subject: How Can Parabolic Solar Collectors Give You Cheaper Energy [print this page] Advances in parabolic solar collectors are happening much faster then expected. So fast, in fact, that they could soon make the idea of solar operated homes a normal occurrence rather than the oddity that it is now.
Students and researchers at MIT have been working on a novel design for parabolic solar collectors. These new collectors are capable of extracting an astounding amount of energy from the sun at an incredibly rapid rate. Think of focusing the sunlight through a hand held magnifying glass.
When the sunlight is focused right, eventually it will cause tinder to explode into flame. Compare that with what happens when you focus that same beam of sunlight through one of these newly designed parabolic solar collectors. Instead of waiting minutes for the tinder to catch flame, you will wait only seconds. This is the promise of how fast this new solar technology threatens to make the old solar technologies obsolete.
In a pure technical sense, this new technology is still considered to be in the research phase. Pupils and research investigators at MIT are refining and improving their working models. The rate of improvement has grown so rapidly, however, that it seems only a matter of time before the technology is unleashed on the world.
Besides from the fact that it is a huge advance over former means of amassing solar energy such as voltaic panels, the design is deceptively simple and the cost is extremely inexpensive. In essence the parabolic solar collector consists of a ten foot frame built of aluminum tubes with mirrors attached.
If polls are to be believed, this new technology has plenty of potential customers just waiting for it to hit the market. Millions of people who have been waiting years for the promise of solar technology for years but have been put off by the long payback periods of the technology.
If you install solar energy devices In the proper areas of the country, specifically those with a great deal of sunlight, your installation cost will probably be recovered in approximately ten years. The problem that stops most people is the huge upfront fee needed to pay for the solar panels and installation.
But what if the upfront costs of solar energy could be radically reduced? And, what if the payback time could be reduced as well? Then upgrading to a solar based house could easily become a no-brainer. And this is the promise of the new parabolic solar collector technology.
Politicians have been talking about renewable and green forms of energy for decades now. Regrettably, when it comes to politicians on the national scene,there have been only lukewarm endeavors to push the American citizenry towards adopting solar or other forms of energy. With the new advances at MIT and other places, however, the government may not be needed once knowledge of the new technologies reaches the general population and they begin to demand to see it in the marketplace.
How Can Parabolic Solar Collectors Give You Cheaper Energy
