Our modern lifestyle is often plagued with the existence of dirty energy, which could harm sustainability and our environment. On our planet, sun will always be the biggest and most sustainable source of energy. An equivalent of Gigawatts of energy is radiated on the surface of our planet by the sun. The sun maintains its presence every day and it’s highly predictable. With proper implementation, it should become a highly usable energy and it will allow ourselves to deal with challenges that lie ahead, especially the one related to energy crisis. Plenty of advancements have been made to make the generation of solar-based energy more efficient and effective. There’s plenty of untapped potential, because on the surface of solar cells, only about 10 percent of the energy is harnessed into usable electricity. Even so, if current photovoltaic technology is fully capitalized, it could generate more than enough energy for current global demands. Solar cells can be used on many places, on solar panel farms, roofs, space stations and calculators.
Solar panels are designed in a specific manner that when sunlight strikes their surface, some amounts of electrons are released. This will ensure that electricity will be generated and the electricity will flows out of the solar cell. This is a highly sustainable solution, although solar panels have their own lifespan. Sunlight can also be directly used to create usable heat, such as for boiling water, which is a task that requires a lot of energy, when electricity is used. There are different methods to harness the solar energy. Instead of using solar panels, sunlight is focused by an array of mirror to a small pipe filled with oil. The heated oil will be directed to boil water, which can be used to generate electricity. When we rely more on solar energy, we will be able to get many benefits, such as reduced noise and air pollutions. It means that solar power could have far reaching impacts on our lives when we use it in a proper manner. Even with current advances, solar power is still relatively expensive compared to the electricity we get from the utility company.
However, we should look for small-scale implementations that are affordable and able to reduce our long-term expenses on energy. This won’t be an expensive thing to do. As an example, we could charge smartphones and laptops using a single solar panel that are placed outside the windows. The amount of money that we save may seem to be insignificant, but we will feel happier and more satisfied. The feeling satisfaction will be higher during power outage, because we will be able to work and stay connected longer. You should look for low-energy requirements in our house that can potentially be met by the use of solar panels. Solar panels used to be highly expensive in the past, but the prices already drop significantly. Now, we are seeing new developments that can make solar energy generation become more effective. Government are also providing incentives to encourage the use of solar electricity. In the coming decades, we will see more and new implementations related to solar energy.