Solar Energy

Tammie Randolph

Solar Energy

In today’s climate of growing energy needs and increasing environmental concern, alternatives energy are been investigated. One such alternative is solar energy. Solar energy is quite simply the energy produced directly by the sun and collected elsewhere, normally the Earth. Due to the nature of solar energy, two components are required to have a functional solar energy generator. These two components are a collector and a storage unit. The collector simply collects the radiation that falls on it and converts a fraction of it to other forms of energy (either electricity and heat or heat alone). The storage unit is required because of the non-constant nature of solar energy; at certain times only a very small amount of radiation will be received (ccs.neu.edu). Solar energy involves harnessing light energy emitted by the sun and converting this energy into electrical current. The ability to harness solar energy makes it possible for homes and business to make use of the renewable energy source. Solar energy can be used to cook food and electrical appliances in a house. It can also be used to purify water, display time, calculators and many more applications. There are advantages and disadvantages to this source of energy.Some advantages of using solar energy are lower utility bills and gas bills. The use of solar energy within the home would eliminate your monthly utility bill. Solar panels installed for homes are reliable in most weather conditions and because solar panels have no parts that move, maintenance is only for cleaning and inspecting the panels. Using solar energy would reduce the use of fossil fuels and pollution created by them and it would also help to preserve the earth for the future.The disadvantage of solar energy is the cost of purchasing a solar energy system and if the solar energy system works efficiently, your home must be energy efficient. Though a solar energy system will pay for itself, the initial...