Facts about Solar Energy:
-As fossil fuel reserves become increasingly depleted with the associated costs rising, developed countries are beginning to put more effort into developing solar energy capabilities on the national level.

-Developing countries are starting to turn to solar energy as a means to avoid significant infrastructure cost of centralized power grids.

-The sun’s surface temperature is more than 5,700 degrees Celsius. The average temperature on Earth by comparison is only 20 degrees Celsius.

-Solar cells have an average efficiency rating of 15% for converting energy.

-1 KW solar energy unit is approximately equal to the same amount of energy produced by 170 pounds of coal.

-At the time of this writing, the one of the largest solar electric system installed world-wide is in Germany at Bavaria Solarpark. It covers 62 acres of land and has 57,6000 PV panels. The Germans have since opened the Arnstein solar electric plant that produces 12 MW of power from 1,400 moveable solar panels.

-The world’s largest solar power plant is located in the Mojave Desert covering 1,000 acres of land with solar reflectors.

-The Sahara desert could generate more than 300 times the world requirement for power if it was covered by solar panels.

-Japan consumes more than half of the solar panels produced world-wide for home use.

-2 Billion people in the world live without power

-The U.S. Consumes 25 % of the world’s power.

-Photovoltaic (PV or Solar Panels) installations increased by almost 6,000 MW in 2008 doubling the amount installed in 2007. The demand in 1985 by comparison was only 21 MW.

-All solar energy production world-wide still only amounts to less than 0.01% of world-wide energy consumption.

-Solar energy demand has grown at a rate of 30% annually over the past 15 years.

-The U.S. Market for solar power grew to 357 MW in 2008.

• Asia Pacific, Europe, and the United States are forecast to have the most growth in solar energy over the next decade.

How Do Solar Panels Generate Energy?

When the sun’s rays impact solar panels, they are then absorbed by semi-conducting materials such as silicone. The process used to convert the light from the sun into electricity is referred to as the photovoltaic or PV effect. This occurs when the electrons are broken away from their respective atoms allowing them to flow through the solar panel to create energy. When solar panels are installed on a home or business, they consist of an array of panels that is used to convert the sun’s rays into direct current (or DC for short) electricity. The electricity is then routed through an inverter that turns it into 120 volt alternating current that can be used in your home. The AC electricity is then routed to the distribution panel in your home to be used in place of traditional power. If solar panels are crating more power than can be used, it can be stored in a battery as DC electricity to be used at a non-peak time.

How Do You Value Solar Energy?

It depends really on the conversion rate of the solar panel. Legacy panels convert at 20% or less, which makes one hour of sunlight on one square meter panel worth about $.06 USD. If you are using solar panels to collect and generate heat, then the value goes up a bit to around $0.14. There is much less latent loss in the heat transfer of a solar panel than in direct electricity conversion. The heat transfer efficiency of a solar panel is equivalent to that of an oil burner. If you were to cover a 20 ft x 50 ft roof with solar panels for a year, you would be able to generate approximately 1500 KWH, or the equivalent of approximately 3,200 gallons of heating oil which would save in excess of $6,000 USD per year.

Why Does it Cost So Much to Get Started in Solar Energy?

There are a number of reasons that solar energy is still cost prohibited for it to become a main-stream technology. There is still not a large amount of competition in the industry. Also, many areas in the United States will not allow you as a home owner to install your own solar panels on your home. Also, many architecture firms have found that its just not profitable for them to make and keep plans on file that incorporate solar energy into the initial design of homes (although this is changing for the better). And of course, the relatively low cost of oil within the United States is another barrier to wider spread adoption of solar power within society as a renewable energy source.

Facts About Solar Energy

Some interesting facts about solar energy if you are considering using this green technology in your home or at work:
-It takes about Eight minutes for the sun’s rays to reach Earth from more than 93,000,000 miles at 186,282 miles/second of travel.
-The greater the rate of pollution, the more the sun’s rays are prevented from reaching Earth.
-There are more than 2 billion people in the world (almost 1/3^rd) who do not have reliable electricity every day.
-Americans consume more than ¼ of the world’s energy even though the U.S. Has less than 10% of the world population.