Solar Technologies Will Prevail!!

Energy is a huge topic that’s currently being debated on what is the best route to take. Some people want to implement solar panels and photovoltaic devices, while others currently still want to use non-renewable sources such as fossil fuels. Non-renewable sources are limited, while the sun is free and is not limited. Some political leaders are against the implementation of solar panels and Photovoltaic devices because the manufacturing process is too expensive. Politicians sometimes only focus on if they are making profits, and sometimes forget the other important things. Scientist agree that solar technologies are expensive in the beginning, but in the long run they would save a great amount of money. Also solar devices are the best choice for people, the environment and the economy. They don’t release any pollution, which means if won’t affect anybody’s health and the manufacturing process creates jobs. This is an example of why scientist and politicians sometimes cannot coexist because each side’s priorities are different.

Currently in places like Arizona, Hawaii, California and Colorado there are huge debates on what the future should be regarding the process of energy creation. In Arizona some political leaders are fighting to implement a so called “Solar Tax” of 100 dollars a month to those people who are putting solar panels on their roof. When the voting took place they agreed to charge a solar tax of 5 dollars a month, which is significant less to what they had in mind. Also utilities companies and fossil fuel industries are agreeing with these political leaders, and are trying to discourage the usage of solar panels. Both of these industries are arguing that the increase of usage of solar panel has put a strain on the power grid and can cause safety problems. Another argument is that they believe people who implement solar panels in their homes are stealing money because they are not paying the same amount of money as everybody. Scientific research shows that solar panels are not a safety hazard, and in my opinion using solar panels does not mean stealing money because technology is accessible to anyone who wants to implement it and it is not illegal.

What are the other side’s response? Of course they strongly disagree as I do because they think this is the most efficient and cleanest way to produce energy. People also believe using solar panels can prevent any type of energy wars. Countries don’t have to fight over limited non-renewable resources such as oil, and we can use the money we don’t spend in wars to building technologies like solar panels.

David Leeper, an electrical engineer and a strong supporter of usage of solar panels, heavily disagrees with the opposing argument. He ridiculed the power industries argument and called the arguments a “high tech chutzpah.” I fully agree with his arguments, especially when he states that he is not a free loader and that he did not take any money from them. Mr. leeper thinks that just because he is using an alternative source that is clean, efficient and assessable to anyone doesn’t mean he is stealing from the power companies. At first he strongly disagreed with the 100 dollar fee, but when it was reduce to 5 dollars month he was satisfied with the outcome. He does not oppose it because in the evenings or on cloudy days he will need power in his home and he thinks is only fair to at least pay the fee in those specific times.

  

 Reference:

Schwartz, John. (2014). Fissures in G.O.P. as Some Conservatives Embrace Renewable Energy. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/us/politics/fissures-in-gop-as-some-conservatives-embrace-renewable-energy.html?_r=1

Solar Technologies for the Future!

Energy is essential and necessary to human beings, but there is a huge debate on what is the most convenient way to produce energy. What are the options? Some people would say that the best way is to keep using non-renewable resources like fossil fuels, photosynthesis or natural gasses, but other people would agree that the best way is to construct solar panels or photovoltaic devices to take advantage of the best resource, which is the sun. Many places are starting to implement solar panels to experiment with it or to prove that this is the direction the world should go. An experiment was conducted in China, where the usage of solar technologies were heavily implemented and people’s thoughts were recorded.

After people had time to experiment with these technologies, a questionnaire or survey was conducted to show if there was a social acceptance of solar devices are not. The results showed that photovoltaic technologies was not as high as some scientist wish they were, but the social acceptance has steadily increased.

·         Solar panels and photovoltaic devices are a good alternative energy resources because the pros are far better than the cons. Many people thought it was too expensive, and others chose to not implement solar technologies in their homes because they didn’t know the functionality of these technologies. Solar panels and photovoltaic devices are expensive in the beginning, but in the long run it saves people a good amount of money in their electricity and utility bills. Also these technologies are no harm to the environment because it does not release any type of pollution to the atmosphere. Also in the manufacturing process, these technologies do not require any input of water, which means that it will not contaminate any body of water.

Even though the acceptance of photovoltaic devices wasn’t as high as anticipated, another type of solar technology was highly approved. The most popular and heavily approved technology was the solar water heater. A solar water heater is a device that captures and retains heat from the sun, and then transfers it to a liquid. When the heat is produced, it is captured in a component called the absorber or collector and this component is in contact with the fluid, where the heat is transferred to fluid, where it can be stored for later usage. Usually, a hot object loses its heat to the environment but the solar water heater contains a thermal insulation, with the purpose of slowing down heat loss.

China over the years has gained interest in solar technologies, especially in solar water heaters. These research will have a great impact on people all around the world to give them information on the functionality of solar technologies. Some findings in this experiment is that people realize that it is very important to find an alternative energy source because many things in the world will benefit from it.

Solar technologies:

1.       Are eco-friendly
2.        Are not harmful to people’s health
3.        And it will save you a lot of money in the future! 

      Reference:

      

      Yuan, Xueliang & Zuo, Jian & Ma, Chunyuan. (2011). Social Acceptance of Solar Energy Technologies in China-End Users’ Perspective. Science Direct Volume 39, issue 3, Pages 1031-1036. DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.01.003.

      

      Solar Water Heating Basics. (2014). Home power. Retrieved from http://www.homepower.com/articles/solar-water-heating/basics/what-solar-water-heating

Solar Cells are here because of Chapin, Fuller and Pearson

Back in the early 1950’s three scientist made major contributions to electrical engineering and to the way we view and use energy. The three scientist were Gerald Pearson, Daryl Chapin and Calvin Fuller. Gerald Pearson was born on March, 31 1905 and he was physicist and mathematician who worked on semiconductor materials and transistors. Daryl Chapin was born on July 21, 1906 and he was a scientist who focused his work on finding and employing alternative sources of power. Calvin Fuller was born on May, 25 1902 and he was a chemist who also worked with transistors. All three scientist worked for Bell Laboratories, and all three contributed to the creation of the solar cell.

In the beginning Fuller and Pearson were working on improving transistors and to transform silicon from a poor to the preeminent conductor of electricity. Fuller gave Pearson a piece of silicon containing a small amount of gallium, which resulted on the piece of silicon becoming positively charged. Then they dipped a portion of the silicon into a lithium bath and this led to the submerged piece of silicon becoming negatively charged. Then in the middle of the piece where the positive and negative side met it created a permanent electrical field. This exact location is the heart or the most important part of a transistor and a solar cell. Then they used a lamplight to provide energy to the silicon which was connected to an ammeter to show that it created an electrical current.

At the same time Daryl Chapin was looking for an alternative source, and convinced Bell Laboratories to let him research solar cells. Chapin then decide to collaborate with Fuller and Pearson to create and enhance the silicon solar cell. Their prototype solar cell was the size of a quarter with wires sticking out that could only power a tiny electric windmill. Chapin made a discovery that the more powerful the photons were from the light source of shorter wavelengths it could move greater amount of electrons where they could be harvested as electricity. Eventually with modifying the solar cell they reached their goal of being capable of converting enough of the sun’s energy, to power any type of electrical equipment.

Bell laboratories presented a solar battery or solar cell presentation where they would explain their discoveries and the benefits this device would bring. Their presentation contained a solar battery that relied on light power to run a 21 inch Ferris wheel. They also showed a solar powered radio transmitter, which broadcasted music and news to all the people present in the presentation. Then in 1955 the Bell solar Battery was put to use to power a telephone carrier. Then in 1962, the solar cells were put to use to power vehicles. On the same year, another major contribution happened, which was that solar cells were used to power satellites in space, they were primarily used for AT&T’s Telstar communications satellite.

Calvin Souther Fuller and the birth of the Solar cell. Technica. Retrieved November 20, 2014, http://www.technicacommunications.com/calvin-fuller-solar-cell/

The history of Solar Energy. California Solar Center. Retreived November 20, 2014, http://www.californiasolarcenter.org/history_pv.html

Perlin, John. (2014). The Invention of the Solar cell. Popular Science. Retrieved November 20, 2014, http://www.popsci.com/article/science/invention-solar-cell

Renewable Energy is the Winner

In our everyday life, change is inevitable and is something that happens every day. Technology is always constantly being upgraded, cars are always being modified and some of our hobbies or things we do in our everyday life change. In the 1930’s and 40’s during the great depression this event made people go through a transition from throwing everything away to recycling things. Recycling helped many people survive since they couldn’t afford new things and most important it helped the environment and the economy. For the betterment of the economy and environment another transition is currently going and that is using renewable energy over non-renewable energy.

Many organizations are noticing that the current use of non-renewable sources are harming the environment, people’s health and are also afraid that they will use up all the resources. Statistics, polls and events suggest that renewable energy is constantly being used and that it will be frequently used in the future.

• ·        In the New York time an article called “SunEdison and TerraForm Buy First Wind, Gaining a Toehold in Turbines” states that these two companies bought a wind power business for $2.4 billion. SunEdison is a company that creates components to store solar energy, and with the acquisition of the wind farms SunEdison is considered the world’s largest renewable energy development company. SunEdison is a company that had been growing at 90 percent a year since 2009, and now they are predicting that they will be able to produce energy to supply more than 425,000 homes each year.
• ·         Another article called “USDA Funds Renewable Energy” mentions that the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $68 million in 540 renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects nation-wide. The program believes that renewable energy is the best route and the most beneficial to society. Their prediction is that it will reduce America’s energy consumption and decrease carbon pollution while saving agribusiness about 45 billion dollars on their energy bills.
• ·         The last article is called “S.F. clean energy program could generate 8,100 jobs” and this claims that a renewable energy program in San Francisco could create thousands of jobs by constructing $2.4 billion worth of proposed solar and wind projects. This new project has the support of many in people in San Francisco and would allow the city to generate or purchase its own clean energy and deliver it to consumers through companies.

Renewable energy is a transition that will bring many benefits to climate, people’s health and the economy. Non-renewable energy are cheap but bring a lot of negative aspects to it like it releases global warming emissions and eventually the process will get more expensive because  non-renewable resources will decrease and some day they will depleted, were they cannot be replaced. This transition has helped scientist and engineers to build technologies like dams, wind turbines and photovoltaic devices (PV). Some people would ask isn’t expensive to create these technologies? And the answer is yes but in the long run it will save people a ton of money because electricity bills will be incredibly cheap or even free and less money will be wasted on utilities.

Reference:

Benefits of Renewable Energy Use. Union of Concerned Scientist. Retrieved from:http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/public-benefits-of-renewable.html#.VEjPC_nF8XQ

CardWell, Diane. SunEdison and TerraForm Buy first Wind, Gaining a Toehold in Turbines. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/sunedison-and-terraform-to-buy-first-wind-for-2-4-billion-in-renewable-energy-deal/?_r=0

USDA Funds Renewabel Energy.The News. Retrieved from: http://www.achrnews.com/articles/128093-usda-funds-renewable-energy

Lagos, Marisa. S.F. clean energy program could generate 8,100 jobs, report says. SFGATE. Retrieved from: http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/S-F-clean-energy-program-could-generate-8-100-5897392.php

Grabianowski, Ed. How recycling Works. Retrieved from: http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/recycling1.htm

 Photovoltaic Devices Can Help Everyone

The sun is one of the best available resources that society has and that is not frequently used. In today’s society the usage of renewable energy, like solar energy is very important because it brings more benefits than danger to the world. National Geographic mentions that the amount of photon the sun beams in an hour to the earth is sufficient enough to satisfy the global energy need for an entire year. Also scientist believe that the sun will be available for another five billion years. So what are most countries using to produce energy these days? Most places are still using other resources like fossil fuels, natural gasses, photosynthesis and different forms of electricity. Even though this resources are heavily used as of now, scientist believe that the future will consist of using harnessing solar energy from the sun using technologies like solar panels or photovoltaic devices.

What are photovoltaic devices? It’s a device that is made of semiconductor materials and when the sunlight hits the device it knocks electrons loose from their atoms, and as the electrons flow through the cells of the material it generates electricity that can be used. Photovoltaic devices are the best and cheapest solution for the future and shows very high potential of using energy efficiently. Also this devices are always constantly being remodeled and upgraded for better efficiency.

•  One of the biggest advantages of using photovoltaic devices to store solar energy is that is does not cause harm to the environment. Using the sun is necessary because it generates clean sustainable electricity, without producing toxic pollution or global warming discharges. It also does not kill any plant life because it does not require the process of photosynthesis. Lastly, the process of photovoltaic devices does not require water to function which means it will not contaminate any body of water.
• The second advantage of using photovoltaic devices is that it does not put people’s health in danger. Other resources like fossil fuels, coal-fired power plants and natural gas power plants are huge distributors of global warming discharges and carbon dioxide, which can impact people’s life negatively. Some dangers it can bring are breathing problems, heart attacks and cancer.
• The last advantage of photovoltaic devices is that it will greatly help the global economy. This will help the economy because pollution will decrease and less money will be needed to clean up the contamination in the atmosphere and in the bodies of water. Also using photovoltaic devices to store the sun’s energy will create jobs because the demand will increase by year that goes by which means more employment.

What do people think about photovoltaic devices? An experiment and a survey was conducted in China and Egypt where photovoltaic devices are heavily used. In the survey they asked the question to the public, where most people agreed that photovoltaic devices are beneficial and they welcome the frequently usage of it. Most of the reasons were that it created many jobs and that it is no danger to the environment. Scientist, and now people are seeing that photovoltaic devices may be the best way to produce renewable energy on the future.

Reference:

Benefits of Renewable Energy Use. Union of Concerned Scientist. Retrieved from: http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/public-benefits-of-renewable.html#.VEjPC_nF8XQ

Yuan, Xueliang & Zuo, Jian & Ma, Chunyuan. (2011). Social Acceptance of Solar Energy Technologies in China-End Users’ Perspective. Science Direct Volume 39, issue 3, Pages 1031-1036. DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.01.003.

Patlitzianas, Konstantinos. (2011). Solar Energy in Egypt: Significant Business Opportunities. Science Direct Volume 36, issue 9, Pages 2305-2311. DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2011.03.006

Solar Energy. (2014). National Geographic. Retrieved from:http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/solar-power-profile/