The Sun radiates enough energy to the Earth in one hour to power all of our electricity needs for a year. But how do we harness it? Can we harness it all? Should we?
Global climate change has become part of casual conversation. Whenever the weather turns in a direction that is unsuitable, it's because of global climate change. Whenever the weather is preferable, global climate change isn't occurring. There seems to be quite a few people on the fence about whether or not this phenomenon is real and if it's actually anthropogenically influenced. Even if we take global climate change out of the equation, we still must face the fact that we will run out of most of our fossil fuels resources within 200 years. This figure takes into account our resources of oil, coal, and natural gas. So, even if we could sequester our CO
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emissions and limit the toxins and particulates emitted from burning fossil fuels there still is the question of resources. Fossil fuels are a nonrenewable resource. They are not being produced fast enough to keep up with our consumption. For the reasons above, limiting our dependence on fossil fuels is necessary. To continue this way without a "plan b" is just foolhardy. We have other energy resource choices. There is, of course, nuclear. Nuclear power is an extremely efficient energy source and it creates no CO
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emissions. The biggest problems with using nuclear are waste disposal and safety. We also have alternative energies such as hydroelectric, wind, biomass, and wave/tide energy. And then there's solar. Solar resources will be around to use without harm to ecosystems, fear of resource depletion, or harmful emissions, until the end of time. After all, the Earth can not function without the Sun. So, when the Sun, the "superstar" in the sky dies out, so will we. Fortunately we have about five billion years before that happens.
Solar energy is advocated by many as being the best alternative energy source, but do we truly understand how it works? There are three primary types of solar energy: 1. Passive solar energy is simply using the Sun's radiation in an unadulterated way, such as, facing a home in the direction of the morning sun to take advantage of its radiation. 2. Concentrated solar energy uses mirrors to concentrate the Sun's rays into a single point to heat water to steam to turn a turbine and a generator to produce electricity. 3. Photovoltaics uses the Sun's energy to generate a current that can be used to power our electricity needs. This unit will focus on the latter.
