Uses Of Wind Turbines

Wind is a powerful source of energy that has been harnessed for different uses for centuries. More and more scientists and researchers feel that wind can be used effectively as a renewable energy source and this can be done only when power within the moving air can be harnessed properly.

The Wind Energy Industry has grown rapidly since the 1990’s and is considered as one of the fastest growing sectors in the power generation industry. Some of the European countries have even installed wind turbines that have been in operation for almost 20 years now and this entire operation has been extremely successful as well. Using wind turbines to harness wind power to create energy have brought down the production costs and are viable option for the coal fired power stations. According to a study, the UK has the largest potential wind energy resource in the entire Europe and hence wind is being regarded their most promising future source of renewable energy technologies.

As of today the wind turbines in the UK are producing electricity that is being delivered to almost 390,000 households and reaching around 1 million people. A salient point of the use of wind energy is that it has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by almost 1.46 million tones per annum. The question is how can wind be converted into energy? The answer is: by using a wind turbine. The wind turbine is basically a type of rotating device just like a huge fan that can convert the kinetic energy present in the wind into mechanical energy. When this mechanical energy is used by any type of machinery like a pump then such a machine is known as a windmill. If the same mechanical energy is converted to electricity then the machine that does the conversion is called a wind generator or a wind turbine. It is also known as a wind energy converter (WEC) or a wind power unit (WPU).

Surprisingly the first use of the wind machines was for grinding grains as early as 200 B.C in Persia. It was also introduced in the prosperous and powerful Roman Empire in 250 A.D. The year 1900 saw the maximum number of windmills being used in Denmark. Almost 2500 windmills were installed to provide the much needed mechanical load to pumps and gave a peak power of 30MW.
Why Wind Turbines should be used?
Wind turbines can effectively help in creating mechanical energy, which can be used for multiple purposes including assisting in the generation of power and electricity. Some of the other uses include:
* One of the salient points is that there is only a one time installation cost after which the electricity that is produced using a wind turbine will be free.
* It is a source of clean renewable energy that will not generate any greenhouse gases or emit carbon dioxide or even produce any dangerous wastes.
* Each unit of electricity produced by a wind turbine displaces one from every conventional power station. Wind turbines have been commissioned in the UK and have been extremely successful in prevent the emission of almost one and a three-quarter millions tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.
* Wind is a reliable and abundant source. UK being the windiest country in Europe has abundance of wind energy that can be used for making electricity.
* Wind power contributes significantly to the overall energy generation in any country. Denmark is one of the countries that gets almost 20% of its electricity from wind power
* Wind turbines use an extremely robust technology that is designed for operation locally as well as remotely and requires only periodic maintenance.

Alternative Energy And The Need For A Proper Storage Technology

A number of energy storage technologies have been developed or are under development for electric power applications, including:

* Pumped hydro power
* Compressed air energy storage (CAES)
* Batteries
* Flywheels
* Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES)
* Super-capacitors

This is the future that we can safely anticipate, especially when there is a rapid depletion of other energy resources. Of course, the most important energy resource still remains the sun from where we can derive solar power and fulfill various energy and power requirements. Off late, many companies have started to build mono-crystalline and polycrystalline solar cells, which can be used in several sectors like aerospace, the aviation industry, residential power generation, traffic lights, automobiles etc. Solar energy apart from other renewable energies is being looked at as one of the key areas because it is a clean energy source.

Pumped Hydro
Pumped hydro has been in use since 1929, making it the oldest of the central station energy storage technologies. In fact, until 1970 it was the only commercially available storage option for generation applications.

Conventional pumped hydro facilities consist of two large reservoirs, one is located at base level, and the other is situated at a different elevation. Water is pumped to the upper reservoir where it can be stored as potential energy. Upon demand, water is released back into the lower reservoir, passing through hydraulic turbines, which generate electrical power as high as 1,000 MW.

The barriers to increased use of this storage technology in the U.S. include high construction costs and long lead times as well as the geographic, geologic, and environmental constraints associated with reservoir design. Currently, efforts aimed at increasing the use of pumped hydro storage are focused on the development of underground facilities.

Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES)
CAES plants use off-peak energy to compress and store air in an airtight underground storage cavern. Upon demand, stored air is released from the cavern, heated, and expanded through a combustion turbine to create electrical energy.

In 1991, the first U.S. CAES facility was built in McIntosh, Alabama, by the Alabama Electric Cooperative and EPRI, and has a capacity rating of 110 MW. Currently, manufacturers can create CAES machinery for facilities ranging from 5 to 350 MW. EPRI has estimated that more than 85% of the U.S. has geological characteristics that will accommodate an underground CAES reservoir.

Studies have concluded that CAES is competitive with combustion turbines and combined-cycle units, even without attributing some of the unique benefits of energy storage.

Batteries
In recent years, much of the focus in the development of electric energy storage technology has been centered on battery storage devices. There is currently a wide variety of batteries available commercially and many more in the design phase.

In a chemical battery, charging causes reactions in electro-chemical compounds to store energy from a generator in a chemical form. Upon demand, reverse chemical reactions cause electricity to flow out of the battery and back to the grid.

The first commercially available battery was the flooded lead-acid battery, which was used for fixed, centralized applications. The valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) battery is the latest commercially available option. The VRLA battery is low-maintenance, spill- and leak-proof, and relatively compact.

Flywheels
Flywheels are currently being used for a number of non-utility related applications. Recently, however, researchers have begun to explore utility energy storage applications. A flywheel storage device consists of a flywheel that spins at a very high velocity and an integrated electrical apparatus that can operate either as a motor to turn the flywheel and store energy or as a generator to produce electrical power on demand using the energy stored in the flywheel.

Advanced Electro-chemical Capacitors/Super-Capacitors
Super-capacitors are also known as ultra-capacitors are in the earliest stages of development as an energy storage technology for electric utility applications. An electro-chemical capacitor has components related to both a battery and a capacitor.

Consequently, cell voltage is limited to a few volts. Specifically, the charge is stored by ions as in a battery. But, as in a conventional capacitor, no chemical reaction takes place in energy delivery. An electro-chemical capacitor consists of two oppositely charged electrodes, a separator, electrolyte, and current collectors.

Presently, very small super-capacitors in the range of seven to ten watts are widely available commercially for consumer power quality applications and are commonly found in household electrical devices. Development of larger-scale capacitors has been focused on electric vehicles.

The future is something that we cant predict but yes, as time passes, most of the current energy sources will reach a point from where we will not be able to use them. This is where alternative energy sources come into play and will be one of the major driving forces of the world energy requirements.

Solar Energy Collecting as an Alternative Energy Source

Photovoltaic cells - those black squares an array of which comprises a solar panel - are getting more efficient, and gradually less expensive, all the time, thanks to ever-better designs which all them to focus the gathered sunlight on a more and more concentrated point.

The size of the cells is decreasing as their efficiency rises, meaning that each cell becomes cheaper to produce and at once more productive.

As far as the aforementioned cost, the price of producing solar-generated energy per watt hour has come down to $4.00 at the time of this writing. Just 17 years ago, it was nearly double that cost.

Solar powered electricity generation is certainly good for the environment, as this alternative form of producing energy gives off absolutely zero emissions into the atmosphere and is merely utilizing one of the most naturally occurring of all things as its driver.

Solar collection cells are becoming slowly but surely ever more practical for placing upon the rooftops of people's homes, and they are not a difficult system to use for heating one's home, creating hot water, or producing electricity.

In the case of using the photovoltaic cells for hot water generation, the system works by having the water encased in the cells, where it is heated and then sent through your pipes.

Photovoltaic cells are becoming increasingly better at collecting sufficient radiation from the sun even on overcast or stormy days.

One company in particular, Uni-Solar, has developed solar collection arrays for the home that work well on inclement days, by way of a technologically more advanced system that stores more energy at one time during sunlit days than previous or other arrays.

There is actually another solar power system available for use called the PV System. The PV System is connected to the nearest electrical grid; whenever there is an excess of solar energy being collected at a particular home, it is transferred to the grid for shared use and as a means of lowering the grid's dependence on the hydroelectrically-driven electricity production.

Being connected to the PV System can keep your costs down as compared to full-fledged solar energy, while at once reducing pollution and taking pressure off the grid system. Some areas are designing centralized solar collection arrays for small towns or suburban communities.

Some big-name corporations have made it clear that they are also getting into the act of using solar power (a further indication that solar generated energy is becoming an economically viable alternative energy source).

Google is putting in a 1.6 megawatt solar power generation plant on the roof of its corporate headquarters, while Wal Mart wants to put in an enormous 100 megawatt system of its own.

Nations such as Japan, Germany, the United States, and Switzerland have been furthering the cause of solar energy production by providing government subsidies or by giving tax breaks to companies and individuals who agree to utilize solar power for generating their heat or electrical power.

As technology advances and a greater storage of solar collection materials is made available, more and more private investors will see the value of investing in this “green” technology and further its implementation much more.

Alternative Energy for the Home

The trend toward homes that are powered by alternative energy sources, ranging from wind turbines and solar collection cells to hydrogen fuel cells and biomass gases, is one that needs to continue into the 21st century and beyond.

We have great need of becoming more energy independent, and not having to rely on the supplying of fossil fuels from unstable nations who are often hostile to us and our interests.

But even beyond this factor, we as individuals need to get “off the grid” and also stop having to be so reliant on government-lobbying giant oil corporations who, while they are not really involved in any covert conspiracy, nevertheless have a stranglehold on people when it comes to heating their homes (and if not through oil, then heat usually supplied by grid-driven electricity, another stranglehold).

As Remi Wilkinson, Senior Analyst with Carbon Free, puts it, inevitably, the growth of distributed generation will lead to the restructuring of the retail electricity market and the generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure.

The power providers may have to diversify their business to make up for revenues lost through household energy microgeneration. She is referring to the conclusions by a group of UK analysts, herself included among them, who call themselves Carbon Free.

Carbon Free has been studying the ever-growing trend toward alternative energy-using homes in England and the West. This trend is being driven by ever-more government recommendation and sometimes backing of alternative energy research and development, the rising cost of oil and other fossil fuels, concern about environmental degradation, and desires to be energy independent.

Carbon Free concludes that, assuming traditional energy prices remain at their current level or rise, microgeneration (meeting all of one's home's energy needs by installing alternative energy technology such as solar panels or wind turbines) will become to home energy supply what the Internet became to home communications and data gathering, and eventually this will have deep effects on the businesses of the existing energy supply companies.

Carbon Free's analyses also show that energy companies themselves have jumped in on the game and seek to leverage microgeneration to their own advantage for opening up new markets for themselves. Carbon Free cites the example of electricity companies (in the UK) reporting that they are seriously researching and developing ideas for new geothermal energy facilities, as these companies see geothermal energy production as a highly profitable wave of the future.

Another conclusion of Carbon Free is that solar energy hot water heating technology is an efficient technology for reducing home water heating costs in the long run, although it is initially quite expensive to install.

However, solar power is not yet cost-effective for corporations, as they require too much in the way of specialized plumbing to implement solar energy hot water heating. Lastly, Carbon Free tells us that installing wind turbines is an efficient way of reducing home electricity costs, while also being more independent.

However, again this is initially a very expensive thing to have installed, and companies would do well to begin slashing their prices on these devices or they could find themselves losing market share.

Renewable Fuels for Alternative Energy

The Germans have really taken off when it comes to renewable fuel sources, and have become one of the major players in the alternative energy game. Under the aegis of the nation's electricity feed laws, the German people set a world record in 2006 by investing over $10 billion (US) in research, development, and implementation of wind turbines, biogas power plants, and solar collection cells.

Germany's “feed laws” permit the German homeowners to connect to an electrical grid through some source of renewable energy and then sell back to the power company any excess energy produced at retail prices.

This economic incentive has catapulted Germany into the number-one position among all nations with regards to the number of operational solar arrays, biogas plants, and wind turbines.

The 50-terawatt hours of electricity produced by these renewable energy sources account for 10% of all of Germany's energy production per year. In 2006 alone, Germany installed 100,000 solar energy collection systems.

Over in the US, the BP corporation has established an Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) to spearhead extensive new research and development efforts into clean burning renewable energy sources, most prominently biofuels for ground vehicles. BP's investment comes to $50 million (US) per year over the course of the next decade.

This EBI will be physically located at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The University is in partnership with BP, and it will be responsible for research and development of new biofuel crops, biofuel-delivering agricultural systems, and machines to produce renewable fuels in liquid form for automobile consumption.

The University will especially spearhead efforts in the field of genetic engineering with regard to creating the more advanced biofuel crops. The EBI will additionally have as a major focal point technological innovations for converting heavy hydrocarbons into pollution-free and highly efficient fuels.

Also in the US, the battle rages on between Congress and the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA). The GEA's Executive Director Karl Gawell has recently written to the Congress and the Department of Energy, the only way to ensure that DOE and OMB do not simply revert to their irrational insistence on terminating the geothermal research program is to schedule a congressional hearing specifically on geothermal energy, its potential, and the role of federal research.

Furthermore, Gawell goes on to say that recent studies by the National Research Council, the Western Governors' Association Clean Energy Task Force and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology all support expanding geothermal research funding to develop the technology necessary to utilize this vast, untapped domestic renewable energy resource.

Supporters of geothermal energy, such as this writer, are amazed at the minuscule amount of awareness that the public has about the huge benefits that research and development of the renewable alternative energy source would provide the US, both practically and economically. Geothermal energy is already less expensive to produce in terms of kilowatt-hours than the coal that the US keeps mining.

Geothermal energy is readily available, sitting just a few miles below our feet and easily accessible through drilling. One company, Ormat, which is the third largest geothermal energy producer in the US and has plants in several different nations, is already a billion-dollar-per-year business - geothermal energy is certainly economically viable.

How to Seek Grants for Alternative Energy R & D

If you are someone who wishes to begin researching and developing alternative energy technologies and you would want to be set up as a not-for-profit organization or entity, you will want to look into getting government grants, on both the state and the federal levels.

Government grants for alternative energy research and development have been highly touted by politicians on local, state, and federal levels in recent years, all the way up to the President himself.

This is due to the fact that we now recognize as a society that we need to seek out and develop alternative energy sources to those of the fossil fuels that we presently depend upon, as these fuels are not only slowly but surely running out (at least cheap access to digging them up is running out), but also damaging to the environment and air quality.

There is a fairly vast array of government grant programs available for you to check into. The great and most important thing to keep in mind about a government grant is that it's essentially free money. It is not a loan, you don't pay any interest, and you don't ever have to give the money back.

However, qualifying for these grants, as you might imagine with something involving the government and free money, has quite a lot of restrictions attached to it. Not only is qualification based on purpose and need in the eyes and opinions of government bureaucrats, but just because you qualify does not mean that you necessarily get the grant.

As Marshall McLuen put it, “the medium is the message”. The fact of the matter is that it is typically easier to apply for and qualify to receive a business loan - but then, that would not be free money, that would be something you owed to someone, and with interest on top.

There are professional grant writers who know how to write proposals in such a way that they get around the heavy load of restrictions set up by the government, and you might need to resort to one of these. Even governments employ professional grant writers to seek money from other branches of the government, such as a country government needing funding from the state or the federal government.

These people also keep abreast of what government grants are still or newly available and what ones have been removed from the table. It's an intricate web, so one must not get tangled up in when seeking needed financial backing for alternative energy research and development.

In fact, it is so complex that in the last decade or so the ranks of profession writers, as both individuals and as entire companies, have swelled. It is a profitable business - and this can make it fraught with illegal actions and controversial claims.

Nevertheless, each year there are many thousands of grants awarded throughout the United States for the purpose of helping the public. And again, with the government endorsement of grant money to be given to alternative energy researchers, you could very well get what you seek.

Investments in Alternative Energy

It is possible to have a portfolio which profitably (that's the key word, is it not?) invests in alternative energy funds. “Green” energy production is expected to be a multi-billion (in today's dollars) industry by 2013.

The most recently developed wind-turbine technologies have brought us wind-produced energy which is more cost efficient as well as more widespread. More state-of-the-art wind energy technologies are typically more market competitive with conventional energy technologies.

The newer wind-power technologies don't even kill birds like in days of old! Wind energy production is a growing technology, and companies engaged in it would make up an excellent part of a growth or aggressive growth portfolio.

Next to consider are solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, technologies. These are to be found implemented in pocket calculators, private property lights, US Coast Guard buoys, and other areas.

More and more they find their way onto the roofs of housing and commercial buildings and building complexes. Cost is falling.

Their energy efficiency (the ratio of the amount of work needed to cause their energy production versus the actual energy production) is steadily on the rise. As an example, the conversion efficiency of silicon cells has increased from a mere four percent in 1982 to over 20% for the latest technologies.

Photovoltaic cells create absolute zero pollution as they are generating electrical power. However, photovoltaic cells are not presently as cost effective as “utility produced” electricity. “PV” cells are not [capable at present for producing industrial-production amounts of electricity due to their present constraints on space.

However, areas where photovoltaic cell arrays could be implemented are increasingly available. In sum, costs are going down while efficiency is rising for this alternative fuel technology.

Many alternative energy investment portfolio advisors are confident that alternative energies derived from currents, tidal movement, and temperature differentials are poised to become a new and predominant form of clean energy. The French are actually fairly advanced at hydro power generation, and numerous studies are being made in Scotland and the US along these same lines.

Some concerns center around the problems with the deterioration of metals in salt water, marine growth such as barnacles, and violent storms which have all been disruptions to energy production in the past. However, these problems for the most part seem to be cured through the use of different, better materials.

Ocean-produced energy has a huge advantage because the timing of ocean currents and waves are well understood and reliable.

Investments in hydro-electric technology have grown in the last two decades. Hydro-electric power is clean; however, it's also limited by geography. While already prominent as power generation, the large, older dams have had problems with disturbing marine life.

Improvements have been made on those dams in order to protect marine life, but these improvements have been expensive. Consequently, more attention is now being paid to low-impact "run-of-the-river" hydro-power plants, which do not have these ecological problems.

The reality is, the energy future is green, and investors would do well to put their money out wisely, with that advice in their minds.

Government Grants for Alternative Energy

In his State of the Union Address for 2007, President George W. Bush called for a 22% increase in federal grants for research and development of alternative energy.

However, in a speech he gave soon after, he said to those assembled, I recognize that there has been some interesting mixed signals when it comes to funding.

Where the mixed signals were coming from concerned the fact that at the same time the President was calling on more government backing for alternative energy research and development, the NREL - the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of Golden, Colordo - was laying off workers and contractors left and right. Apparently, the Laboratory got the hint, because soon after the State of the Union Address, everyone was re-hired.

The second speech of the President's was actually given at the NREL. There is almost unanimous public support for the federal backing through research grants, tax breaks, and other financial incentives of research and development of alternative energy sources.

The NREL is the nation's leading component of the National Bioenergy Center, a “virtual” center that has no central bricks and mortar office. The NREL's raison d'etre is the advancing of the US Department of Energy's and the United States' alternative energy objectives.

The laboratory's field researchers and staff scientists, in the words of Laboratory Director Dan Arvizu, “support critical market objectives to accelerate research from scientific innovations to market-viable alternative energy solutions. At the core of this strategic direction are NREL's research and technology development areas. These areas span from understanding renewable resources for energy, to the conversion of these resources to renewable electricity and fuels, and ultimately to the use of renewable electricity and fuels in homes, commercial buildings, and vehicles.”

The federally-backed Laboratory directly helps along the United States' objectives for discovering renewable alternative fuels for powering our economy and our lifestyles.

The NREL is set up to have several areas of expertise in alternative energy research and development. It spearheads research and development efforts into renewable sources of electricity; these would include such things as solar power, wind power, biomass power, and geothermal power.

It also spearheads research and development of renewable fuels for powering our vehicles such as biomass and biodiesel fuels and hydrogen fuel cells.

Then, it seeks to develop plans for integrated system engineering; this includes bringing alternative energy into play within buildings, electrical grids and delivery systems, and transportation infrastructures.

The Laboratory is also set up for strategic development and analysis of alternative energy objectives through the forces of economics, market analysis and planning, and alternative energy investment portfolios structuring.

The NREL is additionally equipped with a Technology Transfer Office. This Office supports laboratory scientists and engineers in the practical application of and ability to make a living from their expertise and the technologies they develop.

NREL's research and development staff and its facilities are recognized for their remarkable prowess by private industry, which is reflected in the hundreds of collaborative projects and licensed technologies that the Laboratory now has with both public and private partners.

Resources For Alternative Energy

There are many different forms in which alternative energy is available.

One of these is solar power. Solar power is driven by photovoltaic cells, and these are progressively getting less expensive and more advanced.

Solar energy power can be used for electricity, heating, and making hot water. Solar energy produces no pollution, as its input comes completely from the sun's rays. However, much more work still needs to be done in order for us to economically harness the sun's energy.

For the time being, the resource is a little too conditional - storage batteries are needed to be used as backups in the evenings and on inclement days.

Wind energy has become the most-invested-in (by private investors and governments together) alternative energy source for the time being. The great arrays of triple-bladed windmills are being placed all over as “wind farms”, to capture the motion of the wind and use its kinetic energy for conversion to mechanical or electrical energy.

Of course, there is nothing new about the concept of a windmill for harnessing energy. Modern wind turbines are simply are more advanced variations on the old theme.

The drawback to wind energy is...what do you do when there is a calm, still day?

Needless to say, during these times the electric company kicks in for powering your home or office. Wind energy is not altogether independent.

Hydroelectric energy is available as a source of alternative energy, and it can generate a substantial amount of power. Simply put, hydroelectric energy uses the motion of water - its flow in response to gravity, which means downhill - to turn turbines which then generate electrical energy.

Water is ubiquitous; finding sources for driving hydroelectric turbines is, therefore, not much of a problem. However, hydroelectricity as a source of alternative energy can be complicated and expensive to produce.

Dams are often built in order to be able to control the flow of the water sufficiently to generate the needed power. Building a dam to store and control water's potential and kinetic energy takes quite a lot of work, and operating one is complex as well, and conservationists grow concerned that it.

A dam is not always needed if one is not trying to supply the electrical needs of a city or other very densely populated area. There are small run-of-river hydroelectric converters which are good for supplying neighborhoods or an individual office or home.

Probably the most underrated and under-appreciated form of alternative energy is geothermal energy, which is simply the naturally-occurring energy produced by the heating of artesian waters that are just below the earth's crust.

This heat is transferred into the water from the earth's inner molten core. The water is drawn up by various different methods - there are “dry steam” power plants, “flash” power plants, and “binary” power plants for harnessing geothermal energy.

The purpose of drawing up the hot water is for the gathering of the steam. The Geysers, approximately 100 miles north of San Francisco, is probably the best-known of all geothermal power fields; it's an example of a dry stream plant.

Developing Nuclear Power as Alternative Energy

Many researchers believe that harnessing the power of the atom in fission reactions is the most significant alternative energy resource that we have, for the fact of the immense power that it can generate.

Nuclear power plants are very “clean-burning” and their efficiency is rather staggering. Nuclear power is generated at 80% efficiency, meaning that the energy produced by the fission reactions is almost equal to the energy put into producing the fission reactions in the first place.

There is not a lot of waste material generated by nuclear fission - although, due to the fact that there is no such thing as creating energy without also creating some measure of waste, there is some.

The concerns of people such as environmentalists with regards to using nuclear power as an alternative energy source center around this waste, which is radioactive gases which have to be contained.

The radiation from these gases lasts for an extraordinarily long time, so it can never be released once contained and stored. However, the volume of this waste gas produced by the nuclear power plants is small in comparison to how much NOx (nitrous oxide - that is, air pollution) is caused by one day's worth of rush-hour traffic in Los Angeles.

While the radiation is certainly the more deadly by far of the two waste materials, the radiation is also by far the easier of the two to contain and store.

In spite of the concerns of the environmentalists, nuclear power is actually environmentally friendly alternative energy, and the risk of the contained radiation getting out is actually quite low.

With a relatively low volume of waste material produced, it should not be a difficult thing at all for storage and disposal solutions for the long term to be developed as technology advances.

The splitting of an atom releases energy in the forms of both heat and light. Atomic power plants control the fission reactions so that they don't result in the devastating explosions that are brought forth in atomic and hydrogen bombs.

There is no chance of an atomic power plant exploding like a nuclear bomb, as the specialized conditions and the pure Plutonium used to unleash an atomic bomb's vicious force simply don't exist inside a nuclear power plant.

The risk of a “meltdown” is very low. Although this latter event has happened a couple of times, when one considers that there are over 430 nuclear reactors spread out across 33 nations, and that nuclear reactors have been in use since the early 1950,s, these are rare occurrences, and the events of that nature which have taken place were the fault of outdated materials which should have been properly kept up.

Indeed, if nuclear energy could become a more widely accepted form of alternative energy, there would be little question of their upkeep being maintained. Currently, six states in America generate more than half of all their electrical energy needs through nuclear power, and the media are not filled with gruesome horror stories of the power plants constantly having problems.

Alternative Energy

Alternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels. Typically, official uses of the term, such as qualification for governmental incentives, exclude fossil fuels and nuclear energy whose undesired consequences are high carbon dioxide emissions, the major contributing factor of global warming according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and difficulties of radioactive waste disposal. Over the years, the nature of what was regarded alternative energy sources has changed considerably, and today because of the variety of energy choices and differing goals of their advocates, defining some energy types as "alternative" is highly controversial. The term "alternative" presupposes a set of undesirable energy technologies against which "alternative energies" are opposed. As such, the list of energy technologies excluded is an indicator of what problems that the alternative technologies are intended to address. Controversies regarding dominant forms of energy and their alternatives have a long history.

Why are Solar Panels Important?

Solar panels convert the suns energy into usable forms of power. Solar panels can be a certain kind of device that attracts the sun to use the sun to power machinery that can transfer the heat from the sun into whatever they need. We could use solar panels to convert the heat from the sun into the energy we need to power things that run.

Solar panels are common and can be seen in a lot of different products, such as calculators, satellites, or even space ships. Solar panels are an effective way to redirect the sunlight and use it for electricity.

It all starts over one hundred years ago when a man got the idea to use the heat from the sun to power his machinery. The main focus was to use the steam from the hot sun light in order to start and maintain their machines. This new revelation peaked the interest of several scientists who did not waste any time travelling to see how this discovery worked.

Since then, there have been groundbreaking products that have increased the convenience and the need to use a natural resource such as the sun in order to work machinery.

Solar panels can be different shapes and sizes but their main purpose is to convert the light in order to make electricity. Photovoltaic, or PV, is the process of converting the light into electricity. Photovoltaic cells are self generating and consist of a very thing film made of silver.

This film is placed on a semiconductor layer that can be found on an iron substrate. The photovoltaic cells are very important in producing enough sunlight and heat in order to successfully produce the energy that is needed in order to heat up water, heat homes and power electricity.

Solar panels can be found in all different shapes and sizes including round, square, and rectangle. You can see them on top of buildings and houses or standing alone in fields. Solar panels are in hand held devices and they are in energy efficient appliances. The sun is a wonderful natural resource and can greatly cater to our way of life. The study of natural resources like the sun is ongoing and the improvement that can be made in the future is anyone's guess but you can't go wrong when you use natural resources.

Because this new way of production was in trial and error stage, it was somewhat expensive to turn your home or business into a natural way to heat and power. But since things have changed and newer material has surfaced and since we know more about the solar panels the cost is not as high, although it is still higher than using man made methods of producing heat and electricity.

In the long run using solar panels for all your electric needs will save you money in the long run because you won't have to worry about paying for your power. As long as the sun shines you will have power.

On days that are too cloudy for the sun to break through to the earth, your system should still be adequate enough to carry the electricity through another day.

Solar Power Efficient Appliances

Solar power is the latest in saving the planet and conserving our energy. Solar power is energy produced from the sun and has great results when you use both energy and conservation. With solar power becoming more popular there is also the need for solar power products.

People are now building solar power houses to live in more efficiently. They also want appliances, lighting, heating, water pumps and water heaters to be solar power efficient as well. That is why we now have a way of purchasing solar power appliances to use in the kitchen.

Appliances are usually the most costly appliance in a home as they usually run almost continuously and get used often.

Appliances Available

Now you don't have to go through the time and effort of making your home solar power but using regular standard appliances. With solar power appliances it is easy to become solar power all the way.

Refrigerators: The one great thing about solar power refrigerators is that they offer the convenience of a refrigerator and freezer in one at a minimal amount of cost. They are thermostat controlled which allows you to set the temperature of your refrigerator and freezer.

There is minimal noise as it runs because the power to it is a natural constant flow. They also come in a variety of sizes as well as colors in order to fit into any solar power kitchen.

Appliances that are Efficient: Not all appliances can be solar powered and for that reason appliances that are efficient are the next best thing. They conserve the energy that it takes to run that appliance and provide you with the service that you expect out of that appliance.

Chest freezers, dishwashers, stoves, microwaves, washers and dryers are all appliances that can be purchased with efficiency to save on energy and money. When you use appliances that are efficient they usually cost more up front but in the long run they are worth the effort and can last you a lifetime with proper maintenance.

Today most of the products and appliances that we buy are energy efficient and guaranteed to run on minimal energy which saves you money when you purchase it. Although you won't be able to see the cost decrease all at once you may notice it over time.

There are several other ways that you can reduce the cost of appliances such as drying clothes on a clothes line indoors or outdoors to keep from running a clothes dryer.

Washing the dishes by hand instead of in a dishwasher or using one or two days per week to wash clothing instead of one or two loads everyday is a great way to cut down expenses.

Over time these helpful tips will decrease your bill and allow you to see a noticeable difference. When you save energy it benefits everyone. Once we can all use solar power to provide energy we will all see a difference in the cost of energy. Using energy efficient appliances is a great investment that will last for years.

Places to find solar power

Solar power can be found in several different places on the earth. You can find solar power in a parked car, in a building with no air circulating, in a home without windows opened or fans circulating the air.

When you step into any of these places that have been in the sunlight for a while you soon become overpowered by the amount and the intensity of the heat. This kind of heat can be taken and converted into heat that can heat your home, your water, an outbuilding, or any other building you would like to have heat in.

Heating by solar power is a free way of heating. When you heat using solar power you use a source that will direct the heat from the sunlight during the daytime to your solar source.

A solar source is a device that you use to attract and trap the heat from the sun. Just like a car out in the parking lot gets hot when it faces the midday sun and the windows are rolled up. The seats can become very hot, too hot to sit on.

These seats are a solar source because they trapped the heat inside and didn't want to let them go. When this happens the seats will still be warm long after the sun quits shining directly on that car.

Creating a solar source can be easy to do with a little thought put into it. With a solar source you need to think about all the things that attract the sun, such as metal, the color black, glass that is tinted or clear, mirrors and more.

There is an endless supply of idea to signal the heat your way and trap it for your use. To get the heat to benefit your water system or even your heat, you need to come up with a way that you can circulate a liquid that when it passes by your solar source it will heat the water naturally because of the concentrated amount of heat that was trapped inside your solar source that day.

When the liquid carries through the solar source and travels into the home it can go directly to the water source where it can be kept warm, like a hot water tank, but naturally without using gas and electricity to keep it warm.

This solar source can be a great challenge to create but you will enjoy the rewards for years to come. You can also find solar sources in stores as well as online. Shopping for solar power items has never been easier and it is not expensive.

Coming up with a solution that will carry the heat into the home is simple and practical. If your idea is successful you will have heat during the winter and warm water all year around.

The main goal is not only to preserve the natural resources and the environment but it is cost effective when you can use something that is natural that you need to use.

Solar Power Homes

Have you ever noticed homes that have huge tinted windows in them as you drive by? You may wonder why someone would want such tall windows in their home. There is a reason for that and it is because of they are using solar power to heat their homes and to provide the energy they need to power it.

Any home can be built to use solar power with just a few minor alteration to make and you too can build a solar power house that will save you a lot of money in the future as you use solar power to heat your home, pump and heat your water and also to provide energy to your home to power your appliances and lights in your home naturally and effectively without a monthly bill

There are just a few suggestions when building your solar power home. It depends on where you live as to which side of the house you should put the most windows on. For the most part is more common to assume that the sun rises more toward the south side of your home.

This is the side where you want to have the most windows in your home. That way you are allowing the sun to shine through and warm your home naturally. You also need to make sure that there are no trees that are directly close to the house that may prevent the sun from shining directly into the home.

Don't use dark colors in your home to decorate with. Instead use bright and light colors that will attract the heat more evenly and benefits you more.

Adding a solar source outside where you can use a solar power designed box to attract the heat from the sun can be transformed into energy to power your home and warm your water.

The products that it takes to get this accomplished will cost a little more than if you built a standard home without using solar power. The good thing about solar power is that it is an initial investment.

Overtime when you totally rely on the sun to heat your home and all the other functions it can perform you will not have a monthly bill because you don't pay for the sun every month like you do with other power sources.

Use ceiling fans to reduce the amount of time you may need to run your air conditioner. Ceiling fans can produce a more even amount of heat and air without having hot and cold pockets throughout the home. Use metal insulated doors that will keep out the cold and bring in the heat.

Keep the doors closed during the time of day that the sun is shining in on that side of your home in order to save the heat inside your home longer.

Owning a solar power home means that you are encouraging preserving our natural resources for the future. It also means that you will not worry with the increase in cost of electricity and gas because you are using the best source out there without hurting the environment.

Storing Energy

We have come to rely completely on energy. We use it in almost everything we do; we live in it, use it for all our modern conveniences and more. Without energy we wouldn't know what to do. In the past, before energy, there were lanterns for light and matches and wood for heat. That was the only options people had. When power was accessible to everyone by running power lines through cities, towns, residential areas to allow everyone to tap into the new generation, people were skeptical as to how this would affect everyone in the future.

Over the years, appliances became energy friendly, which made for less manual labor and more free time. Wash machines, dryers, dishwashers and the latest in cooking stoves that no longer needed wood. These were all great inventions and although people were skeptical they still took advantage of these appliances.

Today we have the worry of saving the energy that we know and love so well. Our energy is fuelled by non-renewable resources which will allow the depletion of these resources slowly and over time where we won't realize it until it is gone. We need to find an alternative to the way we power our energy but we also need to store the energy that we already have. Solar energy has been tested and experimented with as we learn more and more about how to conserve and store the natural heat from the sunlight.

We all know how effective it is and why it is something that we should work very hard at conserving. Storing the solar energy can mean endless usage of water and other necessities by using conservative methods of saving energy. Thermal mass systems are the process of using natural resources to make material that will store solar energy. This type of storage uses renewable resources from the earth, such as dirt, water and man made resources such as concrete to help store energy if only for a short period of time. Thermal mass can help heat water at night or heat your home long after the sun goes down or on cloudy days when the sun doesn't peak through the clouds at all.

These need to be worked on because there is no extensive long storage capability using solar power just yet. Then you have the thermo-chemically phase which uses types of devices to store heat. Some examples of this type of storage includes: Paraffin wax inside of a storage tank. When the paraffin wax is cold it is solid but when it is heated it is a liquid that can help hold heat for a very long time without cooling it down. As the paraffin wax cools it becomes hard which can hold the heat in longer. Eutectic Salts are inexpensive and can store heat in a heating system which will distribute the heat evenly and lasting hotter longer. Molten Salts are an effective way to store solar energy because it allows the heat to remain hot without being non-flammable and cost effective.

During the time that the storage tank is heating up, the salt mixture is heated and then used to make steam. Rechargeable batteries can be a great way to store energy. This type of storage allows the power source connected to the battery maintain its power. Lead acid batteries are the more common battery used for this type of storage. As you see there are several ways that we can store natural energy we just need to learn how to make these methods more practical and efficient. When we figure it out we will have an unlimited supply of natural heat.

The Benefits of Solar Power

The sun produces massive amounts of heat which is transmitted down to the Earth's surface. When the sun's rays reach the Earth's surface, the intensity of the heat is not as high because some of the heat is rerouted before it reaches the Earth's atmosphere.

In summer time we think that it couldn't get much hotter as the mid day sun makes us run for shade, but it could be hotter if the heat wasn't rerouted.

Solar power can be strong enough to power machinery and that is exactly what was discovered over one hundred years ago when a man working on a machine wondered if steam from the heat of the day could be used to power machinery. He was right and thus began a new form of production - heat and electricity.

Today, solar power is being used all around the world. Solar energy is being concentrated into a solar source where the heat is used in a variety of ways. We still rely on our way of heating and powering our homes but in the future it may all be powered by the sun. It will be cost effective to use solar power as the only source for your home's energy.

In order to use solar power you will need to have something that can attract the sun's energy and allow the heat and light to be concentrated where it can stay warm for a long period of time. This is fairly easy when you consider the knowledge and resources we already have access to currently.

When you use solar power for heating and power, you are using clean, renewable energy.

Solar power is utilized in space shuttles because this type of power produces the most efficient energy with the least amount of complications. The solar panels are faced toward the sun at all times in order to power the shuttle efficiently. 

There are fewer problems from solar power than with other energy alternatives.

Even though there are cloudy days, rain, snow or other weather conditions, it is still possible to produce enough heat in your solar source to create enough energy to last until the sun's energy returns to your energy collection devices.

Solar power is in our future.  We need to embrace it. Right now, solar power is only being used by those who concerned about our planet's atmosphere.   This is an issues we should all be concerned about today.

Solar power has so many benefits for us to explore and appreciate.

Solar Power For The RV

Everyone likes to get away for the weekend and when you get a chance to there is a lot of fun in taking a recreational vehicle, or RV, to go camping in. Your RV could be a pull behind camper or a camper that you can drive. What ever you use RV's usually run off of electricity from another source or they have battery powered lights.

When you use electric hook up in a camper you may want to consider turning your RV into a solar powered RV and never worry about electric hook ups again. Enjoy your vacation anywhere without restrictions.

Once you hook up to a power source you are able to have the comforts of home by turning on and off the lights and using the bathroom. If you cannot access a power outlet you may use a generator to supply power to the camper.

These generators are nice in a pinch but you have the problems of running out of fuel to keep it going not to mention the noise that it makes. If you want to turn your RV into a solar power RV it is simple to do and with little expense. There are a number of different products that you can buy to make camping fun and modern with little or no effort.

You can mount a solar panel to the RV camper in order to charge your energy in your RV. This is done by purchasing a solar panel mounting bracket that your solar panel will set on. You can buy RV solar panel kits that include both the mount and the panel.

Once it is installed you can power your camper and batteries using the suns warmth that was already there and it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to do so. Run your solar panel wire to the battery compartment and you are ready to go. Each solar powered kit offers different wattages and sizes so you can select the right one for your RV size and what you will be using.

When you are out on a camping trip you can feel good knowing that you can go anywhere you need to go. Your solar panel on top of your RV will also withstand any type of weather and because a camper is so small it won't take much solar power to operate the RV.

Another hot solar powered item to buy for your RV is called the Solar Power Ventilator. This provides the perfect ventilation system for small quarters, such as RV's. When it is hot in the summer or anytime that the sun is shining it doesn't take long for the RV to heat up and become very uncomfortable. The solar power ventilator will run all the hot air out and circulate the air with clean fresh air.

When you take the RV out you want to enjoy your time in the great outdoors without giving up the fact that you have to rely on a power source or go without power completely. If you have to go without power you may find that it is inconvenient and hard to do, especially when you purchase an RV because of the way that it is convenient.

What You Need To Know About Solar Power

Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the sun that has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation along with secondary solar resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass account for most of the available renewable energy on Earth. Only a minuscule fraction of the available solar energy is used.

Solar power technologies provide electrical generation by means of heat engines or photovoltaics. Once converted, its uses are only limited by human ingenuity. A partial list of solar applications includes space heating and cooling through solar architecture, potable water via distillation and disinfection, daylighting, hot water, thermal energy for cooking, and high temperature process heat for industrial purposes.

Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute sunlight. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels, solar thermal collectors, with electrical or mechanical equipment, to convert sunlight into useful outputs. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.

Solar power is everywhere because it comes from the sun. Solar power can be used to power electricity, pump water, to heat your home or office and power vehicles. With all that we can do with solar power you have to wonder why we don't do enough to conserve the solar power.

We could use it for almost anything and it would cost a fraction of what we are paying now. You can make a difference by doing your part is making solar power something you can use.
In order to power energy with solar power you need to know the basics of solar power and how it works. It takes a long time for heat from the sunlight to reach the earth. Unless it is concentrated into a particular area the heat from the sun will be distributed evenly over the earth's surface where the sun is shining.

When you want to use the natural sun light to power your electricity, heat or water you need to know the process to it.

You need to direct the sunlight to a concentrated area in order to have enough energy to power your source. Some of the biggest solar power towers are set up around the world.
Solar power is not something that a few people are trying but solar power is about the future, everyone's future. When you use a light in your home you may not realize the process that brings that energy to that switch so when you flip it on you will have lights. The energy that it takes to run power to our homes are not a natural way of energy.

Conserving the energy that comes from the sun is the most natural way to equip our homes with energy, heat and more. When we use natural resources we save in several ways; by preserving the earth, cutting down on monthly and over all costs, and no inconvenient power outages.
Preserving the earth helps when you use natural resources that don't hurt the earths atmosphere and everything in it. If we continue to use the power that we use today we may pollute the atmosphere so much that the right amount of sun will not be able to make it down to the earth's surface in the future.

Then we will have no other choice but to rely on our man-made abilities to produce something that will cost us more than what it already does now. Pollutants will also harm life on earth as it starts to close in and start to harm us. Cutting down on monthly and over all costs can save you a lot of money in the future.

In the beginning you may pay a minimal amount to be solar power efficient by purchasing a solar source. You can buy indoor and outdoor lighting, solar power windows and insulated doors in order to make your home more solar efficient.
After that initial expense you don't have the expense of paying a monthly bill to keep your service on. This also promotes others to use solar power to be more efficient.
When a storm blows through we are sometimes left without power for at least a day but sometimes more. When this happens we are so use to our conveniences that we have a hard time adjusting to going back to the basics when we are use to flipping on a light switch, using the microwave, taking a shower or bath assuming that the water can be pumped and heated the same as it always is.

When you use solar power you are less likely to experience down times because your power is generated by natural energy.

Using Solar Power

Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun that has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation along with secondary solar resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass account for most of the available renewable energy on Earth. Only a minuscule fraction of the available solar energy is used. Solar power technologies provide electrical generation by means of heat engines or photovoltaics. Once converted its uses are only limited by human ingenuity. A partial list of solar applications includes space heating and cooling through solar architecture, potable water via distillation and disinfection, daylighting, hot water, thermal energy for cooking, and high temperature process heat for industrial purposes. Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute sunlight. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels, solar thermal collectors, with electrical or mechanical equipment, to convert sunlight into useful outputs. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air. When you think of solar power you think of heating and light for your home. That is one of the many things that we use solar power for. Solar power is everywhere and it is growing everyday. There are different products that are made using solar power. I will list these products and their uses and also how solar power affects them. Solar power is using the sun's natural heat to produce electricity, heat, and more. When you use solar power you are using the natural resources found that cannot harm the earth in ways that other methods can. There are more products that use solar power than what we realize. A lot of the electronics made will use some type of solar power in order to function completely and accurately. For example, calculators are solar power products. These calculators may or may not have on and off switches. Some rely on the solar panel completely in order to stay or turn off. Solar power calculators need a certain amount of light inside the solar panel in order to turn the calculator on and perform what you want it to do; add, subtract, divide, multiply and more. The solar panel in a calculator is not as big as the one that you would to power your home. The size needed for a calculator is adjusted before installation to provide the right amount of what it needs. Solar power products can be found in travel products, outdoor recreation, safety products, emergency products and more. Radios have are produced with a solar panel inside that transforms the sunlight into energy allowing you to listen to your radio while you are outside.

Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun that has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation along with secondary solar resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass account for most of the available renewable energy on Earth. Only a minuscule fraction of the available solar energy is used.

Solar power technologies provide electrical generation by means of heat engines or photovoltaics. Once converted its uses are only limited by human ingenuity. A partial list of solar applications includes space heating and cooling through solar architecture, potable water via distillation and disinfection, daylighting, hot water, thermal energy for cooking, and high temperature process heat for industrial purposes.

Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute sunlight. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels, solar thermal collectors, with electrical or mechanical equipment, to convert sunlight into useful outputs. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.

When you decide to convert your main power source over to solar power you will need to make some adjustments to the appliances that carry the power source. When you use solar power to heat your water you may find that you will need to purchase a solar powered water heater in order to do that.

You may be able to make adjustments to your existing one but what ever steps you take to turn it into solar power it will be worth it.

There are several different ways to heat your water using solar power. You can even make your own solar power source. The water runs through pipes before it enters your home. Heating water using solar power will occur before the water gets into your home as it passes by the solar source that attracted the light.

You may also have a tank to store the water in that can heat the water up. In order to heat your water successfully you will need to have both a solar collector and a storage tank.
A flat plate collector is the most common collector. It is designed to be a thin, flat rectangular box that has a see through cover and it can carry fluid to be heated. This fluid could be the water or it may be a solution, such as antifreeze that will prevent the water from freezing. Next the water moves through the tubes to an absorber plate. This plate is painted black to attract and absorb the heat from the sun. When the collector gets hot, it will heat the fluid that passes through the tubes.

As the water passes through the tubes it goes into the storage tank. The storage tank holds the heated water. It is usually well insulated so the water will stay warm longer. Then the water flows into the home on demand.
Solar water heating systems are divided into two groups: Active and passive. When the heating systems are active, that means that they rely on the pumps or other mechanical device that can move the water between the flat plate collector and the storage tank.

Both ways are logical and may be more of a choice of preference for you. Another thought that you need to consider is that if your flat plate collector and your storage tank is not angled right it may be hard for the gravity to feed the liquid through.

Heating water using solar power is very affordable and can be installed with minimal effort. Choosing to heat your water using solar power is a wise choice and a first step in making a choice to help preserve our environment.

We know how easy it is to use solar power to do a lot of things, including heating our water.

1. Active is the most common because it is quicker and more efficient.
2. The passive system relies on gravity to feed the water from the flat plate collector to the storage tank. This may be slow at times and may not be sufficient enough to keep up with the demand.
   
   
   
   
   
   

Children should learn about solar power

Kids today can learn about so many different things. We have a way to teach them about solar power. This resource will be their future and will depend on how we take care of it today. Solar power can be anywhere the sun shines and you can feel and see the warmth.

Solar power can heat water, heat homes, schools, businesses, and it can produce energy. Teaching kids today how solar power works and how we can use it wisely will ensure that our future and theirs will be protected.

First of all, learning about the harmful affects of our energy usage today is important for them to understand why there should be another way to produce energy. Because the electricity that we use today comes from non-renewable resources, we are setting ourselves up for a big fall. 

When that resource runs out we will be forced to rely on an alternative to supply our power.
Scientist are working today to ensure that when we do run out of that resource we will be able to switch over to another way without missing a beat.

The problem with that is we shouldn't wait until that resource is gone to switch over. We should be able to switch in the near future and preserve what we have left. Another problem with our energy production today is that it is harmful to the environment.

It pollutes the air and will eventually make it impossible for us to use the sun as a natural resource. We can't afford to lose that important alternative. In order to save our environment, we need to teach the kids how we can all join together in order to save there solar power.

Solar power can generate energy using natural resources and man-made solar inventions that will attract the solar power to the source. In order to make this effective, we must find solar sources that are not expensive but can provide the power we need. A standard home can benefit greatly by switching to solar power.

It is easy to do. Also when you build your home, you can build it using solar power as a way to naturally bring electricity into your home, heat your water, and perform other functions which can be controlled by using solar power.

In the long run, we benefit by not paying for a resource that is slowly reducing our natural resources. Our kids will be rewarded by our careful planning.

People of all ages can benefit from conserving solar power but it needs to start now in order to create a "brighter" future for everyone.

Teaching children how to save energy and how we need to come up with a way to utilize solar power in the future in order to supply heating, electricity, and other energy necessities is crucial to our way of life.

One day we may not need to run power lines through fields, streets and yards because we will all have solar power boxes in the back yard instead.


Take a look below for a great idea to begin using solar power!



Opteka BP-SC6000 Ultra High Capacity (6000mAh) Backup Battery Solar Charger with Faster Charging EcoPanel (2013 Model)

The Opteka BP-SC6000 Ultra High Capacity Solar Powered Mobile Device Charger allows you to charge your mobile devices when a wall outlet or USB power source are not available. The BP-SC6000 features our all new Solar EcoPanel, which takes a solar charge up to 40% faster than previously available. The BP-SC6000 also contains a extended 6000mAh lithium power bank, enough to charge all your devices. The power bank charges up via solar or your computer USB port.The BP-SC6000 includes micro USB and Apple 30-pin charging tips and USB extension cable, making the it compatible with most Nokia, Samsung, LG, Palm, Blackberry, Apple iPhone, iPod, iPad, Motorola, Sony, Bluetooth, GPS, various digital cameras, PSP, various eBooks, tablets, Nintendo DS, Kindle, and other devices.