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Solar Energy and Photovoltaics
Generating Electricity from Solar PV Panels
No matter what you may have heard, solar energy is the wave of the future, in large part because of its utter simplicity. A photovoltaic, cell collects energy from the sun, and that energy is converted into electricity without the use of chemicals, liquids, or moving parts. It’s that easy.
A number of solar cells are generally linked together on a solar panel, hooked up in series to allow all the cells to work in unison. The energy that’s generated is then stored in a battery, in the form of DC current. Since most household appliances run on AC current, the electricity is then converted to AC current by a device called an inverter.
The efficiency of photovoltaic cells has improved a great deal over the past few years, but it still would take a huge array of panels to run your entire house with solar power. Even so, it’s still possible to use solar to power at least a portion of you home at a relatively minimal cost. For instance, you could power your home computer and a few other small electrical appliances using a system that costs about $1,000.00 to have installed. At the moment, solar systems generally cost about $10.00-$12.00 per watt.
Since it’s totally renewable and doesn’t pollute, it’s easy to see that the future of solar power is so bright. If we could harness just one hour’s worth of the suns total solar power every day, we'd have enough energy to fuel the entire planet’s energy needs for a whole year. That’s an amazing amount of potential power, and it’s just waiting for us to tap into it.
As photovoltaic cells continue to improve, the cost of solar energy will keep coming down, and eventually, it will become economically feasible for everyone to switch to solar. Enormous amounts of money are being poured into solar research—some of it from seemingly unlikely sources, such as a number of major oil companies. However, that shouldn’t really come as a surprise, because they can see the handwriting on the wall as well as anyone, and it’s clear that they, like most forward thinking people, understand that the future of the world’s energy lies in solar power.
Copyright ©2006 Jeanette J. Fisher
Jeanette Fisher has researched the effects of environment on emotions for over 15 years. She teaches interior design college courses and seminars. Free environmental design info: http://environmentpsychology.com
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The Solar Battery Charger - Free, Clean, And Renewable Energy
Portable Solar Power for Electronic Devices
One of the most annoying realities of our electronic lifestyle is that so many of our electronic must-haves are battery operated. And depending on how often we use them, the life of their batteries can be from a single day to a couple of weeks. While a package of disposable batteries, depending on their size, usually costs less than $5, if they are powering an addiction forming device lie a GameBoy, you may burn through them the way a chain smoker burns through a pack of cigarettes.
While TV remotes, flashlights, and smoke detector batteries may only need changing once or twice a year, GameBoys, MP3s, and cell phones are different stories. Not only that; some of the most-used battery-powered devices require not one, but two batteries. The simple truth is, even disposable batteries can make a dent in the entertainment budget.
Environmental Issues
Not only that; actually disposing of disposable batteries has become an issue, and many landfills are no longer taking them because of the danger they pose to groundwater. Fortunately, many battery manufacturers have been ahead of the environmental curve in addressing this issue, and are now marketing rechargeable batteries to replace disposable ones. And they have gone one environmental step further by creating the solar battery charger.
Advantages Of Solar Battery Chargers
A solar battery charger has two advantages; unlike wall chargers, it does not use energy which you have to pay for to recharge your batteries, and unlike wall chargers, it does not require an electrical outlet. A solar batter charger has built in solar panels which, when placed in a sunny locations, gather the sun’s rays, which the charger converts to free electricity and feeds to your rechargeable battery or batteries.
As long as you have sun, you’ll have a way to keep you electronic devices up and running; and a solar battery charger can get your batteries fully recharged in as little as three hours on the brightest days. Most rechargeable batteries are equipped with a light to let you know when they have reached their full charge.
A solar battery charger is not large; in fact it is easily transportable so that you can move it to whatever location will provide the best sun exposure. With a solar battery charger and rechargeable batteries, you need never worry about running out of power for your electronic device again. And even better, you will be powering them with free, renewable, clean solar energy, stored in rechargeable batteries which require no environmentally-threatening disposal!
You can also find more info on Solar Fountain and Solar Garden Light at Solar Power Review. SolarPowerReview.com is a comprehensive resource to know about Solar Pool Heating.
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Using The Ground to Cut Your Utility Bill
Free Geothermal Heating from the Earth
As fossil fuels get more expensive, society in general is starting to get serious about finding new power sources. Geothermal heating is a simple answer for homes.
Geothermal heating is a fairly old concept that has gained a new life through advances in modern technology and materials. The concept is best explained using a basic example.
In many parts of the world, homes come with basements. If you’ve lived in such a home, you’ve probably failed to notice an interesting fact. Everyone knows that a basement will remain relatively cool during a summer, no matter how hot it gets outside. Fewer people, however, realize a basement will maintain fairly warm temperatures in the winter regardless of how cold it is outside the home. This odd result has to do with how Mother Earth regulates herself.
Ostensibly, geothermal power takes advantage of the inherently stable temperature of the ground. Regardless of temperature fluctuations on the surface of the ground, soil below five feet remains at a fairly constant temperature range of 50 to 55 degrees. During the winter, this temperature can be used to create geothermal heating for a home or building.
The mechanics of using the ground for power are exceedingly simple. To produce heat, plastic piping loops are dug into the ground to create a circuit for heat transfer. Depending on the season, liquid is run through the system to exchange heat or cold with the ground and suck up the opposite. The reconstituted liquid is then run through a refrigerant process to produce cold air that it circulated in the home during the hot summer. In winter, the process runs backwards and the cold air in the home is forced into the ground where it circulates and is subsequently compressed. The compression warms the fluids to well over 100 degrees, which is transformed into heat for the home through air ducts.
An easier way to think of the above concept is to consider the season. In the winter, the system will transfer cold air to the ground in exchange for warm air used in your home. The opposite occurs in summer. Regardless of the season, a geothermal pump system can lower your energy costs by as much as 70 percent.
Rick Chapo is with SolarCompanies.com, a directory of solar energy companies. Visit us to read more articles on solar power and renewable energy.
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