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With only a limited supply of oil and gas available on Earth, it is extremely important to find alternative sources of energy or else with the depletion of these natural resources, humans will be unable to fulfill a number of basic requirements.

Renewable energy can be defined as any form of power that is derived from a source that cannot be depleted. Wind, solar, geothermal and tidal are examples of renewable energy.

There are several benefits of using renewable energy. It has some dominant environmental, economic and societal advantages. Renewable energy sources do not need any fossil fuels to generate power, which makes them environment friendly. Following are the main sources of renewable energy.

1. Wind

Wind energy commonly used to generate clean power, through the use of wind turbines that harness the power of offshore or land-based wind and convert it to electricity.

2. Solar

Solar energy can be utilized with the use of solar panels that allow us to use the enormous power of the sun to heat and lighten up our homes. Being made of photovoltaic cells, solar panels can easily be applied to roofs and even cars, to transfer sunlight to electricity.

3. Geothermal

The Earth’s core is the home to huge amount of heat. With geothermal power, the heat generated by the Earth can be used to by pulling it up to the surface using pumps.

4. Tidal

As the Earth comprised up to 70 percent of water, tidal energy presents a great source of renewable energy. Imagine the amount of power that many waves can produce. Tidal power uses the natural ebb and flow of the waves to generate electricity.

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The popularity of solar energy is increasing at a faster rate due to the fact that it is sustainable, requires little maintenance once installed, and requires no additional investment once the unit is installed.

Photovoltaic (PV) cells are mainly used to capture and convert the solar energy into electricity. However, instead of using the solar heat directly, it is also used indirectly to generate electricity as in the case of larger solar power plants that capture the heat from the sun and subsequently use it to produce steam for powering a generator.

1. Water

Many parts of the developing world use solar energy to pump water in remote areas. Solar energy is also used to provide power to far off areas where direct supply from the grid cannot reach easily.

2. Industry

Often solar energy is used to supply power to TV and radio repeater stations i.e. automated stations that transmit signals. As the solar energy is renewable and affordable, it is also used extensively to supply power to lighthouses, buoys and aircraft warning lights on buildings and other structures.

3. Heat

Supplying heat is the most obvious use of solar energy. The heat can be used in residential homes. Solar energy is commonly used to heat the water supply and swimming pools. This is done by installing a photovoltaic cell on the roof to collect solar energy, which is then used to warm a heat transfer fluid that is used to heat the water itself.

4. Transportation

The concept of using solar energy to power public transportation vehicles such as buses and trolleys is gaining popularity due to the rising petrol rates. There are plans for solar-powered bus shelters underway as well.

5. Consumer Products

Many small gadgets that require small amount of energy, such as calculators and watches often use solar energy. Recently, solar chargers are becoming more popular as they can be easily carried around everywhere and used in any place. Other products also include garden lights, solar cookers and indoor lights.

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Although there are several advantages of solar energy but its high cost is the biggest barrier to its common use.

This high price may be due to various reasons including political and economic factors, but a big factor that contributes majorly towards the high price is technological cost.

Recently, the researchers at Caltech have successfully created a new material that will be used to make solar-panel, replacing the use of solar cells as we now use them.

Right now, there are two basic types of photovoltaic, or PV, cells that are in use. The first one is a solid silicon-based PV cell that although is very efficient, but it is very costly and fragile to make.

The other one is a thin film cell, which is quite cheap as compared to the first one, but lacks efficiency. With the advent of this new material, the gap between performance and price will be filled.

According to Harry Atwater, who is the head of the Atwater Research Group at Caltech, the new solar material which is made of tiny silicon wires could dramatically reduce the cost of creating a silicon solar cell.

As told by Atwater, the new material will be much cheaper because instead of the expensive process of making a wafer and slicing it up, throwing away two thirds of it in the process, the new material is grown and literally peeled off like a plastic sheet, similar to the way scotch tape is peeled off a tape dispenser.

Moreover, it is quite easy to produce the material and it uses 99% less silicon as compared to a regular solar panel. But this doesn’t mean that it has any affect on its efficiency, the silicon wire panels have very high solar-absorption rates.

Thus by using this new material, it will be possible to create more panels by using less money, which would enable us to bring the cost per watt for solar energy down.

Technorati Tags: Solar,energy,panel,cells,silicon

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After the launch of the solar boat, solar plane is here to play its part in the advancement of renewable energy. An experimental solar plane took its first test-flight this week. After the successful test flight, it has become possible for the Solar Impulse to plan of making a trip round the world.

According to reports, the test flight was expected to fly for about 90 minutes, reaching an altitude of about 1,000 meters.

The solar-powered airplane weighs about 1,600 kilograms and has four electric motors on board that supply the power to keep the plane up whether its day or night.

It took almost six years to finally construct this plane, enabling it to reach a maximum altitude of about 27,900 feet while traveling at about 70 kilometers per hour using the power generated by its 12,000 photovoltaic panels.

The first flight was made in Payerne, Switzerland, in which the plane flew for 90 minutes. Although it is as wide as a 747, the plane is extremely light and never reaches more than 28 miles an hour while in flight.

It is expected that solar energy will play a major role, acting as a main source of electricity, heating and transport in the near future. The airline industry has been looking for various ways to help the environment, and reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. There are some airlines that are working towards using more bio fuel in the coming years. Let us hope the future is greener for the airlines as well as other industries.

Technorati Tags: Solar,Plane,energy,airplane,environment,fossil,panels

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We are living in a world where there are limited resources. Our needs are unlimited and these resources are not enough to meet our demands. We need energy to run our electric devices that are a part of our daily life.  We are currently using wind, water and other petroleum products to create energy that is not enough to meet our demands. So we need something special to fulfill our energy need with lower cost and more efficiency.

For the last twenty years or so, the word “solar revolution” is being heard on almost all the platforms.  It is estimated that this will take over at least 50% of energy production. The main idea behind is that solar energy will be used to generate electricity and this form of electricity will suit almost every part of the world. Moreover this technique will reduce the cost of electricity being produced.

The Photovoltaic Cell

The landmark of this solar revolution is photovoltaic cell that is used in solar panel to generate electricity. Multiple photovoltaic form an array and multiple arrays form a solar panel. Main issue in implementation is this concept is its installation cost. Since this cost is very high, making this process difficult to implement. As far as renewable energy market is concerned, photovoltaic cells’ efficiency is the landmark in its popularity.

Financing for Installation

As far as its demand is concerned, it hasn’t shown a downward trend. Still it is inflating. If you are concerned about the photovoltaic cell, there are a number of government support programs that can assist you. In some areas there are schemes that offers you free solar panels so that you can have benefits of this new invention.

Advantage of Using Photovoltaic Cell

Major advantage of this phenomenal invention is that it doesn’t cost you even a penny, after its installation. So the electricity that is produced is free of cost. And in the longer run, they will pay you back, what you have invested in this product. Hence your return over investment is maximum in this case

Simple Installation

As far as installation is concerned, this is very easy to install and is very efficient. Where there is enough space to install this panel, you can install it. So you can install it on your roofs, gardens etc. Whether is not a major concern for you, because it is an intelligent device. It uses a whether station built in to forecast the whether needs and when electricity is produced, it uses its built in mechanism to match this electricity to the electricity that is being supplied by the electricity providing company.

Technorati Tags: Photovoltaic,Cell,energy,petroleum,technique,panel,investment,cells,panels

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