subject: Discovering The Majesty Of Solar Power [print this page] When it comes to harnessing energy, nothing is quite as powerful as the sun, and the rays of light that it generates. The sun is the thing which keeps our earth powered, our plants growing, our environment healthy, and our bodies working.
Now more than ever, we need the sun to power our world. With a limited supply of energy, fuel, and resources, the sun will always be at our fingertips to harness and control.
From magnifying glasses to steam engines, scientists through the centuries have found innovative ways to harness the power of the sun. Converting more solar power into electricity is high on the political agenda in many countries, amid the push to find domestic energy sources that are less polluting than fossil fuels.
In our modern society, we are finding more and more ways to be resourceful with our great solar power. This articles discusses just some of these ways, and what they benefits to turning to this natural power alternative are.
Despite rapid growth in recent years, solar power accounts for less than one percent of United States electricity use. Solar power is more entrenched in European countries such as Spain and Germany, which have promoted its development with strong incentives called feed-in tariffs,which require electric utilities to buy solar power at a high, fixed price.
In the United States, California is by far the leading solar state. With their dedicated to environmental awareness, they are finding new ways to power the state through the sun.
There are several ways to use the sun's power to generate electricity. One of the most promising is called concentrating solar power.
This involves using mirrors to reflect and focus the sun's rays, providing heat, which in turn helps power a generator. Another is photovoltaic panels, such as the displays on the rooftops of homes and office buildings (some of these displays, especially in California, have recently experienced problems with theft).
There are drawback and incentives, as with every source of fuel and energy. The drawback to solar power is that it is expensive to produce: generating power from photovoltaic panels costs more than four times as much as coal, and more than twice what wind power costs.
In the United States, the federal government and states have offered a variety of incentives to encourage homeowners and businesses to put panels on their roofs, and for utilities to buy power from large displays. Solar panels produce no energy at night, but that is not a significant problem because the electricity is often most needed in the daytime, when consumers turn on lights and televisions and air-conditioning.
Solar energy is also used to heat water and pools - and of course, a properly designed house will optimize the light and heat qualities of as it floods through the windows. For now, electricity generation from the sun's rays needs to be subsidized because it requires the purchase of new equipment and investment in evolving technologies.
However, costs are rapidly dropping, and regulators are still learning how to structure stimulus payments so that they yield a stable green industry that supports itself. Our environment is serving us, just as we are seeking to take better care of it.
China has leapfrogged the West to emerge as the world's largest manufacturer of solar panels. China's efforts to dominate renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China.
The Chinese government charges a renewable energy fee to all electricity users. The fee revenue goes to companies that operate the electricity grid, to make up the cost difference between renewable energy and coal-fired power.
In the United States, power companies frequently face a choice between buying renewable energy equipment or continuing to operate fossil-fuel-fired power plants that have already been built and paid for. In China, power companies have to buy lots of new equipment anyway, and alternative energy is increasingly priced competitively.
But China's commitment to renewable energy is expensive. Although costs are falling steeply through mass production, solar power is still at least twice as expensive as coal.
As you can see, using this power can benefit the world, if we are unified in turning to its endless source. We need the sun now more than ever-let's turn to its power.
