What Is Solar Energy?
Solar energy uses the sun's energy and light to provide heat, light, hot water, electricity and even cooling systems.
Solar Energy Technologies
Photovoltaic Systems
The panels convert sunlight to electricity. The electricity produced runs through an inverter that converts the current into electricity that can power anything from a toaster to a TV to an electric car.
Solar Hot Water
It uses solar panels, called collectors that fit on the roof of a house. What they do is they collect heat from the sun and use it to heat up water which is stored in a hot water cylinder.
Solar Electricity
Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics, or indirectly using concentrated solar power.
Passive Active Solar Heating and Daylight
Is one of several design approaches collectively called passive solar design.
Using solar energy to heat and light buildings
By constructing a building with large south-facing windows, the Sun’s energy can be captured during the day.
Active solar heating is another way to make use of the Sun’s radiant energy. An example of active solar is solar water heaters, they can be found on top of many buildings throughout the world.
How it’s done: Water slowly passes through a flat plate collector facing the Sun and as the water is heated it flows into a storage container to be used later
Examples:
Tromobe Wall or a south facing wall made of heat absorbing material and painted dark. During the day the wall will absorb the heat from the sun and the heat is radiated ingot he home once the sun goes down.
Hot Water Solar hot water systems use thermal collectors, raising its temperature.
Sunspace which is homes designed to take advantage of passive solar. They are like a greenhouse, these rooms feature a lot of windows and are situated to best take advantage of the sun’s rays. The greenhouse effect warms the air in a sunspace quickly if there is a lot of open space in the house then the air that is heated will circulate throughout the building.
Cost
Solar energy uses the sun's energy and light to provide heat, light, hot water, electricity and even cooling systems.
Solar Energy Technologies
Photovoltaic Systems
The panels convert sunlight to electricity. The electricity produced runs through an inverter that converts the current into electricity that can power anything from a toaster to a TV to an electric car.
Solar Hot Water
It uses solar panels, called collectors that fit on the roof of a house. What they do is they collect heat from the sun and use it to heat up water which is stored in a hot water cylinder.
Solar Electricity
Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics, or indirectly using concentrated solar power.
Passive Active Solar Heating and Daylight
Is one of several design approaches collectively called passive solar design.
Using solar energy to heat and light buildings
By constructing a building with large south-facing windows, the Sun’s energy can be captured during the day.
Active solar heating is another way to make use of the Sun’s radiant energy. An example of active solar is solar water heaters, they can be found on top of many buildings throughout the world.
How it’s done: Water slowly passes through a flat plate collector facing the Sun and as the water is heated it flows into a storage container to be used later
Examples:
Tromobe Wall or a south facing wall made of heat absorbing material and painted dark. During the day the wall will absorb the heat from the sun and the heat is radiated ingot he home once the sun goes down.
Hot Water Solar hot water systems use thermal collectors, raising its temperature.
Sunspace which is homes designed to take advantage of passive solar. They are like a greenhouse, these rooms feature a lot of windows and are situated to best take advantage of the sun’s rays. The greenhouse effect warms the air in a sunspace quickly if there is a lot of open space in the house then the air that is heated will circulate throughout the building.
Cost
- The costs vary on the design, installation, maintaining, and operating the system over the course of it’s “lifetime” which is normally 25 to 30 years. another thing that varies is how much sun you receive in the area that you live will determine how cost-efficient the system is for you. For example, an average American household uses 11,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, if one is expecting to harness half of that with the solar panels one can expect a 7,76 kilowatt (kW) peak power system to set back about $35,000 to $52,000.
- Wind Power - According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) a small wind-energy system is typically less expensive than its solar powered counterpart. Wind turbines don’t require much maintenance and operate automatically, they also can lower the electric bill by 50 to 90%. A well located wind turbine can pay for themselves within 15 years, or half their useful life. In order to install one, one must have a conditional-use-permit ( wind turbines require building-related permits because of their tall structure), zoning variance, or structural plan that was created by an engineer before beginning to work. The fees for permits and plot plans can cost anywhere from $400 to $1,600, on top of that, public notifications, hearing, and environmental-impact studies may cost another few hundred to several thousand dollars.