Solar energy can be converted by two ways: photovoltaic and photo thermal. The first one includes coolant (water) that is heated in the collector (the light-absorbing system of pipes) to quite a high temperature and used for space heating. The collector is installed on the top of the house so that the light is the greatest for the whole day. Thus, part of the thermal energy is accumulated. The solar energy is directed to conversion of sunlight into electricity with the help of the semiconductor photovoltaic cells, that is, solar cells. In the photovoltaic solar energy is used with silicon additives other items. The effectiveness of modern silicon cells is high enough (to reach 10-20% efficiency) and higher efficiency, the lower the required area of solar panels, which, even at low energy in the tens of square meters. The most noticeable success of the semiconductor industry was the project of silicon solar cells with effective strength of about 40%. The last important step in working of solar energy will be creating things that are cheaper and better, that is, panels made of tape polycrystalline silicon, thin films made of amorphous silicon and other semiconductor products. Most of them turned out to be highly effective aluminum-gallium-arsenic. Its commercial development has just started. Great promise hetero structure semiconductors, whose effectiveness is two times better than usual silicon samples. The main concept of the solar house is the maximum, based on the terrain and climate, the use of solar radiation, its conversion into heat and the conservation of thermal energy in the house unscathed. Implementing such an approach provides significant cost savings and improved environmental conditions (due to minimal use of other energy sources) into the atmosphere is less than the products of combustion, road heavy vehicles are exempt from carrying millions of tons of fuel wood saved from being cut down for firewood and so on. The unsustainable use of natural resources came to the end and mankind strive to keep all the riches of our planet and not cause any harm. Solar power is still in the beginning. Its contribution to total world energy consumption does not exceed 0.1%, and among renewable sources of her own about 1%. But technological progress in this area is over the last decade, so great that experts give very optimistic forecasts.
|