Solar Energy: The Future Of The Future

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Energy is one of the most important components of economic infrastructure. It is the basic input required to sustain economic growth. In modern times, there has been an improvement in lifestyle since a better life can be translated into faster transport, faster communication and faster manufacturing processes. Considering different nations all over the world, there is direct relation between the level of economic development and per capita energy consumption. At present, this parameter for India is 300, for UK is 15 times more while for USA, it is about 30 times more. This simply proves that electricity as the most popular and indispensable form of energy be it in the thermal form, mechanical form, for lighting purposes or for transportation …show more content…

Their main features are provided, together with an insight into their common scale and real applications. 1.1 SOLAR ENERGY Solar energy is one of the renewable energy sources that are highly sought after because of its applications and also as of the cleanest forms of energy. Solar energy applications are constantly increasing in the last few years, and they are considered perhaps the most promising that can significantly contribute to the total electricity generation. Solar Photovoltaic cells (PV) and the concentrated solar power (CSP) technology are the two main technologies out there when it comes to solar energy applications. These two are discussed below. 1.1.1 Solar Photovoltaic Technology Photovoltaic cells directly convert solar energy into electrical energy through a chemical action taking place in solar cells. They act on the principle of photo-voltaic effect, which develops an emf on absorption of ionizing radiation from sun. It is the most popular technology when it comes to converting solar energy to electric energy. Because of its design, it can even be installed on building roofs making it very popular among …show more content…

It has served humankind well for many centuries by propelling ships and driving wind turbines to grind grain and pump water. Denmark was the first country to use wind for generation of electricity. The Danes were using a 23-m diameter wind turbine in 1890 to generate electricity. By 1910, several hundred units with capacities of 5 to 25 kW were in operation in Denmark (Johnson, 1985). By about 1925, commercial wind-electric plants using two and three-bladed propellers appeared on the American market. The most common brands were Wincharger (200 to 1200 W) and Jacobs (1.5 to 3 kW). These were used on farms to charge storage batteries which were then used to operate radios, lights, and small appliances with voltage ratings of 12, 32, or 110 volts. A good selection of 32-VDC appliances was developed by the industry to meet this demand. After World War II, we entered the era of cheap oil imported from the Middle East. Interest in wind energy died and companies making small turbines folded. The oil embargo of 1973 served as a wakeup call, and oil-importing nations around the world started looking at wind again. The two most important countries in wind power development since then have been the U.S. and Denmark though the recent world leader of wind farms is China who has been progressing rapidly in the last few years with a large wind

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