Notes

A Curious Tale About Solar Panels

A Curious Tale About Solar Panels
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<br>THE SEPTEMBER 2006 ISSUE OF SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN was committed to checking out the future of energy beyond the carbon period. The editors share a sobering outlook: 'Decades might pass in the past hydrogen-powered trucks and vehicles relegate gasoline-and diesel-fueled vehicles to antique automobile programs.' Up until that occurs, we'll 'muddle-through' in some way. (Scientific American: 3).
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<br>Why does it take so long for some energy technologies to get from the lab and industrial applications to the service of customers? Take solar panels.
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<br>A high-street electronics chain in London now sells educational solar-power packages for around the ₤ 20 mark. Major, roof-dwelling solar panels that will power devices in your home sell in DIY superstores at around ₤ 2,500. That's a price-tag for the wealthy or really devoted, but at least customers can push their trolleys past the innovation.
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<img width="312" src="https://s3.fr-par.scw.cloud/r-upload-2/5208/solar-panel-electicity-generation-100%.jpg">
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<br>SOLAR PANELS HAVE ONLY RECENTLY APPEARED on the racks of retail outlets, so you 'd forgive them for impersonating brand-new innovation. They're not. While England was priming itself for what was to become its most famous World Cup, a factor to the July 1966 edition of Wireless World dealt with a copy deadline for the publication. His name was D. Bollen, and he supplied a circuit for a solar-powered battery charger.
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<br>As he put it: 'The capability of solar batteries to transform sunshine directly into useful electrical energy has been well shown in satellite applications. An advantage of the solar battery is that is enables real, ignored operation in areas remote from a power supply and ... guarantees an exceptional degree of reliability.' (Wireless World: 343).
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<br>Over 4 meticulously-illustrated pages, Bollen goes on to supply a blueprint for a circuit that will trickle-charge a battery from a solar cell. Bollen shows that you can run something that uses one milliamp of existing for '2.74 hours' in a 24 hour duration. He leaves us thinking what application he had in mind for this small current, but the rig could likewise have actually powered the bulb of a toy torch for a few seconds a day.
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<br>Still, the circuit exists and the date is mid-1966. Don't be distracted by Bollen's talk of 'satellite applications'. His circuit is a million miles from rocket-science-- in fact it's the most basic of the lot in this edition of a publication that was pitched at everybody in between newbie contractor and electronics professional.
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<br>Somebody with hardly any experience could have thrown a presentation variation of this circuit together in fifteen minutes flat. And all the parts were readily available from professional suppliers in London and south-east England.
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<br>The noted supplier for 'assorted selenium and silicon cells' is International Rectifier. solarshare.ie got in touch with the business to find out how much a similar solar-cell cost at the time Bollen wrote his function.
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<br>A single cell measuring about a centimetre by 2 centimetres cost four dollars, right as much as 1966. In his function, Bollen describes various combinations between one cell and four, so the most costly part of his circuit cost between 4 and 16 dollars, or about $25-100 dollars in today's cash.
<br>World's very first solar-powered cars and truck: 1912.
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<br>What came back from International Rectifier (IR) proved far more interesting than cost details. It turns out that the company had demonstrated the world's very first solar-powered vehicle - a 1912 design of the Baker Electric - as early as 1958. They accomplished the stunt by making a high-output photovoltaic panel - less than 2 metres long and simply over a metre large - from a whole bank of little solar cells.
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<br>Commercial, military and commercial clients went on to purchase solar panels from International Rectifier.
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<br>SO WHY HAS IT TAKEN ALMOST FIFTY YEARS for photovoltaic panels to reach our stores?
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<br>Southface, a non-profit, sustainable-living organisation based in the USA, explain that solar-cell technology has had been uselessly competing versus the relative fall in rate that took place in the fossil-fuel market in the nineties.
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<br>Southface believe that significant orders of customer solar cell units in countries such as Japan might lastly signal the start of an age when solar cell production will benefit from economies of scale.
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<br>I hope so. In the meantime, it's anyone's guess the length of time will it consider the consumer-led technology transformation to swat our energy issues.
<br>© Alistair Siddons, 2006.
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<br>Serious, roof-dwelling solar panels that will power devices in your home sell in DIY warehouse stores at around ₤ 2,500. SOLAR PANELS HAVE ONLY RECENTLY APPEARED on the shelves of retail outlets, so you 'd forgive them for positioning as new innovation. As he put it: 'The ability of solar cells to convert sunlight directly into helpful electrical energy has been well shown in satellite applications. Over four meticulously-illustrated pages, Bollen goes on to offer a plan for a circuit that will trickle-charge a battery from a solar cell. They accomplished the stunt by making a high-output solar panel - less than 2 metres long and just over a metre broad - from a whole bank of little solar cells.
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Here's my website: https://solarshare.ie/products/solar-panels-ireland/