Technology to utilise the forces of nature for doing
work to supply human needs is as old as the first sailing ship. But attention
swung away from renewable sources as the industrial revolution progressed on
the basis of the concentrated energy locked up in fossil fuels.
Today’s Eco-friendly environment is very encouraging
for the innovations and investments in solar energy sector. It continues to
generate interest in the field of research and innovations for renewable energy
all around the world. There is widespread popular support for using renewable
energy, particularly solar and wind energy, which provide electricity without
giving rise to any carbon dioxide emissions. Today we are well-advanced in
meeting that challenge, while also testing the practical limits of doing so
from wind and solar (variable renewable energy, VRE). The relatively dilute
nature of wind and solar mean that harnessing them is very materials-intensive
– many times that from energy-dense sources.
The US and Europe remain the big players in research
and implementation! In some of the states such as New Jersey and Massachusetts
in the US, the health systems and hospitals who are in quest of reducing energy
consumption and become more energy efficient are granted state subsidies. Utilising
electricity from solar and wind in a grid becomes problematical at high levels
for complex but now well-demonstrated reasons. Supply does not correspond with
demand.
This has eventually helped them save money, reduce or
eliminate energy costs, reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions and
lessen their impact on global warming. Harnessing these for electricity depends
on the cost and efficiency of the technology, which is constantly improving,
thus reducing costs per peak kilowatt, and per kWh at the source.
While homes, health systems and hospitals follow green
energy and solar energy practices, new sustainable buildings and automobiles
accomplish new ways to reduce the utilization of existing fuels such as oil or
gas.
More and more buildings, houses are now being equipped
with solar panels and automobiles are adapting the innovations such as
photovoltaic plates that are being widely used to convert solar energy to
electricity to power them. The self-storage facility industries have started
using energy-saving methods like motion-sensor lights within storage units,
hallways and along driveways to save electrical energy and money as well.
However, the variability of wind and solar power does
not correspond with most demand, and as substantial capacity has been built in
several countries in response to government incentives, occasional massive
output from these sources creates major problems in maintaining the reliability
and economic viability of the whole system. There is a new focus on system
costs related to achieving reliable supply to meet demand.
There is a fundamental attractiveness about harnessing
such forces in an age which is very conscious of the environmental effects of
burning fossil fuels, and where sustainability is an ethical norm. So today the
focus is on both adequacy of energy supply long-term and also the environmental
implications of particular sources. Developments and improvements in
manufacturing, demonstrations on how technology helps to manage the demand for
electricity in fast-growing markets are taking the utilisation of renewable
energy such as solar power to the next level!
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