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AUTHOR: MICHAEL HALLORAN
Introduction
In the last decade, governments worldwide, in their attempts to find alternatives to fossil fuels and to gain energy security and independence, have begun to invest heavily in alternative power sources. Along with wind energy, solar energy is probably the most widely known alternative power source available to humans. Solar energy has the potential to power the world. In 2009, the total power needs for the human race were approximately 16 terawatts. In 2020, this will rise to 20 terawatts. The sunlight that shines on the landmass of the earth is 120,000 terawatts. (1)
For the last half-century, solar power has always been seen as the power source of the future, but it is now finally becoming the power source of the present. People all over the world are installing solar panels on their homes. Governments are providing subsidies for such endeavours and linking solar collecting farms into national grids. Several countries, Germany and Spain in particular, are at the forefront of solar technology, especially the research and development side of things. However, anywhere the sun shines there is business potential for this new energy sector. In the USA, the current administration has been very vocal in its support of creating jobs in the solar industry and China is pushing a solar energy agenda.
History and explanation of solar energy
There are two ways to harness solar energy: photovoltaics (converting light to electricity) and solar thermal (heating and cooling systems). A subgroup of this is concentrated solar power which can be used to produce both thermal and photovoltaic power. (2) Until recently, solar power has proven to be mostly ephemeral. The ancient Greeks and Romans exploited passive solar designs — the use of architecture to make use of the sun’s capacity to light and heat indoor spaces. (3) Romans advanced the art by covering south facing building openings with glass or mica to hold in the heat of the winter sun. Through the use of the sun’s energy, Greeks and Romans offset the need to burn wood that was often in short supply. Even today we build houses and buildings with the reception of sunlight in mind. Green houses are built with the intention of trapping sunlight for heat. Archimedes, the ancient Greek polymath seems to have invented the concept of concentrated solar energy. In order to defend the city of Syracuse from attack by sea, he is said to have created a device that concentrated sunrays and reflected them at attacking ships, causing them to go on fire. While the existence of this device has recently been disproved, the concept inspired others to put it into reality using modern technology. Besides these few examples from the ancient world, exploiting the power of the sun only became viable during the industrial revolution.
Photovoltaics
A photovoltaic system converts light directly into electricity at the atomic level. Some substances exhibit a photoelectric effect, allowing them to absorb photons of light and release electrons. These free electrons can be captured, creating an electric current.
The photoelectric effect was discovered by French physicist, Edmund Bequerel, in 1839. He found that certain materials would produce small amounts of electric current when exposed to light. In 1905, Albert Einstein elaborated on this further when theorizing on Brownian movement.(4) He founded a kinetic theory that accounted for the nature of light and the photoelectric effect on which photovoltaic technology is based.
(1)Johnson, George, ‘Plugging into the Sun’ in National Geographic (September, 2009), p. 42.
(2)SEIA – Solar Energy Industries Association available at:
http://www.seia.org/ [5 October 2009]
(3)http://www.southface.org/solar/solar-roadmap/solar_how-to/history-of-solar.htm
(4)“Brownian motion” is the seemingly random movement of particles suspended in a fluid and/or the mathematical model used to describe such random movements.
