Go Greener Tips

One of the most successful energy technologies used today is solar energy created by photovoltaic solar-cells. PV-based solar energy is what most people refer to when discussing solar power mainly because it is the most commonly marketed. While there are two separate operable solar cell types, photovoltaic and thin-film solar cells, the thin film choice is far less efficient and is not used as often.

PV solar cells take the direct approach by converting sunshine into electricity without any detours. Crystalline silicon solar cells create different types of reactions from the sun’s rays Either reflected, being absorbed or passing through without any commitment, only the absorbed photons from the sun count. Only 20% of the available source is ever captured, the same place it was ten years ago. In comparison, a fossil fuel generator converts at 28%. The record held by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is 40.8% in August 2008. Performance is at the mercy of climate and environmental conditions.

Progressing to the point where a larger percentage of solar energy is captured and turned into energy is the direction that many of our scientists are moving in.

Concentrating solar power (CSP) is a term that many may not yet be familiar with. Using an optical lens, the sun’s heat is amplified, high temperatures are reached and water is turned into steam that can be used to power a turbine and generate electricity.

Concentrating solar power may be one of the best ideas yet and has already been tried out on a large commercial scale. The overall principal of CSP has more variables than the PV-based solar system because the power generated can be stored to meet spikes in demand and can be used in relation to other types of fuels because of the ability to share the steam turbines. There are two other different kinds of CSPs now being tested and monitored for use in large utility operations, parabolic-trough systems and dish-shaped receivers.

5-10 acres of land are demanded for each megawatt of electric capacity in the parabolic-trough system that draws the sun’s energy through long curved mirrors. As the mirrors tilt toward the sun, attached pipes carry the boiling oil to water in a conventional steam generator. But these cannot be built everywhere. Flat, dry areas work best for this solar type concept.

The dish system resembles a large TV satellite dish and tracks the sun the same way a dish will track a TV signal to a receiver. But instead of finding a signal, this dish converts heat into mechanical energy, turning a turbine. Right now there is an experimental dish set up in New Mexico that is rating the amount of energy provided.

New ideas and scientific principals are being discovered and tested every day that use the resource of the sun as a base. Practical solutions together with existing methods will continue to advance our goal of independent energy means, hopefully sooner than later.

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