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by PaulWoods
Solar power is a non-polluting, renewable, completely free and abundantly available energy source, and for many years now experts have been putting their minds to the question of how to best and most efficiently make use of it. Here are some basic points about solar power and about how it is being used at present.
Solar power can be used in a wide variety of different ways. It can be converted into electricity by means of photo voltaic cells, and it can also be used directly as a means of heat, for example for heating water. Using it directly in this way is frequently termed 'passive solar', whereas converting it into electricity is called 'active solar'. One of the main limiting factors on the usefulness of solar power is the relatively weak form in which we receive it, so that if we are to make really effective use of it we need to find a way to concentrate it.
Solar power has been used in its passive state for many centuries. Examples of this include heating water, lighting fires and drying wood. In places where sunlight is available for most days of the year, solar water heaters are popular. There are also solar power plants which can concentrate the energy of the sun and generate electricity in large amounts. Power plants like these are especially economical and useful in out of the way places where conventional electricity is not always available. Even space craft and satellites make use of solar energy.
There has been a great deal of interest in recent years in using solar power to power motor vehicles, however this is still in the experimental stages of development. The difficulty here is that the amount of power required to supply the car's engine would need big solar panels, which are impractical on a moving vehicle owing to the panels' size and fragility. Also, at times when there is no sun these vehicles could only run for limited time. So these vehicles are not ready as yet to replace conventionally powered ones.
Solar power demand is on the up but right now the costs prevent it from being a widely used energy means. The technology is available but the cost of converting the solar power into energy is too high. Fuel costs are also rising however which means that solar power will be a viable alternative if this continues. Present day fuels also have an environmental impact and people are becoming more aware of this and want to find environmentally friendly alternatives using clean energy. Manufacturers will find it more feasible to produce solar powered devices because of this rising demand.
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