Solar Power Energy Solves Your High Energy Costs
As we strive to decrease our usage of fossil fuels and become more environmentally aware, solar power should continue to grow and become more mainstream, especially in light of new technology which makes it more effective. Tapping into the sun’s power and then converting it into solar power energy that we may use for everyday needs is accomplished via several methods.
The two most popular methods for generating solar power energy are the concentrating solar power system and the photovoltaic system (PV). The PV system cam convert light from the sun directly into electricity, and is most often used for industrial and residential applications. The Concentrating Solar Power (CSP system) uses the sun’s heat in lieu of fossil fuels to generate heat that fuels a traditional power plant. The CSP system could potentially provide sufficient electricity for a whole city. There are three methods by which a Concentrating Solar Power System generates a large amount of energy: the power tower system, the dish engine system, and the parabolic-trough system.
The price of solar panels may vary tremendously based on which type of installation you are looking for. If your building is located in a relatively remote and industrial area, you may able to use the typical roof mounted panels with a boxy shape. For a more discrete or nicer looking dual purpose installation, you might have the structure built with solar cells capable of producing solar power energy that are built directly into the roofing, window, and awning materials.
Solar panels are not limited to roof-mounting. Using ground and pole mounting systems for solar panels is another option. The ground and pole mounts offer more design flexibility and can be an advantage if your structure is shaded for part of the day. It is also possible to equip solar panels with mechanisms that will follow the path of the sun during the course of the day, which will provide the most exposure to the sun for producing solar power energy.
A parabolic-trough system uses long mirrors to magnify the sun’s heat. Oil, pumped through pipes embedded in the mirrors, absorbs this heat and carries it away from the mirrors. The heated oil is then used to heat up water which creates steam that is harnessed to power a generator.
Dish-engine systems that are made up of a solar parabolic dish, use heated fluids in a similar way to the parabolic-trough systems, but the expansion of the heated fluid allows it to move large pistons for powering an electric generator to generate solar power energy.
Power tower solar systems for solar power energy production require an array of mirrors to focus the sun’s heat onto a tower mounted receiver. Molten salt flowing through the receiver is heated by the collected solar energy and used to heat water which then creates the steam to power a generator.
Filed under: Computers & Technology