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It is extremely valuable for everybody to understand some standard solar energy facts to ensure that they may truly appreciate the total potential and various fields of applications for this abundant energy resource. Solar power is the most environmentally friendly and most desirable of all of the alternative energy resources. Currently annual global energy usage is in the range of roughly 550 exajoules (523 Quadrillion BTUs) per year. Every single year the planet’s atmosphere, oceans, and land masses receive around 3,850,000 exajoules of energy from the sun’s rays. When this is taken into account most people should be able to start to comprehend precisely why the solar power industry is feverishly attempting to refine approaches to collect solar power. The Desertec foundation projects the fact that covering only 1% of desert areas around the globe with solar PV panels could actually power up the whole world.

Below is a short overview of historical solar energy facts:

- The use of solar energy by humans isn’t new; many ancient societies have made use of it in one manner or another. – Leonardo da Vinci was actually among the 1st modern thinkers to predict industrial practices of solar energy to heat water. – The French scientist Edmond Becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect during experiments with electrolytic cells in 1839. – In 1894, Clarence Kemp, an inventor filed and obtained a patent for the design of the world’s 1st solar water heating unit. – The world’s 1st solar thermal power plant was designed by Frank Shuman in 1913.The station which was constructed in Egypt used parabolic trough-shaped mirrors to heat water within boilers to run a 65 horsepower engine. The engine pumped nearly 6,000 gallons of water per minute from the Nile River to nearby crops. – The first modern day photovoltaic (PV) cell was developed at Bell Laboratories in 1954.

Here are a number of additional technical solar energy facts:

- Solar systems are one of two types, active and passive. Active solar power devices make use of photovoltaic cells and passive systems are thermal based. – Solar PV systems are presently the most commonplace energy transformation devices, which use solar cells in modules to convert sunlight into electricity. – Thermal based solar systems sometimes incorporate molten salts to keep solar energy at an elevated temperature because of their high specific heat energy qualities. – The International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that by the year 2060 close to 33% of the world’s energy demands are going to be created by using solar power devices such as solar PV panels, water heaters and also solar electrical power stations. – The Nokia 1610 plus was actually the 1st commercially made solar powered cell phone introduced by the Finnish company in 1997.

The following list is of important solar installations throughout the planet:

- Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) is actually a collection of nine solar power stations situated in the Mojave Desert in California. SEGS carries the distinction of being the earth’s biggest solar power station having a bundled generation capacity of about 354 megawatts. – Ordinarily sizeable solar power facilities make use of photovoltaic panels for electricity production, simply because they are presently much more cost effective when utilized on a sizeable scale. The planet’s largest photovoltaic power plant is found in Sarnia, Canada, which delivers a production potential of 97 megawatts. – The Andasol plant in Spain having an electrical energy output of 250 megawatts is the 2nd biggest solar power plant in the world. – The world’s highest capacity Scheffler reflector system situated in Rajasthan, India is capable of cooking up to 35,000 meals a day. – The world’s largest thin-film photovoltaic power system “Waldpolenz Solar Park” is located in Germany. – Topaz Solar Farm, a 550-megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant which is currently being built, will be one of the largest facilities following completion.

Solar energy facts about solar powered flight:

- The Astro Flight – Sunrise, an unmanned air vehicle developed in 1975 was actually the 1st solar powered aircraft. – The Gossamer Penguin, developed in 1980, was the 1st aircraft exclusively powered by solar cells that was able to carry a human being. – Helios, an unmanned air vehicle, powered in part by solar panels owns the record for achieving the highest altitude of 96,863 ft, as well as a world record for constant horizontal flight by a winged aircraft. – Vanguard 1, a U.S. satellite launched in 1958 was the world’s 1st solar powered satellite. Incredibly the satellite still orbits and it celebrated its 50th birthday in 2008. – IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) is the first spacecraft to properly display solar-sail technology in space. The Japanese launched the spacecraft in 2010 on an H-IIA rocket.

Together with the continued volatility of oil prices along with the fact that the typical individual has become more mindful of their environment, there is an increased drive for the advancement of alternative energy. This increased motivation for clean energy will assist to reduce the cost of solar panels together with other types of alternative energy options. The need for businesses to be green has brought about large scale advertising strategies from energy giants like BP and General Electric, highlighting their ventures in renewable sources of energy. These energy giants aren’t the only ones buying into sustainable energy, the escalating price for natural gas, coal, and oil have forced energy prices higher and thus made “eco-friendly” energy options including solar power, an attainable economic solution for many people. Demand with regard to solar energy has grown at 30 percent yearly over the previous 15 years. In 2009, photovoltaic solar panel installations grew by 20%, compared to 2008, with in excess of 7.3GW of photovoltaic solar installations worldwide. Gains in 2009 for the PV solar panel sector also increased, hitting $38.5 billion.

The selling point for solar electrical power is plain and simple. It’s a virtually infinite resource. It is 100% free of greenhouse gas emissions, commonly considered to be a factor in worldwide climatic change. In first world countries which make use of a sizeable quantity of air conditioners, it produces additional electricity just whenever you have to have it– at instances of top electrical energy consumption. Once they are set up, solar systems can easily perform for 30 or more years with minimal maintenance or management. Of course, solar comes with some restraints, most notably the poor efficiency of photovoltaic solar modules, that is additionally lowered because of the requirement to transform DC from solar power cells to AC current. Furthermore, solar hinges on the weather conditions and also is an intermittent energy source, necessitating battery storage or additional systems to kick in during times of weak power generation. As a whole the positive solar energy facts considerably outweigh the undesirable. These positive facts assist to demonstrate this vital change in the direction of more predominant use of solar power, which in turn will certainly offer a prosperous and healthier planet for generations to come.

Everyday an increasing number of people are choosing to utilize solar energy for some or all of their power demands. Would you like more information related to alternative energy sources or additional facts about solar energy. Simply click to check out how little the cost of solar panels might turn out to be for you.

This article is going to go over a number of the most intriguing solar energy facts. Solar power is generally among the most environmentally sound and desirable sources of energy nowadays. Let us start off with the most obvious. Solar power has actually been in existence since the dawn of time. It has been utilized by microbial, plant, and animal life as the primary energy supply. Plants, employing photosynthesis, produce most of the food in the world and are the base of the food chain. Moreover the fossil fuels we depend on so greatly today are created from plants and animals that existed a long time ago. Just in recent times have human beings had the capacity to capture solar energy in a form that may be used at any time of day or night, and in any weather, stored and transferred.

Every year, the earth’s atmosphere receives 3.85 million exajoules of energy from our sun. This most likely doesn’t mean much to you, however in comparison, the overall consumption of electric power by all people today on the planet is just 56.7 exajoules per year. This indicates that in a matter of a few hours, our planet absorbs more energy from the sun than people today use during an entire year! Solar energy is an extremely clean source of power simply because, unlike fossil fuels, making use of this kind of energy source will not release carbon dioxide or various other dangerous toxins into the atmosphere. Also solar energy is actually collected by just about every form of life. You have most likely never observed a reptile collect wood to make a fire, but you probably have experienced one lying on a rock in order to absorb solar energy. Solar power is probably the most environmentally sound energy option obtainable today.

Chances are you may be concerned about just what solar power is able to do for our environment. Each year, humans consume 467 exajoules of energy by using a few main power sources: burning coal, gasoline, and oil, combined with ‘green’ sources like wind, solar, and hydro energy. However, if we could possibly collect just 10% of the sun’s energy, we would have the capacity to replace all of the fossil fuel sources and still have adequate room for growth. Unquestionably solar energy facts such as this illustrate how much better solar energy is for the environment and how tremendous the potential is for solar energy growth.

Considering that you have looked over a few of the most impressive solar energy facts and now have an understanding as to what solar energy can potentially do for the earth, you’d almost certainly want to find out exactly what solar energy is. Basically, solar energy is the heat and light energy produced by the sun. Each day the sun produces massive quantities of energy into our solar system. Approximately 30% of the sun’s energy that reaches the earth is generally deflected by the atmosphere, and an additional 20% is generally absorbed into the atmosphere. On the other hand, almost 50% of the energy gets to the earth’s surface, where it fuels photosynthesis in plants, sustains hot tropical and warm temperate climates, maintains the temperature of the ocean, and generally speaking preserves life as we know it. Every bit of this is achieved without causing any kind of pollution or destruction of natural resources.

A lot of men and women do not understand how solar energy functions on the technical level, and so they question what solar energy is going to add to their homes, businesses, and communities. During the last three decades, solar energy technology has developed at an accelerated rate. Solar energy is gathered at a number of big power plants in the U.S., Spain, Australia, and in other nations, where it provides power directly to the power grid. This indicates that many properties across the globe currently get electrical energy produced by the sun. One of several lesser known solar energy facts is that solar power may also be employed on a significantly smaller scale. Solar panels located on the roofs homes and businesses can generate a percentage (or even all) of the power these buildings need. On a still smaller scale, solar panel systems are employed in India and Indonesia to disinfect water, and small solar burners and ovens are currently utilized to cook food in other regions of the globe. Solar power may possibly be employed to fuel just about any sort of process you can visualize, from large-scale electricity generation for cities to simply boiling an individual pot of water.

What makes pretty much all of these various uses possible is the creation of solar energy systems. You’ll notice two basic types of solar energy technology presently utilized at this time: solar thermal energy (STE) and photovoltaic (PV) energy. Solar thermal collectors merely harness the heat or thermal energy generated by the sun. This thermal energy is normally used to heat water which in turn can easily be stored and used for regular domestic requirements or piped to a household heating system. STE is able to be stored by heating or energizing a thermal mass that is designed to continue to radiate heat even when the sun is not shining. Solar thermal collectors are actually significantly more efficient compared to photovoltaic collectors however energy storage is without question somewhat more cumbersome. Photovoltaic solar panel systems make electricity whenever they are exposed to sunlight. The electric current may be utilized right away or stored by using batteries for later use. This is one of the most important solar energy facts whenever you are working with PV energy systems. Battery storage is extremely valuable since it means it is feasible to store solar power for use through the night or during cloudy or rainy periods.

Solar energy is a very important alternative power source which will certainly make it possible to protect our environment. It will also help to greatly reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. You might be curious about just how large of a cost it could be for you to switch to solar power? Solar power is generally not as expensive as people think. A complete solar power system for a home can cost the homeowner more than $30,000, however this does not really mean you’ll pay that whole amount. For starters, you will discover plenty of kinds of incentive opportunities, such as tax credits, rebates and grants, which often can help to reduce the price of investing in solar panel systems by 30% or more. One other route you may want to look at is a smaller sized solar energy system that just supplements your home energy needs. A small system will certainly cost considerably less, while still cutting down your current power bills and it will definitely make your home much more environmentally sound. These days the majority of electrical power is still generated using fossil fuels. So cutting down your use of electrical energy from your local power company by 50% is a considerable measure towards developing a sustainable power grid.

In this article, we’ve tried to supply you with an assortment of important and thought provoking solar energy facts. While you consider these facts, also consider the amount of importance you place on the quality of the natural environment and on humanity’s obligation to help maintain it. No matter if fossil fuels do not run out in the next 50 years, it’s likely that their prolonged use as our main energy resource is likely to cause environmental havoc. Investing in solar energy now will probably not instantaneously help you save money, however your investment can provide a more desirable future for all of us under the sun.

Daily more and more people are choosing to use solar energy for some or all of their power needs. Are you searching for more information about alternative energy sources or additional solar energy facts? Click to check out how minimal the cost of solar panels could be for you.