Solar energy is created by nuclear fusion that takes place in the sun. Fusion occurs when the protons of hydrogen atoms collide violently in the nucleus of the sun and fuse together to create a helium atom.
solar
energy, radiation from the Sun capable of producing heat, causing chemical reactions or generating electricity. The total amount of solar energy incident on Earth far exceeds the current and anticipated energy requirements of the world.If properly utilized, this highly diffuse source has the potential to meet all future energy needs. In the 21st century, solar energy is expected to become increasingly attractive as a renewable energy source due to its inexhaustible supply and non-polluting nature, in stark contrast to finite fossil fuels of coal, oil and natural gas. The amount of sunlight that reaches the Earth's surface in an hour and a half is enough to manage the entire world's energy consumption for a whole year. Solar technologies convert sunlight into electrical energy using photovoltaic (PV) panels or mirrors that concentrate solar radiation.
This energy can be used to generate electricity or be stored in batteries or thermal storage.
Solar energy
contains a direct component, which is the light from the solar beam, and a diffuse component, which is light that has been scattered by the atmosphere. It seems unlikely that further research efforts will achieve the advances that will lead to the commercialization of solar energy in the foreseeable future. Solar technologies are characterized as passive or active depending on how they capture, convert and distribute sunlight and allow solar energy to be used at different levels around the world, mainly depending on the distance to the equator.Unlike most terrestrial solar plants, floating arrays can be discrete because they are hidden from public view. Photovoltaic solar energy is based on the photovoltaic effect, whereby a photon (the basic unit of light) impacts a semiconductor surface such as silicon and generates the release of an electron. Solar thermal energy is less sophisticated and simply the direct heating of water (or other fluids) by sunlight. Solar energy is radiation from the Sun capable of producing heat, causing chemical reactions or generating electricity.
During the short growing seasons of the Little Ice Age, French and English farmers employed fruit walls to maximize solar energy harvesting. The total amount of solar energy received on Earth is much greater than the current and anticipated energy requirements of the world. Solar energy has the general advantage of being a daily renewable energy source, but the disadvantages of being erratic due to cloud cover, discontinuous due to night and seasons, and diffuse. Thermal mass systems can store solar energy in the form of heat at useful household temperatures during the day or between seasons.
The chapter describes solar-thermal-electric technologies, that is, the development of equipment for the collection of solar radiation and the conversion of this energy into heat, which, in turn, is used to generate electrical energy. On April 29, 1979, the Solar Riser made the first flight in a fully controlled, man-carried solar flying machine, reaching an altitude of 40 feet (12 m). That said, the speed at which solar panels generate electricity varies depending on the amount of direct sunlight and the quality, size, number and location of the panels in use. A solar chimney (or thermal chimney, in this context) is a passive solar ventilation system composed of a vertical axis that connects the interior and exterior of a building.
Utilities are also building large solar power plants to provide power to all grid-connected customers. .
