Tuesday, September 11, 2012

What is Solar Energy?

Solar Energy is the ability to create heat or electrical power from the sun and is referred to as solar energy. It is also clean and doesn’t pollute our environment.
There are two types of solar energy:

No. 1 = Solar thermal conversion uses the sun to create heat and that turns into electrical power. Solar means of the sun; thermal means of heat; and conversion means to change from one form to another.

No. 2 = Photovoltaic conversion. Photo means light; Voltaic means producing electricity.

Solar Thermal Conversion use reflectors or mirrors that concentrate the sun’s light to extremely intense heat. It works in the same way as a magnifying glass that can start a fire when held over flammable material. The reflectors or mirrors direct the sunlight on to containers that are filled with liquid and sometimes they use water. However the water does not retain the heat as well as other liquid.

They heat the liquid to high temperatures and that produces steam. Then the steam turns a turbine and the turning motion creates electricity. Electricity generators, windmills, and even nuclear power plants generate energy in the same way. However windmills use wind to create the turning, and nuclear power plants use coal or gas to create the energy.

Photovoltaic Conversion creates a cell that turns to electric energy when it is exposed to light and it works similar to a flashlight battery with a positive and negative charge. They usually have panels that have two layers of material with a positive and a negative and when a wire connects the two it creates electricity.

The amount of electricity generated depends on how much is exposed to the sun, how strong the sun is, the time of day, weather and where it is located. For instance the solar power cell creates more electricity when it is near the equator than the ones in the arctic regions.

The improvements made in recent years and the solar energy is becoming more popular as people become more familiar with the process. One business that plans to change its entire operation is the Veterans Administration Hospital in Loma Linda, California. They have constructed strong metal beams all across their parking lots. The beams face to the south and west and they will be installing solar energy and creating their own power plant.

To make your own investment on a smaller scale, contact a business online and make the same decisions to control your own future.

SolarGEM specializes in Orange County solar energy, Orange County solar panels, and Riverside solar energy.

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