Today's topic was a tossup between hydraulics and solar panels. Solar panels won in a small (very small) (so small, I asked one person's opinion) vote.
We have some good friends who have installed some solar panels on their house. One neighbor in particular balked and said it wasn't feasible. Well, three years and dramatically small electricity bills later, those solar panels are still doing their job. I think they're even selling power back to the company.
The closest How Stuff Works.com article I've found to explain how solar panels work is How Solar Panel Highways Work.
Solar cell technology has been in use at least since 1958, when photovoltaics powered satellites' electrical systems.
The basic process works thusly: (Straight from the HSW article) "Photovoltaic cells are made of special materials called semiconductors such as silicon, which is currently used most commonly. Basically, when light strikes the cell, a certain portion of it is absorbed within the semiconductor material. This means that the energy of the absorbed light is transferred to the semiconductor. The energy knocks electrons loose, allowing them to flow freely.
"PV cells also all have one or more electric field that acts to force electrons freed by light absorption to flow in a certain direction. This flow of electrons is a current, and by placing metal contacts on the top and bottom of the PV cell, we can draw that current off for external use, say, to power a calculator. This current, together with the cell's voltage (which is a result of its built-in electric field or fields), defines the power (or wattage) that the solar cell can produce."
The naysayers, which I am unashamedly NOT amongst, are often put off by the cost of panel installation. Also, our market is flooded with poor quality panels--often coated with plastic, which of course does not stand up well to exposure. My friends got their solar panels from a company in Hillsboro, Oregon. The tempered-glass panels have lasted for three years, so far.
Oh, and their Chevrolet Volt car hasn't added but maybe $20/month to the electricity bill. They are SO cool. Maybe we'll talk about their car next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment