Solar Energy House- A Commitment To the Future Using the Power of the Sun

Saturday, November 14th, 2009 at 3:15 pm

After many years of hearing about solar energy, seeing solar panels on roofs, and reading articles about how wonderful it can be, what do you really know about it? How exactly does a solar energy house work? Solar panels collect heat from the sun and convert the heat energy into an electrical current. This process in itself is pretty amazing. Let’s look at how this is possible.

Most panels are made from silicon, which is the second most abundant element in the earth’s crust. Sunlight of a certain wavelength is absorbed by the silicon, and this excites an electron to move. Movement is what you want, but electrons don’t care how they move and may run in all directions. The electron has to be forced to move in one direction, because that’s how electrical current works.

Each panel contains junctions where different materials meet. Both materials are made of silicon, but one has added atoms of different elements to alter it. When the electron runs into this alternate material, it is either repelled by the material or accelerates across it, depending on the direction it comes from.

A wire attached to each side of the junction catches the electron that is forced to go in one direction. Electricity is produced by all these guys running through all the panels. A regulator, or inverter, makes the current compatible with the utility provider’s system. The wire that runs from these panels is connected to the local utility meter.

On sunny days, the panels produce more electricity than the house uses. The owner has a signed agreement with the utility company that allows the excess electrical current to go the other way through the meter. In essence, the owner is selling electricity back to the utility company on sunny days. When the sun goes down, the electricity comes from the utility company again.

Solar homes most often are all electrical so that they use as much of the sun’s energy as possible. If there is a swimming pool at the house, a solar thermal array of panels may produce heating for it. Hot water and home heating are powered by electricity, too.

If the home is built new, rather than being a retrofit, other measures are usually taken to have extra insulation, natural cooling, natural day lighting, and energy conserving windows and doors. On paper, it would appear that the overall consumption of utility provided power would be greatly decreased.

A further step for the owner of a solar home is to have a battery backup system where the panels charge the batteries during the day for use at night. This, of course, is another expense that has to be absorbed in the beginning for future savings at the end. This is good to have when the local utility provider is unreliable, or there is a power outage for an extended length of time.

The costs associated with solar power may still be high, but the use of the sun’s energy is a commitment to the future. A solar energy house provides for cleaner power, and it gives the owner some peace of mind for times when the utility company has no service.