Fascinating Solar Power Science Fun Facts
| Here is a collection of remarkable solar power fun facts. People have used the sun as a heat resource for thousands of years. It is only with the progress in technology that have taken place in recent years that have enabled us to finally harness this power. Families in ancient Greece built their homes to get the most sunlight during the cold winter months. The ancient Greeks believed that the sun was the god Helios and he drove his chariot round the earth towards the sky in the morning and in the evening back again. The invention of the photovoltaic effect is credited to the French physicist Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel in 1839. In 1921 the Nobel Peace Prize was presented to Albert Einstein for experiments with solar power and photovoltaics. Way back in 1955 The American Solar Energy Society held its first meeting in Phoenix and attracted the first Russian scientist to the US after the second World War. There is film footage presenting early photovoltaics which was developed for NASA, solar cookers and solar heating panels. The first solar flight occurred in 1974 in California by an unmanned plane which was developed by two brothers Roland and Bob Boucher. In 1975 the earliest solar boat was constructed in England and in 1996 Kenichi Horie from Japan made the first solar powered crossing of the Pacific Ocean in a catamaran. The earliest World Solar Challenge took place in 1987. This is the solar-powered car contest covering 3021 km through the Australian outback from Darwin to Adelaide. Did you know that it is possible to boost any solar panel productivity by 75% simply by positioning a mirror that is roughly twice the size of the panel on the ground in front of the panel? PV cells do not need direct sunlight to work - you may still generate some electric power on a cloudy day. Solar electricity is an eco-friendly, renewable energy and does not release any harmful carbon dioxide or other pollutants. An average home PV system can save about 1200kg of CO2 per year which is around 30 tonnes over a lifetime. You can store the electricity that a solar power system generates in batteries for a cloudy day. You may sell any excess electricity that you produce using your solar power back to the grid and make a little bit of money. It takes only about eight minutes for solar energy to travel from the sun to the the earth. About 30% of the radiation that we receive from the sun at the upper atmosphere is reflected back up into space. The rest is absorbed by the clouds, oceans and also land masses on Earth. Yet still even in these conditions, the energy that our planet gets from just a single hour of sun exposure is equal to the amount of energy that humans use within an entire year. Large scale solar projects that are being developed world wide show that sun powered clean energy technology are both attainable and lucrative. Solar power plants produce Megawatts (MW) with one MW being enough power to supply 1000 homes. One of the largest solar power projects that the world has ever seen is the "Desertec" program to use the uninhabitable North African desert for a power grid of concentrated thermal electrical power stations which could supply Europe with just about all of its power needs by the year 2050. So much progress in such a short period of time let us see exactly where solar electricity will go from here. Solar Power Companies - Watch Out For The Global Energy Market Leaders These days there are thousands of solar power companies that are able to supply solar power equipment to homeowners who want to save money on their energy costs. Insights Into Solar Power Costs There are 2 main factors that govern solar power cost and these are quite simply, the production cost of the solar panels and the installation cost of the solar system in your home. Foldable Solar Panel - Discover A Few Of The Benefits When Using This Electric Generator And The Right Way To Use It Learn where to buy a good foldable solar panel for sale at an inexpensive price and start lowering your electricity now. Solar Energy Powered Veranda String Lights - Affordable Combination With Your Yard Deck Lighting Effects Solar String lights are the most common patio lights, they are similar to Christmas tree lighting with the exception of a plug. Other times you see them wrapped around a tree trunk, hung across a veranda or utilized in some form of outdoor garden decorations. How Christmas Solar Garden Lights Can Keep Your House Safe And Secure Christmas solar lights come on when night falls. They come on all by themselves. You do not need to be in the house for this to happen. Why does this make your house safer? Use Small Solar Panels For Small Scale Alternative Energy Projects In Your Home There has never been a better time to build a small solar panel, make a move to low carbon living and begin to save money on your electricity bills. The Actual Amazing Benefits And Drawbacks Involving Solar Powered Energy Although solar energy is known to be very environmentally friendly, it also has some disadvantages. Let's discuss some advantages and disadvantages of solar energy. Sustainable Energy In The Sea: Hot Sea Water Found On The Surface Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) was conceived by the French engineer Jacques D'Arsonval in 1881. However, at the time of this writing the Natural Energy Laboratory from Hawaii was the home to the only operating experimental OTEC plant on the face of the earth. |