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The wave of the future is definitely leaning in favour of solar energy as being a front runner for an alternative energy source. It has already shown to be cost effective, reliable and environmentally friendly. Solar Power is the process in which energy from the sun is converted into electricity. This process of creating solar power is achieved through photovoltaic which is also referred to as solar cells. The word photovoltaic is derived in part from the last name of an important researcher of electricity Alessandro Volta and the Greek word for light and photo.
A photovoltaic system consists of solar cells made of semiconductors. The sunlight strikes the cells and the photons from the sun are absorbed and then the energy is transferred to the electrons. A separation then takes place in the semiconductor, which is as follows, electrons separate from the atoms. The final step in this process is when the electrons attach to the positive and negative sides thereby creating electricity.
These photovoltaics are being used in special roofing tiles. These roofing tiles consist of monocrystalline cells with a single ply roofing membrane which measure 4 by 8 feet in size. They are heat welded together to produce a roof that covers the entire roofs surface. The added bonus is that this product is waterproof. So this solar product could definitely be used here on the Westcoast where we experience a lot of rain. These roof tiles produce 480 Watts of power and 15 watts per square foot.
An exciting discovery was made earlier this year by scientists that will move solar power to the top of alternative energy sources. It is called spray on solar cells that twist the sun’s rays into solar power even on cloudy days. This breakthrough is a plastic solar cell which is able to harness the sun’s invisible rays. These plastic solar cells are not new to the market place but the existing ones could only harness the sun’s invisible light. With this exciting breakthrough the solar cells are now able to harness more energy from the sun. The sun’s power lies divided between its visible spectrum and its infrared spectrum. This plastic material can be sprayed like paint onto many other materials and used as portable electricity. The possibilities seem to be endless. For example: a jacket could be coated in this material which then could power a cell phone or your mp3 player, a hydrogen-powered car sprayed with this material could maybe convert enough energy to keep the vehicle’s car battery recharged on a continual basis. In the near future we could be seeing large solar harvesting farms spread across the land to harvest enough energy from the sun to supply the entire world with environmentally friendly power needs. For the immediate future it seems that energy-saving plastic sheeting could be used to cover rooftops to supply heating requirements, or even having windows coated with these solar cells that would be able to allow sufficient infrared light into our homes to power our home appliances. There is one downside to this new breakthrough and that is cost-effectiveness. This solar power is still quite expensive compared to our electrical power which is in use right now. The price will decrease once it becomes a widely used source of power. Currently it costs 25 to 50 cents per kilowatt-hour while our electricity costs about 11 cents per kilowatt-hour. This material is also a lot sturdy in nature than earlier solar cells. This breakthrough has the potential to reduce production of electricity from such greenhouse gas producing sources like coal.
