Solar energy or solar power refers to the use of solar radiation for practical purpose. Solar energy is also known as green energy as it is environmentally friendly and non-polluting which provides a remedy to global warming and certain forms of pollution. Solar energy can be converted into other forms of energy, such as heat (or thermal energy) and electricity.
Advantages:
Solar energy is a renewable (unlike gas, oil and coal) resource. Solar energy is non-polluting and does not contribute to global warming. Solar cells are used to change sunlight directly into electricity. Solar cells are totally silent. Solar cells require very little maintenance and will last for decades. Although solar panels may be expensive to buy but can save money in the long run as the energy from the sun is practically free. Solar energy does not require any fuel and therefore not subjected to the ever-increasing price of fuel. Solar powered lights and other solar powered products are also very easy to install. In some countries, financial incentives are available from the governments. In some countries, there are schemes for creating carbon credits for users of solar power which are also applicable to industries. Carbon credits are an element used to aid in regulation of the amount of gases that are being released into the air and they may be traded.
Disadvantages:
Solar cells/panels, etc can be very expensive. Solar panels require quite a large area for installation. Moreover, sunlight depends on location, time of day, time of year, and weather conditions. Solar energy cannot be created at night.
Usages:
Solar geysers are useful for hotels, hostels, hospitals, guest houses, canteens, residences, swimming pools, etc., as they provide a cheap and alternate way for hot water. They are also used for making tea/coffee, cooking, cleaning utensils and for bathing purposes.
Solar energy can be converted to thermal (or heat) energy and used to heat spaces like inside greenhouses, homes, and other buildings.
In rural regions where power supply is irregular and scarce, solar lantern, with simple mechanism, is very useful. Even in the urban areas, solar lantern is a good alternative during power cuts. Solar energy is also used as solar home lighting systems and solar street lighting systems. These solar street lighting systems are useful particularly in the dark rural areas and thus doing away with the high cost and hassles of laying electrical wires. LED installations at places like resorts, educational institute campuses, etc can save power bills with lower illumination levels. 220 V electricity driven LED streetlights are also becoming fast popular because of their much lower power consumption and higher durability as compared to conventional sodium and halogen streetlights.
Solar dryers are used for food processing and fish packaging industry. As opposed to natural sun drying method, the modern sun dryers ensure uniform drying, no direct radiation, avoid food contaminations and discolouration and retain original taste and colour of fruits, vegetables, seafood, prawns, etc. It gives better preservation for long term storage which is useful for exports. Production level is increased as solar dryers increase moisture removal rate, thus speeding up the drying process and thus reduce drying time. Also, it has negligible maintenance costs, uses free and clean energy and gives quick returns within 3 years. For high production gas fired dryers are used in place of solar dryers as solar dryers require a lot of space. They are also cost effective.
Solar energy is used in dairy industry, process industry, solar refrigerator, solar RO plant, solar cooker, solar vehicle, distill water units, solar power plants, etc. In fact, there is a long list of usages. Common examples are power watches, calculators, Traffic Signals, satellites etc.
Some useful websites in
About MNRE
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is the nodal Ministry of the Government of India for all matters relating to new and renewable energy. The broad aim of the Ministry is to develop and deploy new and renewable energy for supplementing the energy requirements of the country.
More details on www.mnre.gov.in
