Without coal-powered electricity plants, Internet connections, televisions, lights, smartphones, air conditioners, fans, and other devices wouldn’t work. If the world didn’t have reserves of crude oil buried miles underneath the Earth’s surface and refineries that modified naturally-occurring oil into gasoline and diesel, people’s vehicles wouldn’t run.
Other nonrenewable resources are used to power machines, as well, though they’re not friendly to the environment and they won’t be around for society to use forever.
Fortunately, society has renewable, seemingly-neverending sources of energy at its disposal like streams that constantly flow downriver, the Sun’s consistent blessing of heat and light, and wind.
The Sun Is Unarguably the Most Reliable, Abundant Alternative Energy Source
Next year, the cost of solar energy capture and conversion systems will be cheaper per kilowatt hour than sourcing electricity from the electric grid, or power that runs through power lines and are charged for by municipalities’ utility providers in an estimated 42 states.
In other words, these 42 states will experience grid parity, the circumstance in which one or more alternative energy source can render electricity at a lower cost than what it can be purchased for from traditional utility companies.
Solar Power Is a Big Deal, We Get It! Let’s Venture Into the Types of Solar Energy Systems
When placed together, two or more conductive materials create a compound material that exhibits the photovoltaic effect, or the conversion of sunlight into electricity through an ongoing process that takes places on the molecular level. Certain combinations of materials yield semiconductors, or substances that are ideal for controlling the flow of electricity.
Large panels of these specialized compound materials, called solar panels, are placed in sunny areas to harvest sunlight’s energy. Next, that energy is converted into alternating current, the type of electricity that residences around the United States and most of the modern world use to power their devices.
This type of system, which is based on the collection of energy from waves of sunlight, is known as a solar photovoltaic system.
The Sun Offers One Other Form of Energy
Sunlight allows us to see clearly. It also warms things up. While solar photovoltaic technology harvests light, solar thermal technology converts heat into electricity.
Although photovoltaic solar energy conversion is better for private residences, solar thermal technology is more ideal for large-scale uses.
What Are Some Major Pros and Cons of These Two Solar Energy Conversion Technologies?
Solar thermal is ideal for electric grids because heat sourced from the Sun can be effectively and efficiently stored throughout the night in the form of already-converted electricity. However, the technology is also more expensive than its photovoltaic-based counterpart.
Further, cloudy skies result in difficulties for thermal energy collection systems. They only reach their full potential when placed in areas that rarely receive overcast skies or precipitations – take deserts, for instance.
Ultimately, each solar technology is better suited for different uses. Neither is objectively better than the other.