What Are Solar Panels?
Solar panels are flat collections of solar cells that are used to
catch the Sun’s energy and use it to create electricity and heat.
Because the sun’s energy is so spread out it takes a collection of
solar cells to generate enough energy to make electricity or heat.
Solar panels come in different sizes and shapes so that they can be
used on a variety of different types of buildings but no matter what
shape or size they are the basic design of a solar panel is the
same.
How do solar cells work?
Solar cells are wafers made of a semi-conductive material, usually
silicon, combined with rarer elements such as phosphorus and boron.
The silicon is what grabs the energy from the sun and traps it to be
used for electricity while the phosphorus and the boron help excite
the molecules and intensify the energy that is coming into the cell.
When the sun’s rays hit the silicon and are channeled through the
cell the molecules excite and travel through an attached electrical
circuit, creating electricity.
Solar panels convert anywhere from about 14% to about 22% of the
sun’s energy that hits the panel into electricity. That doesn’t seem
like a lot of electricity produced but the amount of electricity
that a solar panel can generate also depends on where the panel is
positioned and how much direct sun it gets. When there is no sun or
the panel isn’t in the directly sunlight it gets little or no sun
and will produce little or no electricity. The low efficiency of
solar cells is a problem to their large-scale use. It takes many
large solar panels of solar cells to provide enough electricity to
power a house or a building.
Solar panels produce electricity that can be used for lighting but
solar panel energy can also be used to heat a home or building. A solar thermal
heating system consists of solar panels that are arranged in a specific spot
where the solar panel energy is used to heat a tank of water. The hot water runs
under the floors of the house, heating them, and then the water is piped back to
the tank to be heated again.
Thermal solar heating systems work very well and are a cost effective and
environmentally friendly alternative to expensive gas or electric heating
systems. Solar thermal energy is often used quite a bit by people that have
pools and outdoor hot tubs to heat the water they use. It’s a lot less expensive
to heat a large pool or a hot tub with thermal solar energy than it is to use
fossil fuel heaters that can cost a fortune.