The Solar Of Solar Energy

     In 1954 Bell Laboratories invented the first photovoltaic (or solar) cell, made from the semi-conductor silicon, and other elements. It was the first way to convert sunlight directly into electricity. When the space program was launched in the 60's, it

The greatest energy that can be produced by the sun is electricity. Photovoltaics, or solar cells, capture the sun and convert it into electricity. Solar cells were discovered by the Europeans back in the 1870’s when they used selenium to develop the telegraph. They found that when light hits selenium it would produce and electrical current. Soon enough there were many scientists and engineers working on photovoltaic systems. Silicon and Selenium proved to be the two best elements to conduct electricity when light hits them. Photovoltaic systems (PV cell) work by converting the suns light into electricity. A semi conducting material absorbs the sunlight, that energy knocks electrons loose from their atoms, this allows the electrons to flow through the material to produce electricity. The further development of solar cells can be attributed to the satellite industry. Solar cells were expensive and there was no use for them until satellites came. Because it is impractical to tether satellites it became important to develop solar energy at any cost that would power these satellites. This created a sustainable market for solar power, the first of its kind.

“The photovoltaic effect is the basic physical process through which a photovoltaic cell converts sunlight into electricity.”(Seale E, 2003) Sunlight is composed of photons, the photons contain various amounts of energy corresponding to different wavelengths of light. When the light strikes the photovoltaic cell, it will be reflected, absorbed or pass through the two side photovoltaic cell. One side has a positive electric charge while the other side has a negative charge. Light striking crystals such as silicon or germanium, in which electrons are usually not free to move from atom to atom within the crystal,

Previously, we didn’t have to rely to much on energy, however times change causing a large consumption of energy. Solar panels may seem like a good idea due to its constant release of energy. On the contrary, in Source A, Michael Dhar states,” when a photon of sunlight knocks an electron free, the electric field will push that electron out of the silicon junction. A couple of other components of the cell turn these electrons into usable power” showing that at an optimal state, the sun will produce energy. These result often vary due to the amount of inconstant

Purpose: Make a new type of solar cell that, in theory, could be used in solar panels. This new solar is more environmentally friendly and safer to use.

With the growing cost of fuel for cars and the rolling blackouts of last summer, the need for an alternative, cost-effective, environment friendly energy source is escalating. Many possible solutions have been presented, such as nuclear power, wind power, and hydrogen fuel cells; prevalent among these is solar power.

Electrical power is generated by use of photovoltaics by converting sunlight into direct current and this is achieved by making use of materials that are semiconducting and have the properties of photovoltaic effect. Solar panels that have got several number of solar cells are used for photovoltaic systems. Solar photovoltaic energy is considered as a sustainable and cleaner form of power and has an advantage of making use of a renewable source which is the sun. The process of obtaining electricity from the sun has the advantage of having no movement of objects and no environmental emissions, a very clear and known study since for fifty years photovoltaic systems have been in use specialized applications and also for more than twenty years grid connected systems have been put into us (Armentrout and Patricia Armentrout).

Solar power has a vast potential. The industry is to see large growth in the upcoming future. However, there are technical and cost limitations which hinder solar power’s ability to become a more influential global electricity source. Despite these limitations, solar power is utilized by many. From homes in the Unites States to developing countries, solar power is making lives and the world a better place. Governments must see the potential of solar power and push their country’s energy needs away from fossil fuels and towards renewable sources, such as solar power.

Bob Johnstone, author of Switching to Solar, proclaims that every day the sun produces 970 trillion kilowatt-hours of energy (Johnson 11). Volker Quaschning – writer of Understanding Renewable Energy Systems – puts this fact in perspective by explaining how the world only uses one ten-thousandth of that quantity to power itself (Quaschning 22). This means that if humanity can find a way to harness even a fraction of the sun’s energy, the world will no longer need fossil fuels or other harmful energy sources. There are, of course, many ways to translate the sun’s power into electricity, but one stands out. After analyzing the benefits and possible downfalls, it is clear that solar technology holds incredible potential. Not only is it pure

Solar energy explained straightforwardly is a method of which the suns’ rays are collected with panels, therefore harvesting solar energy and converting it into electricity.These panels work by implementing solar cells that these devices turn into energy protons. A. E. Becquerel was the first physicist to examine the “photovoltaic effect” in which light photons stimulate electrons to create an electric current. (SE) Solar panels are large black rectangular squares, which can be placed on the roof of most structures and occupy a minimal amount of space. The ramifications are reduced cost of

Solar panels use small photons packets of energy from rays of sun to generate electricity. Solar panels are made up of photovoltaic cells - (photo = light and voltaic = electricity).

Solar energy comes from the sun and is the most readily available source of clean energy [2]. This energy is part of the solar electromagnetic spectrum, with wavelengths of 102 nm and higher actually penetrating the earth’s atmosphere [3]. Of this spectrum, we have the following: ultraviolet (UV) radiation (100–400 nm), visible light (400—700 nm), and infrared (IR) (700—5 x 105 nm) [3]. However, most solar cells are not capable of absorbing light in the 600–1000 nm region – this region encompasses more than 70% of solar radiation – due to their large bandgaps [4]. Despite the questions regarding economical costs, power conversion efficiency, and absorption

The future of solar technology clearly lies away from the expensive rigid structure of extensive silicon crystalline structures, and towards the non-silicon based technologies. Governments and private firms must continue to invest the capital needed to fund research and development in these fields of more flexible and versatile solar cells in order to acheieve higher efficiencies and improve the manufacturing process of these technologies; as currently they remain in their infancy.

In the past four decades, there have been numerous strides made in the photovoltaic enagy field which has seen has seen the emergence of PV as a viable source of renewable energy. One significant development is the progressive reduction in the unit cost of photovoltaic cells made from silicon. For instance, an analysis of the cost in dollars per watt of Crystalline Silicon from 1977 indicates that the cost has been declining steadily. In 1977, the cost in dollars per watt ($IW) over $76, in the year 2000, it stood at $5 and surprisingly, in 2015 it was at a low of $0.30 (Kalkman et al, 2015). Due to the decline in cost per unit watt, photovoltaic energy production has reached grid-parity in 40 countries of thereabout. In it projected that by the end of this year, it would have attained grid-parity in more than half of the countries of the world (Balfour Shaw, 2011).

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.