Is A Solar Power System In Your Future?
Solar power systems have been around for quite a while. When solar technology was first available solar cells where touted as being the end of the energy crunch. It was as if all of sudden we had plentiful free energy, all of it coming from the sun. Within years solar power systems were predicted to heat and power our homes and businesses. It was even thought we would be driving solar-powered cars in a short while.
It’s unfortunate but the reality of the situation didn’t quite match up with the big dreams. Solar panels were costly to produce. If you didn’t have a lot of panels exposed to the sun all day long, solar power systems didn’t produce enough power. Now that we’re starting to see greater strides in solar power technology, we may be on the cusp of a rebirth in solar power systems.
Although solar panels still produce solar energy when it’s cloudy outside, they absorb much more energy and therefore produce more power if they’re exposed to direct sunlight. Solar power systems are therefore much more effective in Las Vegas, Nevada then they are in Portland, Oregon. Also, solar power systems produce more power during longer days, so short Alaskan winter days aren’t very good for solar systems. The best environment is the desert, with long days and little or no cloud cover.
Solar power systems don’t need to power an entire business community or even provide all of the power for a private residence to be effective. In fact Solar power systems are much more efficient at heating water than they are at producing electricity. Since standard hot water heaters can consume over a third of a house’s energy, replacing a gas-powered hot water heater with a solar powered heater can reduce a home’s energy bill by quite a bit, as well as making the owners eligible for a tax reduction in certain states.
Solar power systems are also very useful for providing power in remote locations. They’re extensively used for cell phone towers and other reflective antenna arrays located on mountaintops and other hard to reach places. Since these installations don’t require a great deal of power or maintenance to run, solar panels can provide enough power and never need to be refueled. Plus the maintenance is minimal. Though a completely solar-powered society is probably not in the foreseeable future, we’ll likely see many more solar powered devices as solar technology becomes more refined, more efficient, and less costly.
Tags: solar electric, solar hot water, solar hot water heater, solar panel, solar panels, Solar Power, solar power system
