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Ethan Silaika

Pros & Cons of Solar Energy | Clean Energy Ideas - 0 views

www.clean-energy-ideas.com/...pros-and-cons-of-solar-energy

cons ideas advantages electricity energy solar cells pros heat heating

shared by Ethan Silaika on 11 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Solar panels giv
  • The installation of solar panels in remote locations is usually much more cost effective than laying the required high voltage wires.
  • e off no pollution,
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • The use of solar energy to produce electricity allows the user to become less dependent on the worlds fossil fuel supplies.
  • The installation of solar panels in remote locations is usually much more cost effective than laying the required high voltage wires.
  • Solar panels can be installed on top of many rooftops, which eliminates the problem of finding the required space for solar panel placement.
  • The installation of solar panels in remote locations is usually much more cost effective than laying the required high voltage wires.
  • placement.
  • Solar panels can be installed on top of many rooftops, which eliminates the problem of finding the required space for solar panel placement.
  • The use of solar energy to produce electricity allows the user to become less dependent on the worlds fossil fuel supplies.
  • The major con of solar energy is the initial cost of solar cells. Currently, prices of highly efficient solar cells can be above $1000, and some households may need more than one. This makes the initial installation of solar panels very costly. Solar energy is only able to generate electricity during daylight hours. This means for around half of each day, solar panels are not producing energy for your home. The weather can affect the efficiency of solar cells. Pollution can be a con of solar energy, as pollution levels can affect a solar cells efficiency, this would be a major con for businesses or industry wishing to install solar panels in heavily polluted areas, such as cities.
  • The major con of solar energy is the initial cost of solar cells. Currently, prices of highly efficient solar cells can be above $1000, and some households may need more than one. This makes the initial installation of solar panels very costly. Solar energy is only able to generate electricity during daylight hours. This means for around half of each day, solar panels are not producing energy for your home. The weather can affect the efficiency of solar cells. Pollution can be a con of solar energy, as pollution levels can affect a solar cells efficiency, this would be a major con for businesses or industry wishing to install solar panels in heavily polluted areas, such as cities.
  • Solar panels give off no pollution
  • The production of energy from the use of fossil and some renewable fuels (e.g. wind turbines) can be noisy, yet solar energy produces electricity very quietly.
  • installation of solar panels in remote locations is usually much more cost effective than laying the required high voltage wires.
  • The use of solar energy to produce electricity allows the user to become less dependent on the worlds fossil fuel supplies.
  • once installed, they provide a free source of electricity, which will pay off over the coming years.
  • Isabel Caprood on 11 Mar 14
     
    Solar panels give off no pollution, the only pollution produced as a result of solar panels is the manufacturing of these devices in factories, transportation of the goods, and installation. The production of energy from the use of fossil and some renewable fuels (e.g. wind turbines) can be noisy, yet solar energy produces electricity very quietly. One of the great pros of solar energy is the ability to harness electricity in remote locations that are not linked to a national grid. A prime example of this is in space, where satellites are powered by high efficiency solar cells. The installation of solar panels in remote locations is usually much more cost effective than laying the required high voltage wires. Solar energy can be very efficient in a large area of the globe, and new technologies allow for a more efficient energy production on overcast/dull days. Solar panels can be installed on top of many rooftops, which eliminates the problem of finding the required space for solar panel placement. Another great pro of solar energy is the cost. Although the initial investment of solar cells may be high, once installed, they provide a free source of electricity, which will pay off over the coming years. The use of solar energy to produce electricity allows the user to become less dependent on the worlds fossil fuel supplies.
Isabel Caprood

Record Breaking Solar Cell Approaches 45% Efficiency > ENGINEERING.com - 0 views

www.engineering.com/...-Approaches-45-Efficiency.aspx

shared by Isabel Caprood on 12 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems recently announced the development of a multijunction photovoltaic cell with 44.7% efficiency, breaking its own record of 43.6% set just four months prior. A full percentage-point increase in efficiency occurring in such a short time suggests that further improvements may develop rapidly.
  • Conventional photovoltaic cells used in flat-plate collectors convert about 15% of the sunlight that reaches them into electricity. Those single-junction cells are used in typical rooftop PV panels because they’re relatively inexpensive. One reason for their inefficiency is that they only absorb a narrow band of optical wavelengths. Multijunction cells consist of several layers, each tuned to a particular wavelength of light. As shown below, each layer has a peak efficiency at a certain wavelength, making the combination of layers in the multijunction cell efficient over a wider range of wavelengths. “External Quantum Efficiency” is the ratio of charge carriers (free electrons) to the number of photons that reach the cell. In other words, it’s a measure of how many electrons are “knocked free” by incoming photons.
Sydney Yung

HowStuffWorks "Photovolatic Cells: Converting Photons to Electrons" - 0 views

science.howstuffworks.com/...solar-cell1.htm

shared by Sydney Yung on 12 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • photovoltaic (PV) cells, which as the name implies (photo meaning "light" and voltaic meaning "electricity"), convert sunlight directly into electricity. A module is a group of cells connected electrically and packaged into a frame (more commonly known as a solar panel), which can then be grouped into larger solar arrays
  • Photovoltaic cells are made of special materials called semiconductors such as silicon, which is currently used most commonly. Basically, when light strikes the cell, a certain portion of it is absorbed within the semiconductor material. This means that the energy of the absorbed light is transferred to the semiconductor. The energy knocks electrons loose, allowing them to flow freely.
  • PV cells also all have one or more electric field that acts to force electrons freed by light absorption to flow in a certain direction. This flow of electrons is a current, and by placing metal contacts on the top and bottom of the PV cell, we can draw that current off for external use
Linus Sante

How Do Solar Panels Work? | Photovoltaic Cells | LiveScience - 0 views

www.livescience.com/-how-do-solar-panels-work.html

shared by Linus Sante on 12 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Simply put, a solar panel works by allowing photons, or particles of light, to knock electrons free from atoms, generating a flow of electricity. Solar panels actually comprise many, smaller units called photovoltaic cells. (Photovoltaic simply means they convert sunlight into electricity.) Many cells linked together make up a solar panel. Each photovoltaic cell is basically a sandwich made up of two slices of semi-conducting material, usually silicon — the same stuff used in microelectronics.
John Potter

How PV Cells Work - 1 views

teams.eas.muohio.edu/...WhatIsSolarPower.html

heat electricity cells water heating

shared by John Potter on 11 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • John Potter on 11 Mar 14
     
    The sun provides the Earth with two major forms of energy: heat and light. There are some solar powered systems that utilize heat energy while others transform the light energy into electricity. There are three ways to harness the sun's energy for use in our homes: solar cells, solar water heating, and solar furnaces
Rachel Spaulding

Cons of Solar energy - 1 views

The major con of solar energy is the initial cost of solar cells. The weather can affect the efficiency of solar cells. Solar energy is only able to generate electricity during daylight hours.

started by Rachel Spaulding on 12 Mar 14 no follow-up yet
Ian Doin

Conversion Efficiency of a PV Cell - 2 views

inventors.about.com/...photovoltic_cel_9.htm

shared by Ian Doin on 12 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Today's PV devices convert 7%-17% of light energy into electric energy. Of course, the other side of the equation is the money it costs to manufacture the PV devices. This has been improved over the years as well. In fact, today's PV systems produce electricity at a fraction of the cost of early PV systems.
Ian Doin

How does solar power work? - Scientific American - 1 views

www.scientificamerican.com/...how-does-solar-power-work

shared by Ian Doin on 12 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • How does a solar cell turn sunlight into electricity? In a crystal, the bonds [between silicon atoms] are made of electrons that are shared between all of the atoms of the crystal. The light gets absorbed, and one of the electrons that's in one of the bonds gets excited up to a higher energy level and can move around more freely than when it was bound. That electron can then move around the crystal freely, and we can get a current.
Rachel Spaulding

Solar panel Pros - 0 views

Solar panels give off no pollution, the only pollution produced as a result of solar panels is the manufacturing of these devices in factories, transportation of the goods, and installation. The pr...

started by Rachel Spaulding on 12 Mar 14 no follow-up yet
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