Essay Solar Power for Homes

Whether you are an advocate of clean power or just appreciate where your financial resources go, considering the advantages and disadvantages of residential solar power system will certainly aid you decide on whether to convert or otherwise.

There are four types of concentrated solar plant technologies: Parabolic Trough, Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector, Power Towers, and a Dish-Engine. As Solar Energy Industries Association explains, “Parabolic trough systems use curved mirrors to focus the sun’s energy onto a receiver tube that runs down the center of a trough. In the receiver tube, a high-temperature heat transfer fluid (such as a synthetic oil) absorbs the sun’s energy, reaching temperatures of 750°F or even higher, and passes through a heat exchanger to heat water and produce steam. The steam drives a conventional steam turbine power system to generate

     The real question around the beginning of the 19th century concerning solar energy was "could the sun produce electricity directly?" The main motivation behind this desire was that electricity could be stored in a battery, and used later. It would not be necessary to use the device in the sunlight. All inventions failed, until Frank Shuman, an engineer from Pennsylvania finally made a breakthrough. He built an experimental plant that used black troughs covered in glass with a few inches of water. When exposed to the sun, the water got very hot, causing it to circulate and power an electric generator. His data was so convincing that he got financial backers and built the world's first solar electric power plant in Egypt. However, the Eastern Sun Power Company went out of business even though it was using free fuel. It didn't produce enough electricity for the area that it used, 14,000 sq. ft of sun-collecting land (Zweibel 48).

Near the year of 1954 three scientists by the name of Chapin, Fuller, and Pearson developed the first solar cell capable of converting enough of the suns energy into useable power.

created to accumulate the power of the sun and store it for whatever needs energy. Source A

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

Well, according to eere.enegry.gov, the U.S. Department of Energy, solar powered technology dates back to the 7th century B.C. What object did these early people have to allow them to use natural energy? They used a magnifying glass. It was used to concentrate the sun’s rays to make a fire, or burn ants. Solar panels, the ones we more commonly see today, were created by scientists David Carlson and Christopher Wronski back in 1976.

Attention Getter: Let’s look ahead fifty years and see what the world is like. Imagine a world that is in total war with no end in sight. The cause behind this war is simple, oil. Everyone is fighting over those last few reserves of oil. How can this future be prevented? The answer is solar power.

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.

William Grylls Adams, with his student, Richard Evans Day, discovered in 1876 that a solid material (selenium) produced electricity when exposed to light. Selenium photovoltaic cells were converting light to electricity at 1 percent efficiency Meaning that the panel doesn’t produce enough energy for its surface area. “Photovoltaic, is the word that describes converting sunlight into electricity: photo, means pertaining to light, and voltaic meaning producing voltage. It took, more than 100 years, however, for the concept of electricity from sunlight to become more than just an experiment”; but today made a lot of energy for many homes olar panel history. In 1839, Alexandre Edmond Becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect which explains how electricity can be generated from sunlight. He claimed that shining light on an electrode submerged in a conductive solution would create an electric current.

In addition, solar energy operational costs are manageable. It is free from monthly charges compared to conventional sources of energy. Solar energy does not require raw materials such as oil and coal, and once the panels are built, there will be no monthly charges. In addition, the prices of fossil fuels are increasing day by day, and this means conventional energy will be very expensive. Solar energy will remain the most capable world’s future power supply because, it is cost effective once the plants are built, and there will be no transport costs like for conventional energy sources. Therefore, solar energy is cost-effective, and will help in future energy supply, as the maintenance cost is affordable, as long as they are installed properly, and are working efficiently ( Hans, 2012). Furthermore, with the improvement and advancement of technology, it will increase its efficiency, and cost of production thus, making it more cost effective and the world’s best

In order for one to further understand the importance of solar energy, the problem of global warming must be explained. As defined by Webster’s Dictionary, “Global Warming” is an increase in the earth’s average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect. With an average increase in atmospheric temperatures, our planet is slowly deteriorating. In order to stall or halt this global destruction, countries must turn to solar energy as a cleaner alternative to the depletion of fossil fuels. Solar energy creates a homeostasis for the climate. Due to its ability to decrease global climate changes, solar power can address global warming in several ways.

Solar energy and its use isn’t new to the world. It has been used by various societies beginning from 7thCentury B.C, when the sun’s heat was concentrated by glass and mirrors to light fires. Today, we have everything from solar-powered buildings to solar-powered vehicles. By and large solar technology has some environmental, economic, psychological and ethical implications for our society. Actions taken by companies and individuals to increase the use of solar technology will create good local jobs, improve our environment and reduce our dependence on foreign oil while doing what’s ethical and moral for our society.

Solar energy is derived from the rays of the sun, as is evident from its name itself. Solar energy has numerous benefits for users. However, until recent years, this source of energy could be used only during the day. Presently though, the current technology enables individuals to effectively store and use solar power, even during the night. We would be discussing some of the major benefits of solar energy in this article.

Abstract: The current energy situation with fossil fuels as the main source of the world’s energy has two main flaws: fossil fuels contribute to global warming via the greenhouse effect and they are limited in the quantity that remains. Solar power solves both of these problems and can be captured by utilizing photovoltaic cells. However, photovoltaic cells have their own drawbacks due to their high costs of installation and maintenance.