SOLAR POWER TECHNOLOGIES

Solar Power Technologies And How It Effects To Our Social Life

Solar Power Technologies And How It Effects Our Social Life

The model for fusion power plant, sun, is the source of practically unlimited energy, most of which is wasted but nevertheless provides us with millions of kilowatts of power, keeps us warm, and grows all our food. To top it off, solar energy is safe, pollution-free energy on and in which living things have thrived since they first appeared on earth. (Tritt, 2008)

Every day sun showers Earth with several thousand times as much energy as we use. Even small amount that strikes our roof is many times as much as all energy that comes in through electric wires. With sun straight overhead, the single acre of land receives some four thousand horsepower, about equivalent to the large railroad locomotive. In less than three days solar energy reaching Earth more than matches estimated total of all fossil fuels on Earth! (Perlin 2008)

The logical question at this point is, Why are we not making use of this incredible bonanza in form of solar energy? The answer, of course, is that we are using it, and have been from beginning. All our energy-except nuclear- comes originally from sun. A solar-powered radio draws on sun directly, but the gasoline fueled automobile also uses solar energy, stored solar energy, in which sunshine of ages ago was trapped in earth until reclaimed by oil drillers. The challenge is to make use of solar energy directly and in the non-polluting fashion.

The Russian philosopher, Kuzma Prutkov, decided that moon is more useful than sun, since it shines at night when light is needed; while sun is of little use in daytime since it is light anyway! In such the fashion we, too, have dismissed importance and potential of sun. It appears that fruitful application of solar energy is destined to wait until bottom of energy stockpile sun has willed us is depleted. (Mills 2007)

The harnessing of solar energy is not new in fact, development of solar energy dates back more than 100 years, to middle of industrial revolution. Several pioneering solar power plants were constructed to produce steam from heat of sun, which was used to drive machinery of time. At same time, Henri Becquerel discovered photovoltaic effect; that is, production of electricity directly from sun. Becquerel's research was investigated and extended by, among others, Werner Siemens. Photovoltaic power remained the curiosity for many years, since it was very inefficient at turning sunlight into electricity. (Martin 2009)

Early photovoltaic applications were geared more towards sensing and measuring light (such as the camera's light meter) than towards producing power. With advent of transistor and accompanying semiconductor technology, however, efficiency of photovoltaic power increased dramatically. Photovoltaic power became more practical. Over years, many companies, including Siemens Solar, have worked to increase efficiency of photovoltaic power. Today, commonly available solar panels are 12% efficient, which is four times greater than only the few years ...