Solar Energy is not a Solution to America’s Energy Crisis 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. Solar cells directly convert photons from the sun into electricity (Wikipedia). Solar cells that convert both solar and non-solar light are called photovoltaic cells (Wikipedia 2006). They are made of semi conducting materials, most often silicon (Aldous 2006). The simplest photovoltaic cells power watches and calculators while larger, more complex systems can add to the power grid and provide power for homes. How Solar Power Works Most solar cells are made of crystalline silicon. Pure silicon has 14 electrons that form 3 different tiers around the individual atom. In the last tier there are only 4 electrons, but as each tier desires 5 electrons there is one missing from this tier. To fill the last spot the electrons will join together to share their electrons. This linking is what forms the crystalline structure, which is vital for photovoltaic cells. (Aldous 2006) Solar Energy 3 Pure silicon is not a good conductor for electricity because it has no free electrons, so we add impurities to the silicon. The process of adding impurities is called doping. Phosphorus is an impurity that can be added into the silicon used for solar cells. This type of impure silicon is called N-type and is much better as a conductor than pure silicon. This is because phosphorus has five electrons in its final tier so every atom of phosphorus has one electron not shared with ... ... middle of paper ... ...sidered as a viable alternative energy source at the present, nonetheless if, with further research, efficiency continues to increase and the cost to produce solar panels continues to decrease, solar energy could be a major contributor to power in the future. Solar Energy 7 References Aldous, S. How Stuff Works. How Solar Cells Work. Retrieved August 3, 2006 from http://www.howstuffworks.com/solar- cell.htm Carlstrom, P. (2005, July 11). The Chronicle. As solar gets smaller, its future gets brighter Nanotechnology could turn rooftops into a sea of power-generating stations. Retrieved August 3, 2006 from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/07/11/BUG7IDL1AF1.DTL SOLAR CELLS. Retrieved August 3, 2006 from http://www.solarnavigator.net/solar_panels.htm Wikipedia. Solar Cell. Retrieved August 3, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell
Claim: Solar power has the potential to become the United States main supply of energy and replace are needs for more conventional and harmful forms of power generation.
Before I go in to detail about usage and implementation of solar cells, let me explain just how they work. Solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells (Photo= light Voltaic=electricity) capture photons, convert them into electrons, and use these electrons to transfer energy to whatever you want to power. To do this, solar cells are made with a material called a semiconductor, which, for solar cells is almost always silicon. When light hits this material, it causes electrons to break loose and flow throughout the material. By placing metal plates on the solar cell, we can capture this flow of electrons, otherwise known as current. Using the equation Power= Volts * Current, you can calculate the voltage output of a cell, which, using silicon, is about 1.1 volts- a 25% or so efficiency.
The solar panel, is able to work through solar modules using light energy, or photons, from the sun to generate electricity through the photovoltaic effect. The photovoltaic effect is the creation of voltage or electric current in a material upon exposure to light. A research conducted by Imperial College, London has improved a way of making solar panels much more efficient by studding the light-receiving semiconductor surface with aluminum nano-cylinders which are fairly similar to the ridges o...
All energy comes from the sun. It is the most abundant form of clean, renewable energy. 173,000 terawatts of solar energy strikes the Earth continuously, which is more than 10,000 times the world’s total energy use (Pierce). It does not produce carbon dioxide emissions, it will not deplete, and it is free. The way solar energy works can be demonstrated when one walks outside. The sunlight hits an object, the skin, and the energy turns into heat, which is the warmth that is felt on the skin. The way to harness this energy is when the sunlight hits certain materials, the energy turns into an electrical current instead (Locke). Solar cells are a device that can convert sunlight into electricity. Solar cells have crystals, which are bonds between silicon atoms made of electrons shared between all atoms (Locke). The light gets absorbed and the...
In the last few decades, technological leaps and the scaled-up production of solar panels have made sol...
Actually, by solar cells we can change sunlight to electricity directly. Every day, the light of sun hits your roof's solar panels with photons (sunlight particles). These photons are converted by solar panel into electrons of direct current (DC) electricity. The electrons flow out of the solar panel into an inverter and other electrical safety devices. The function of an inverter is to convert the "DC" power (which commonly used in batteries) into an alternating current or "AC" power. AC is a kind of electrical power that computer, television and toasters use when plugged into wall outlet.
Most of the commercial solar cells are made up of silicon which converts sunlight into electrici...
Solar power is energy efficient, what is meant by that is that solar power cannot ever run out as long as it is installed properly. Solar power cells is a source of electrical energy that converts a powerful source of energy such as the sun into electricity, using it’s energy to create electrical currents within the solar panel. Solar panels produce electricity using technology called “Solar Photovoltaic (PV)”.
There is a Fresnel lens on top of every solar cell. Solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells, are essentially a mechanical device that light into electricity. It is able to do this because of the photovoltaic effect. The photovoltaic effect is essentially when, due to the introduction of light electrons on a surface are expelled out. Due to this ejection, electric energy is generated. Chemically, electrons are jumping across valence bands and are becoming highly excited. This is what accelerated energy. This is critical to the working of solar concentrators because ...
Solar power is one of the renewable energy resources that was develops to replace the fossil fuel. It was one of the most convenient and clean energy resources that are available in the earth. The solar power operations involve the conversion of sun power to electric power with the use of photovoltaic cell. The whole process is clean and will not produce pollutant to environment. In 2011, the International Energy Agency encourages all countries to develop solar power technologies. They emphasis that the early development investment cost should not be cut down and the research should be shared among the countries as solar power technologies brings huge global long terms benefits toward mankind. Such an advantages include: increase the countries energy security as solar power is a free and inexhaustible resources that can be obtain from the sun, reduce the pollutant toward the environments, and decrease the energy dependent toward fossil fuels which will lower the price of fossil fuel. These energy resources are the mos...
For example, people may charge their electric cars in the morning with the sunlight, and during the night the electric cars will work by saving the power from the morning; as a result, solar power runs for a long time, and people may do their work without doing any problems for the environment. Furthermore, solar energy does not use any equipment to work such as wires or cords unlike other sources like wind energy. For instance, solar power can be at the roof of the house without using any equipment, and without taking any space. On the other hand, Louwen, Sark, Schropp, Turkenburg, and Faaij (2015) stress that solar cells need to replace the material that is used or decrease the amount of the equipment used such as silver and indium since they are used in silicon cells. This might negatively impact the environment and the production cost (p. 1407). Overall, solar energy can be used as a renewable energy to reduce the pollution and protect the environment from the harmful gasses, and can be used without access to power
At our new house, we have two stand alone pedestals with six 170W panels on each pedestal, making for 2040W or 2kW solar system. According to Mr. Solar.com, “this type of energy production, known as the Photovoltaic Effect, is achieved by solar panels converting sunlight into energy. Solar panels are made up of several individual solar cells, composed of layers of silicon, phosphorous (which provides the negative charge), and boron (which provides the positive charge). Solar panels absorb the sunlight’s photons and by doing so initiate an electric current, producing electrons. The resulting energy generated from photons striking the surface of the solar panel allows electrons to be knocked out of their atomic orbits and released into an electric field generated by the solar cells, which then pull these free electrons into a DC or directional current.” This electricity then proceeds to a mechanical room beneath our house to a charge controller, which regulates the amount of energy sent to our 24V batteries to be stored. From these batteries, the electricity goes to an inverter, which then changes the DC to AC or alternating current in order to use our modern electrical appliances and gadgets.
Active energy is when solar power is turned into electricity using a technology called Solar Photovoltaic (PV) or into heat by Solar Thermal. Unlike passive solar energy, this type of energy is not directly changed into the forms. Semiconductors are used in Solar Photovoltaic. They create electricity when hit by sunlight. They are flat-plates that have insulated glass-covered box painted black to maximize the collection of heat. Between the collectors water circulates in loops, where the water is heated, and the...
Solar energy in simple is the energy provided by the sun known as solar radiation. This energy can be used to produce solar electricity or heating. This energy can be for domestic use or even commercial use. The solar technologies are classified into 2 types, the solar photovoltaic (PV) and the concentrated solar power (CSP). For solar photovoltaic technology, the conversion of solar energy to electrical energy directly requires solar photovoltaic cells. In brief, the sunlight strikes the PV cell, the semiconductor material of the cell will absorb part of the light, and it will energize the electrons in the material, allowing it to flow freely, creating electricity. It is known as the photovoltaic effect. The other way to produce electricity
The photovoltaic effect, electricity can be created directly from sunlight. Some semi-conductor materials that are exposed to sunlight can create electron-hole pairs, which can be collected to produce electricity. This occurs when photons have energy above a certain threshold. These photons have shorter wavelengths. In silicon, the threshold for electron-hole production is in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.