Solar Energy is a plentiful, reliable and renewable energy source and is also the cleanest type of energy known to man since it is pollution-free and contributes to the reduction of a country’s carbon emissions. Commercial buildings (offices and other business organizations) depend on electricity for most of their energy consumption needs and the consumption of power in an office building during the daytime is much higher which makes them ideal to use solar power.
Many state governments’ policies, central tax rebate, and credit opportunities are available in using solar energy in commercial buildings. Solar energy radiation from the Sun capable of producing heat or generating electricity. The total amount of solar energy incident on Earth is vastly in excess of the world’s current and anticipated energy requirements. If suitably harnessed, this highly diffused source has the potential to satisfy all future energy needs.
The Sun is an extremely powerful energy source and the sunlight is by far the largest source of energy received by Earth, but its intensity at Earth’s surface is actually quite low. This is essential because of the enormous radial spreading of radiation from the distant Sun. A relatively minor additional loss is due to Earth’s atmosphere and clouds, which absorb or scatter as much as 54 percent of the incoming sunlight.
The potential for solar energy is enormous since about 200,000 times the world’s total daily electric-generating capacity is received by Earth every day in the form of solar energy. Solar radiation is converted directly into electricity by solar cells (photovoltaic cells). In such cells, a small electric voltage is generated when light strikes the junction between a metal and a semiconductor (such as silicon) or the junction between two different semiconductors. The power generated by a single photovoltaic cell is typically only about two watts. By connecting large numbers of individual cells together, however, as in solar-panel arrays, hundreds or even thousands of kilowatts of electric power can be generated in a solar electric plant or in a large household array.
PV installations may be ground-mounted, rooftop-mounted, wall-mounted or floating. Photovoltaics is the direct conversion of light into electricity. Some materials exabit a property known as the photoelectric effect that causes them to absorb photons of light and release electrons. When these free electrons are captured, an electric current results that can be used as electricity. A photovoltaic system employs solar modules, each comprising a number of solar cells, which generate electrical power.
Technology Development in the solar power industry is constantly advancing and improvements will intensify in the future. Innovations in quantum physics and nanotechnology can potentially increase the effectiveness of solar panels and double, or even triple, the electrical input of the solar power systems.
