A lot of people think that solar energy means big solar panels that are used to power a house so the people who live there don’t have to pay as much on their electric bill, but there’s so much more to it than that. Here are 25 facts you may or may not know about solar energy:
1.Biomass, hydropower, and wind are all forms of solar energy.
2.You can’t escape solar energy, no matter what you’re doing.
3.Solar energy gets used for cooling, cooking, heating, lighting, communications, driving space crafts, and all kinds of other things.
4.Fossil fuels are a type of stored solar energy.
5.Solar energy use has been going on for centuries.
6.The sun was worshipped by a lot of ancient civilizations.
7.Da Vinci used solar power in the 15th Century.
8.Solar energy reserves are, essentially, limitless.
9.The planet will eventually depend on it.
10.Developing countries are taking more interest in solar energy.
11.Solar energy is getting more affordable all the time.
12.The surface of the sun is 5700 degrees Celsius.
13.The sun is 150 million km from the Earth.
14.Solar cells have an average of a 15% efficiency rating.
15.If all the solar energy falling on Australia was captured, it would be 2000 times what we need, even at only a 15% efficiency level.
16.Manufacturing costs of solar panels go down around 3% to 5% per year.
17.Solar cells are made from silicon, which is in short supply.
18.In 2004, production of solar cells increased by 60%.
19.The largest solar electric system is in Germany.
20.The largest solar power plant is in the USA – in the Mojave Desert.
21.Ninety percent of the commercially produced solar power in the world comes from the Mojave Desert solar power plant.
22.Japan makes about 1/2 of the solar panels in the world.
23.The Sahara Desert could generate more solar power than the world could actually use or would need.
24.Two billion people in the world have no electricity at all, from solar power or any other.
25.Solar energy is becoming very, very important in the transport industry.