Solar Energy: Why And How To Use Solar Energy?

What is solar energy?
Solar energy is a radiant energy emitted by the Sun. The Sun's energy is in the form of solar radiation and solar radiation makes the production of solar electricity possible. Solar power is also the term used for solar energy.

Solar energy is an important source of renewable energy and its technologies are broadly characterized as either the passive solar or active solar depending upon how they capture and distribute solar energy or convert it into solar power.

Thermal mass systems can store solar energy in the form of heat at domestically useful temperatures for daily or interseasonal durations. Thermal storage systems generally use readily available materials with high specific heat capacities such as water, stone. Well designed system can lower peak demand, shift time of use to off peak hours and reduce overall heating and cooling requirements.

Why to use solar energy?
Solar energy is the key to a clean energy future.

Renewable- Solar panels produce electricity by transforming the continuous flow of energy from the sun to electricity.

CO2 free- No harmful emissions are released into the air when electricity is produced by solar panels.

Low operating costs- The photovoltaic process that transforms sunlight into electricity doesn't require any fuel and has no variable costs.

Limitless solar energy- The sun provides more than enough energy to meet the whole world's energy needs and it won't run out anytime soon. As a renewable energy source, the only limitation of solar power is our ability to turn it into electricity is an efficient and cost-effective way.

No fuel to burn- After solar panels have been installed, operational costs are quite low compared to other forms of power generation. Fuel isn't required, and this means that solar power can create large amount of electricity without the uncertainty and expense of securing a fuel supply.

How to use solar energy?
In most solar systems, solar panels are placed on the roof. An ideal site will have no shade on the panels, especially during the prime sunlight hours of 9 A.M. to 3 P.M. A South facing installation will usually provide the optimum potential for your system, but other orientations may provide sufficient production. Tress or other factors that cause shading during the day will cause significant decrease to power production. In a solar panel, even if just one of its 36 cells is shaded, power production will be reduced to more than half. Not every roof has the correct orientation or angle of inclination to take advantage of the sun's energy. Some system are designed with pivoting panels that track the sun in it's journey across the sky. Non-tracking PV system should be inclined at an angle equal to the site's latitude to absorb the maximum amount of energy year-round. Alternate orientations may be used to optimize energy production for particular times of day or specific season of year.

Solar panels, also known as modules contain photovoltaic cells made from silicon that transform incoming sunlight into electricity rather than heat.

Solar photovoltaic cell consist of a positive and negative film of silicon placed under a thin slice of glass. As the photons of the sunlight beat down upon these cells, they knock the electrons off the silicon. The negatively charged free electrons are preferentially attracted to one side of the silicon cell which creates an electric voltage that can be collected. This current is gathered by wiring the individual solar panels together in series to form a solar photovoltaic array. Depending on the size of the installation, multiple strings of solar photovoltaic array cables terminate in one electrical box, called a fused array combiner. Contained within the combiner box are fuses designed to protect the individual module cables, as well as the connections that deliver power to the inverter. The electricity produced at this stage is DC (direct current) and must be converted to AC (alternating current) suitable for use in your home or business.