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Answer by manu r
You’ve probably seen calculators that have solar cells — calculators that never need batteries, and in some cases do not even have an off button. As long as you have enough light, they seem to work forever. You might have seen more massive solar panels — on emergency road signs or call boxes, on buoys, even in parking lots to power lights. Even though these more massive panels aren’t as common as solar powered calculators, they are out there, and not that hard to spot if you know where to look. There are solar cell arrays on satellites, where they are used to power the electrical systems.
You have probably also been hearing about the “solar revolution” for the last 20 years — the idea that one day we will all use free electricity from the sun. This is a seductive promise: On a bright, sunny day, the sun shines approximately 1,000 watts of energy per square meter of the planet’s surface, and if we could collect all of that energy we could easily power our homes and offices for free.

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Answer by roderick_young
If you had a lot of questions about solar energy, would not it be superior to go to people who know the answers, than to seek out other people who do not know?

I live in San Jose, and am quite interested in green causes in general, but have enough resources for now as far as information.

Answer by Brett
What sort of questions do you have about solar energy? Your question is very confusing…

Do you want to know how to make use of solar energy?

Read this page, maybe this will help
www.squidoo.com/HomeMade-Green-Energy

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Answer by doane_nut
Impractical, they would have to much too large.

Answer by sd3r
the San Diego Trolley (independently powered traction trucks) requires 500kW to accelerate, 130kW to maintain speed. typical solar panels output ~120 watts per sq meter. do the math.

Answer by billrussell42
You would need more panels then you could fit on the roof. Even if you used the roofs of all of the freight cars.

Typical power is 3000 HP or 2.2 MW.
Solar panels are about 10 watts/square foot, so to get 2 MW, that is
area = 2 MW / 10W/sq foot = 200,000 square feet.

Area of the top of the locomotive is about 6×70 or 420 square feet.

so we are short by a factor of 200,000/400 = 500

And, trains cannot operate only when the sun is out, so they would need lots of heavy batteries to store energy for when the sun is not out, and that means the area would be 5 to 10 times more massive than listed, so the factor changes from 500 to 5000.

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Answer by noworryz
Hint: convert all your length measurements to meters. Multiply them together to get meters-cubed. Multiply by the density to get kg. Multiply by the temperature change to get kg-oC. Multiply by the specific heat to get kJ.

Remember to always check your units!

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Answer by mugikuyu
Its very simple but the entire process is quite lengthy. You will need to buy some materials and then assemble everything according to the instructions in this ebook http://bit.ly/hlMb5u. There are also instructions for wind power as well. I found it very useful.

Answer by roderick_young
For solar electric panels, there is generally no money to be saved by making your own. A homemade panel can’t legally be connected to the grid in the US, and you would end up using batteries instead, nullifying any cost advantage.

If you want to do it just for fun, think about buying solar laminate like this http://sunelec.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=47 rather than soldering together your own cells. If you watch for sales, it sometimes gets down to $ 1/watt.

Also, there is no need to pay anyone for an e-book on how to make panels. places like this http://www.mdpub.com/SolarPanel/ give you all the information free.

Answer by Rami C
Now it’s easier than ever to build your own solar panel and wind turbine with materials you can find at any hardware store. No special tools or expertise needed, anyone can do this. Just click the source below if you’d like to know how to do it!

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Now taking into account the fact that solar do sent work during storms or night and greatly reduced during winters, what % do you think would be needed to supply a “majority” of our power needs as a nation?
*Mispelling*
Now taking into account the fact that solar “does not” work during storms or night and greatly reduced during winters, what % do you think would be needed to supply a “majority” of our power needs as a nation?

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Answer by hipp5
While I think efficiency is one aspect of the equation I think cost and finding a decent storage medium will be much more important. No matter how efficient solar panels are, they simply cost too much right now. Add to that the need for reliable power at all times of the day and you have got some hurdles to overcome. I think as hydrogen energy matures it’ll become a great storage medium for solar energy and we will see a lot more wide-scale solar.

Answer by Starbuck
Supplying the entire nations power grid by solar could not be accomplished with this centuries technology. Solar power will be a minor energy producer for decades to come and comes with much drawbacks on environmental costs of production, battery systems and many other issues not resolved.

Answer by g.aidonopoulos
I believe the question should be put as: What should be the price of solar panels in order to replace coal.

If the price go down enough then there will be no problem with the commercial efficiencies already achieved.

The huge challenge for the solar industry is to achieve the famous grid – parity. We should notice however that the grid parity will not come at the same time to all countries in the world since there are several irradiation levels and electricity prices as well.

As so the answer to the altered question is that very soon (2-3 years) if the solar industry continue to expand at this day rates we will achieve the grid – parity at many places in the world

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Answer by Dr. Clandestine:)
Many dude, they have a nice supply of programs with many projects and theory’s involved.
Try the search engine for colleges that are the ideal with this Program,
Critics will rate it, students, teachers, parents, and faculty.

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Answer by Eugene N
There is no easy way. You will have to purchase relatively costly cells made out of silicon and then add a power inverter to turn the DC current out of the cells into alternating current to run things in your home. It’s not a cheap venture.

Answer by Peter K
Its much easier and you get more energy with a water heating system. You can make this out of old water radiators boxed in with a glass lid. However, commercial water heating systems will out perform anything that you can make.

Electrical solar panels are really an industrial process if you want more than a few milliamps.

Answer by StanleyB51
If you want to feel superior about yourself, you can definitely do this kind of project. Keep in mind however that your payback will take a very long time. Solar panels are rather expensive. Let’s assume for a moment that you are running 50 W fan. This means that you need a solar panel with the area of about 700 Square inches. It will set you back about $ 300 or more. This panel will have to be exposed to full sun light. Solar panel however produces only DC current. You will need one of two things; fan with special motor or DC to AC inverter. Add another $ 50. 00. If you run the some fan on the grid power you will use 1KWH of energy in 20 hours. Average cost of 1KWH in USA is about 10 -12 cents. You will have to run your fan for over 3000 Hrs. in order to brake even. Keep in mind that you also need wires, some kind of mounting bracket etc. to make you project work.

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Answer by Difdi
Most people are not millionaires. Solar energy systems equal to what you can get via normal electrical distribution lines will cost nearly as much as the home they are powering.

Answer by electricpole
Most practical solar systems of any usable size have a purchase back cost that often exceeds the life span of the equipment compared to other electrical sources at this time. And it is not suitable for massive loads like refrigerators, and other household motors, so one would still need traditional grid connection unless they are willing to engage in some drastic lifestyle changes.
Solar is superior compared to wind energy of the same sized plant as it gives all of it’s energy during “peak” times, and is a good “peak shaving” mechanism. Peak energy costs many times more than at other times of less demand, and that makes solar price competitive in that arena

Answer by tlrakin
Many people are not using solar energy for their daily need, probably for 3 main reasons:

1. Lack of awareness
2. Cost of installation
3. Breaking off from the grid electricity or Integration to the grid electricity

Until lately, most people are not fully aware of the enormous energy that could be directly tapped from the Sun. It’s still pricey to obtain the pvcs for collecting the sun rays to covert to energy and where most areas are connected by grid system, how does a standalone electricity generator blend.

You will find a lot more information in the following website:

www.environbusiness.com/AEEE/solar.html

Cheers

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Thank you!
P.S. Any science fair related tips are also greatly appreciated!!!

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Answer by R
you can purchase those solar lights in home depot and demonstrate them?..

Answer by richard
in PHOTOVOLTAIC they have taken an ordinary home fly and removed it’s eyes… and put it on a DIE with 8 other fly eye lenses … coated in metal and will be used to amplify the light .. they have discovered that a fly eye receives and processes light superior than we can and thru mimic of nature we will get a more productive pic solar cell

Answer by xpatinasia
Photo-voltic arrays are low in efficiency, and use toxic chemicals to fabricate them. You could study the efficiencies of different methods of generating power.

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