use a process called photosynthesis to convert the solar energy into useful forms of chemical energy that it then uses for survival. And since we also depend on plants for food, we also indirectly depend on the sun for food. This is another important solar energy facts for kids.

Various other applications exist for humans each of which is potentially useful in one way or the other for us. Examples include using solar energy for production for electricity and to heat water. Electricity is something that all humans completely depend on for survival and using a naturally available free-of-cost energy source such as the sun which means lesser taxes and free energy for all of us. Many governments in different countries have recognized this and have set up large solar power plants which are now generating a lot of electricity for all of us. Mojave desert is one such primary example. I guess that is the main solar energy facts for kids example that can be given.

So I hope you found it useful to read about these solar energy facts for kids.

Cheers,

Andy.


Sunday, July 25, 2010

Solar Energy Science Projects – Some Interesting Ideas


Solar Energy Science Projects are becoming something of a hit recently. This is due to the fact that many people are now starting to recognize the true potential of renewable sources of energy such as wind energy and solar energy. Therefore, as science students are the ones that are most involved in most science projects and are involved in research and development for science projects, it is not a surprise that they would consider solar energy as a wonderful idea for demonstrating its various uses in a science project. In this blog post, I will some of the interesting things that you can pursue for your science projects related to the solar energy field.

There are many solar energy science projects that you can consider. For example, recently there have been a lot of developments and research in the field that has resulted in the generation of plenty of ideas and inventions that have transformed the lives of many scientists and brought them fame. But, here's the fact that many people are yet to realize. This is that most of these inventions can now be used now with really very few tools and skills required. Basically all you need is some websites or guides that give out a DIY (Do it Yourself) guide that you can use to get the solar energy project that you need. Here are a couple of ideas as to what you can do.

  1. Solar Cooker – This has become very popular in developing countries recently. According to Yahoo and other news reporting services, many villagers in places like India have started to make use of solar cookers to cook their food. Its popularity is due to the ease with which you can cook different varieties of food. Basically all you need is the classic lens-to-concentrate-solar-power idea. With the help of a powerful lens, you can concentrate the solar energy to an appliance which will convert this radiation to useful energy. There have been cases where enough temperatures have been reached such that rice can be cooked and enough to properly boil water etc. These are pretty impressive temperatures especially considering the fact that the solar cooker is a pretty small device. So here's what you need for this solar energy science project: 1. A lens that is powerful enough. 2. A box that is coated with black colour both on the inside and the outside (this is to get attract the heat towards the solar cooker). 3. A glass panel that covers the aforementioned box so that heat can be trapped thus increasing the efficiency of the appliance (this makes use of the greenhouse effect). So, now that you know what you need go ahead and build a solar cooker for your solar energy science project.
  2. Solar Powered Car – Yes, this sounds pretty complicated and yes, it does sound pretty tough to do. But guess what, once you get this done, you will be really proud of yourself when you actually see your vehicle moving. If you are looking for a solar energy science project that can be completed very quickly and easily, then perhaps this is not for you. But what you do need to build a solar car is a panel of solar photovoltaic cells and of course, a car or a vehicle that it can be powered with. The working of this is beyond the scope of this article and I will cover it in a future post.
  3. Solar Water Heater – This is probably one of the easiest "solar energy science projects" that can be accomplished in the shortest time possible. This is what I built for a couple of science fair and I put in a couple of tweaks in order to make it innovative and different from that of others. But what it involves is exposing a solar panel to the sun so that it can trap the heat from the sun which in turn heats up the water as well. So here's a list of what you need for a solar water heater: 1. A glass panel that is covered by glass at the top which is placed directly exposed to the sun. 3. Pipes that run across the length of the panel and these pipes should be long and coated with black colour.
  4. Solar Pool Heater – Although this may not be the best science project since you need a pool for demonstrating its uses, it can prove to be very useful because of the amount of energy it can save. The working of these solar pool heaters is the same as for the described solar water heater described above except in a much larger scale.
  5. Solar Powered Electricity - This is a very innovative idea that has been developed very recently by scientists and holds the distinction of being the most fast advancing technology in the world today. Photovoltaic cells are the brain child of various scientists and is a true example of how much mankind has advanced over the years. Therefore, this is one of the solar energy science projects that you do not want to miss out on. You should definitely consider doing this if you have the time as it can be achieved and is being all over the world by many countries in order to save a lot of money and pollution from non renewable energy sources. All you need for accomplishing this is a solar panel which can generate electricity with the help of solar cells or photovoltaic cells. The complete working of this appliance is beyond the scope of this post but you can check out some of the other blog posts in this blog to learn more about it. You can also choose to follow DIY projects such as Earth 4 energy for finding a quick solution for this. Head to the homepage of this blog to learn more.
I hope that one of these ideas helped you find the best science project that you have worked on so far. There are plenty of different ideas other than the ones mentioned above that can be used for a successful solar energy science project. But depending on the time and the amount of work you are ready to put in, you can choose the solar energy science project that works the best for you.

Cheers,

Andy.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Solar Power Electricity – Some other Solar Energy Benefits


I have talked many times previously in this blog about the various "solar energy benefits". One of the biggest solar power electricity advantages is that you get to help the environment a lot. Our planet is suffering a lot in terms of problems such as global warming and other problems such as deforestration etc. Deforestration is indeed a serious problem and is a big problem because trees are cut down to help meet our electricity needs. But of course this problem can be eliminated by using solar energy to meet our electricity needs. Anyway, I will address the issue of deforestration in another post. Of course one of the biggest solar energy advantage is that you get to save a lot of money on this. So anyone looking to save money either on their electricity bills or just on other things such as taxes etc. can benefit tremendously with the usage of renewable sources of energy and taking advantage of natural resources that are abundantly available. Also, it is a really interesting project to work on especially if you are looking to engage in some interesting activities or just do something useful in your spare time or give back to society something useful. Anyway, now that we have addressed the "why" of solar energy, now it is time to address the "how" of solar energy benefits.


The energy that all other energy sources are derived from

Of course, please do not misread the title. When I say "all other energy sources are derived from", I am referring to all the other energy sources that we use on earth. Other stars are self-sufficient and do not depend on the sun to generate energy. Of course, no offense to any of you for underestimating your obvious knowledge about this. J. However, there is indeed one exception to this rule. This exception is geothermal energy. This energy comes from the core of the earth and is independent of solar energy since the planets were formed millions of years ago. All other sources of energy on the earth such as chemical energy, energy in plants, mechanical energy etc. directly or indirectly. For example, all living beings on earth depend on the sun for survival and for satisfying basic living being's needs. The energy that we get for moving our hands and other parts or muscular energy comes from food which indirectly comes from other living beings which in turn make use of solar energy for survival. In this way, every source of energy is in some form or the other dependent on the sun. Another exception to this rule again is nuclear energy which comes from the atoms and is independent of the sun completely. I need to check this up properly before i state anything. So do not cite my source.
One of the most exciting areas of growth in solar energy and a big solar power electricity advantage is the technology of photovoltaic cells. Photovoltaic cells technology has been termed as the fastest growing technology in the whole world. This is great news indeed for all the countries and the governments looking to set up solar power plants or solar power installations utilizing solar energy benefits to meet their electricity needs.
This is very similar to the solar panels that some people have in their houses except that it generates electricity on a much larger scale. But Photovoltaic cells or PV's are used in both cases.
It is a known fact that most people in the united States and other countries in Europe make the most efficient use of solar energy to support more than upto 20% of their energy needs with the help of these solar power installations thus helping by saving a significant amount of money. Therefore, since the sun shines very abundantly in most places in the world, it is not exactly very tough to make use of this energy and convert it to other useful forms of energy. Therefore, anyone looking to cut their electricity bills need to consider solar power electricity very seriously. This makes it a very nice are for research and development as well.

How much money can I save with solar power electricity?

This is one of the most commonly asked questions when it comes to people who are considering whether or not to set up and install solar panels in their houses. But this is sort of a tough question to answer as it depends on a lot of independent factors. One of those factors is how much space you have available to set up these solar panels. Space is important as the more space you have, the more solar panels you can set up and the more electricity you can produce and the more heated water you can have. Of course, the initial payment for these may look a little intimidating. But let me tell you that many people including myself have overcome this initial investment after a couple of years. As a matter of fact, you also start to make money after a certain point of time. You should look at it as an investment rather than as "solar power electricity cost".

The other advantage with solar power electricity is that you use this solar power along with the traditional energy sources that you already have. The way this works is that there are times when you cannot make use of solar energy such as during night times or during cloudy or rainy days. In such cases, you can set it up in such a way that traditional energy sources can be used when there is no opportunity for solar power to be produced. Even something as little as 15% to 20% of savings on your monthly electricity bill can go a long way in saving money for you. So go make the switch to solar by using the various solar power electricity advantages and save money for not only yourself but also help your planet and your future generations.
To a greener future,
Andy.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Solar Power Kits – How to generate your own electricity


Solar Power Kits are basically Do it Yourself kits which could be used to do a lot of things including generating your own electricity using solar energy advantages to power your own house or even for other simpler purposes such as using simple single solar cells instead of a battery for your calculator or your wrist watch. These solar power kits are extremely valuable in today's world where there is an urgent need for people to get away from the rising energy crisis. Also, since in most places bright and intense sunshine is received almost everyday, these solar power kits can make use of these solar energy advantages by getting useful energy for you to use in your house. Unlike popular rumour and talk, solar power kits are not all that tough to build. Even someone who is not all that experienced in building things can get this done really well. All it takes a little bit of time and dedication to the work and you may have solved the problem of energy needs and also saved a lto of money in the process. Read this brief blog post to learn more about how you can do this effectively without complicating things a lot.
There are different types of solar power kits which make use of solar energy advantages in different ways. There are some solar power kits in which all you have to do is utilize the assembled parts to put two and two together to make an effective solar power panel or whatever it is that you are planning to build. There are others where everything is already assembled and you just have to use it. However, these tend to be more expensive and just like in the case of computers, it is better if you assemble your own solar power kits. If you want to make more electricity and use it effectively, it is highly recommended that you use solar power kits that are built by yourself.


Making your own Solar Panels

Solar Power Panels are one of the easiest equipment to design using pre assembled solar power kits. Since Solar Panels are in so much demand today and so many companies prepare solar panels by themselves and sell it commercially to people. This would definitely be a credible option. These are also, however easy to assemble by yourself. All you would have to do is to get small power generating single solar cells and combine them using some sort of soldering process to hold the cells together which would in turn prepare the solar panel that you seek. You can then use some sort of a container to make sure that the cells stay in place and also to serve as a platform at the base. Then you would need to get properly conducting wiring to make sure that electricity flows smoothly and use that to connect your components together. There you go, now you are all set to generate your own electricity with the help of solar panels that you prepared. And guess what, they make use of solar energy advantages and hence you are producing practically pollution free energy which does not release harmful gases that pollute the environment.


How to build the Solar Power Kit

Once you have made your solar panel and prepared it for building as described in the step above, the next step is to assemble it and build it together. Some of the things you would need are silicon PV modules, charge controllers, Sealed batteries, and sine wave inverters. Wiring, hardware for mounting and fusing equipment between the components are some of the other things you would need in addition to the electrical equipment required above. The silicon PV modules can be around 32 Watt amorphous silicon PV module with about 12 Volts and the charge controllers capable of handling current of about 6 amp. The sealed batteries can have a capacity of about 92 Amp-hour and the sine wave inverters about 800 Watts. The wiring is extremely important as it is considered vital for you to determine which parts of your house the wiring goes to in order to power the correct parts of the house.


The Location of Your Solar Power Kit

It is important to remember that the Solar Power kits that you assembled are placed in a location where sufficient sunlight is received. This is the reason why most people decide to put it up in places where the most sunshine is received such as the roof top. Also, it is incredibly advantageous if you can build this at places when you are planning to build your house rather than after, because it will help put the wiring at the right parts of the house. For all practical purposes, this should not take more than a week or so especially if you know what you are doing.


Power Generation

One problem that you may encounter is that you would require inverters to convert the DC power that you get from your solar panels to AC power which your household appliances use. Once you have done that, you can be convinced that your solar power kit is ready and you can start using it effectively to start using solar energy to power your homes. They are helpful in that they help in reducing your electricity bills.


In conclusion, I can say that while solar power kits can be obtained if you are willing to put in the hard work necessary and spend some time on it, the toughest part is connecting it to the household applicances. One problem as I mentioned before is that the electricity produced in "DC" mode and the appliances inside the houses make use of AC. Therefore, it is important to make sure that you plan ahead and use solar power kits to your benefit. Also, consider the help you are offering to society and the environment. You are helping in making a big difference which also makes you feel really good. Feel free to comment below in case you have any questions.


For a greener planet,


Andy.

Monday, July 19, 2010

How Solar Panels Generate Electricity?


In whatever way electricity is generated, the principle behind how it works is the same. Electricity is a phenomenon that occurs due to the flow of electrons. When it comes to "how solar panels generate electricity", we should once again think of the same principle and apply it here as well. The basic reason due to which there is the flow of electrons is because of the energy that the photons contain in them.


To further enhance your understanding of how solar panels generate electricity, I have compiled here facts from various resources on the internet to help you understand the facts better. Let us first start with the material that is used in these solar panels. These panels are made from a variety of materials among which silicon is the basic element used. For those interested in details, there are actually different types of silicon that is used. Those include amorphous silicon, poly crystalline silicon and mono crystalline silicon. Silicon in its bare form i.e. in the form of the basic element becomes the perfect material to conduct or transmit electrons through it. However, sometimes impurities are added on purpose to enhance this transmission of electrons.


To go even deeper into the chemical nature of the silicon atom and to learn why it is the ideal element for solar panels to generate electricity, read on. There are basically four types of orbitals viz. s, p, d, and f type orbitals. The number of electrons that fill up these orbitals determine the chemical nature of the atom and hence, also whether the atom or the compound eventually formed from the atom is able to transmit electrons effectively or not. Bands are in turn made up of orbitals and it is because of silicon's electron distribution in the bands that makes it so good for use in solar panels. They carry four electrons in their outer bands thus leaving empty space for four more to come and sit in to the empty shells. Remember from the basic atomic laws in chemistry that atoms don't like to leave empty spaces lying around. The aim of every atom that exists is to fill up its empty shells or bands with electrons and hence become stable. Silicon needs four more electrons to do that. The thing that is special about silicon is that it can either give away its four electrons and have completely full inner shells thus becoming stable or gain four electrons. However the compound Si2 is the ideal compound for stabilization as the two silicon atoms can share the four electrons from the other and hence creating a strong sigma bond. Keep in mind, however, that this compound is not polar and hence there are no distribution of charges across the 2 atoms that just combined to form a molecule. Since this bond between the two silicon atoms is so strong, it can last for years to come. Hence, this molecule is used to form the basic structures in solar panels.



However, there is a drawback to this situation. We know that for electricity to flow we need opposite charges to attract and repel the negative electron charge. So the scientists who were conducting research on this found out a way to induce this charge without having to sacrifice the use of silicon. If we go just next to silicon in the periodic table, we will find phosphorus. This element has 5 electrons sitting in its outermost band. It is willing to give them away in order to become stable.


That's why in order to "generate electricity from solar panels", we need to combine the two of them. In that case, we will have 9 electrons shared between the 2 atoms with both atoms stable because they have filled up shells and one free electron lying around for free.
However in order to make this free electron in the above molecule to flow across, we need an opposite charge. So, in that case, if we look at the opposite side of silicon as magnesium in the periodic table, we will find another element with 3 electrons in its outer shell, Boron. This combination between Silicon and Boron will be the positive charge because of the "lack of electrons" and the former, the negative charge because of the excess electron. These 2 combinations form the opposite panels which are joined together in the case of a solar panel in order for it to effectively generate electricity and are both connected to conducting wires to transport or transmit these electrons thus generating electricity.


Now that we have studied the material that is required to make solar panels generate electricity, it is time to consider the sun's rays that are falling on these particles which help in generating electricity utilizing the solar energy advantages. Going into quantum theory, we understand that the light from sun's rays are both particles and waves. The particle part is called as the photon and that's the part we are interested in. With so many photons in a small thin ray of sunlight, when the sun's rays fall on the PV (Photovoltaic) plate, there is a lot of energy coming from the sun and hitting the silicon phosphorus combination.


Because this results in excitation of the one free electron that is left free in the combination, it gets released from the compound and is now "free". However, the silicon boron plate is longing for an electron and sees the opportunity with the single free electron and grabs it. It attracts the free electron to itself and thus the flow of electrons is created. This is in a detailed way "how solar panels generate electricity". The energy generated from this single cell ( a cell is the combination of the two types of plates. ) is enough for nothing. Thus a lot of such cells can be combined huge amounts of electricity.


To give you an idea of how much electricity is generated from a single solar cell, think of your solar powered wrist watch or a simple calculator. That can be powered by this type of solar photovoltaic cell.


Effeciency is a big problem in the solar photovoltaic cells and is one of the factors that scientists are trying to improve upon when it comes to answering the question of "how solar powers generate electricity".


Hoping for a greener future,


Andy.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Photovoltaic cells – The science behind it


Photovoltaic cells or PV's as they are also known are one of the smartest inventions of the 21st century that has enabled people to make use of solar energy advantages and convert it into electrical energy which can in turn be converted into other sources of energy. Photovoltaic cells basically turn the energy from the sun by receiving the photons (light particles) and converting them into direct current electricity. Many materials go into the preparation of photovoltaic cells and the most common materials that are used include different types of silicon such as monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon. Other materials included are cadmium telluride and copper indium sulfenide. The research that goes into enhancing the technology for photovoltaic cells has been given a big boost thanks to the increasing demand for solar energy products. Many countries have made solar energy producing power plants an important part of their agenda and has made it an important factor to improve researching facilities that goes into the production of efficient photovoltaic cells.


The production of Photovoltaic cells has been growing at a stunning rate of 20% each year and photovoltaic cells have the privilege have the privilege of being called as the "fastest growing technology of the world". Most solar power stations today have capacities that range from 10-60 MW. Many of the new solar PV's have are expected to have capacities of more than 120 MW. When the technology of photovoltaic cells first came out, the manufacturing costs were incredibly huge. Thanks to the global awareness that has been circulating about the prevention of global warming and other similar problems that the whole world is facing, many countries now offer financial incentives for those who get solar energy panels installed in their houses for generating their own energy to support the needs for various equipment that they use in their homes such as electrical appliances and lighting etc. However, the average American household does tend to use a lot of the solar energy that they get from solar panels that they put up at their house for heating purposes as it is ideal for solar energy to convert cold water into hot water or cold air into hot air thus providing enough heat to keep the house warm or the water warm.


To talk scientifically and technically to explain the phenomena of the photoelectric effect, the various "electrons" get knocked into a higher state thanks to the incoming photons which has energy in it thus resulting in the generation of electricity. This is because electricity is generated by the movement of electrons. Thus the electrons that get pushed into a higher energy state get excited and result in the creation of electricity. Solar photovoltaic cells use sun light to produce direct current which is basically the type of current that is used to power equipment or recharge batteries. These solar photovoltaic cells find their practical usage in plenty of solar cars and other solar powered equipment such as satellites which are located at ideal places to use the solar energy to produce electricity. However, we know that most household appliances use AC to power the equipment used. Therefore, in such cases, inverters can be used to convert the DC produced by the photovoltaic cells into AC thus being able to power the entire house if used in a residential complex.


To enable large scale usage of photovoltaic cells that make use of the various solar energy advantages, many of these single photovoltaic cells can be combined together to form what we know as solar panels or modules. The basic structure consists of these photovoltaic cells being placed behind strong glass sheets in order to protect them from damage.
The worldwide usage of these photovoltaic cells is enormous and was close to 6 Giga Watts Peak in 2009. However, it shows that there is room for improvement in other countries, especially developing countries as 90% of this worldwide usage came from only three countries, namely, USA, Japan and Germany with Germany having the highest number of "solar photovoltaic cells" installation. Germany, so far, holds the record for having the highest electricity generating solar PV installation. It set up a 3,800 MW PV installation in 2009. The United States comes in at a distant second with about 500 MW installed in 2009. The difference, as you can see, is huge.


Another big solar energy advantage is that comes from utilizing these solar energy modules is the fact that it totally boosts the country's economy. This is a result of the enormous number of jobs that the industry can create and has created. Germany is the perfect example for this with over 10,000 jobs generated in the installation and production of these monolithic Solar PV panels. It is also the fastest growing solar energy market in the whole world. This is really great for the country as the amount of fossil fuel reserves are depleting as the years are passing and as opposed to that, the demand for solar energy and other sources of renewable energy is really increasing at a rapid rate.


One of the places where these photovoltaic cells are used a lot is in the power plants. At a close second comes the many buildings that can use anything varying from solar powered roofs to solar installations that are less than a couple of 100 square feet large in area.
Solar PV's are also used a lot in transport although this market is yet to evolve and become more efficient. Since the area required to power a car with the help of solar energy advantages is quite large, the car can become quite bulky which is contradictory to the normal styles of cars these days which are usually found to be tiny, slim, sleek and well, just "modern".


I hope that this "photovoltaic cells" post helped you in understanding more about them and consider getting some for your own house to generate what little electricity you can. Also consider my "solar energy advantages" posts found in this blog to learn more about making your own solar panels.


To a greener future,


Andy.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Different Renewable Energy Sources


I have been writing a lot about solar energy advantages in my previous posts in this blog. We all know that solar energy is one of the best sources of renewable energy available out there. It generates a lot of energy and of course, we know that the sun shines at almost all places on earth except for the poles, of course and hence making it a really attractive source of energy to try and capture to be used efficiently. Unfortunately, one of the solar energy disadvantages is of course, the word "efficiency". Scientists are in a race to try and invent technology that will increase the efficiency of solar energy equipment including photovoltaic cells. But what about the other sources of renewable energy and how well do they convert into electrical energy. What is the availability of these other renewable sources of energy? Is it practical to even consider them as options for converting it into other sources of energy such as electricity? Find out by reading this blog post on the different types of renewable energy.
You may be surprised to know about the extremely high potential of some of the other renewable sources of energy such as Geothermal Energy. I, for one, had always thought that solar energy was, by far, the most practical source of renewable energy that could be converted into other sources of energy such as electrical energy. In one of my previous post, I had written about Mojave Desert, largest solar power installations in the world. The Mojave Desert which uses Solar Energy Generation Systems has a combined electrical capacity of 354 MW (megawatts). This is an immense amount of power and satisfies the energy needs of more than 500,000 people in the United States. If that is not whopping enough to think about, wait till you hear this. The Geysers Geothermal Power plants which has a combined rated capacity of more than 750 MW has more than 22 power plants in it. It is located in California and currently meets the electricity energy needs of more than a thumping 1.1 million people. This is an immense amount of power and is indeed for the environment as all it makes use of is the thermal power or the heat coming out from the core of the earth. However, equipment that makes use of solar energy still remains to be one of the most widely distributed equipment in the world and outcompetes other sources of energy by a pretty big margin. Wind Energy comes at a pretty close second.
One of the countries which meets about 20% of its automotive fuel needs through renewable energy sources is Brazil. It makes use of ethanol that is extracted from sugar canes and other sources and uses the latest technology to generate electricity from that. Ethanol fuel is also used a lot in large powers in the United States.
Let's take a look at what exactly the definition of renewable energy sources is. According to Wikipedia, "Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly. In its various forms, it derives directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within the earth. Included in the definition is electricity and heat generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, and biofuels and hydrogen derived from renewable resources."
Alright, so lets take a look at each of these renewable energy sources in detail.

  1. Wind Energy: Although the energy generated from wind may not sound like much because it feels like part of everyday life, (at least that's how I used to think) wind energy is capable of generating immense amounts of power sufficient to meet the energy needs of a lot of people. Wind energy is used to rotate turbines
    which in turn generate electricity with the help of the standard turbine technology used to generate electricity. Wind farms are places where a lot of wind mills are set up to generate electricity. These wind farms are typically located at high altitudes and basically areas such as the prairies where the wind is really strong. Offshore resources are also used a lot for setting up wind farms as they also receive as much as 90% more wind than land. Wind energy is clean, renewable and does not produce harmful gases such as methane or carbon-di-oxide.

     


  2. Geothermal Energy: I already mentioned this kind of energy when I was talking about the Geysers and how much energy they are capable of producing. This is another popular renewable energy source that basically uses the heat or the thermal power coming from the core of the earth to convert it into electricity. Geothermal energy is generally converted into electricity using 3 types of power plants – dry steam, flash and binary. Although the initial costs for setting up geothermal power plants can be quite high, the operating costs are really low hence resulting in low energy costs.

     


  3. Hydropower: Typically set up in places where there is a large flow of water such as waterfalls and rivers, hydropower generates huge amounts of power as it makes use of the kinetic energy of water. Hydropower is also available in other forms such as tidal power and ocean energy. Normally, huge hydro power stations are built along with big dams.

     


  4. Biomass: Biomass is the energy that is derived from plants. Plants use a process called photosynthesis to convert energy from the sun into chemical energy. Thus energy from the sun is stored in plants as chemical energy. This energy gets released when the plants are burned. This is basically, the principle upon which biomass works.

     


  5. Solar Energy: This is basically what
    this blog is all about and you can find out more information about solar energy by going around in this blog. It is one of the widely used renewable sources of energy all over the world. You too should learn how to make use by browsing through the various solar energy facts available in this blog.

     

The above are basically the different types of renewable energy that are available and are widely used. Other sources include biofuel and using ethanol as fuel etc. Many countries and their governments are making use of these renewable sources of energy by setting up big power plants. Learn how you too can help by building your own solar panels and making use of the various solar energy advantages.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Mojave Desert – Largest Solar Power Installation in the World


Since we have been talking about various solar energy advantages, I thought I would give you a detailed summary about some of the largest solar power installations in the world and how they generate a lot of electricity that is enough to support entire cities. Mojave Desert, which is located in certain parts of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, south western Utah and North western Arizona gets its name after Mohave tribe of native Americans. It is best known because of the large number of solar power plants which generates collectively over 354 megawatts (MW). There are several power plants in the Mojave Desert built from as long back as the 80's. According to Wikipedia, there are currently about nine solar power plants in the Desert. These power plants are also called as SEGS which stands for Solar Energy Generation Systems. The federal government of the United States plans to build more solar power plants in the desert among which is the Nevada Solar One solar plant which is expected to have a capacity of 64 MW. Mojave desert is one of the most ideal places for solar power generation as the solar radiation at this desert is among one of the best that is available in the US.



The south western part of the US receives some of the best amounts of solar radiation in the whole world and hence it is considered to be an ideal location for setting up power plants. It is said that the Mojave Desert receives up to twice the sunlight than other regions of the country. Therefore it is naturally an attractive place for setting up renewable sources of energy such as the solar plant which unlike non renewable sources or traditional sources of energy do not burn and pollute the air and consume only sunlight which is abundantly available unlike other fuels.


There are many incalculable factors when it comes to estimating the uses and benefits of fossil fuels. While the advantages are obvious (can be used to drive cars, and other automobiles), there are other factors such as pollution related health problems, degradation of the environment etc. that cannot be calculated exactly and is therefore, one cannot truly estimate the costs involved when it comes to non- renewable sources of energy. Also coming into the picture is factors related to buying fuel from other countries which can also turn out to be quite expensive. However, this is different with renewable sources of energy, especially solar energy because of the materials that are required to build set up this installation. This is because you are mainly using readily available materials that are available easily. This is indeed a big solar energy advantage.



Solar power towers typically use several tracking mirrors that are positioned at different angles to try and catch the sun's rays from practically any location in the sky it is at. These tracking mirrors are also called as heliostats. An example of such solar power towers is the solar one and solar two. They have the capacity to produce as much as 10 MW of power. One characteristic feature of the Solar Two was that it used molten salt to capture the son's energy and power. The hot salt could be used whenever needed to generate electricity. Astonishingly, it operated through clouds and even throughout the night. Solar two was later used as a telescope by the Californian Government.


Solar Energy Generation Systems (SEGS) – I told you about these earlier. These are the systems that are used primarily in the Mojave Desert. Here's some details regarding what they are used for and the future prospects for these systems. These SEG's were built by a company called as the Liz Industries which hails from Israel and were built in the 1980's. They generate a staggering 350 MW of power and are today used to meet the electricity needs of more than a staggering 500,000 people.


Trough Systems are normally parabolical in shape and this enables them to focus the sun's rays onto the grid or the panel at roughly 60 times the initial intensity of the sun. Now that is one place where you would not want to be standing at as that is an incredible amount of heat. These systems also have another unique feature. They use synthetic oil instead of the normally used water for circulating around the pipes inside the solar panels. This reaches temperatures of almost 750 F and is very hot once it comes out from the pipes. The hot oil is then sent to a generator or a generating station where an exchanger is typically used to convert it into electricity which is produced at the end by using the conventional steam turbines.


The Nellis Solar Power Plant, the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility and the Nevada Solar One are some of the very well known upcoming projects that is being considered by the Us Department of Energy. So now that you have learnt about some of the biggest solar energy advantages which is being utilized on a large scale all over the world. Many countries across the world are starting to utilize the solar energy to produce electricity on a large scale these days. In fact, it is vital that fast developing countries such as India and China make use of renewable sources of energy as they are going to become one of the biggest emitters of carbon di oxide, carbon mono oxide, sulphur di oxide and other similar harmful gases in the future. This could even facilitate the forming of really big holes in the ozone layer as well. This can be a big problem for humanity.


Make use of the solar energy advantages now and build a solar power system in your house immediately to start saving thousands of dollars in the future. Avail of various tax incentives offered by the government and save even more money.


To a greener future,


Andy.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Home Solar Power Systems – Are they easy to build?


There has been a lot of talk about home solar power systems from as the past couple of decades especially after all the growth and development that the solar energy area has been undergoing in the past decade or so. Further, immense advancements in technology has further made it possible for home owners and scientists to look at from a commercial and practical point of view and consider it as a serious competitor for other traditional energy sources. Also, solar energy has also taken big strides in the renewable sources of energy field and is way ahead of other renewable sources of energy when it comes to converting natural sources into useful energy such as electricity. The thing about electricity and the reason why many scientists get excited over converting renewable sources of energy is that it is very versatile and flexible. What I mean to say is that electricity can be converted to almost any other form of energy that we practically use in our day to day life. This is also one of the other solar energy advantages as it makes sure that all the solar energy is being efficiently converted into electrical energy. The other advantage with electricity is that it is efficient. In fact, that is one of its single highest advantages. Because it is efficient, the energy can be used in almost every way without losing a lot of energy. Anyway, now lets move back to the original topic of home solar power systems and look at the options that a prospective buyer has of getting one or buying one or installing everything by himself in his house.



I digressed a bit from the main point that I was going to talk about. This can happen to me from time to time and you may have noticed it if you have been reading the posts in my blog for quite a long time. Anyway, once again, getting back to "home solar power systems"...


Let's look at some of the advantages of home solar power. As each day and each month passes, many governments across the world are realizing the various advantages that generating useful energy out of solar energy has to both the people in the respective countries and to themselves as a huge money saver. Even the private sector is getting very actively involved and is viewing it as a huge money making opportunity. Any time that the private sector gets involved so actively, you know that there are profits involved. Also, with today's energy crisis turning out to be pretty bad, it does not come as a surprise that solar energy and other renewable sources of energy are being looked upon as possible solutions to this problem. Of course, fossil fuels need not be mentioned as being sources of pollution and being perfectly capable of harming the environment and our planet. Here's a fact if you have not heard about it before. Every hour, if all the energy that the earth receives is effectively used, then it will be enough to meet the energy needs of the whole population of the earth for an entire year. For those wanting facts, every day, one square feet of area on the earth receives as much as a thousand watts of energy. Photovoltaic cells or PV's or solar cells as they are known can be used in a large scale to convert this solar energy to electricity. The Mojave Desert is one of the perfect examples of the ways this energy can be used. It is located in California and meets the energy needs of 500,000 people by using solar energy.



Solar panels are basically made up a lot of solar cells and are designed to generate electrical energy from solar energy and are basically made up of a lot of individual solar cells or photovoltaic cells are they are also called. Ideally, they would have to be placed at places where the sun shines all day. Also, it would be even better if it could somehow be made sure that it is angled in such a way that when the sun is the brightest or the most intense, the solar panel receives all of the sun's rays in an efficient manner. As I had described before in one of my previous posts about the working of photovoltaic cells, silicon receives these rays and there are two plates of silicon-phosphorus and phosophorus-born which make sure that the electricity is conducted with a smooth flow of electrons. You have to make sure that you need other essential equipment such as charge controllers preferable around 6 amps and battery tanks to store power. The solar panel is built in such a way that this energy is stored properly when there is excess electrical energy generated.


The best part about home solar power systems is that if you happen to make extra power with the help of your solar panel, you can sell that power to your local utility company for money. This is also called as "net metering" and is basically the process where in government recognize people who generate their own power and seek to reward them by offering various financial incentives and tax incentives. You would have to pay lesser money in taxes than most other people. In "net metering" basically what happens is that your electric meter runs back and forth depending on how much extra energy or power you have generated.


Regarding the costs, the main factor that you would have to be worried about with home solar power systems is that the initial costs can be quite formidable. But it helps if you consult professionals such as solar professionals or professionals from your utility company to see if your house is fit to be used for generating power with solar energy. But, rest assured that you will definitely recover any costs that you may have gone through initially, in the long run when the home solar power system starts churning out some serious power for you sitting on the rooftop of your house.


To a greener future,


Andy.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Solar Energy Facts


Since we are talking about the various advantages offered by solar energy, I thought I would write about some interesting solar energy facts that many people may be interested in knowing not.


This may further help in making you decide as to whether or not you should get solar panels installed in your house or not. If you would like to check out the various solar energy advantages that I wrote about in my previous posts, click on the link to check it out.



What can you do with Solar Energy?
  • Because the utilization of solar energy does not release harmful gases such as sulphur-di-oxide or carbon-di-oxide, solar energy is good for the environment.
  • Solar energy has a wide range of applications. Before the photovoltaic cell was invented, people used to dry their wet clothes by hanging them out in the sun. But, the photovoltaic cell is probably one of the best inventions that has completely taken the whole solar energy industry to a completely higher level. Other than that applications include the heating of water, generating electricity etc.
  • Many outdoor swimming pools are warmed with the help of solar energy. That is one of the best uses. Also, one of the other most popular uses is probably the calculators which have for long been making use of solar energy. Many other small appliances similar to the calculator use solar energy instead of batteries. It is also used for lighting purposes as well.
  • There has also been the ingenious invention of solar cookers which is basically a black box accompanied with a magnifying lens and coated with black colour on the inside so that the heat stays in and does not get reflected off. These sort of cookers are known to be very useful and have produced enough heat to cook rice and boil water and recently, even more than that.
  • This is probably one industry that economists would love to study since the demand supply curve for this is way too steep. There are more people wanting these solar power products than there are manufacturers who are supplying these. This is also true not just for solar energy but also for renewable energy sources. Hence it is a big industry and the "industry of the future".
Solar Energy Facts – Measuring Units and Conversion
  • Solar Energy is measured as Solar Power times the rate of conversion. Thus for all practical purposes, the basic unit used is kilowatt-hour. This is used rather than Joules because "Joules" is way too small a unit for all practical purposes when measuring solar energy.
  • To give you an idea of how much a kilowatt-hour is worth, think of a 60 watt or 100 watt bulb and dive 1000 by that to get the number of hours that bulb will burn for.
  • According to US Energy Information Administration's Statistics, "in 2008, the annual energy consumption by an average American household was 11,040kWh which is approximately 920kWh every month. Tennessee had the highest annual consumption at 15,624 kWh and Maine the lowest at 6,252 kWh."
  • To get an idea of the amount of energy used for lighting, here's what EIA had to say,
"EIA estimates that in 2007, about 526 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity were used for lighting by the residential and commercial sectors.  This was equal to about 19% of the total electricity consumed by both of those sectors and 14% of total U.S. electricity consumption.
Residential lighting consumption was about 215 billion kWh, equal to about 15% of all residential electricity consumption. About 311 billion kWh was consumed for lighting by the commercial sector, which includes commercial and institutional buildings and public street and highway lighting, equal to 23% of commercial sector electricity consumption."

Solar Energy systems Facts:

  • A solar system that one typically gets for residential purposes usually consists of solar panels, batteries, inverters, wiring and deep cycle battery tanks etc.
  • If you want to know, how much does a home solar system panel cost? Then the answer would be anywhere between $5000 - $6000.
  • For an approximately, 1 kilowatt-hour home solar panel, you would require probably around 100 square feet area for setting it up.
  • The optimum time for direct sun shine on the panels would be from 10 AM – 2 PM. When the sun is shining outside, your hot water is practically free. And it can store up the energy for using it later on when you use it on cloudy days or during the night.
  • The warranty that these solar panels come for is normally very high. They are available for almost around 20 years.
  • It would be a good idea to have battery backup and you can go about in life just as normal since you can use everything just as normal for 24 hours a day even its bad weather outside.
Information about our Sun:


  • Sun rays travel at the speed of light (approximately 3 * 10^8 meters per second) and reaches our earth in a little less than 8 minutes.
  • Sun made life possible on the earth and it is because of that we have other energy sources that we use now such as coal and petroleum.
Miscellaneous Interesting Solar Energy Facts
  • Various ancient Indian astronomers scientists like Da Vinci and Gallileo studied the sun and predicted the uses of solar energy in the future.
  • The earth receives enough solar energy in a year to meet all the energy needs for the whole world in an entire year. Unfortunately, it is not being utilized efficiently.
  • Various solar powered aircrafts have broken world records for flying large distances using just solar energy.
  • Scientists are predicting solar flares from the sun spots in 2013 that could possibly cause a huge blackout and inflict heavy damages on the countries and their government. The earth's magnetic field is heavily influenced by that of the solar flares and studying space weather is becoming as important as predicting our daily weather. Scientists are predicting that any big disturbances in solar flares can cost a lot of money as the earth's entire magnetic field is affected by this. Our telecommunication and communication systems depend on the earth's magnetic field.
  • It is predicted that coal and petroleum will last for only the next 40 years or so. After that we will all be using renewable sources of energy.