Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Solar energy for your home..

Interesting.. just recently we indians started talking about Solar energy for domestic use but much sunny countries(like Greece) this has been very common. Recently read about Solar usages & ways.

In summer time. Fans are working overtime, the refrigerator is cooling gallons of water and air conditioners are sucking the heat out. Your electricity bill in summer is almost double of what you pay in winter.

Wondered if solar energy can power all your gadgets, lights and cooking devices? Energy can be converted from one form to the other.Of course, a small portion of energy gets lost in the conversion process. Much the same way, the solar energy can be converted to electrical energy in two ways.

Direct method - Electrical energy is produced directly using solar cells or photovoltaic cells. The incident light on the solar cells causes current flow in it. Several such solar cells are cascaded to produce sufficiently large amount of current (at a low voltage) that may be useful for a meaningful application . The output of the solar panel is connected to a battery through a charging circuit . The amount of power that can be stored in the battery or the number of electrical gadgets that can be powered varies depending upon the size of the solar panel. The battery, typically a 12 or 24 volt battery is connected to a sine-wave or pseudo sinewave inverter to produce the 220volt AC required to drive electrical gadgets. There has been no significant development in this technology for reducing the cost of solar cells. So, it calls for a significant initial investment. Electric cars, domestic lighting and electrical gadgets at home can be powered by such a system.

Indirect method - In the indirect method, the heat is collected by large arrays of reflectors that canalise the solar heat onto a long water line.The water gets heated to a temperature that turns water into steam. The steam thus generated, propels a steamturbine (a prime mover to a thermal power generators ).
The rotation of turbines attached to the alternator (alternating current generator) produces electricity.

Using solar power to heat water, cook food and power electrical gadgets is a safe, clean and efficient energy solution . The initial set up cost may be high but in the long run you'll reap the profits.

Govertment should introduce Solar-Friendly-Policies for builders and domestic consumers, for agriculture usage to setup & use Solar system to reduce growing energy problem.

Company in Gujarat got 1000crore deal to export solar cells. Its shame we export but dont use it..

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