Solar Energy

The solar energy is our best renewable clean energy. In future there is only solar energy which will widely be used in our daily life. It is said that the sun can produce 10,000 times as much energy as the Earth uses at the turn of the 21^st century. Very soon we will have solar heated swimming pools will come across us, do not amaze at that time, solar plane, solar rockets.

Solar energy has been successfully being used for cooking, cooling, heating, communications, driving space craft, lighting and many more purposes.

Facts about solar energy

Solar energy has become of increasing importance to industrially developed countries as the use of fossil fuels has become problematic, with its effects of global warming and pollution. Fossil fuel reserves are limited where renewable energy sources, by definition, are not.

Such facts of solar energy mean that solar energy is now also attractive to developing countries with remote isolated areas. This is because the possibilities of stand-alone solar appliances negate the need for expensive grid infrastructure.

As renewable energy technology develops and fossil fuel prices increase solar energy becomes more affordable. And there are no crippling, rising importation costs of coal, oil or gas.

In recent years manufacturing costs of photovoltaic cells has dropped by 3-5% per year while government subsidies have increased. While to some such facts about solar energy seem trivial, this makes solar energy an ever-more affordable energy source. The worldwide production of solar cells increased by 60% in 2004. However, the material these cells are made from, silicon, has been in short supply since then and has hampered production. The energy output of a 1 KW solar energy unit is roughly equivalent to the burning of 170 pounds of coal and 300 pounds of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. At the end of 2005 total global peak power of installed solar panels was about 5,300 MW.