Home Improvement DIY

It may seem that environmentalist make solar power and other alternatives over exaggerate, they are actually very good forms of energy production that many people can make use of.  Although it obviously uses up energy to make the components, they are still cause very little pollution.  Once they have been manufactured they’ll be able to keep producing energy indefinitely.  Plus the forms of energy don’t have to come from unstable countries.

Solar Energy – Solar energy from the sun can easily be converted into sunlight and is now now-well understood process.  The beams of light from the sun hit a photovoltaic (PV) module which responds by generating a current.  This electrical energy is then carried into our homes by wires and circuit breakers.

Wind Energy – Although completely different from solar, there are some similarities.  The wind blows the propeller which is on a shaft surrounded by a magnet wrapped by a coil of wire.  Either the magnet turns near the wire or the wire turns causing electrons in the wire to experience force.  The force causes the electrons to move along the wire causing what we call an electrical current.

The methods are simple.  Sun and wind cost nothing.    There are problems however; it does cost money to convert the energy into a usable form, plus there are some physical limitations along with engineering difficulties.

Costs - First of all there are costs involved in order to produce a PV module or wind turbine.  Then there is the cost of transportation and installation.  Plus at the moment they aren’t as cost-effective as the more traditional forms of producing energy such as oil or coal.

Although technology is constantly improving, they don’t produce as much power as other forms for the same cost.

Efficiency - If the solar panel is placed on the equator, 1,00 watts per square meter of solar energy is obtained.  However if the panels are further away from the equator and it is a dull day, then the watts obtained are reduced to about 125-375 W/m2.  Then you need to take into consideration the efficiency.  With a solar-powered PVmodule  you’ll get 10-15% efficiency depending on how it’s made.

Despite this, having solar panels covering your roof will give you enough energy to power the electricity in your home, as long as you are careful about usage.

Problems with Wind Power – Engineers want to place wind turbines where it is windiest in order to obtain the most energy.  Unfortunately many of the windiest locations are inhabited by many species of bird.  If a bird flies into a turbine it will kill them.

If there is a lack of wind, the turbines cannot function.  They also need to be connected to a storage system and they don’t give out as much power as it would be liked.

Despite the drawbacks that solar and wind energy has, they are an essential part of our future if we want to reduce our dependency on oil and reduce air pollution.  As technology improves, an increase in efficiency can be expected along with reduced costs.  It may however be some time before we can rely on them 100% of our energy needs.

 

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