Using The Sun's Energy

By Author: Sada Lily
Total Articles: 42
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Solar power is a replenish-able source of energy and can be used in varied ways. There are 3 different ways that solar power can be

converted to various sorts of energy. Converting the sun's rays into a

usable energy source is called electricity. This is can be acheived by

the use of "solar collectors," or solar cells. This is solar photovoltaic

energy, and requires the use of the photoelectric effect. Solar thermal

applications, which require the use of the energy of the sun to heat things, such as

water. Sun rooms in a home are an example of this. Concentrating solar power is the third way

the suns enery is harnessed, and this is used for megawatt scale power plants. Solar

power has an exciting future ahead of it. The sun's light is a

pervasive resource and solar cells can be attached to moving objects,

for instance cars, and can even be used to power to

other objects. Solar powered automobiles are being tested these days, and some cars are

using solar cells to cool parked cars in the sun.

The actual rate of radiation ...
... varies but as if now the generally-accepted value is 429.2 BTU an hour per square foot all of this energy could be picked up and used, it

might take about three hours to collect all the energy used on earth for a full year. Knowing the famous equation e=mc2, we also know that all the Sun's energy that strikes the

earth every second is the same as 4 pounds of mass. The earth receives 174

petawatts of energy from the Sun.

rather than using dear natural gas to meet energy needs, the world can

use a absolutely replaceable resource. Solar energy

might be used for material testing, smelting, to heat and boil water, cook food, distill and disinfect water for

household purposes, and more. This natural resource has a great edge over the environment that it doesn't pollute the air when being converted into electricity by the help of thermal

devices. Electrical power plants which run on electricity release carbon that pollute the air, and affect air quality.

Solar power is the savior here because it does not release Carbon emissions. Among other uses of solar power are water distillation, water purification, cooking, and

driving chemical reactions. Considering further, burning plants or agricultue is also using stored solar energy, put simply, burning biomass fuel is also using the energy of the sun.

As far as practical giant scale power plants counting on solar energy,

Solargen Energy is one such producer hoping to build a 1.2 million solar panel plant that would cover the

area of approximately 3500 soccer fields, and produce 420 MW of electricity. There are

constantly new giant plants being built, and as of 2009, one of the bigger power

plants is in Jumilla, Murcia, Spain which is manufacturing twenty megawatts. There are 120,000

solar cells in use. China is also proposing plans for completion in 2019 of the worlds biggest

solar plant. When finished, this will be between a 1 to 2 Gigawatt plant and it'll power up to three million houses. The US military is also planning

big scale plants, and one or two huge power plants in the hundred

megawatt range will open in the 2010-2020 decade.
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