Renewable energy including wind turbines and solar power are becoming more popular as oil runs out and gas and electricity prices increase.  Powering everything with solar energy isn’t possible just yet, since the UK doesn’t produce enough sunlight to do this.

Hi-tech ways to capture enough sunlight per day every day to power everything in a home or business hasn’t been discovered yet. The current cost of solar panels can run into thousands of pounds, which would require the panels to produce electricity for years without maintenance in order to see a return on investment. What is needed is more grants available to people to enable them to afford renewable energy in the homes. Otherwise only the relatively well off will be able to afford paying over 2000 for solar panels and then saving money over the next 10-20 years. B & Q and other retailers in the UK have now started to advertise solar and wind turbines on TV, they must becoming more mainstream for them to do this.

Currently, many people use solar panels, which can be placed on a side of a roof to attract sunlight during the day to heat a small number of rooms and water. Solar panels can be purchased at a number of locations throughout the UK, as well as online. To view UK companies involved in renewable sources of energy see the green directory. Panels do a great job of helping families and businesses to conserve energy. Hopefully, solar panels will become a part of daily life, in order to prevent the disappearance of natural resources and to maintain energy conservation. In August 2006 high street chain Currys have said that they will start to sell off the shelf solar panels at a substantial discount to existing suppliers. Also, houses that are being built locally now have wind turbines attached to create energy! At last progress from the house builders are making an effort - they can be the real drivers behind this change.

In the recent 2006 Budget announcement by Gorden Brown, millions of pounds have been allocated to helping homes and businesses take advantage of renewable energy and the benefits that it brings. This is a welcoming strategy by the government. More and more homes are also attaching mini-wind turbines to their homes to boost the electricity generated by solar panels, British Gas (Centrica) have recently been looking for volunteers to pilot this with.

Developing countries with sunny climates such as Africa are the perfect place to take advantage of this renewable energy especially in rural areas that are not connected to the national grid for electricity. There needs to be a commitment from the G8 and other government around the world in providing funds to achieve this.

I have just read about the founding of google and the founders are keep to develop solar power and have invested in a number of companies that have solar panels attached to like a mat that you can roll out and stick onto a building instead of the current large, expensive panels that are available at the moment!

By Mark Marris Published: 10/23/2006

Advantages of You Using a Portable Solar Power Source

Solar power is a renewable energy and so you never have to worry about it running out. No longer will you have to feel bad if you leave the lights on or keep the television running while you go out for a couple hours.

How expensive is solar energy to produce?
Inside this article, I will discuss some of the advantages of using renewable energy sources as well as how you can start learning how to build your own alternative home power system.

Solar Energy Advantages & Disadvantages
Here are the Advantages and disadvantages of using solar energy for heat and electricity.

Solar, Wind & Renewable Energy
Hardly a day goes by without major media attention to global warming and the need to develop and invest in sources of alternative energy. Legislation to encourage investment in renewable energy has bi-partisan support. …. It is the most important of the federal tax advantages for wind power projects, as wind projects are not eligible for the ITC (described below).

Lower electricity bill With Solar Power Systems
The Advantage: Sunlight is the main source for your solar energy making the latter a renewable commodity. “Renewable energy” connotes that the energy is derived from natural sources and is naturally replenished.

Affiliate Disclosure: It is advisable to assume that any mention of a product or service on this website is made because there exist, unless otherwise stated, a material connection between the product or service owners and this website and should you make a purchase of a product or service described here the owner of this website may be compensated.  To learn more, please click here.

Home |  Contact |  About |  Privacy Policy |  Sitemap

Technorati Tags: define solar energy, domestic, power, renewable energy advantages, save on electric bills, save on electricity bill

As people search for alternatives to fossil fuel energy, solar energy emerges as one of the cleanest and most practical sources of electricity. Solar panels can be installed on rooftops or any area that receives a lot of sunshine. The solar panels consist of a photovoltaic system that converts the energy of the sun into electricity.

Photovoltaic systems have existed since the 1950s but only in recent years has the technology matured to the point of making it a viable alternative to power utilities. Indeed, most solar systems do not replace the utility company, instead they work in conjunction with it to produce extra electricity that can be fed back into the grid.

One of the main problems with solar power is storing it for use during non-daylight hours. Batteries can be used but they are expensive and have a limited life span. As an alternative, excess solar electricity can be fed back to the power utility company for a credit, and then power can be drawn when needed. In a sense, the utility company becomes the storage device.

Most municipalities have legislation requiring power utility companies to accept electricity produced by solar panels or wind turbines. This system benefits everyone - there is less dependency on fossil fuel power plants and electricity costs are reduced for owners of photovoltaic systems.

Photovoltaic cells produce electricity by using specially treated materials such as silicon that convert light into power. They can be of almost any size and are suitable for providing electricity for small items such as calculators or watches right up to complete industrial complexes. Because they can be wired together, an array of solar cells can produce enough electricity for residential or commercial needs.

The main requirement, of course, is sunlight. This makes solar power most practical for southern areas such as California and Arizona. But it can also be used in more northerly areas as a backup power system. As the technology advances, photovoltaic cells are able to produce usable amounts of electricity even in low light conditions.

About The Author

Ross McIvar is the leading author of http://www.alternative-energy-guide.com/.

This article was posted on January 16, 2006

Photo Voltaic Energy
$93 to $201 from 27 sellers Solar Electric Power Generation - Photovoltaic Energy Systems: …by Stefan C. W. Krauter - Technology & Engineering - Springer(2006) - Hardback - 271 pages

Unisolar Shr-17 17 Watt Pv Roofing Shingles | Photo Voltaic Energy
Unisolar SHR-17 17 Watt PV Roofing Shingles The latest solar shingles from Atlantis Energy System’s Sunslates …

Suntech Solar Panels to Power Largest PV Solar Project
The company’s highly experienced team designs, supplies and installs turnkey photovoltaic power systems for utility scale, commercial and residential applications.

Photovoltaic solar panel system
What is the average installation labor cost for photovoltaic solar panel system, on a house that is 2000 Sq. Ft. Who installed it, how long did it take.

Affiliate Disclosure: It is advisable to assume that any mention of a product or service on this website is made because there exist, unless otherwise stated, a material connection between the product or service owners and this website and should you make a purchase of a product or service described here the owner of this website may be compensated.  To learn more, please click here.

Home |  Contact |  About |  Privacy Policy |  Sitemap

Technorati Tags: buy photovoltaic cells, define solar energy, how solar panel works, photovoltaic cells cost, photovoltaic cells manufacturers, photovoltaic systems, solar panel cells

Solar panel is a device used to convert solar energy into other forms , such as light energy and heat energy. In this article, we will try to find out the answer of the question…”How do Solar panels work?”

Solar panel is a term used to describe the devices used for the conversion of solar energy in to other forms of energy like electrical or heat or light. This can be broadly studied under three categories.

1. Panels used to generate electricity
2. Panels used to generate heat
3. Panels used to heat water in homes.
How do solar panels work is nothing but knowing how the above panels work.

Panels used to generate electricity
Solar cells are common examples in this category of electricity generation. They are also known as photovoltaic cells. A combination of individual PV cells forms the Photovoltaic module. A collection of photovoltaic modules, which are tied together with a wire and are so designed to install it in a field readily, is known as photovoltaic panels or simply solar panels. The installation includes the photovoltaic modules, an inverter, a battery all linked to each other with a wire. Depending upon the no of cells and their arrangement there are three types of modules in this viz., crystalline silicon modules, rigid thin-film modules and Flexible thin-film modules.

Panels used to generate heat
The heat in the sun light is collected in this type of panels. They are called Solar thermal collectors. They are specially made to absorb the sunlight to provide the heat. It may appear that they are simple solar hot water panels but in reality they are more complex installations.

Though heat is generated out of sun light in these models, the heat energy is ultimately converted into other type of energy mostly electrical energy as in the case of solar power plants. The heat produced in the solar power plants is used to heat water, which in turn produce stream. A turbine connected to an electrical generator is made to drive for producing electricity.

There are three types of thermal collectors namely; solar parabolic, solar trough and solar towers which are mainly used in solar power plants. In domestic and light industry applications, flat plate and box type panels are used. Apart from that, some more types like evacuated tube, pool or unglazed, air and parabolic dish are some of the other types of panels used. Some advantages of this type of solar panels are getting high temperature enough to generate electricity, higher efficiency of these panels and wide area coverage with the use of inexpensive mirrors.

Panels used to heat water in homes
In solar hot water panels, sunlight is used to heat a fluid, which is then transferred to a heat storage vessel. Heating of potable water in the sun light and storing is in hot water tank is a common example of this. How solar panel works is explained below:

Flat absorber plates are placed on the top roofs of the buildings usually residential buildings. These absorbers are coated with darks selective surface which converts the sun’s radiation into heat. The heat so produced is carried by the fluid in the tubes attached to the absorbers. The heat is taken away and stored or used. In the process the fluid gets heated up. To take away its heat and for reuse, the fluid is directed to a heat exchanger, where it gives off its heat and the cooled fluid is reused.

A mechanical pump can be used for circulating the fluid by means of a solar cell. Alternatively the principle of thermo siphon which works on convection can be used to circulate the fluid by mounting the storage vessel higher in the circuit.

How solar panel works lies in the effective use of active solar or passive solar technologies or solar combisystem. While in active solar technology electrical or mechanical devices such as pumps are used, passive solar technology does not employ any other source of energy. Solar combisystem uses the auxiliary non-solar heat source.

Solar panels are mainly used to exploit the potential of solar energy, which is rampant is availability and is cheap to use as no money need to be paid by anybody for the use of sunlight.

In the depleting conventional energy source day by day, solar energy is the right substitute for that. But, for that, we need to be cautious in keeping our environment and thereby the atmosphere clean and un-spoilt. Because, the role of atmosphere in the use of solar energy is that of a filter.

It eliminates certain harmful gases and materials from the sunlight before it reaches the earth’s surface. It acts as a checkpoint. If that is damaged the entire earth will be damaged. Global dimming, global warming etc., are some of the phrases coined by the environmental conscious people to warn the adverse effects of our atmosphere getting into nowadays. Let us be more conscious in not polluting our atmosphere so that not only we, the future generation is also able to derive the advantages of solar energy.

By Jayashree Pakhare
Published: 7/31/2007

Can you run your home on solar panels?
The effectiveness of your solar panel depends on the amount of sunlight it receives, needing about six hours of constant sunlight the year round. Solar panels work best if they are installed in an angle of orientation facing the sun.

How does solar power work?
How does solar power work? Image Courtesy: Zen Sutherland Courtesy: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN India and. Paul Alivisatos, Deputy Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. When the sun strikes a solar panel, the energy of the sunlight [...]

Do lightning arrestors really work for Solar systems?
I’m thinking of putting some arrestors into my PV and Wind system. Does anyone know *from experience*, meaning a lightning strike to your system, if they [...]

Affiliate Disclosure: It is advisable to assume that any mention of a product or service on this website is made because there exist, unless otherwise stated, a material connection between the product or service owners and this website and should you make a purchase of a product or service described here the owner of this website may be compensated.  To learn more, please click here.

Home |  Contact |  About |  Privacy Policy |  Sitemap

Technorati Tags: define solar energy, how a solar panel works, how do solar cells work, photovoltaic cells, solar panel schematics, thermal solar panel