Solar Energy, A Simple Alternative

Solar Energy Conversion

It all starts by using the energy from the sun and converting it’s energy to usable energy for us here on earth.

A single energy unit from the sun is called a photon (a particle that carries electromagnetic force). A photon particle released from the sun takes about 8 minutes to reach the earth.

Contained within each square meter of sunlight that reaches the earth’s upper atmosphere, there are about 1,400 watts of available energy (called power density, or the solar constant). This amount is reduced to about 1,000 watts per square meter by the time it reaches the surface of the earth, in entirely optimum conditions. Additional factors further reduce this number, such as atmospheric deflection and scatter, your geographical location, season, time of day, weather, and the efficiency of the solar energy system that you are using.

The trick is, to capture some of that remaining ‘free’ energy and convert it to something that we can use to assist our daily living.

Solar Energy Systems

There are different types of solar energy systems. When thinking of solar power, most people think of the solar panels often seen on rooftops that generate electricity (photovoltaic solar panels).

There are also solar panel systems that use heat absorption properties to heat water, providing hot water for homes or even for heating swimming pools.

Several large solar electric power generating systems have recently been built that direct the sun’s energy using a huge bank of mirrors, creating a powerful solar beam that focuses on to a boiler that produces steam, which in turn spins a turbine that generates electricity.

There are also a wide variety of solar oven cookers out there, which is a great way to take advantage of the sun’s energy and to eat delicious meals (slow solar cooking retains most all the moisture and nutrients of foods – and tastes great!).

We are very familiar with several of these systems here at the MSB homestead. We have built a small photovoltaic solar panel system that generates and stores electricity to be used day or night. It’s capacity is not quite large enough to satisfy our normal daily consumption, but it is an expandable system that can be beefed up later if we choose to. We also use a solar hot water system to heat the swimming pool to a comfortable temperature without having to use the natural gas heater. The third solar energy system that we use is (are) solar ovens, which we take advantage of during much of the year.

Solar Systems can be Simple

Solar systems, be it for electric power or other energy absorptive type systems, do not need to be large and overwhelming in order to be useful. I wonder how many people are scared away from solar because they think it needs to be large (or expensive) to serve their needs. The truth is, even small systems are useful, and can be a perfect energy solution to help sustain life and comfort during a short-term grid power loss or even during disaster. You really don’t need much to ‘survive’, although having a little more than minimum would be nice…

Probably the simplest and most affordable way to harness the sun’s energy is with a solar oven cooker. These can be built fairly easily and there are many plans and designs available on the Internet (and for sale by some manufacturers). If you are interested in solar energy, this is where I would start. Building a solar oven can be a fun and rewarding project. Even if building things aren’t your forte, buying and using one is also very rewarding, while saving money on electricity and having an emergency method of cooking food.

Building a small electric power generating system with photovoltaic solar panels does not have to be very expensive, although unfortunately they are not cheap either. A significant amount of money can be saved if you have the skills to plan, purchase, and install the system yourself. Most electric solar power systems can be expanded upon, so you can start small and add on later if you wish. Solar panels come in a wide range of power-generating sizes, and are priced accordingly. Some systems are designed to tie into the electric power grid and ‘back feed’ the electricity that you are not consuming. Other systems are stand-alone and are usually tied in with a battery storage bank to store and provide power when the sun is not generating electricity.

The point is, if you are interested in becoming less dependent upon external systems for your energy needs, consider solar. Do some Internet research and discover this alternative energy world and what it can do for you.

Using Solar is Common Sense

Utilizing the energy from the sun to our advantage is very much a common-sense solution for many of our needs and comforts. Historically there has not been much attention attributed to solar or alternative energy, for obvious reasons – Oil addiction. While knowing that modern civilization required huge amounts of energy to build itself and now sustain itself (and we’ve surely benefited from some of the outcome), we should not blind our eyes to what is around us every day – free energy for the taking. We encourage that you consider an alternative energy approach, even to just a fraction of your daily consumption. Once you start the process, you will surprise yourself by the self-sufficient feeling that you will get (even with a small simple system), and how it makes you feel. I can only describe it as a feeling where it just feels ‘right’.

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