Thursday, September 8, 2011

Solar Panels - How They Work and Their Many Benefits

With the rising costs of energy solar panels are becoming more and more popular. They can be used for providing electricity and even heating water. PV panels or solar photovoltaic panels work by transforming sunlight into electricity. Each cell on the panel is made up of crystalline silicon, which has the ability to absorb sunlight. These are the cells that make a solar calculator work. The cells on the calculator are much more similar than the panels used for utility grids or to power homes. Each panel is made up of four layers, the top one is for protection, the middle two layers are made up of silicon, and the bottom layer is made of polymer. The first layer made of silicon is negatively charged while the other silicon layer is positively charged. As the sunlight hits the panels, electrons move from the bottom silicon layer onto the top silicon layer causing the extra electrons to be collected by a device attached to the solar panel and thus giving you electricity.

Solar panels have many benefits when they are installed on a home. For example, many states in the US have incentives that are given to people who have a solar panel system which also exist in the UK, such as the FiT (Feed in Tariffs). The other obvious reason to have the solar panel system installed is to save money on your monthly energy bill. The amount you will save depends on a variety of things. The three main factors are how much you currently spend on electricity, how much of your house the solar panel system powers and the place that you live in. If your are facing a good position in which to get sun all day and happen to live where there is naturally a good deal of sunshine then you should be able to not only sustain your own home but sell any excess electricity back to the electricity company. If you include the incentives the government offers it can take quite a few years for the savings to outweigh the installation costs. Once you do in fact reach that point the savings will continue to build year after year.

A water heating solar panel system is used 95% of the time for heating swimming pools. The average cost for the system is roughly around 7,000 but since heating water can be extremely expensive when using traditional methods you can recuperate your cost in a much shorter time. These panels will connect to your water heater and the actual panels absorb the sun's radiation and transform it into heat. If the heat level falls below the water heaters temperature setting than the indoor heater heats the water to the right temperature.


For more information on renewable energy, please visit Intelligent Energy Solutions who provide a range of green energy products such as ground source heat pumps and solar panels.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Martin_J_Breeman


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6541044

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