The most common type of solar energy system used to generate usable solar power is photovoltaic solar energy. As alternative energy sources become more common and necessary in daily life, understanding the basic system is becoming increasingly important. Anything from an outdoor solar lamp to an entire city can be powered by photovoltaic solar energy. Many governments’ strategies to move away from unsustainable energy practices and toward an environmentally friendly, sustainable existence include incorporating solar energy use into human society.
The sun is a massive source of energy that burns only 93 million miles (153 million kilometers) away from Earth. While the planet receives energy from the sun to grow plants, converting that energy into human-usable energy requires some technology. With basic scientific properties, photovoltaic systems can collect sunlight, convert it to energy, and transport it for human use.
A device known as a photovoltaic, or PV, cell is required to generate solar energy. One surface of the PV cell is charged with extra electrons, while the other has positively charged atoms that lack electrons. When sunlight is absorbed by a PV cell, the extra electrons become excited and bounce off the positively charged surface, creating an electrical current where the two surfaces meet. The solar energy that can now be used as power is represented by this electrical current.
PV cells can be connected to form power sources of various sizes. Modules are small arrangements that can be used to power simple electronics in the same way that a battery can. Solar energy arrays made up of large groups of PV cells can generate massive amounts of photovoltaic solar energy. Solar energy systems can generate enough power to run houses, factories, or even contribute significantly to an urban area’s energy needs, depending on the size of the array and the amount of sunlight.
Photovoltaic solar energy, according to many scientists, is critical to human survival. Much of the world is currently reliant on energy derived from fossil fuels such as oil and coal. These fuels are created by the decomposition of organisms and can take millions of years to produce; humans have depleted many types of fossil fuels as a result of their excessive use of available resources. According to some experts, fossil fuel reserves will begin to run out by the mid-twentieth century, and will likely vanish entirely within a few centuries. Science must find ways to power the world with energy that is not derived from fossil fuels in order to keep humanity’s energy-based society intact.
Solar energy is a vital area of scientific research and development at the dawn of the twenty-first century because it is a renewable resource. Some argue that constructing a massive photovoltaic solar energy plant in a consistently sunny desert could generate enough power to power the entire world, but this poses challenges. While a large enough plant could certainly generate enough energy, transporting it around the globe is a much more difficult task. Furthermore, because even the sunniest areas can have varying rates of sunlight, solar energy generation can vary from day to day. Photovoltaic solar energy may not be able to solve the world’s energy problems on its own, but when combined with other renewable energy sources like wind, biofuel algae, hydroelectricity, and geothermal power, the days of a fossil-fuel-fueled world may soon be a distant memory.