SUMMARY: SOLAR

Solar Power is power obtained by harnessing the energy of the sun's rays. (google) It is classified as a natural source because the sun cannot be artificially made by man. Solar power plants were first developed in the 1980’s. By using photovoltaic or using concentrated solar power we can convert the light from the sun into electricity. “Photovoltaic convert light into electric current using the photoelectric effect.” “Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam.”

Because solar energy requires little to no maintenance and in the long run cost effective, solar power is becoming one of the most popular source of power being used from calculators to running a car or a whole building.

Its current use are pumping water into remote areas, power TV and Radio repeater stations, power lighthouses, heat residential homes, and increasingly being used to power public transportation vehicles, and power small electronics such as watches.

The availability of solar power is greater than the amount of energy we use from fossil each year. Even though it is more available, it costs about 5-10 times more expensive than burning coal. The sustainability of using solar power is so great that “solar energy radiating the earth in one hour is greater than the world’s total energy consumption in an entire year.”

There are many advantages of using solar power, but there are also disadvantages.

Advantages

• Free
• NO Pollution
• Can power remote areas, cuts the cost of extending the electricity power grid
• Can power low power consuming gadgets
• Oil reserves estimated to last another 30-40 years. Solar energy is infinite

Disadvantages

•  Can only be harnessed in daylight; sunny
• Prices of solar panels/cells/collectors are high (falling rapidly)
• Unreliable in cloudy countries such as the UK
• Large areas are needed to capture sunlight
• Batteries that are charged using solar power are large, heavy, and needs storage space.

By using Solar Power we can dramatically decrease the amount of Carbon Dioxide that is being emitted in the air, which is one of the main causes of global warming.

Should we be using Solar Power more than we are now??

We have the technology, but it would come with a price.

How can we lower the cost of using solar power?

Better technologies, better solar cell material, lower production cost with higher production capacity.

http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/01997/slrpwrav.html