| A lot of financial news is being made about solar | | | | and up to 40% efficiency for rare earth Gallium |
| power and solar power generation. What is solar | | | | Arsenide cells. Most commercial photovoltaic systems |
| power, and how does it affect you? | | | | use the lower efficiency silicon wafer technology, |
| First, all energy we use in the world, other than | | | | because the amount of time it would take the higher |
| nuclear, is ultimately derived from solar power. Fossil | | | | efficiency cells to pay back their initial construction |
| fuels are solar power that's been converted to | | | | and emplacement costs is prohibitive when compared |
| carbon rich compounds over the course of millennia. | | | | to coal fired plants. |
| However, solar power as it's currently described, | | | | For solar power in the home, most systems are solar |
| whether as solar power for the home, or solar | | | | thermal. You run water tanks through a thick south |
| power as alternative electrical generation capacity, | | | | facing wall that's painted a dark color; the water is |
| isn't using fossil fuels, it's using the energy of the Sun | | | | heated by the solar energy that's absorbed, and then |
| directly. | | | | circulated into a holding tank in the basement. In |
| Solar energy (the solar constant at the surface of | | | | some plans, this hot water is used for bathing and |
| the Earth) is about 164 watts per square meter. Or, | | | | domestic uses. More innovative schemes run the hot |
| put another way, over the average surface area of | | | | water through radiators, or pipes in the floor, where |
| the earth, each square yard of your front yard | | | | it warms the house during the night. Photovoltaic |
| receives enough energy to run two and three | | | | generators can take the edge off of an electrical bill, |
| quarters of a 60 watt incandescent bulb (or about 12 | | | | but because of the expense and the low efficiency, |
| compact fluorescent bulbs or over 20 LED bulbs). | | | | generally aren't enough to make a house energy |
| It seems downright wasteful to not harness that | | | | independent throughout the year. |
| energy that's coming down from space for free. | | | | If you're seriously considering how solar power works |
| There are two ways that solar power works: Solar | | | | and what it can do for you, talk to your utility |
| thermal systems (where the energy of the sun is | | | | company. Most utility companies, knowing what solar |
| used to heat up a working fluid, which has its energy | | | | power is, will give you credits to install solar systems |
| released later) and photovoltaic systems (which work | | | | in your home, and will give you credit for electricity |
| from the photo-electric effect. Believe it or not, | | | | you generate and sell back to the grid. |
| Albert Einstein's Nobel Prize comes from the | | | | As to the question What Is Solar Power? It's |
| photo-electric effect, not the Theory of Relativity). | | | | something we've been using, and will continue to use |
| Photovoltaic power systems generate electricity, at | | | | for millennia to come. |
| about 16% efficiency for silicon wafer based cells, | | | | |