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Pool Heaters & Solar Panels
Solar energy is energy from the sun. This energy drives climate and weather and supports virtually all life on Earth. Heat and light from the sun, along with solar-based resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for over 99. more...
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9 percent of the available flow of renewable energy.
Solar energy technologies harness the sun's energy for practical ends. These technologies date from the time of the early Greeks, Native Americans and Chinese, who warmed their buildings simply by orienting them toward the sun. Modern solar technologies continue to harness the sun, but in more innovative ways, to provide heating, lighting, electricity and even flight.
The terms solar power and solar energy are often used synonymously but solar power usually refers to photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar thermal technologies that convert sunlight into electricity. In the case of solar PV, the process is direct, via silicon-based cells; in the case of solar concentrating thermal, the process involves heating a transfer fluid to produce steam to run a generator. While PV has advantages in terms of simplicity, the high temperatures produced by solar thermal systems also can provide process heat and steam for a variety of secondary commercial applications (cogeneration).
The utilization of solar energy ranges from traditional and basic technologies (related to food, heat and light) to modern, utility-scale power generation systems. Solar energy is used in a wide variety of applications, including:
Heat (hot water, building heat, cooking, process heat);
Lighting (daylighting, hybrid lighting, daylight savings time);
Electricity generation (photovoltaics, heat engines);
Transportation (solar car, solar plane, solar boat);
Desalination;
Biomass (wood, biofuel);
Clothes drying;
Energy from the Sun
Earth receives 174 petawatts of incoming solar radiation (insolation) at the upper atmosphere at any given time. When it meets the atmosphere, 6 percent of the insolation is reflected and 16 percent is absorbed. Average atmospheric conditions (clouds, dust, pollutants) further reduce insolation traveling through the atmosphere by 20 percent due to reflection and 3 percent via absorption. These atmospheric conditions not only reduce the quantity of energy reaching the Earth's surface, but also diffuse approximately 20 percent of the incoming light and filter portions of its spectrum. After passing through the Earth's atmosphere, approximately half the insolation is in the visible electromagnetic spectrum with the other half mostly in the infrared spectrum (a small part is ultraviolet radiation).
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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