SOLAR PANELS
- 5 déc. 2015
- 3 min de lecture
What ?
I had a friend of mine who once told me that she didn’t understand how solar panels work, that it was a “physician” thing with unknown terms as “electrons”, “photons”. So let’s make it very simple.
For most of us, electricity we use comes from power stations that use burned fossil fuel.
Solar panels are large panels that directly convert sun’s energy into electricity.
They are composed of dozens of what we call solar cells which generate power by capturing sunlight and transforming it into an electric current. Solar cells spread over the panel’s area where they can work together to provide enough power to be useful. The more there’s light which hits the sun, the more electricity it produces.
More details ? The solar cells capture the sunlight’s particles and convert them into direct current electricity. The inverter (a conversion device) takes this direct current power and transforms it into alternating current power that is the best way to transmit electricity over large distances and provide more energy. This energy, that flows from the panel through cables and wires is usable and distributed to the house’s devices and appliances.
Why ?
You may have already heard one of your parent screaming like crazy when he or she saw the price of the electricity bill, or worse, maybe you’re the one who have to pay them. Well, I’ve got some good news for you, thanks to solar panels, you won’t have to pay for electricity anymore.
Besides financial benefits, using solar energy has a positive impact on the environment since solar energy doesn’t reject toxic pollutants.
Also, I personally have always dreamed about having a big house with a solar panel because I think that it is kind of elegant and chic, haven’t you ?
Where ?
Many household use solar panels for personal use, but some well-known companies also use solar panel to power their business as Google or Apple.
If you are looking for solar panels designers and retailers, internet is your best friend, you will find many on it.
For who ?
Having solar panels is quite a big deal and that is definitely the reason why you don’t see lots of them in cities like Paris.
Indeed, installing solar panels means that you won’t have any other source of energy except the sun, so you have to ensure that you have no buildings, no trees, nothing that blocks it. Let’s just say that the more you are isolated, the best it is.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop here. Excluding the fact that you have to be isolated, you also have to evaluate other factors which are the orientation of the house’s roof which preferably has to face south, the amount of sun exposure it gets in one year, the kind of roof you have to know if it can bear or not the weight of the panels.
But first of all, if you don’t have your own house and live in a flat, the first step is to see if the owners agree to get solar panels.
Ecologic interest ?
No pollution !
Negative points :
- Installing solar panels is quite expensive
- Maintenance costs are also expensive
- Solar panels only produce energy on daylight and depend on the weather. For instance, on cloudy days, the energy produced by the panels will decrease significantly
- Not everybody can have solar panels, there are a lot of things we have to take into consideration such as the house or building’s location or the roof orientation which is not convenient
Positive points :
- Solar panels help to reduce pollution since they don’t require combustion used in fossil fuel to create energy which usually generates a lot of greenhouse gases
- Financial benefits as you don’t use a company’s electricity
- Independence for those companies which provide electricity, you create your own energy which can be very helpful in case of power cut
- Low maintenance needed
- Solar panels don’t make any noise
- Solar panels are very easy to install
- Solar energy has a fixed cost whereas energy from utility providers doesn’t
Picture :
Heart-shape solar farm in New Caledonia
Sources :
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