Homemade Solar Cell

There was a time, not all that long ago, when solar energy was pretty much limited to small hand held calculators and little else. Only the very rich had the money to put solar to use in their homes. Those days have been replaced by a broader range of devices, uses and price ranges.

The hopes for solar have always been high. Unfortunately the cost of producing solar power has been high as well. Solar panels stubbornly refused to bow down to cost cutting and mass production. The Twentieth Century simply refused to find a way to make solar affordable to the masses.

The Twenty-first Century may just manage to do what the Twentieth could not. The price, at last, is coming down. Solar is already used as a supplemental part of several power plants in the American Southwest. Since latitude is important for consistent solar radiation, this is no surprise.

While everywhere on earth gets the same amount of sunlight, they do not get it at the same rate. The Northern Hemisphere gets the bulk of sunlight from March to September and then the Southern Hemisphere gets its chance. Only at the equator does the sunlight remain close to constant any time of year.

Some areas near the equator have used solar panels for many years. Remote stations that report weather and other meteorological information use solar panel arrays for their power. Rural government offices in Kenya that are off the grid routinely have solar panels on their roofs.

What keeps solar power in the background is the price tag. Until the cost of implementing solar is nearly on a par with oil, it will always be a supplemental power source. Recent innovations have begun to put solar within reach of that goal. Nanotechnology, single molecule layering, and high tech materials have opened the way to affordable solar power.

Now there are commercial solar power stations in California and other Southwestern states. These are still highly subsidized but are producing power for homes and businesses on the national power grid. Solar energy is part of the US power structure. In Germany and the Netherlands, solar has an even higher profile.

Even without subsidies, solar is more common than ever before. You can recharge your camera batteries or most any sort of small battery with a solar charger. Flexible panels dot the roofs of RVs and concept cars. There are solar powered airplanes that have made long distance flights.

More and more homes and buildings are incorporating solar into their plans. And since the panels are now less bulky and more efficient, they are not quite as unsightly as the older panels. Many national chains are using and advertising the use of solar power as a way to gain the loyalty of the conservation oriented consumer.

Solar energy has finally begun to fulfill the promise it made back in the seventies. Clean, renewable, affordable power for everyone is tantalizingly in sight. Sunlight is no respecter of persons, only of latitude. The Sunbelt will likely benefit more than the Polar Regions. But if a way to store solar becomes available, everyone will all get all the power they want.

Find what you want to know about solar energy by heading online. There you will find many articles with tips to save money. Head online and learn more today.

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