Today, the problem of energy consumption is quite acute - the planet’s resources are not infinite and during its existence, mankind has pretty much devastated what was given by nature. At the moment, coal and oil are being actively mined, whose reserves are becoming less and less every day. The power of thought allowed mankind to take an incredible step into the future and use atomic energy, bringing with it a great danger to the whole environment.
The environmental issue is no less acute - the active extraction of resources and their further use adversely affects the state of the planet, changing not only the nature of soils, but even climatic conditions.
That is why special attention has always been paid to natural sources of energy, such as, for example, water or wind. Finally, after so many years of active research and development, mankind has "grown" to use the energy of the Sun on Earth. It is about him that we will go further.
What's so attractive about this
Before proceeding to specific examples, we will find out why this type of energy production of researchers around the world is so interested. Its main asset can be called inexhaustibility. Despite numerous hypotheses, the likelihood that a star like the Sun will go out soon is extremely small. This means that humanity has the opportunity to receive pure energy in a completely natural way.
The second undoubted advantage of using the energy of the Sun on Earth is the environmental friendliness of this option. The environmental impact under such conditions will be zero, which in turn provides the whole world with a much brighter future than that which opens up with the constant extraction of limited underground resources.
Finally, special attention should be paid to the fact that the use of solar energy poses the least danger to man himself.
How really
Now let's get to the point. The somewhat poetic name “solar energy” actually hides the conversion of radiation into electricity using specially developed technologies. This process is provided by photovoltaic cells, which humanity is extremely actively using for its own purposes, and quite successfully.
Solar radiation
It so happened historically that the noun "radiation" causes negative associations in a person rather than positive ones in connection with the technological disasters that the world has managed to survive in its lifetime. Nevertheless, the technology of using the energy of the Sun on Earth provides for working with it.
In fact, this type of radiation is electromagnetic radiation, the range of which is in the range from 2.8 to 3.0 microns.
The solar spectrum so successfully used by mankind actually consists of three types of waves: ultraviolet (approximately 2%), approximately 49% are light waves and, finally, the same amount is accounted for by infrared radiation. Solar energy has a small number of other components, but their role is so insignificant that they have no special effect on the life of the Earth.
The amount of solar energy falling on Earth
Now that the composition of the spectrum used for the benefit of mankind has been determined, another important feature of this resource should be noted. The use of solar energy on Earth seems to be very promising also because it is available in a rather large amount with almost minimal processing costs. The total amount of energy radiated by a star is extremely large, but it reaches about 47% of the Earth’s surface, which is equal to seven hundred quadrillion kilowatt hours. For comparison, we note that only one kilowatt-hour can provide a ten-year operation of a bulb with a power of one hundred watts.
The radiation power of the Sun and the use of energy on Earth, of course, depends on a number of factors: climatic conditions, angle of incidence of rays on the surface, time of year and geographical location.
When and how much
It is easy to guess that the daily amount of solar energy falling on the Earth’s surface is constantly changing, since it directly depends on the position of the planet in relation to the Sun and the movement of the luminary itself. It has long been known that at noon the radiation is maximum, while in the morning and evening the number of rays reaching the surface is much less.
It is safe to say that the use of solar energy will be most productive in regions as close as possible to the equatorial band, since it is there that the difference between the highest and lowest indicators is minimal, which indicates the maximum amount of radiation reaching the planet's surface. For example, in desert African areas, the annual amount of radiation reaches an average of 2,200 kilowatt hours, while in Canada or, for example, Central Europe, the indicators do not exceed 1,000 kilowatt hours.
Solar Energy in History
If you think as broadly as possible, attempts to “tame” the great luminary that warms our planet began in ancient times during pagan times, when each element was embodied by a separate deity. However, of course, then the use of solar energy could not even be discussed - magic reigned in the world.
The topic of using the energy of the Sun on Earth began to be actively raised only at the end of the XIV - beginning of the XX century. A real breakthrough in science was made in 1839 by Alexander Edmond Beckerel, who managed to become the pioneer of the photovoltaic effect. The study of this topic was greatly enhanced, and after 44 years, Charles Fritts was able to construct the first module in history, based on gilded selenium. Such use of the energy of the Sun on Earth gave a small amount of released electricity - the total amount of generation then amounted to no more than 1%. Nevertheless, for all of humanity, this was a real breakthrough, which opened up new horizons of science, which we had never even dreamed about before.
A significant contribution to the development of solar energy was made in due time by Albert Einstein himself. In the modern world, the name of the scientist is more often associated with his famous theory of relativity, however, in fact, he was awarded the Nobel Prize precisely for studying the
external photoelectric effect.To this day, the technology of using the energy of the Sun on Earth is experiencing either rapid ups, or no less rapid falls, but this branch of knowledge is constantly updated with new facts, and we can hope that in the foreseeable future we will open the door to a completely new world.
Nature is against us
We have already spoken about the advantages of using the energy of the Sun on Earth. Now let's pay attention to the disadvantages of this method, which, unfortunately, are not less.
Due to the direct dependence on the geographical location, climatic conditions and the movement of the sun, the generation of solar energy in sufficient quantities requires huge territorial costs. The bottom line is that the larger the area of consumption and processing of solar radiation, the greater the amount of clean energy we get at the exit. The placement of such huge systems requires a large amount of free space, which causes certain difficulties.
Another problem regarding the use of the energy of the Sun on Earth is a direct dependence on the time of day, since night production will be zero, and in the morning and evening it will be extremely small.
The weather itself is an additional risk factor - abrupt changes in conditions can have an extremely negative effect on the operation of this kind of system, since it causes difficulties in debugging the required power. In a sense, situations with a sharp change in the amount of absorption and production can be dangerous.
Clean but expensive
The use of solar energy on Earth is difficult at the moment because of its high cost. Photocells necessary for the implementation of the basic processes have a fairly high cost. Of course, the positive aspects of using this kind of resource make it payback, but from an economic point of view, at the moment it is not necessary to talk about the full payback of monetary costs.
Nevertheless, as the trend shows, the price of solar cells is gradually falling, so that over time this problem can be completely solved.
The inconvenience of the process
Using the Sun as a source of energy is also difficult because this method of processing resources is rather laborious and inconvenient. The consumption and processing of radiation directly depends on the cleanliness of the plates, which is quite problematic to provide. In addition, the heating of elements, which can only be prevented by using powerful cooling systems, has an extremely negative effect on the process, which requires additional material costs, and considerable.
In addition, the plates used in solar collectors, after 30 years of active work, gradually become worthless, and the cost of solar cells was discussed earlier.
Environmental issue
Earlier it was said that the use of this kind of resource can save mankind from serious enough environmental problems in the future. The source of resources and the final product are truly environmentally friendly.
Nevertheless, the use of solar energy, the principle of solar collectors is to use special plates with photocells, the manufacture of which requires a mass of toxic substances: lead, arsenic or potassium. Their use does not harm the environment, however, given the limited life of their use, over time, the disposal of plates can be a serious problem.
To limit the negative impact on the environment, manufacturers are gradually switching to thin-film wafers, which have a lower cost and less detrimental effect on the environment.
Methods for converting radiation into energy
Films and books about the future of mankind give us almost always the same picture of this process, which, in fact, can differ significantly from reality. There are several ways to convert.
The most common is the previously described use of photocells.
As an alternative, mankind is actively using heliothermal energy, based on the heating of special surfaces, which allows water to be heated in the proper direction of the temperature obtained. If you simplify this process as much as possible, it can be compared with the tanks that are used for the summer shower in private sector homes.
Another way to use radiation to generate energy is the "solar sail", which can only act in airless space. This kind of system converts radiation into kinetic energy.
The problem of the lack of production at night is partially solved by solar aerostat power plants, whose work continues due to the accumulation of released energy and the duration of the cooling process.
We and solar energy
The energy resources of the sun and wind on Earth are used quite actively, although we often do not notice it. Earlier, the popular heating of water in a summer shower was already mentioned. In fact, most often solar energy is used precisely for these purposes. Nevertheless, there are many other examples: in almost every lighting equipment store, one can find storage bulbs that can work without electric current even at night thanks to the energy accumulated during the day.
Installations based on photocells are actively used in all kinds of pumping stations and ventilation systems.
Yesterday Today Tomorrow
One of the most important resources for humanity is solar energy, and the prospects for its use are extremely great. This industry is actively funded, expanded and improved. Now, solar energy is most developed in the United States, where some regions use it as a full-fledged alternative source of power. Power plants of this type also operate in the Mojave Desert. Other countries have long embarked on this type of electricity production, which will soon solve the problem of environmental pollution.