Few Great Reasons to Harness Solar Power

Simply put, “solar energy” is sun-derived energy. Our sun gives us a lot of energy in the form of light and heat. Sun worship has been around for a long time and is still a part of some cultures. Even the sun was seen as a God by the ancient Egyptians.

Overall, the respect was not misplaced. The sun is a plentiful and limitless source of energy, at least for the next few generations. There are many benefits to using the sun’s energy.

It costs nothing at all

As the sun rises each morning, solar energy passes through our atmosphere and gives us light and helps us give off heat. This has been going on for a very long time, but only recently have we started to use this abundant and nearly limitless source of power.

In the past, it was known that the Greeks and Egyptians could focus the sun’s rays to heat whatever they wanted.

It does not make any pollution

Solar energy is clean and free of pollutants, unlike other sources of energy like petroleum or organic fuels, which leave behind waste and often give off harmful gases when used to make energy.

Its highly reliable and stable

The sun has been burning for about 4.5 billion years, and it will probably keep burning for another 4 to 5 billion years. That’s a lot longer than our lives, and a lot longer than the next few generations. It comes out in the morning and goes away at night, giving light to a different part of the world.

The phrase “as sure as day” wasn’t made up for no reason. If the sun is shining, you can use its energy to either store it or use it differently ding on where you are on the planet.

Its truly Limitless

We can get an infinite amount of power from the sun. Reports say that the sun’s energy could power the whole United States of America for a year if it could be used every few minutes. If we could use the sun’s huge amount of energy, we could solve the world’s energy problems.

Ask Why not use, you will have no answer

Have you ever wondered why no one else came up with this idea before you? How come, when there is so much energy around, we can’t seem to use it well? Why does so much of the sun’s energy go to waste because no one uses it?

Most of the time, we don’t use this great source of power because the sunlight we do get is spread out so thinly across the earth that it can’t make a big enough difference if we try to use it.

To really use the power of the sun, we need to be able to move, focus, and store its energy. Even though this seems like a simple task, it isn’t. So far, we’ve only come up with three methods that work only partially.

Mirrors and the Reflection of a Parabola

The reflection method works by focusing the sun’s rays on a single point using a single mirror or a set of mirrors. Then, we use the heat energy that is created by concentrating the sun’s rays. A parabolic mirror, which looks like a dish antenna, can be used to catch and focus the sun’s rays.

It has no radiation or environmental hazard

This is what solar water heaters are all about. The water that is heated by the sun is kept in black pipes that are in between two layers of glass.

Solar energy panels

The more recent “solar cell” is made of treated silicon crystals that, when hit by the sun’s rays, knock electrons out of their orbits. This leaves a space that must be filled by electrons from other silicon crystals, creating an imbalance of electrons and a current that can be used right away or stored in a rechargeable battery.

What is stopping us from moving forward?

Even though the benefits of solar energy are clear, it is too bad that there are so few solar power plants in the world. Even with the technology we have now, cost and reliability are still big reasons why solar energy isn’t used more often.

Even, the most efficient solar cells that have been made so far cannot produce enough power to be commercially viable without taking up a huge amount of space. Also, using only solar cells isn’t possible yet because a cloudy day could cut down on the amount of electricity made, which would be terrible for people who only use solar cells.

On the plus side, ongoing research and development in solar energy is leading to solar cells that are much more efficient and only a small fraction of the size of existing cells, but produce a lot more power. Presently, they are still expensive, but one day the average person will be able to afford and use them.