The Big Yellow One’s the Sun
You walk outside in the middle of July and instantly can feel the effects of the big yellow ball in the sky that we call the sun. Light so bright that you may need sunglasses and the mid-summer heat that reduces one to shorts and flip flops are just some of the more noticeable results of being in the presence of our closest star. What is less apparent is that sunlight sends more energy to earth in “one hour than the world uses in one year”. This is according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and works on finding and improving renewable energy systems. This is very important, because with “85% of the United States energy supply coming from fossil fuels” (Sota), which are nonrenewable resources, it is imperative that we come up with alternative forms of energy before those fossil fuels run out. Solar energy is one of the most readily available forms of alternative energy, not just because the sun isn’t going anywhere for billions of years, but because we already have technologies that can harness the sun’s energy. Solar energy can be used to heat water in homes. It can also be used through a process known as Photovoltaics to create electricity. And it can be used as both a heat source and a way to cool your home (NREL). This technology is not limited to homes and small businesses either. Industries have begun to use solar energy along with other forms of energy to reduce costs as well as with the various forms of energy, improve the company’s efficiency. On an even larger level, there are technologies being developed to harness the sun’s energy to power entire cities (NREL). If we can begin to integrate more solar energy into our energy production, then we can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, which will benefit our environment greatly and improve the sustainability of our lifestyle.
Before we can talk about the benefits of solar energy, it is first important to understand how solar energy is collected. There are three basic methods that are used to collect solar energy; flat-plate collectors, focusing collectors, and passive collectors (Godwin). A flat-plate conductor usually consists of a large plastic plate which covers a dark colored box that is made of either copper or aluminum and painted with a special coating that is better at collecting sunlight than black paint, which collects the sunlight, and then that box is usually insulated to retain heat. How flat-plates usually work is that the sunlight passes through the protective plastic cover where it is then converted into heat energy by the absorber plate. This heat is then transferred to water which is usually surrounded by water (Heating). This lends itself to the typical use of flat-panels, which is as a water heater because “flat plate collectors are sized approximately one-half- to one-square foot per gallon of one-day's hot water use” (Heating). These are typically used by large families that need a lot of hot water for showers and laundry. On a larger scale, businesses such as Laundromats, car washes, and restaurants employ this technology. Another application of flat-plates is that they can be used to heat buildings, especially ones that are in areas that are prone to power-outages or aren’t on a power grid.
Work Cited.
“Solar Energy Basics”, Renewable Energy Sources, NREL, 7 Oct 2009, http://www.nrel.gov/learning/re_solar.html 21 Feb 2011
“Renewable Energy” Sokol Sota, http://www.greenscreen.org/articles_sr/Energy/Renewable%20Energy/Renewable%20Energy%20-%20Sr.pdf
Feb 15 2011
“Methods of Collecting and Storing solar Energy”, Tim Godwin, 20 August 2009, http://www.articlealley.com/article_1043840_27.html , 22 Feb 2011
Solar Water Heating http://www.flasolar.com/active_dhw_flat_plate.htm
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