Science - Solar Power (8TH Thesis

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Experts believe that it may take so long to develop solar energy systems that alternative energy sources like solar energy will still make up less than five percent of our energy needs by the year 2030 (Lavelle, 2007).

Another big problem with changing over to solar energy is that it is very expensive. That is because to collect solar energy, you need very large collectors and a lot of land to build them on. The way solar energy systems work is that the sun's rays are collected by photovoltaic panels and they are very expensive to make (Lavelle, 2007).

One solution to that problem is using specially built mirrors instead of photovoltaic panels. However, even that solution still means that large solar energy systems need extremely large arrays of solar panels that are hundred of square feet. Right now, American companies like Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) are working on developing solar powered energy plants that use mirrors to concentrate sunlight and heat water. That water is used to power turbines that produce electricity the same way as old fashioned hydroelectric plants that use the energy of falling water in hydroelectric dams (Zuckerman, 2007).

Pacific Gas & Electric has started working on a big project of this kind and plans to increase the number of solar energy capture arrays by five times by using some of the deserts in the Southwest and Western states.

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They are also working on lowering the price of solar energy collectors. Solar collectors use silicon wafers that are too expensive to make and that is another reason that solar energy is still a lot more expensive than fossil fuel energy. Pacific Gas & Electric is working on a much thinner kind of silicon wafer that is put on glass (Lavelle, 2007).

Conclusion:

Fossil fuels have been the main way that we have produced energy since the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s (Walsh, 2008). However, the amount of fossil fuel that is left in the world is getting smaller and our energy use is going up and up all the time. To keep from running out of energy, we have to find alternative energy sources like solar energy.

Solar energy works just as well as fossil fuel but it is too expensive right now to make a very big difference. But that means we need to spend more money on developing things like solar energy so that we have enough energy when all the oil runs out on us......

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