Solar Power Improves Everyday
New technology that affects solar panels is being created all the time. The solar power industry is actually following the PC industry quite accurately. The state of the art solar panels are using silicon to produce the panels. The cells that are contained in these solar panels are normally crystalline silicon. There are also alternative uses for these solar panels, in calculators for example.
Solar panels can also be rolled up because they are becoming flexible. Solar panels certainly aren't the work of science fiction. Using a solar panel could be enough to save this planet. Fun facts about solar power are popular at any age. People want serious information about solar power, but sometimes, even the serious can be expressed in fun facts. That information comes from the American Solar Energy Society. Here are some more fun facts on solar power.
12 Fun Facts on Solar Power:
* As early as 1921, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded for experiments with solar power and photovoltaics.
* In the U.S., there are more than 10,000 homes that get their energy entirely from solar power.
* California opened its first large solar power plant in 1982.
* Solar power can cut water bills by more than 50 percent each year in a home where a solar model replaces the electric water heater.
* The price of photovoltaic (PV) solar power panels has dropped 200 percent over the last 30 years, according to the Department of Energy. Solar power could have provided all they needed.
Cover California's school roofs with solar power panels, and you add 1,500 megawatts more to the state's peak power supply.
* In California, covering every available commercial and industrial roof with solar power panels could generate all of the electricity needed in that state during the daytime.
* It takes only about 8 minutes for solar energy to travel from the sun to the earth.
Solar energy history is a very short history, right? In truth, solar energy history extends much further back than you might think!
Mouchout created a motor that ran on solar energy and even a steam engine that worked off of solar energy. In the later 1880s, Charles Tellier installed a solar energy system to heat the water in his house!
Silicon is what solar cells and solar panels are generally made of today. It is time to stop looking at solar energy history, and start looking at solar energy future! Panels do a great job of helping families and businesses to conserve energy.
Article Source: Daily Digest Magazine
About the Author
Julie Landry runs an Earth4Energy site which talks about Earth 4 Energy, the most popular manual for building your own solar power and wind power generator at home. Visit Earth for Energy for more information.