Category Archives: All About Solar Energy

Solar Energy Risks To Health

All About Solar Energy,

Solar Energy Risks To HealthSolar energy is a potential source of free electricity and water heating. It offers the power to enjoy electrical power in remote areas of the world. It seems to offer health and safety along with power, but does it?

If you are planning to install solar, you might want to do it soon as the tax credits for solar are being phased out over the next few years.

Solar energy health risks are seldom mentioned. That may be partially due to the limited use of this source of energy. It may also be due to the lack of research in this area. Some have begun to study solar energy health risks, however, and if one researches long enough, a few estimates are available.

Thermal Solar Energy Health Risks

Solar energy health risks are inherent to the design and installation of most thermal energy systems. These are the systems designed to heat water and air for household use.

Solar water heaters complete three basic operations before delivering hot water to your faucet or your heating unit:

1. collect sunlight and convert it into heat energy.
2. circulate fluids that transfer the heat energy to a storage unit
3. store the hot water until you need it

The solar energy health risks with such a system usually occur in the storage units. Some units allow for the growth of allergenic molds and fungi.

If proper materials are used for the storage unit, however, these solar energy systems present few, if any, health risks. Their advantages are that they are far safer than most fossil fuels or nuclear power – they have no emissions and do not pollute the air.

PV Panel Solar Energy Health Risks

The solar energy health risks associated with photovoltaic (PV) panels occurs before the panels are put into use on the consumer’s home. PV panels are the panels used to collect solar energy from sunlight and convert it into usable electricity.

The manufacture of PV panels requires the use of toxic materials. Silicon dioxide is mined from sand or quartzite and reduced with heat to pure silicon. Materials released during refining are the main health risks. Several steps in forming the photovoltaic cells utilize toxic materials. These are sprayed on the cells, and can readily be inhaled.

It is estimated that solar energy health risks associated with producing PV panels per unit energy may be between 11 and 21 deaths per quadrillion joules of energy produced.

Solar energy health risks from PV panels are very slight once the panels are produced and installed on the consumer’s home. This type of solar energy is known for reliability and low maintenance. The home owner seldom needs to be involved in any repairs, and thereby cuts solar energy health risks.

Passive Solar Energy Health Risks

Passive solar energy provides safety and health. A new building that maximizes this technology can reduce energy costs by nearly one half. How?

1. Warming indoor air in a house through vertical, slanted windows facing the sun. The windows capture maximum solar energy from the sunlight.

2. Collecting solar energy in adobe or stone walls and floors, and then releasing it into the air as the temperature falls.

3. Collecting solar energy in a sun space, much like a greenhouse built on the sunny side of the home. This heat is sent into the home with proper ventilation.

4. Holding water in black roof tanks until needed, cutting the working time of the home’s hot water heater.

5. Using clerestories – rows of windows near roof peaks that catch sunlight and bounce it through the building. The sunlight reduces the need for electric lights.

In Summary

Solar energy technologies present few, if any, health risks for the end user. Their use can reduce the health risks presented by other energy sources, providing cleaner, safer, more cost effective energy.

Solar Power – Fun Facts

All About Solar Energy,

Solar PowerFun facts about solar power are popular at any age. People want serious information about solar power, but sometimes, even the serious can be expressed in fun facts.

Fun facts on solar power include things such as the fact that, in a single hour, enough sunlight reaches the earth’s surface to meet the entire world’s energy needs for a full year. Imagine! That information comes from the American Solar Energy Society.

Here are some more fun facts on solar power.

12 Fun Facts on Solar Power

* As early as 1921, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded for experiments with solar power and photovoltaics. It was awarded to Albert Einstein.

* When silicon is taken from just one ton of sand, and used in photovoltaic solar power panels, that silicon can produce as much electricity as 500,000 tons of burning coal.

* In the U.S., there are more than 10,000 homes that get their energy entirely from solar power.

* Nearly 200 years ago, a British astronomer by the name of John Herschel cooked food with solar power during an journey to Africa.

* California opened its first large solar power plant in 1982.

* Solar power can cut water bills by more than 50 percent each year in a home where a solar model replaces the electric water heater.

* The price of photovoltaic (PV) solar power panels has dropped 200 percent over the last 30 years, according to the Department of Energy. Owners now pay between 10 and 40 cents per kilowatt-hour.

* A study by the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) showed that solar power conditions were close to perfect (99 percent) in San Francisco on June 14th, 2000. On that day, 100,000 customers in that area lost power. Solar power could have provided all they needed.

* Another USDOE study showed that the roofs of California’s city and county buildings, if covered with solar PV panels, could generate 200 megawatts of clean electricity! Cover California’s school roofs with solar power panels, and you add 1,500 megawatts more to the state’s peak power supply.
* In California, covering every available commercial and industrial roof with solar power panels could generate all of the electricity needed in that state during the daytime.

* Germany is making the best use of solar power, even though its climate includes many cloudy days.

* It takes only about 8 minutes for solar energy to travel from the sun to the earth.

Suggestion for school teachers: Have a contest to see which group of students can unearth the most fun facts on solar power.

Solar Energy; The Real Facts

All About Solar Energy,

Solar EnergyMost power plants in the United States and all over world are using fossil fuels to operate and generate electricity. Fossil fuel has been used as an energy source as long as man has learned to generate power. Fossil fuel has been around for ages and when man started using this energy sources no one though about the consequences. Fossil fuels will run out and there will be a shortage of it in near future. This shortage in fossil fuel will have its affect on our daily live and various industries. Today we see some of these affects already, fossil fuel prizes are raising and electricity is becoming more expensive. Although fossil fuels are more scares, to need for fossil fuels will still be here and will not decrease in near future. To solve this shortage of fossil fuels we will need to look for other possibilities for our energy demand.

“Green Hydrogen production” is so called because it uses excess renewable energy and water (in basic terms using electricity to split the water into Hydrogen and Oxygen). This “Green Hydrogen” can be stored in tanks, effectively a reservoir for the energy captured by solar PV panels or wind turbines (or wave, geothermal or tidal power for that matter).

The tanks of “Green Hydrogen” can then be stored and later fed into a Hydrogen fuel cell charging system that converts the hydrogen into electricity and heat. This clean electricity generation can then be used wherever it’s needed, be that a Motorsport event like the Goodwood Future Lab, domestic homes, caravan parks or even for portable electric car charging stations.

The hydrogen fuel cell technology is far more efficient than even the best combustion engine, and even the waste heat can be put to use.

Fortunately, alternative energy sources are growing in interest. For instance, locations with high water falls are experimenting on building a hydro-electric power plant, which turns out to be successful. Other locations with high wind speed make use of a power wind mills that can convert wind power into electricity. Also thermal and tidal powers are good alternatives.

Solar energy is also one of the energy sources that is gaining in interest. Solar energy has steadily been growing. Today solar energy is widely used in the US and the advantages are numerous. Our solar energy source, the sun, its life span is estimated to be another 4.5 billion years. It is fair to say that this energy source is almost endless.

Rate of Energy from the Sun

The sun’s radiation reaches a certain unit of area in space in the region of the Earth’s orbit and is estimated to be at 1,400 watts per square meter. Out of this, photovoltaic cells (also known as solar cells) can capture 19 to 56 watts per square meter (for 15% efficiency) or an equivalent of 0.45 to 1.35 kilowatt per hour (kWh) in an annual day and night average.

Therefore, if there would be more area that will be covered by several solar panels, these panels can produce slightly more energy in the form of electricity than what is currently available from oil, gas, and other sources of energy combined (assuming 8% solar cell efficiency).

Conversion of Solar Energy

There are two ways of conversion of solar energy.

First is the direct solar energy which involves only one conversion into a usable form.

For instance:

• Sunlight hits the solar cell, converting it into electricity.

• Sunlight hits the absorber surface of a solar thermal collector, converting into thermal energy which can be used to heat homes during cold season.

The second is the indirect solar energy which involves more than one conversion to reach a usable form.

For instance:

• Plants use photosynthesis to transform solar energy to chemical energy, which can be burned later as fuel to generate electricity (also known as bio-fuel technology).

• Hydroelectric dams and wind turbines are indirectly supplied by solar energy through its interaction with the Earth’s atmosphere.

Pros and Cons of Solar Energy

Just like any other types of energy resources, solar energy has its ins and outs.

Pros:

• Pollution-free.

• Solar facilities can be run with little extra input or maintenance.

• It is abundant. As mentioned earlier, most of the inhabited areas here on Earth can be reached by sunlight.

Cons:

• Although it is abundant, non-tropical locations can receive little sunlight. Thus, power that will be produced in these locations is a minimum.

• Only during daytime thus not available during night time.

• Photovoltaic cell technologies generate direct current (DC) power which needs to be converted to alternating current (AC) power used in distribution grids.

Once massive development of the use of solar energy is materialized, expect that every household or industry in the world will now be powered by solar energy. It is not just a dream, it will be a dream come true.

An Untapped Source Of Eternal Energy: What Is Solar Energy?

All About Solar Energy,

Solar EnergyThe most exact definition of Solar Energy is plainly – “the energy from the sun”. It is a term used to classify the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun and intercepted by the Earth. It is the world’s most permanent and reliable source of energy and the most copious.

The uses of solar energy on earth include solar heating for buildings, solar heat for manufacturing or industry and electricity production. So what is solar energy? How does it affect us?

Solar energy is responsible for weather systems and ocean currents. It provides light, heat, and energy to all living things on Earth. It has many uses. It supplies electricity; it can be used to power cars.

 

 

Solar energy is also used as a power for satellites in space and in space shuttles. It could also power boats, generators during emergencies, toys, and even security systems.

The amount of solar energy that the earth receives is about 770 trillion kilowatts (kW), an amount 5,000 times bigger than the sum of all other energy, may it be terrestrial nuclear energy, geothermal energy or gravitational energy.

There are two types of solar energy.

1. Thermal Energy

2. Electric Energy

What is the difference between the two types energy?

Thermal energy is kinetic energy. It is everywhere. It makes the earth hot and even heats up our homes. It helps us to dry our clothes. It is used as well to heat up water for household use or even pools. That is why thermal energy is called the heat energy because it is stored in the center of the earth as well.

Electric energy is widely known to us as the electricity. It is an essential part of nature and it is one of our most widely used forms of energy. This uses sunlight to power ordinary electrical equipment, such as household appliances, computers, and lighting.

Most applications of solar energy depend on systems including collectors, storage and controls. Storage is needed for a reason that solar energy is only available at daylight hours, but the demand for energy is needed both day and night. Controls are used to guarantee that the storage system works safely and efficiently.

The accessibility of solar energy is determined by three factors:

• The location is usually measured by latitude, longitude and altitude.

• The time.

• The weather.

Aside from knowing that solar energy is a free energy still, you have to realize that it also has advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages are:

• Solar energy is almost limitless; it will be available for as long as there are still humans in the earth.

• It is abundant. You will not worry of running out of it.

• It could provide more power than all known fossil fuel reserves.

• Solar energy is available during the day when electricity usage is really important.

• It is the most inexhaustible, renewable source of energy known to man.

• Solar energy can be absorbed, reflected, transmitted, and insulated.

• It can be collected and stored in batteries.

The disadvantages are:

• It is not suitable in cloudy areas.

• It is not available at night time.

• And it may require large land areas.

As a reminder, solar energy levels are lesser the farther north the site. Considering geography, season is an important determinant of solar energy levels because the Sun’s position and the weather vary greatly from summer to winter.