150 million kilometers from us lies a G2 yellow dwarf star (commonly referred to as the sun) which bathes the Earth’s outer atmosphere with about 1,350 Watts per square meter of energy. This energy drives our climate and weather, supporting virtually all life on Earth. Heat and light from the sun - along with solar-based resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass - account for over 99.9 percent of the available flow of renewable energy.
Efficiently harnessing this solar energy at the Earth’s surface is the key to reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and other resource-depleting energy sources. Modern methods are effectively deployed to convert sunlight to electricity including photovoltaic (PV) and thermal transfer. PV “cells” convert the Sun’s energy directly to electricity while thermal methods heat a transfer fluid producing steam to drive a generator.
The advantages of solar energy:
Solar energy has the following advantages over conventional energy:
- Very low operational expense of today’s solar energy systems means virtually free power generation immediately after installation cost recovery
- Typically much shorter payback when compared to the cost of other common energy sources
- Solar and other renewable energy systems can be stand-alone, thus not requiring connection to a power grid or natural gas line
- The Sun provides an unlimited supply of solar energy
- Solar power generation is “clean”, creating no carbon emissions or noise
- The use of solar energy displaces conventional energy; resulting in a proportional decrease in greenhouse gas emissions
- Solar deployment is still in its infancy, indicating a largely un-tapped source of renewable energy for our future
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