Photo used under Creative Commons from James Cridland
So what’s the major aspect of solar energy that’s really holding it back? Don’t know the answer?
Well I’ll tell you, it’s efficiency.
Efficiency of silicon solar cells at the moment is limited to around 30%. That’s not a lot when you think about it. That means 70% of the sunlight that’s hitting your panel is completely wasted.
So why is it wasted, and why can we not figure out a way to utilize more?
Well first you need to understand a bit of the science of how silicon solar cells work… Nope, not gonna get into a long winded discussion right here, if you would like to know more about that please visit Solar Energy Facts.
The problem is that most of the energy coming from the sun is just to high to be turned in to usable energy. Hot Electrons is the term used to [...]
So what are some solar energy facts anyways? How about how do solar panels work, and how is sunlight turned into energy?
The solar revolution has been happening for the last 20 years and is now firing into high gear. It has taken a long time for the technology to become feasible enough for everyday people to utilize. The best part is the technology is increasing at an ever increasing speed. Solar panels or photovoltaic cells as they are sometimes called (photo = light, voltaic = electricity) are needed to generate solar power from the sun. But how exactly does it do this? Well, we need to think of solar power as a source of electricity and that the process of generating it works on the same principles of other forms of electricity. The flow of energy, after generated is run through electrical wiring to appliance’s in your house [...]
