Harness Solar Power Energy Generation
Guide
Harness Solar Power To Save On Your Power Bills
By John M Saragunter
Harness solar power and you can save on your power
bills. Using free solar energy in your home, helps save
costs for your electricity. After payment for the installation
of a solar power system in your home, there are no ongoing
solar power generation costs. Just this fact alone,
helps you save on your electricity bills.
Using solar power in your home, means you are using
free sun energy as your energy source. Unlike polluting
fossil fuel sources like coal, nuclear power and gas,
there are no emissions when generating solar power from
free sun energy.
To generate electricity using fossil fuels, these sources
have to be dug out of the ground and often transported
long distances to the power plant and then burnt to
generate polluting emissions. When generating solar
power, you can be at home with solar panels on your
roof and harness solar power without creating emissions.
What is solar power?
Very simply put, "Solar energy" is energy
that is derived from the sun. Our sun is an abundant
source of energy; it gives off heat and light. The sun
has been revered by several cultures of the past and
even by a few cultures still present today. The ancient
Egyptians even worshiped the sun as a God.
Five Reason To USe Solar Power
All said and done, it was not misplaced respect; the
sun certainly is an abundant and limitless source of
power, at least for several generations to come; the
merits for using its solar energy are numerous.
1. It Is A Free And Infinite Source Of Energy
Every morning with each dawn, the solar energy released
by the sun comes filtered through our atmosphere providing
light and helping to radiate heat. This has been happening
for millions of years yet it is only recently that we
have begun to capitalize on this abundant source of
almost infinite power.
In the past the Greeks and the Egyptians have been
known to harness the power of the sun to heat whatever
they wished to by concentrating its radiation.
2. Clean And Free Of Any Pollutants
The energy from the sun is clean and free of any pollutants;
unlike various sources of energy present today like
petroleum or organic fuels that leave back residues
and often leave back harmful gases when utilized to
create energy.
3. Extremely Reliable As Night Follows Day
The sun has been burning for roughly four and a half
billion years now and is likely to burn on for another
four to five billion years to come. That’s definitely
more than our lifetimes and certainly more than several
generations of the future. Every morning it promptly
shows up and vanishes for the evening while it lights
up another portion of the globe.
The saying as sure as day did not come about for nothing;
assuming the sun is shining brightly, depending on which
part of the globe you are you can harness the energy
of the sun to either store it away or utilize its energy
in a different way.
4. Limitless Source Of Energy
There is no restriction on how much energy we can use
from the sun. Apparently, the amount of energy that
comes from the sun every few minutes if successfully
harnessed can power the entire United States of America
for a whole year. If we were only able to harness the
immense energy of the sun we would be able to solve
all the worlds’ energy problems.
5. Why Has This Not Been Thought Of Before?
Ever wonder why no one thought about this earlier?
How come if there is so much energy just lying around,
we simply cannot seem to efficiently harness it? How
is so much of the sun energy seems to go totally unnoticed
and is ultimately wasted?
Well one of the reasons that this wonderful power reserve
is generally wasted is the fact that the sunlight that
we actually receive is so thinly dissipated across the
earth to be able to contribute substantially enough
if we try to harness it.
For us to be able to actually harness the power of the
sun we have to be able to manipulate, focus and store
the sun’s energy. While this may seem simple it is easier
said than done; So far we have only managed to develop
three partially successful means of collecting solar
energy.
The Reflection Method: Mirrors / Parabola
The reflection method is based on the concentration
of the sun’s rays through a single or a set of mirrors
onto one point and then utilizing the concentrated heat
energy that is produced for out need. A parabolic mirror
much like a dish antenna can be used to capture the
sun’s rays and focus them on a single point.
The Radiation method
This is the principle behind the solar water heaters.
Painted black pipes sandwiched between two layers of
glass, have water inside them that is heated thanks
to the rays of the sun.
Solar Panels Collecting Solar Energy
A more recent invention the "solar cell"
is composed of treated silicon crystals, which when
hit by the rays of the sun knock electrons out of their
orbits and thereby create a void that needs to be filled
by electrons from the other silicon crystals, this creates
an imbalance of electrons and hence a flow of current
which can be either immediately utilized or else stored
away in a rechargeable battery.
What’s stopping us?
Despite the apparent benefits of using solar power
it is most unfortunate that there are very few solar
power plants around the world. Sadly, with today’s level
of technology, cost and reliability are two major factors
that are still hurdles in the way of mass usage of solar
energy.
Technological limitations dictate that the most efficient
solar cells created today are still not capable of generating
enough power to be commercially viable without occupying
huge surface areas. Furthermore, reliance exclusively
on solar cells is not yet practical, for if there were
to be a cloudy day, it could reduce the amount of electricity
generated and that would be disastrous for those people
completely reliant on that energy.
On the bright side, constant innovation and research
on solar energy is resulting in much more efficient
solar cells that are a fraction of the size of existing
cells and churn out much more power. For now they are
still expensive, but not far is the day when they will
be affordable and available to the common man.
Free Electricity For Your Home
You can take advantage of current solar technology
to get free electricity for your home and business.
Rather than pay ever increasing power bills, you can
take the option of not paying any more power bills by
arranging and paying for the installation of a solar
power system. There are no ongoing solar power generation
fees, so once you pay for the installation, there would
no more costs, apart from any maintenance requirements.
Many of the solar installation companies and manufacturers
are offering up to 25 years warranty, as the system
is low maintenance. When you are shopping for a solar
power system, enquire about the warranty coverage.
Solar Power In Space
You can use solar power to heat your water, power your
appliances and turn on the lights in your home. Solar
power is used to power some satellites in space, including
the Hubble Space Telescope. Some of the street lights
in our towns are using solar power.
It is easy to use current solar technology to reduce
your power costs and harness solar power.
About the Author:
John M Saragunter is writing more articles on solar
power systems including Solar
Pool Covers, Solar
Swimming Pool Heating, Portable
Solar Power Systems, The
Known Effects of Global Warming, Solar
Power.
Look out for new articles as they become available on
this site.
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