What is solar energy?

The world is experiencing a unprecedented energy crisis in the last decades. The heavily oil-dependent world economyat least in the West and the most developed countries, has been experiencing for months a continuous increase in the cost of fossil fuels: oil, coal and natural gas.

In this scenario, renewables are presented as the future, or rather, as the present. The scientific community has been warning for years of the need for a transition to cleaner energy sources and, above all, that they are not based on the extraction of finite resources, such as coal, natural gas or oil.

So far does the problem Europe, an energy importing continentthat the European Commission has declared nuclear energy and natural gas as green energiesdue to its lower contribution to climate change in the form of greenhouse gas emissions.

Given this scenario, the way forward is to continue promoting renewables, such as solar energy. This type of energy, key to sustainability, is that which is obtained by light or heat from the sun, and is used to produce electricity or heat.

What is solar energy?

The solar, in its different options, is one of the most accessible renewable sources for families and businesses. Its installation, management and use are relatively simple. It is enough to check, for example, how solar photovoltaics is growing and the administrative support in the form of subsidies that it receives. Solar energy is divided into several types depending on its origin and its processing.

Thermal solar energy

This system take advantage of the heat of the sun. Solar radiation is converted into thermal energy to heat a fluid that can be used as heating or domestic hot water. There are two types of solar power plants: thermoelectric plants and photovoltaic parks. The first are those that take advantage of solar thermal energy, as they heat a fluid to obtain water vapor and move a turbine that generates electricity.

Photovoltaic parks are made up of panels with photovoltaic solar cells. The photoelectric effect is produced in these structures, which is the system that gives rise to photovoltaic solar energy.

Solar thermal energy provides heat using mirrors that concentrate the sun’s rays to reach temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius. This heat is transformed into a fluid that is conducted through pipes for use in buildings and facilities or to produce thermoelectric solar energy.

Photovoltaic Solar Energy

Photovoltaic solar energy allows electricity to be obtained directly from solar radiation. There are various elements, such as silicon, that are capable of absorbing light particles from sunlight and releasing electronssthus generating electric current. This is the photoelectric effect.

solar panels They can be installed both domestically in houses and buildings, as well as in large installations. photovoltaic energy it does not produce heat and cannot be stored, but the surplus can be discharged into the consumption network. This has great applications at the domestic level, and can even lead to self-sufficient installations that do not depend on the electricity grid.

passive solar power

A third way to take advantage of solar rays is passive solar energy, which does not require any type of mechanism to collect and treat it. It is a very simple formula, a priori, to take advantage of radiationbut it requires a very complete work of ingenuity.

Bioclimatic architecture has in this formula one of its basic principles. Consists in the design of buildings and facilities, with appropriate materials and orientationswhich allows capture the sun’s energy during the day to bring light and heat to those spaces. The idea is to reduce the need for air conditioning. To do this, the location of buildings must be carefully studied, properly insulated, protected against leaks and built in an appropriate orientation.

Solar energy, in all its variants, has as its main advantage that it is an inexhaustible and renewable resource, reduces dependence on fossil fuels and it is very competitive. However, it is still an intermittent source, which can only be accessed under specific environmental conditionspresents difficulties in its storage and requires large-scale investment projects that also cause a considerable environmental impact.