Nov
For most of us owning a car is not just desirable, but necessary. Due to a general lack of effective public transport, we are forced to rely on private transport. It would be best if this private transport could be as environmentally friendly as possible. So we ask ourselves, is it possible to run a car on solar energy?
Each day enough sunlight falls on the surface of the earth to power all human industry and transport many times over. Much of this energy is reflected from the surface of the earth back into space as light. Yet more energy is radiated out into space as heat, also called infra-red radiation.
The great advantage of solar panels is that they generate electricity from sunlight that is already falling on the surface of the earth. Had that energy not been converted into electricity in the panel, it would have been absorbed by the earth to be later released as heat, been reflected into space, or been used by a plant to make sugars. The electricity from the panel can be transported and used elsewhere. When used, the energy in the electricity is ultimately released as heat. This means that a solar panel is effectively converting sunlight into heat, but allowing that conversion to do some work which results in the heat moving to a different location.
This compares favorably with using fossil fuels as an energy source. Because these fuels come from long buried sources, the heat they add to the atmosphere when burned is additional to what would otherwise be there. This means that there is a net increase in energy in the atmosphere, and it is this that causes concern regarding the issue of climate change.
This makes it clear that being able to use sunlight to power our vehicles is a desirable option. But is this a realistic option? The fact is that this is already being done. Owners of electric cars are using mains supply electricity rather than petroleum to charge the batteries which power their vehicles. All that needs to be added to this scenario is to obtain the electricity from a renewable source such as a domestic solar installation or a solar power plant and one can effectively be driving on sunshine.
Read more about recent model electric cars at Roger Vanderlely’s website. You can also read about how best to look for cheap solar panels, simple no-cost science experiments for kids, theory behind the operation of solar cells and more.