Electricity generated from solar power (photovoltaic – PV) is steadily proving to be a clean, reliable and essential power.Although naysayers, like fossil-fuel competitors, want us to think otherwise, I can easily demystify some common falsehoods about solar energy because progress and continued research proves that the current and future technologies of PV will meet our needs for cleaner power, which definitely is information worth discussing over any dinner party. First of all most naysayers contend that solar energy cannot deliver any major portion of electricity to the states or the world for that matter. This is a falsehood based on the fact that PV technology can meet the required demand. That a 100-mile-square area of Nevada could supply solar energy to the states with all its electricity (roughly 800 gigawatts) operating reasonably efficient (10%) commercial PV modules. Land, parking lots and rooftops are available for use to generate enough power. An estimated 17 by 17 miles per state is the required amount needed to produce 800 gigawatts. Apparently, there are enough “abandoned” sites that could be used for solar panels.Supporters of solar electricity definitely have proven that PV can supply a major portion of the U.S. electrical needs with their projection of an increase of at least 15% of new added electricity capacity in 2020 with another increase of 10% by 2030.Another falsehood I hear quite regularly is that photovoltaics will never become a huge industry. It’s a boutique business for a small group of privileged consumers.Quite the contrary, solar electricity is a full-fledged business that has been growing steadily for more than 35% per year over the past 2 years. As a matter of fact, it’s been reported that the U.S.-based industry itself is reaching the $1 billion mark per year and providing 25,000 jobs. In the next two decades the growth rate is expected to rise to the $10-$15 billion level, thus provided 300,000 jobs by 2025. We are talking a major expansion of solar electricity as a tried and true power source.Another very common falsehood that I hear at dinner party conversations is the PV is too expensive and will not ever compete against all mighty fossil-fuels – the industry will never manufacture the energy that it takes to produce the system.Do I have a smirk on my face? Yes. This is so far from the truth, it is ridiculous. The overall cost of producing PV modules has dropped from 1980 at $50 per peak watt to as low as $3 per peak watt, presently, bringing the competitive applications to as low as 15¢-25¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh).One can simply take a look at the market in California. The state incentives and net metering alone have places, PV electricity prices below 11¢/kWh, which is in the norm with some utility-delivered power. Designed for most domestic markets the trend is projected to continue through 2010 for most domestic markets.Technologically the thin-film modules that are being implemented today payback in one year or even less, which means clean and practically free of overhead energy for the remaining 29-year life expectancy of the modules. Cooler Planet is a leading solar resource for connecting consumers and commercial entities with local solar Installers. Cooler Planet’s solar energy resource page contains articles and tools such as our solar calculator to help with your solar project.
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The Sun is the source of life on our planet. It?s not only the source of light, but also the source of heat and other forms of energy. Even the energy stored in our food, fossil-fuel; all these are actually results of previous ?insolation? (sunshine). Probably that?s why old civilizations used to worship the sun as a god. It?s amazing to know that one hour of solar energy, if fully harnessed, can fulfil a whole year of energy need on earth!

How Does Solar Energy Work?

The sunlight reaches the earth?s surface in form of:

1. light or the visible radiation (frequencies that produce the spectra ?violet to red? while passing through a prism)

2. heat or invisible infrared radiation (frequencies below red spectrum)

3. high-frequency ultra-violet radiation (frequencies beyond violet spectrum). The use of the light needs no elaboration. The heat is the energy we use to dry clothes, run the water-cycle (evaporation-cloud-rain). The UV is that causes the tan on our skin or causes skin-cancer.

But the light form is used in another way now-a-days, a way that has opened towards the new horizon of renewable energy; the solar-electricity. This process of converting the light into electricity is called PV or photovoltaic.

How Do Solar Cells or Solar Panels Work?

Solar Cells convert light directly into electricity. On a sunny day, the electricity converted from an area of 1 square-meter can feed a 100W light-bulb. Solar cells, or photovoltaic cells are generally silicon-based (silicon is an element extracted from sand) pieces that absorb the sunlight.

One end of the Silicon (Si) piece is doped with Boron (B) which is considered as the positive (+ve) end and the other end is doped with Phosphorus (P), which is the negative (-ve) end. When light falls onto the solar cell, electrons are displaced from the atoms of Silicon. However, the electrons tend to move towards Phosphorus which attracts electrons (negative charges). Thereby, there is a surplus of electrons in ?ve end and a shortage of electrons in the +ve end.

If a conducting line is formed up outside the cell between the +ve and ?ve ends, an electrical flow is generated and a working circuit is constructed. This electricity is a direct current or DC (unidirectional flow) like a battery. But DC is not suitable for common use, so DC is converted through an ?inverter? to alternating current or AC. This AC can be transformed into required ?voltage? through a ?transformer?.

This process of converting sunlight into electricity is called the photovoltaic process. A combination of PV cells makes a PV module, a set of PV modules form a PV panel or commonly called solar panel. Even greater powers can be achieved through a collection of PV panels put together in an ?Array?.

The Chain of Harnessing Solar Energy

Summarising all these, here is the chain of Solar Energy:

a. The Sun radiates light

b. The PV cells convert solar radiation into electricity

d. This electricity is like battery-generated electricity (unidirectional flow of current) or the DC.

e. The inverter converts direct current (DC) into alternating current (AC).

f. The transformer guarantees that the voltage of the electricity coming from the inverter is the one we require.

g. The distribution scheme receives electricity produced by the system and combines it with other electric sources.

h. There could be electric meters to measure the amount of electricity produced. Radha Kishan is currently advertising for solar panels selling company and another website www.solarpanels-energy.com and his directory of solar energy

Following are some of the basic technical facts about solar energy. Environmental Facts: There is no shortage of energy on Earth and no need to use damaging fossil fuels. It is simply a matter of advancing and utilizing alternative energy technologies for a cleaner future. Anna supports and promotes the use of clean energy solutions by educating others and helping them find alternative energy solutions for their needs. Find out more at her website on Solar Power and Alternative Energy.

Solar energy is likely the largest, single answer to this nation’s dependence on fossil fuels. With enough solar energy, U.S. citizens can ignore the threat of Peak Oil, the more visible threat of oil embargoes from Mideast countries, the rising cost of fossil fuels and the air pollution that is making large cities virtually uninhabitable.Getting to that goal isn’t easy. There are a lot of solar incentives out there, from utility companies sponsoring solar installation to local, state and federal governments offering funding or tax rebates to homeowners installing a photovoltaic (PV) system. Unfortunately, these incentives are all over the board, vary from state to state and even region to region depending on the utility, are rarely publicly advertised to make homeowners aware of their existence, and change from one year to the next depending on the whims of Congress.Most homeowners, when presented with the 10,000 hoops required to get some kind of incentive package, shrug their shoulders and walk away. Life is complicated enough. If president-elect Barack Obama truly wants to meet his eco-friendly energy goals – five million “green collar” jobs, negative oil imports in by 2018, and 10 percent of energy coming from renewable sources like solar – he will first need to translate this mishmash of incentives into a cohesive, comprehensive and comprehensible national policy.What if, for example, instead of searching DSIRE’s (Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy) map for your state, then searching the more than 100 entries for a program that matches your qualifications and expectations, you could simply rely on the fact that state, regional and utility incentives all offered a specific program?Better yet, what if an agency of the federal government, like the U.S. Department of Energy, took over all incentives and offered a flat rebate not subject to change every time Congress was in session? Can you imagine the numbers of individuals who – currently stymied by a maze of regulations and stipulations – would flock to install solar energy panels? I can, and it would give the solar energy industry a boost not seen since Henry Ford first introduced an affordable automobile.You can make this happen by writing your representative and demanding a uniform, timeless, renewable energy incentive program. Better yet, join a social networking site and start your own petition, or contact renewable energy advocate sites (the American Solar Energy Society is a good start) and ask them to start a petition asking Obama and his transition team to develop such a program.The future of solar energy is you, and tomorrow is already here. Cooler Planet is a leading solar resource for connecting consumers and commercial entities with local solar Installers. Cooler Planet’s solar energy resource page contains articles and tools such as our solar calculator to help with your solar project.

While solar farms and tax credits and fresh energy policies push their way to the solar forefront, rooftop photovoltaic systems have been lagging. Those within the solar industry may be boasting a predicted annual growth rate of 50%, but until local businesses and citizens are able to embrace solar energy over fossil fuels, the prediction may be just that.The idea of solar farms seems somewhat contradictory in terms of providing a ‘greener’ source of energy; we’re already seeing the first fits of rushes to snag acreage for generating solar power. Isn’t one of the concepts of an eco-friendly future to re-use what you’ve already got? To get even more picky about it, the electricity generated by solar farms requires a greatly upgraded power grid in order to deliver the power from solar farms in rural areas into the cities. And the tax credits are a step in the right direction, but they still don’t make installing solar panels affordable for the average citizen. Luckily, there is a concept floating around that may assuage nit-pickers and sticklers for practicality like me: rooftop leasing for the use of photovoltaic systems which feed energy into the grid.There are positive effects of having power drip into the main grid from many different sources rather than from a few massive sources. A 2005 study revealed that if every commercial and residential rooftop was equipped to capture solar power, 75% of the U.S.’s energy consumption would be taken care of. But how to make solar installation affordable for everyone with a rooftop? Rooftop leasing.We’re already seeing the idea in action in California, where the city of Santa Barbara has leased out the rooftops of city-owned buildings to solar integration companies to provide enough energy to power 1,040 homes. But before you write a letter to your local statesperson, let’s look at some pros and cons of a solar energy grid based on the leased rooftop system.Pros Cons While the pros and cons seem to outweigh one another on paper, I still think rooftop leasing is one of the best ideas for generating enough solar energy to power a country while making it affordable and maintaining solar’s green image. Cooler Planet is a leading solar resource for connecting consumers and commercial entities with local solar Installers. Cooler Planet’s solar energy resource page contains articles and tools such as our solar calculator to help with your solar project.