Solar Energy

I have a small panel of solar cells, i wish to save this energy for lighting my study lamp, how do i do it?
How much energy will it hold? How do i convert it to light?
Please help friends.
Thanks

You will need a way to store the energy gained my solar panel.

Way 1, 12 volt battery. to store this way, I suggest a regulator to prevent your battery overloading, though this is not always needed. This is the most common way.

Way 2, wire up a capacitor. this is a type of temporary battery, as it stores electrical charge and releases it on its full capacity. This way is good if you want lighting in a cellar during daytime

Way 3, use the electric you gain to pump water to a high point and then use gravity to create hydro electric whenever you need it. This way works, but you lose energy.

If you want to run lights off a battery, you will need some 12 volt bulbs, as these work of different electricity than normal household bulbs. You can cheat and use car head light bulbs, or go for the real things and buy proper 12 volt bulbs to fit a lamp-stand.

Unless you disconnect your household light circuit from the mains, you will need an extra set of wiring.

In short, the most simple way, if you put your panel in the window, lead the two wires to your battery, ensuring you connect each wire to the correct terminal (the panel will instruct which is which). From the battery, take a wire off each terminal and fix to the light bulb holder, and an extra wire from the negative battery terminal to an earth source, such as a copper water pipe. Don’t worry, it wont electrocute you – there isn’t enough power for that.

Simplifying it, wiring a light bulb is just like wiring a car. The same applies to both. The only difference being that you charge your battery via a solar panel instead of an alternator.

How long your light will stay on will depend on a multitude of things, such as the condition of your battery, the power output of your panel, how many lights you run and for how long. The amount of sun that hits your panel will also affect the charge rate of your battery. ?And there are many different types of battery. I personally recommendd the armed forces surplus alkaline type, as they can be depleted of charge without damage, though if you cannot get one of these, get a long life leisure battery.

It all sounds complicated, but it’s not really. Contact me if you need more help…

WHAT IF: humanity harnesses free energy (wind, solar, etc) to produce all of our energy, and rely on machines to produce all of our needs (food, clothing, transportation, etc), will capitalism still exist? Since most people will have nothing to produce will money/currency still have a use?

Remember, this is a WHAT IF, so if you don’t believe such a "perfect" society can exist, feel free to explain.

Harnessing "free" energy requires machines that cost money, because they are built by machine and people that cost money. That’s a difficult circle to break. Besides humans are never satisfied with anything, they always want to be better than the other guy. Even if we had machines that produce everything, there will always be demand for "premium" machines that make better food and clothes than the other guy’s machine. If there’s demand prices will rise, and there you go, money will always be necessary.

I have a small holding in quite a remote area & want to install wind or solar energy to cut the costs. I dont aim to be fully independant of the grid but just want to produce enough(perhaps only in summer if solar) to make a saving……how can i do this? I dont have a lot of money & ive been told that solar panels & wind turbines are expensive….any advice? I live in Eastern Europe( Slovakia)
The problem is that I am not a Slovak ( so am unsure how I would stand applying for government money) & renewable energy is a very new concept here. can you buy used solar & wind equipment? Is there a website that deals with this sort of thing?

There is no way to store AC power.

ok so i have
cardboard box
4 silver reflector cards
1 black panel base with cover
1 bottle connector
1 soft wax, adhesive tape
2 thermal indicator stickers (printed 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees farenheit) and 40 degrees celsius (104 degrees farenheit))
1 transparent plastic cover sheet
1 cap with two holes
1 transparent plastic tubing
1 small square and 1 large square paper
[and yes this is from a kit]
i also have [a different kit]
solar cell (photovoltaic cell)
disc with diffraction foil
solar motor

Can anyone tell me what i can build with all of this because i have a science fair in 1 month and i need to build something right aways (something that is not invented yet)
the first person to give the best advice will get 10 points!!!

I just wonder if you could reflect light down a dark tube and onto a solar cell at the bottom and power the motor. This could show how maybe solar panels do not have to be mounted on roofs if light can be reflected onto them somehow.

Here is a good video reference for the direction solar power is taking right now.

I live in Southern California, and I have been considering solar panels for some time. I’d love to air condition my house, but I’m not willing to do so until and unless we come up with an alternative energy source. I’m somewhat anxious to go ahead with the solar idea. It seems, though, that the technology is changing rapidly. I wonder if it would be smarter to wait.

If you can afford about $50000 for an average house, go ahead.

You might want to calculate how much power cost this saves per year to see how many years it will take to get payback. Look at your old utility bill to see what you paid for the last year. Also see what your average power consumption was for that period.

Check with your utility company to see if you can sell power back to them from your array. Then get an array 2-4 times bigger than your average power consumption is. This allows you surplus to sell to them to make up for periods with no sun.

Remember that you need a roof facing the sun with nothing to block direct sun, not even a small bare tree branch. The way the arrays work, if any small portion is blocked, the array puts out nothing. The array should be at the optimal angle, which varies with location.

- Batteries.

- Use it to pump water up that can be later used to drive a turbine.

- Use it to generate hydrogen that can later be used in a fuel cell.

With our current reliance on fossile fuels and other forms of stored energy (coal, chemical) we are releasing excess waste heat (among other things) into the atmosphere. Looking for alternative ‘green’ energy sources is a great ideal, but my feel this could further impact the environment.

Assuming for argument that we can build a large mirror array in space and send captured solar energy safely to earth. That amounts to a new input of energy into our (closed?) system. How will we deal with the excess heat generated as a by product of doing work with that energy? Is there a way for us to efficiently radiate that heat into space?

ha ha i thought about that, ‘why not build giant solar panels in space to block off the sun, since our polar ice cap just isn’t cutting it anymore’. we dont have the technology simply put.

theres probably a huge matter of safety in transfering the energy if it was possible.

we need to focus getting heat from the sun away from our planet as it is. worrying about substituting energy wont help us at this point.

with the high cost of energy,$300.00 a month light bills and natural gas prices for the homes in the winter time going through the roof,why shouldn’t people be able to buy solar energy systems at an affordable price.Only the people who can afford to pay the high cost of heating an air conditioning can afford solar energy.Who and what is keeping this price of this technology out of the hands of the average person ? Why is the price so high ?If the price was lower more people would buy it and they still could make lots of money because of the large numbers of sales.It would also save a larger value of natural gas for future use in other places.
Well ,sorry to inform you ,but anybody and everybody and his little brother knows that there is no way to hookup utilities to the space station.In this age of people’s exposure to high technology ,I looked for more answers that made sense.People who can afford it have already proven that it can work in homes so that isn’t what I am looking for in an answer.The biggest problem with solar energy is that it is too expensive for the average person to put into their homes.The heart of the question is ,What and who is keeping this technology from being used,The price of energy is sky high and we are useing it up.We need to save on energy/ natural gas and we need to cut down on the use of coal because of polutions.Cannon E and peter J,stop looking at the question as if you think its a stupid Question(its not) people asking Questions is the way all problems are solved.

You Absolutely completely can! The only limiting factor is the amount of energy your house uses. It would take 7 to 10 thousand dollars (which is not a huge expense if your building a home) to make enough power to run an average home.

But if your willing to make a few minor adjustments to your lifestyle, you can be extremely efficient and get buy on just a few 75 watt panels.

Hasn’t solar power technically been the dominant energy-source of all the other centuries?

No, Let’s rely on the middle east oil, Thank God US is dealing with a terrorist country like Saudi Arabia!

Serious discussion here.

How feasible is the idea of communities, towns, even whole cities being powered by solar energy? At the most, how about these communities being fractionally powered by solar energy; 40% Solar/ 60% Fossil fuels?

We’re not getting all George Jetson, here. We have practical means by which to make something like this happen. My research has lead me to believe the problem comes in with the initial setup.

If this is so, what would it take to materialize the dollars? Should each State solicit a ’solar energy’ tax; money dedicated to fund R&D solutions for citizens? Is it something that can be solicited to big business in exchange for free plugins; Staples invests in a solar power grid in Downtown Los Angeles… and calls it ‘The Staples Power Center".

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power#Advantages_and_disadvantages_of_Solar_power
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_ponds

First of all, look for existing incentives from the federal and state government. Federally, there is a 30% tax credit and some states offer as much as $5.00 per Watt rebates. You can get more information here: http://www.desireusa.org

Secondly, there are some up and coming technologies that will offer better economics than PV panels in the near future. Check out http://www.infiniacorp.com/
http://www.sandia.gov and http://www.nrel.gov

Third, for the kind of project you describe, it really comes down to financing. This will be easiest if you are planning to build a new community. Find a lender (bank or government) that will allow home-buyers to roll the solar energy system into their mortgage. This practice, along with a healthy rebate, helped to make Japan the PV capital of the world a few years back.

On a larger scale, many states are enacting renewable portfolio standards which legally require utilities to generate a certain fraction of power from solar, wind or biomass. RPS programs are also described on the DSIRE website listed above.