5 Lesser Known Facts Of Solar Power Energy

The importance of solar energy in the survival of living species and proper functioning of life cycles are well known to the people around the world but there are certain facts which can amuse you about the solar power energy.

• Solar power energy has been used by the Greeks and Romans as the means to light the lighthouse to guide the ships around the rocky shores. They were also used as weapons with large concave mirrors focussed sunlight on the enemy ships and burned them down with sun’s energy. Sundial was used to keep a track of time in very early days by the Indians and its proof can be seen in the jantar mantars in Jaipur and Delhi.

• The plant kingdom is the major storage body for solar power energy as the leaves of plants utilise solar energy to prepare food through a process of photosynthesis. The green pigments called chloroplast trap solar radiations and use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Thus they maintain the CO₂ content and keep the surroundings full of oxygen. The rapid deforestation which has led to global warming is due to rise of this gas as the action of industries and automobiles.

• When a plant material is burned in air, it yields 6KWh of energy in the form of heat per kg of material burned. In the sugar cane fields of tropical regions about 10 kg/m² of dry organic matters is present. Burning this would yield about 60 KWh/m² of solar power energy. This can be very useful prospects for poor farmers as they can harness the solar power from the wastes of the industries.

• Dry algae can be used to harness solar power energy by using sun’s radiations in algal growth tanks. The slurry of partly decomposed sewage is fed into the tank along with algae and they are completely digested in the digester and decomposed to give various forms of nitrates and phosphates which serve as fertilizers and a fuel gas is produced whose major component is methane. Thus such hydrocarbons are easily liquefied and transported for consumption as fuel. This method of solar power energy utilisation still is in development stages.

• Solar cells are the important devices for converting the sun rays directly into solar power energy which can be used to support the household activities of charging, heating or lighting. They are the most commercially viable and the photoelectric cell array for spacecrafts is used by Earth resources Technology Satellite (ERTS). These photovoltaic cells not only store heat from sun but also radiate to make the interiors of spacecrafts cooler.

These facts about solar power energy shows tremendous future in solving the energy crises faced by humans and also will prevent widespread deforestation and global warming. It is the power of future.