Solar cells have been around for almost 60 years. During that time they have evolved from large, expensive, technical curiosities into tiny cells that are affordable & efficient.
Photovoltaic cells originated from the Bell Laboratories in the 1950s as a spin off from transistor technology. The now famous discovery that when the suns rays hit a wafer of silicon it generates a surprisingly large numbers of free electrons. A panel of several silicon strips were made, placed in sunlight, the captured free electrons were turned into electrical current & the first solar battery was born.
Their first real test was in the 1960s with the emergence of space flight & their use as an efficient but very expensive power source for satellites. The development of this exciting technology is accelerating every year. Present day solar cells have evolved from bulky, inefficient panels into very small layers of film that are now twice as conductive & designed to function with less sunlight.
Solar panels since the 1960s have dropped in cost from an astonishing $40,000 per watt to now around just $6 per watt & below £3 per watt in large numbers with state rebates. Worldwide production and use of solar cells has been expanding every year by an average of 48 percent since 2002 & has become the world’s fastest growing renewable energy technology.
Harvesting this energy is more important than ever, it is both a practical & economical solution for supplying energy to homes, factories, farms, as well as an increasing number of personal electronics.
Another popular & important fact is that solar energy is that it can save you lots of money & building your own solar panel is now relatively simple DIY project & cheap to do.
It enables you to take advantage of government refunds & even net metering (a great system where you can sell unused electricity back to the power company) & dramatically reduce your energy bills.
The New York Times way back in 1954 ran the headline that the invention of solar cells would `Lead to the realization of one of mankind’s most cherished dreams’. It was a bold statement to live up to but today solar panels are finally a practical solution to utilizing the sun’s energy, providing a clean, alternative resource that is environmentally friendly & does not contribute to global warming.
If you are interested in building or installing solar panels in your home then there is a wealth of information, advice & guides available online.
There is no need to even comprehend the physics behind solar energy to understand it’s appeal & after 60 years, it’s appeal & advantages are greater than ever.
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