Roof Synergy

People across the world are becoming more and more aware of the advantages of the renewable sources of energy. This is because of the rising fuel prices accompanied by its depleting supply. Solar systems have grown in popularity. The solar energy has always been in use in the past. Earlier it was used as a means of heating water but now it is used for many other purposes. One of the key ways of using the solar power is by converting it into electricity.

The energy from the sun is huge. It is around 3,850,000 exajoules of solar energy. The energy received from the sun in one hour is enough to charge up the whole of the world for an entire year. These huge amounts of energy need to be tapped, properly and effectively. This can be possible with the help of the solar plants and PV cells.

Some of the gadgets used for converting the solar energy into electricity are the Photovoltaic cells or the PV cells and the solar power plant. The production of solar cells has grown in recent years, by 50% to 3,800 megawatts. This point towards a bright future for solar industry in the coming years. As such more and more investments in solar industry are taking place.

Truly, the biggest problem with solar power is the low efficiency and the construction costs associated with creating solar panels. One promising enterprise is probably the painted on solar systems (hard to believe, but they already exist). One application is that a military unity can carry a can of the spray on solar power instead of carrying a heavy back-up battery. Once the unit stops traveling, the solar can be sprayed on to any surface, such as a large rock. Some nodes are applied and communications equipment (for example) can be recharged. Once they are done, the mini-solar power system can be abandoned and the nodes can be re-used.

Anyway, back to the main point here--i agree that one of the biggest available (and renewable) power sources is the sun. Isaac Asimov was quite forward looking when he wrote a science fiction book (many years ago) involving a solar space station where solar power from the sun was transported down to the earth. Solar power is several times stronger in space, where the earth's atmosphere is not available to diffuse its raw power. In fact, solar heat in space is so powerful that often solar panels must be angled so as not to absorb 100% of the suns heat (to avoid meltdown of circuitry).

If we could capture & convert the light of the sun more effectively, we could truly move away from fossil fuels as a primary energy source. Recent worldwide improvements in battery technology and electric vehicles is truly one step in this direction. What's interesting is many of the newest cars feature solar panels on their roof, which will allow them to circulate air while the car sits still or to re-charge the batteries.