Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Stainless Steel Solar Garden Lights

It is almost spring time and many people are now starting to think about garden and outdoor living again. Solar garden lights are one of the coolest and exotic things to come out of the solar energy revolution which is taking place right now. ­The stainless steel garden lights from Amazon are extremely fascinating. They provide care free outdoor lighting with a beautiful simple stainless steel finish. NO wires, simple to install, just great-looking, easy lighting! Great for your walkways, patio, driveway, garden, this is the best in after-dark ambience. The Ultra-Highly sensitive PV solar panel used on this item is the same as in solar powered calculators we use everyday. This innovative idea greatly reduces the sunlight required while improving the run time at night by almost double.

Solar garden lights can save you money in the long run. Whatever bulb you are using to illuminate your pathway in the evening is most likely making use of your electricity. The great thing about solar powered garden lights is that they generate and store their own power during the day and then release it at night. They don't consume electricity and your bill will go down overtime. Not only you will save on your electric bill by harnessing power from the sun, but you will also be adding curb appeal to your home at the same time. Go GREEN, save money and enjoy your beautiful garden day and night.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Essence of Solar Energy


(Sun - Courtesy NASA)

"I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait till oil and coal run out before we tackle that."

- Thomas Edison


Solar energy is an abundant clean light and heat energy that comes from the sun, provided by nature for mankind to sustain and cherish in this glamorous universe. Like most stars in the universe, the sun is a giant ball of gas consisting mostly of hydrogen and helium. The sun formulates energy in its inner core by means of a process called nuclear fusion. Through continuous nuclear fusion process, the nuclei of four hydrogen atoms in the sun's core combine to form one helium atom repeatedly. The resulting helium atom has less mass than the four hydrogen atoms that fused with each other. Due to the law of conservation of energy, this "lost mass" is converted into the radiant energy that the sun emits into space. Only a small part of the solar energy that the sun radiates into space ever reaches the earth, but this is plenty enough to supply all our energy needs.

Solar energy is the most powerful source of energy on our planet earth. This energy has been used by mankind for thousands of years. Ancient Greeks were the first to use passive solar design in their housing. The passive solar design refers to the design of architecture that utilizes sun’s energy to light and heat the indoor spaces. The famous Greek philosopher Socrates wrote, "In houses that look toward the south, the sun penetrates the portico in winter." The Greeks used this idea and planned their cities so that each house had good southern exposure. The Romans later enhanced this design by covering south facing building openings with glass or mica to absorb the heat of the sun during winter. This enhancement offset the requirement to burn wood for warming homes during the cold months and resulted in incredible savings for Romans.

Today, we employ the following newest solar energy technologies to produce heat, light and power for our daily energy needs:

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP)
Concentrating Solar Power systems use reflective materials to concentrate a large area of sunlight onto a receiving device that collects the power. This concentrated solar energy then drives a steam generator to produce electricity.

Photovoltaics (PV)
This technology makes use of photosensitive semiconductor elements to convert sunlight directly to electricity which is called Solar Electricity. This Solar Electricity is being used to power small devices for example, watches, calculators and cell phones. It is also used for providing electric power for homes and business.

Solar Heating
Solar heating technologies uses a process whereby heat from the sun is absorbed by low temperature solar collectors and transferred by pumps or fans to a storage unit and then allowing that heat to be used directly for water or space heating in residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

Solar lighting
Solar lighting technologies uses roof mounted mirrored dishes to collect sunlight. These mirrored dishes focus the sunlight onto optical fibers. The optical fibers are connected to hybrid light fixtures equipped with special diffusing rods to spread out the light in all directions in the building's interior. These fixtures are called hybrids because they combine natural light with electric light to illuminate interior spaces.