Solar Energy ~Some history, types, and facts~ In this modern fast paced world that we live in, there are many issues that are looked over, energy is one of these. As a world, we are dependant on dwindling fossil fuel supplies and take for granted electricity, oil, and gas. There are four completely renewable sources of energy around us that should be used and developed, they are: wind, growing plants, flowing water, and the sun. These sources of energy are the ones we should be tapping, because they are reliable and renewable. Harnessing the suns energy is the most certain and ultimate energy source. Looking at a brief history and some facts about solar energy, a glimpse of the future can be seen, a future not dependant on …show more content…
Bailey decided to separate the water heating system and the water storage system because at night the water in the tank would cool down. The greatest energy that can be produced by the sun is electricity. Photovoltaics, or solar cells, capture the sun and convert it into electricity. Solar cells were discovered by the Europeans back in the 1870’s when they used selenium to develop the telegraph. They found that when light hits selenium it would produce and electrical current. Soon enough there were many scientists and engineers working on photovoltaic systems. Silicon and Selenium proved to be the two best elements to conduct electricity when light hits them. Photovoltaic systems (PV cell) work by converting the suns light into electricity. A semi conducting material absorbs the sunlight, that energy knocks electrons loose from their atoms, this allows the electrons to flow through the material to produce electricity. The further development of solar cells can be attributed to the satellite industry. Solar cells were expensive and there was no use for them until satellites came. Because it is impractical to tether satellites it became important to develop solar energy at any cost that would power these satellites. This created a sustainable market for solar power, the first of its kind. Passive solar heating designs are some of the simplest forms of incorporating solar energy into your daily home life. Passive solar designs incorporate the sun
Both water and homes have been heated by passive solar energy since 1882. Passive solar energy technology can best be described as thermal windows and orientation of buildings to receive the maximum amount of sunlight during the course of a day. Active heating, which utilizes solar panels, is largely a development of the 20th century. Although heating homes is a necessity during winter months, Texas needs to develop a way to cool buildings during much of the year due to high humidity and scorching temperatures. Cooling using solar energy is possible but complex since it requires an indirect technique to extract heat. The solar cooling technology was first displayed on a large scale at Trinity University in San Antonio during 1977. Texas Tech University was the first institution to develop a moderately sized solar-electric power plant in the United States. The solar-electric power plant developed by Texas Tech replaced the diesel-fueled generators used to power the City of Crosbyton. The device used to harness solar energy and convert solar radiation into electricity has been modified for usage at the Johnson and Johnson plant in Sherman, Texas as an economical electricity generating alternative (Wilder, 2013).
The creation of solar energy requires little maintenance and solar electricity power plants produce zero emissions. Solar power plants use two different types of technologies: Concentrated solar power and Photovoltaic systems. Concentrated solar power plants, also known as “concentrated solar thermal”, uses solar thermal energy to make steam that is converted into electricity by a turbine. A photovoltaic system, also known as solar panels, generates electricity from sunlight. It is a device that converts light energy into electrical energy.
Climate change has been a major global issue for the past years and the use of non-renewable energy sources is only adding to the pollution that is responsible for the destruction of our planet. One of the biggest indicators of unproductivity is the lack of utilization of renewable energy sources. Currently, only a small percentage of Florida’s energy is attained by renewable sources (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2017). The state of Florida is capable of at least partly running on solar or hydro power, but most schools don’t take advantage of the resources that are naturally occurring. Specifically, the School District of Palm Beach County operates a total of 112 schools, as reported by the school district website. Of them, ten have achieved LEED certification, a rating system that certifies “green schools,” meaning that they are energy efficient and use sustainable resources. This leaves the other 102 schools to continue to use up non-renewable resources and contribute to the mass pollution of the Earth. According to XCel Energy, schools spend billions of dollars yearly, just to deal with the daily expenses. However, a significant portion of a school budget is used for utilities such as air conditioning, water, and electricity. Both individual schools and the school district could save money by taking advantage of the natural resources in Palm Beach County. If schools were to incorporate more renewable
There are many types of alternative energy that are available and being used. One of these sources is solar power. Solar power is the fastest growing and most popular source of alternative energy. There are two processes of solar power that each depend on the nuclear fusion power from the core of the sun. The first process of solar power involves solar cells that depend on the photovoltaic effect to absorb photons and turn them into electrons. The other process involves mirrors or lenses that concentrate a large area of sunlight, or solar thermal energy onto a small area (Williams,"What Are the Different"). Solar power is used to generate light, heat homes, generate electricity, and used for air conditioning in
Solar energy is the energy that the sun shines onto Earth. There are two types of solar energy, photovoltaic and thermal (Beltran). Solar panels are used to acquire the sunlight which then the photovoltaic cells convert into electricity. Solar concentrators collects the sun’s heat to make solar thermal energy which is used for heating. Both are used for different purposes, but they all originate from the sun and are all solar energy.
The sun is a massive burning ball of hydrogen that outputs gigantic quantities of energy every second. Sunlight is an excellent energy source and the future of using solar power is very exciting. The Sun's energy can be used to heat and cool buildings, generate electricity, operate communication, and GPS systems and even power solar cars. The sun’s energy is clean and solar panels used to harness the energy are low maintenance.
Solar is quickly becoming a popular project to take on. Not only does it help save the environment, but it can also help save money for businesses and homes that elect to make the switch to solar. However, completing a solar project is expensive and it is important to look for ways to promote efficiency of the install and of the system itself.
If citizens of U.S use solar energy, we can help stop and/or slow down global warming. Solar energy is a popular way of getting clean energy. It can power anything that runs on energy such as your house, stores, streetlamps, and even the new Tesla cars. Solar energy is the use of sunlight to create heat and energy(Bryan). In order to do this you need solar panels. These are panels of any size that collect sunlight and convert it into heat and energy. There are many advantages and disadvantages to solar energy, but because of the amazing advantages to it, most people think it is worth it.
There are two main forms of solar power: The use of photovoltaic, or PV, cells, and the use of thermal energy from the sun. Photovoltaic cells exploit the photoelectric effect, which converts the protons from the light of the sun into electrons, which can be converted into energy. Photovoltaic energy accounts for fifteen gigawatts of global energy, which is equivalent to fifteen large electric power plants. Also, the production of PV cells has increased by two thousand times over the past twenty years, and it is expected to continue to grow. Solar-thermal energy takes the thermal energy created by the sun and turns it into electricity. Although it only only produces as much energy as one large power plant, solar-thermal energy has many domestic uses. It can not only be used for electricity, but also for solar heating, which uses sunlight to heat up houses. Solar power has already proven to be a reliant source of energy, and it will only continue to improve in technology and
A switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to solar power plants could supply 69 percent of the United States electricity and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050. Solar plants made 74% of all new U.S. electric capacity installed in 2014, demonstrating the rapidly increasing role that solar is playing in the energy market and its fight against climate change. Solar energy is now generating enough clean, reliable and affordable electricity to effectively power 3 million American homes, while
It is interesting to note that when man was created, his needs were all around him. Some were obvious such as food and water, but other needs needed discovery like solar energy. Solar energy is the most ancient kind of energy known to man, however, man started researching it in the early 19th century.
Have a positive impact on the environment. The advantages of solar energy are unbeatable. It’s just clean, efficient, pollution-free electricity made from the sun’s natural radiation. No dirty carbon and no greenhouse gasses.
Solar energy has over the years become an important part of the world that we live in. There are a lot of factors that we need to consider if we are going to include solar energy as part of our green energy plan.
Solar power has been around for many years. The very first silicon based photovoltaic was invented by Bell Labs back in 1954. At this time the cost per watt was high at $285 and in 2009 it dropped to a mere $3.00 per watt (Solar Tech USA, 2014). Solar energy dates back as far as the 2nd century with the Greeks and Romans starting fires through broken glass. Indirect benefits from solar have been used way back to even photosynthesis (Bengtson, 2012). Passive solar energy was used to heat building by using the design to capture the sun for heating and lighting. Moving into the 20th century major changes have accrued and there is now concentrating solar power technologies for centralized solar thermal plants (Bengtson, 2012). The public believes that solar is not yet ready to take charge and become a major source of power, yet some experts disagree.
Solar energy may define as the energy received by the earth from the sun. This solar energy is in the form of solar radiation. With the help of solar cells, solar radiation can convert into electricity. Sun is a highly powerful energy source, humans and natures are directly depending on the sun. For example in hydro-electricity the solar energy needed for the evaporation of water after that it returns to earth as rain and provides water in dams. In biomass, the solar energy used that process. Solar cells directly converted solar radiation into electricity, during the process time there is no noise or pollution are there. These cells made with some semiconducting materials. If use solar cells in our home it will help to reduce the greenhouse gas emission, minimise the percentage of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and mainly reduce the necessity of fossil fuels and natural gas use to produce electricity. According to the Ben Sorensen, solar energy is one of a good source of substitute energy, for the reason that it is renewable, economical and does not pollute our environment. Thus, this essay will be divided into three parts. Firstly, we will talk about fossil fuels and its demerits. Secondly, we will look at the issues and implications of solar energy. Finally, we will focus on the advantageous and disadvantageous of solar energy respectively.