As we previously mentioned, solar panels collect solar radiation from the sun and actively convert that energy to electricity. The solar cells on these solar panels make use of the extremely small fraction of the sun's energy that passes through earth's atmosphere and strikes the cells on the solar collector. The efficiency of these solar panels, and the resultant energy produced is dependant on many climatic, geographic, and weather-related factors. Arid climates are ideal for solar panels, and they will produce more energy in areas where they are exposed to direct sunlight under clear skies. But even at optimal efficiency, solar panels only convert a small percentage of the energy that strikes it into usable energy. The efficiency factors is in the teens for most solar cells. Advanced solar cells, like those used on the Voyager spacecraft, have much higher efficiency ratings, but are much too expensive to produce en masse for general purposes.
Solar panels have the ability to meet all of our energy needs, but at present we only use a tiny fraction of the energy that the sun has to offer. How much energy does the sun produce? How is it produced? And how much of the sun's energy can be theoretically harvested via solar cells?
Energy from the sun is caused from thermonuclear expolosions deep within the sun. These explosions fuse atoms of hydrogen into atoms of helium. A tremendous amount of energy is released during the thermonuclear reaction and the sun releases that energy as radiation. This radiation travels through space at the speed of light, and solar panels can make practical use of it. Our sun generates an enourmous amount of energy, and potentially, had we the technology to harvest that sunlight with solar arrays across the solar system, we could harvest huge amounts of energy.
According to our friends at Astronomy Cafe, we calculate the amount of energy given off the sun every hour as:
"3.8 x 10^33 ergs/sec or 3.8 x 10^26 watts of power, an amount of energy each second equal to 3.8 x 10^26 joules. In one hour, or 3600 seconds, [the Sun] produces 1.4 x 10^31 Joules of energy or 3.8 x 10^23 kilowatt-hours."
The sun produces more energy every hour than the entire energy needs of human civilization from the beginning of time. Solar panels will help us harvest increasing amounts of this abundance of energy to meet our energy needs in the future.
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