The National Skills Academy for Environmental Technologies explains the benefits of solar electricity
Environmental technologies can provide us with new ways to harness energy to heat our homes, operate the washing machine, clean the car, cook, reduce our bills and these renewable technologies benefit the environment as well.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are one of the many types of renewable energy available to us. We can use the sun's energy to operate solar panels to drive gadgets which can be used on motorhomes, caravans, boats, as well installing them on the roofs of our homes and businesses. They don't produce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions or use up valuable fossil fuels.
Solar PV panels work very simply by converting light energy from the sun into electricity. It can even be a cloudy day and the panels don't even need to be positioned in direct sunlight. When fitted to our homes, PV can supply us with green energy and any surplus electricity produced can be returned back to the grid, known as ‘on-grid' systems. Or we can use ‘off-grid' systems, which store electrical power generated in batteries that can be used later when needed.
There are a number of specialist adapted solar PV panels that can be used both outdoors and indoors to power household gadgets such as mobiles, cameras, laptops, notebooks and e-books.
If you enjoy the outdoors, whether hiking, camping or just to get away from it all, you can purchase small solar PV panels which can be charged by the sun or the mains before you leave home, allowing you to have your camera ready charged for that awesome shot you don't want to miss or your mobile phone if you need to speak to those back home.
Specialist solar PV panels are also available to people who like to take to the open road in their caravan or motor home, or alternatively those who like to muck about on the water, as they can be used on narrow boats and cruisers too.They can reduce the nightly cost for electric hook-up and are better for the environment as well.
However, the biggest challenge of specially designed solar panels is getting the right power output. Too little and you'll be half way through surfing the Internet for the following day's adventure and the power goes off; too much and you will have spent a fortune on something the capacity of which you'll use only a tiny proportion.
There are a number of advantages worth considering when it comes to solar energy and everything that it offers:
- It is a completely renewable resource
- Solar systems make absolutely no noise at all
- Solar energy creates absolutely no pollution so does not further damage the ozone layer
- Very little maintenance is required to keep solar panels running. There are no moving parts in a solar panel, which makes it impossible to really hurt them.
So whatever you want to do, outdoor or indoors or just be more eco-friendly, solar PV systems can benefit us all through our daily lives. Solar power technology is improving consistently over time, and we can now begin to understand all of the benefits offered by this incredible environmental technology.
The National Skills Academy for Environmental Technologies provides accredited environmental technologies training from the highest quality training providers, using the best facilities and equipment.
This sponsored content was provided by The National Skills Academy for Environmental Technologies
