The future of solar energy is in the hands of young new scientist with new ways of looking at things. There are many new ways of going green by tapping into the renewable energy source of the sun, like energy towers and updraft towers. Both are relatively new and take a new approach to utilizing the power of the sun other than with solar cells.

The energy tower creates electricity by extracting the energy from the surrounding air. The basic principle is that water is sprayed at the top of the tower. The heat from the sun causes this water to evaporate creating a downdraft effect by cooling the air inside the tower, which in turn increases the airs density. This downdraft then turns the turbine that is located at the bottom of the tower. The turbine is connected to a power generator and produces electricity. To efficiently utilize this as a power source the tower should be located in an arid region and close to a large water source. There are many places on earth that fit that description including the coasts of Chile, Peru, Southern California, Mexico, a large portion of Africa and the Middle East.

Another alternative power source is the solar updraft tower. This unit would take a large area that would need to be enclosed similar to a green house with the walls made of glass. As the air inside is heated, it would be channeled through a pathway to a tall tower. On top of the tower would be a turbine that is connected to a generator that would produce electricity. It is thought that collector tubes of 7 meters in diameter would be needed to channel the air to a tower 1000 meters tall to make this a functional power source. The land required would be greater than any other power plant but it is nonpolluting and utilizes the renewable energy source of the sun.

Another method that holds promise of producing solar energy at a low cost is that which is demonstrated in this video using a fresnel lens as a collector and then concentrating the beam of light on to a collector/heat exchanger which in turn creates high pressure steam and runs a turbine generator for electricity and being able to capture the exit hot water to use in the household. The inventor claims that a 6 KW system would cost about $6,000. We would like to hear from anyone who has built such a system and how it has worked out. It would seem as though the solar collector would have to be steered directly toward the sun throughout the day.

Check out the video:

These are just a few of the possibilities of the future of solar energy and some more ways to go green.

Photovoltaics or PV is the area of research and technology that deals with solar cells as a source of energy by converting the sun’s rays into electricity. Every year since 2002, the production of PV cells has increased by 48%, which makes this form of energy the fastest growing in the world. By the end of 2007, 12400megawatts of energy was produced by solar power.

But what are PV’s and how do they work? The PV solar cell is composed of mostly silicon that absorbs the rays of the sun. These rays release an electron from the silicon. This freed electron must flow through an external circuit before returning to the solar cell, thus generating a current. Another fact is that the optimum operating temperature is 25C. The efficiency is decreased as temperature rises. This decrease is at a rate of 0.5% for every 1C rise in temperature.

A thin silicon cell four inches across will optimally produce one watt an hour. If you have a 50-cell panel this would produce enough energy to power a small black and white TV, a radio and 5 small florescent bulbs. The average cost is directly related to how many watts are to be produced. The average base rule is that the cost is $10 – $15 per installed watt.

Most manufactures give a thirty-year life span of their solar products. With a 10 to 20 year time span to recover your cost, this is definitely a long-term cost effective form of energy supply.

The future of solar energy is bright. Please pardon the pun but it is true.

Solar energy has been around since the first sun was born. On earth solar power has been used for many purposes for years. This is been by placing panels on structures to absorb the energy of the sun and converting this energy to electricity. But the future for solar energy is in space.

Without an atmosphere to penetrate, the full tremendous amount of energy from the sun could be harnessed. The worlds space agencies have known about and utilized this concept since almost the beginning of man’s venture into space. It has powered spacecraft that are exploring the universe, powering satellites and fueling the power needs of the Hubble Telescope.  The next step would be to establish solar collectors in space and send that energy back to earth for utilization as a renewable, powerful energy source.

This concept was first imagined and studied by NASA back in the 1970’s. It was rejected due to the high cost and lack of technology to make it efficient. But it was recently announced that NASA is studying this concept again. A Space-Based Solar Collector could be in the near future as soon as 2015.

A Sun Tower is now being considered that could reach 22 miles in length with pairs of 100 to 200 meter diameter solar collectors attached to the structure. From a geosynchronous orbit, this renewable energy source has the potential to collect and supply the earth’s inhabitants with over a billion watts of power.

We have the technology to promote the future of Solar Energy.  All that is needed is the political will, backing and funding of the governments of the world to do so. This is an endless power supply, even after all the oil is gone, solar power will be there.