The sun can provide enough energy to a house so that all its appliances work almost without noticing the difference with the use that until now you have made of the electrical current. To do this, not only will it be necessary to install a system that channels solar energy, you can also change some of your habits.
If you think that it is only an environmental fight or a means to save costs, you will be leaving aside a great opportunity to use a resource that nature offers us without asking us for anything in return. That resource is sunlight.
Just as plants complete their life cycle thanks to the energy they absorb from sunlight, we can also convert that light into energy.
Do not blame yourself if until now you thought it was impossible, too expensive or if you considered that renewable energies could not compete with the energy sources provided by coal and oil.
It is known that the exploitation of these resources is limited. On the other hand, the sun offers us an inexhaustible source of light and, thanks to the advancement of technology applied to the use of this resource, it is possible to change habits and improve the quality of life in the present and in the future. It is up to us to turn towards that clean energy, now and forever.
What is solar energy?
So far, we have talked about solar energy and sunlight as if they were the same thing, but the difference between these two concepts is what for years has resulted in the impediment to making a sustainable change in our lives.
Specifically, solar energy is obtained from sunlight. That is, the first results from the use of electromagnetic radiation from the sun. As this radiation is constant, solar energy is recognized as a sustainable and inexhaustible source.
If you wonder why we haven’t used it before, and instead get our hands on limited resources like oil and coal, you should know that radiation has actually been used by humanity since ancient times, but only with the technological revolution and its constant evolution could be incorporated more and more into people’s daily lives.
Today we have solar panels or outdoor lights, among other tools whose technology allows us to take advantage of both the light and the heat coming from the central star of our solar system.
types of solar energy
The use of sunlight and its conversion as an energy source requires certain technologies that are classified as passive or active.
They are the techniques of bioclimatic architecture, that is, the choice of materials that allow the dispersion of light, the consideration of the orientation of the constructions towards the Sun and the natural ventilation of the spaces.
This category includes photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors with which energy is collected. The photoelectric cells, heliostats or solar collectors that work as collectors of this radiation have the purpose of converting it to electrical or thermal energy.
Why should you use clean energy?
The International Energy Agency noted in 2011 that “the development of clean, cheap and inexhaustible solar technologies will be of enormous long-term benefit”.
According to the Agency itself, the use of this resource “It will increase the energy security of countries through the use of a local, inexhaustible source of energy and, even more importantly, regardless of imports, it will increase sustainability, reduce pollution, reduce the costs of mitigating climate change, and avoid the excessive rise in the price of fossil fuels. These advantages are global”.
In addition to these benefits of using solar energy, the Greenpeace organization ensures that “solar photovoltaics could supply electricity to two-thirds of the world’s population by 2030”.
But this is not all. Solar thermal power is also reducing its costs considerably. Have you seen how technological advances are opening more and more opportunities to take this inexhaustible resource and change our lives once and for all?
10 ways to use solar energy
You no longer need to wait for a company or organization to take over and bring solar energy to homes. You yourself can make it reach your home outside of a network. Here we share some ideas:
1. Use passive solar energy to heat your house
You do not need to start this commitment by making an investment in the purchase and installation of solar panels. The sun falls on your windows without asking permission and without expecting you to pay for it. Therefore, it will be enough for you to use the entrance of light, redesigning windows, changing the material of the floors and walls that face the sun.
You can also incorporate changes in the decoration of your house to favor the absorption of heat by placing dark upholstery on chairs and armchairs and using dark rugs on the floor. Thus, walls, floors and furniture will absorb heat during the day and radiate it at night.
2. In the same way, you can cool your house
We are used to the fact that the air conditioning provides us with the cold, and the stoves, the heat that we need to cope with the temperatures of each season. However, the Sun has the ability to give us both heat and cold.
To take advantage of this, you can install a solar chimney. Surely you think that it is one more advance in technology, but in truth it is a physical action. The hot air that enters a house naturally rises up the chimney arm and creates a vacuum that is filled with cold air. The hot air leaves through an upper floor and the cold is expelled towards the interior replacing the hot one.
Solar refrigerators work in a similar way, but with a physical action called evaporation, which manages to cool once the water in the air evaporates.
3. Install solar panels
Photovoltaic panels are the image of the use of solar energy, but you have seen that it is not the only one.
Still, it’s nice to know that you don’t have to be a technician to assemble a solar panel and install it.
An important fact for those who do not dare to start with a radical change (although necessary) is that independent solar panels or connected to a network can be installed in a way that jointly supplies solar and alternating energy.
4. Dry clothes in the sun again
Do you remember when was the last time you dried your washed clothes in the sun? It is the oldest system but the most effective and natural.
5. Build your solar water heater
Whether for afternoon tea or for the shower, you can build your own solar water heater, see how to do it in this Bioguide article. But you can also buy one and install it, it is not that expensive and, in any case, the value is amortized in a few years, compared to the cost of gas or electricity that is constantly generated by having hot water available.
Heating water in the traditional way -using electricity- is much more expensive because it represents almost 30% of the electricity consumption of a house.
6. Use sunlight for external lighting
You can avoid the wiring and consumption of electrical current in the patio of your home by placing solar lights that absorb sunlight during the day and radiate a soft lighting, similar to the tones of the sunset.
You will only have to be careful to locate these luminaires in places where it constantly receives daylight.
7. Transports hot water using solar energy
In point five you learned how to build your solar water heater. But you will have to transport that hot water from the heater to the different pipes: shower, taps, etc. For this you will need a solar water pump.
You can convert your current water pump to a solar one by replacing the power supply with what you get from photovoltaic panels, or you can buy a proper solar water pump.
8. Solar energy for a heated pool
Many abandon the idea of using this inexhaustible resource because they assume that it cannot supply an entire home, including those places of recreation such as a swimming pool or a jacuzzi.
The fact is that having hot water with solar energy is as possible as it is profitable. The water from a pool or jacuzzi is pumped through a filter and then to solar collectors where it is distributed and heated with the same solar energy, thus achieving a low-cost and totally ecological heated pool.
Cell phones can be charged with solar energy
9. Solar powered appliances
At this point, you will not be able to refuse to start using solar energy today to modify your quality of life, thinking of a better future for all.
You may think that it is difficult to change habits when we are used to using cell phones and household appliances that, until now, you think can only be charged with ordinary electricity.
The reality is that both devices and appliances can be powered by solar energy without the need to install a solar panel park in your backyard.
10. Take advantage of all natural resources
If you have decided to carry out a change, you can do it gradually and using all the resources that nature offers you. You can not only take the energy that comes from sunlight but also that which comes from the wind, which is called wind energy, but this is a topic that we will find in a future article.
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Ecology Journal