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How Does Solar Energy Work ? Find out about the clean and abundant source of solar energy.How does solar energy work?
Some may consider solar energy a mystery. If you’ve ever used a solar powered calculator, you’ve used solar power. There are many household items like calculators and outside lighting in use on a massive scale…and they all use solar energy.
With concerns about traditional fossil fuel sources of power, researchers have turned to alternative sources of power. Solar power is at the top of potential alternative power sources for the masses. While there is much discussion about implementing the use of solar power, many people still have the question, of how solar energy works.
How does solar energy work ? Find out in this video:
Simply put solar energy works by converting sunlight into electricity. Solar systems use solar panels
to collect the sun’s rays and convert that power to electricity. PV or photovoltaic
solar energy works suing these solar panels.
There are many solar cells in a panel. When a photon of light strikes a molecule within the cell, an electron is knocked free. An electrical field causes the free electron to migrate to one side of the ceil. The accumulated effect of millions of the interaction generates electricity. Solar panels can be connected to provide desired levels of power.
Utility companies use photovoltaic systems to generate energy. The solar panels generate direct current electricity from the sun. An inverter then changes the direct current into alternating current (AC) which can be used by our in-house electrical systems.
Thermal solar works and provides heat for water or air. Thermal solar systems are used for residential and commercial use. Thermal collectors collect and store heat from the sun. In these collectors, the water, or air, whichever is being heated is circulated through a network of channels located in the collector. This air or water gets warm as it goes through these channels. Controllers monitor the temperature to stop circulation when the water or air is hot enough or there is no thermal energy available.
Many homeowners who have chosen to pursue solar energy are now using stand alone photovoltaic systems. A stand alone photovoltaic system consists of solar panels, batteries, and a charge controller. The solar panels generate DC (direct current electricity that charges the storage batteries. A charge controller keeps the batteries from being over charged. The batteries store the energy until it is needed. An inverter is added to convert the DC in to AC so our standard electrical system can use it.
No matter what type of solar energy system you are considering there are definite advantages to using solar power.
Do your homework and choose your system and your installer carefully. Then after your initial investment is recouped, you are using “free” energy from the sun. What could be better?
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