The sun is the original source of almost all the energy used on earth. The earth receives staggering amounts of energy from the sun. As much energy falls on the planet each hour as the total human population uses in a whole year. Just by using solar PV power, we can offset more than 70% of our total electricity consumption, for entire earth.
How solar works:
Solar panels are made from photovoltaic cells or PV for short. Simply broken-down, photo means light and voltaic relates to the production of electricity. Photovoltaic technology enables the creation of electricity using light. PV cells have at least two layers of semiconductors – one that’s positively charged and one that’s negatively charged.
When the light shines on the semiconductor, the electric field across the junction between these two layers causes electricity to flow. The greater the intensity of light, the greater the flow of electricity.
There are many sorts of PV panels including PV tiles which replaced normal tiles and simplify the install. They can be installed on for domestic house easily and work very simply – any south facing roof is suitable. The light that hits the panels is converted into clean electricity. There are no moving parts so this is a silent operation.
The electricity generated by the panels is direct current by installing an inverter, its converted to alternating current so it’s in sync with the mains electricity in can be used normally. The clean electricity is then fed into the mains by the fuse board. Using meters the amounts of electricity generated and used can be recorded and any spare electricity is sold back to the electricity supplier.
The amount of energy available from the sun differs depending on your location. For example, Edinburg receives eight hundred kilowatt hours per square meter. In London it’s one thousand and Madrid one thousand five hundred. Although the UK is considered to have a wet and cloudy climate eight hundred kilowatts hours per square meter is enough energy to power and energy-efficient home. You would need just ten square meters of PV to provide enough electricity to power such a home entirely from solar energy.
Solar photovoltaic are simple and practical way of powering in buildings with clean energy. We believe a sustainable future is within our reach in this generation.
Why is solar energy not being used to its full potential?
Main reason why solar still has a very small adoption rate, is because of of cost of solar solar panels, and total installation cost of solar PV system, which right now is about $7.50 / watt installed, including installation labor, cost of solar panels, DC / AC inverter, wiring, mounting hardware, and other miscellaneous costs associated with solar PV system.
Even though solar panel prices have been going down steadily, and efficiency of solar panels has been going up, solar energy will not become wide-spread until selling price of solar PV panels goes to $1 per watt or less. The payback period for a typical residential solar PV system is too long at current prices, and even with government incentives, many people are waiting on the sidelines, before jumping into the whole solar game.
Bright side of current solar PV market
On the positive side, prices of solar panels will keep going down, and new thin film solar PV panel technologies that are being developed right now, or are in production already are looking to break that that $1 / watt barrier on a massive scale.
Also as more and more solar integrator (installers of solar PV systems) open up shops, and with huge government incentives and subsidies for renewable energy (including solar and geothermal energy) more and more homeowners and businesses are getting into solar or are seriously considering installing a solar PV system.
Speaking of geothermal energy, which uses thermal energy of the earth to heat and cool your house, and requires relatively little electricity to operate, combining geothermal heating / cooling system with a solar PV system to power it, you can completely eliminate your heating and cooling expenses, once you pay off the initial investment. However if you look at it from a purely financial perspective, average energy costs for heating and cooling are so high, and will continue to rise, and if you finance both solar PV and geothermal systems, for a medium term (about 10-15 years), your monthly bill would be about the same as current cost of heating and cooling, averaged throughout the year. This means that instead of paying for wasteful and polluting carbon-based flues, you are paying off a completely green source of renewable energy.