With only a limited supply of oil and gas available on Earth, it is extremely important to find alternative sources of energy or else with the depletion of these natural resources, humans will be unable to fulfill a number of basic requirements.

Renewable energy can be defined as any form of power that is derived from a source that cannot be depleted. Wind, solar, geothermal and tidal are examples of renewable energy.

There are several benefits of using renewable energy. It has some dominant environmental, economic and societal advantages. Renewable energy sources do not need any fossil fuels to generate power, which makes them environment friendly. Following are the main sources of renewable energy.

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The popularity of solar energy is increasing at a faster rate due to the fact that it is sustainable, requires little maintenance once installed, and requires no additional investment once the unit is installed.

Photovoltaic (PV) cells are mainly used to capture and convert the solar energy into electricity. However, instead of using the solar heat directly, it is also used indirectly to generate electricity as in the case of larger solar power plants that capture the heat from the sun and subsequently use it to produce steam for powering a generator.

1. Water

Many parts of the developing world use solar energy to pump water in remote areas. Solar energy is also used to provide power to far off areas where direct supply from the grid cannot reach easily.

Although there are several advantages of solar energy but its high cost is the biggest barrier to its common use.

This high price may be due to various reasons including political and economic factors, but a big factor that contributes majorly towards the high price is technological cost.

Recently, the researchers at Caltech have successfully created a new material that will be used to make solar-panel, replacing the use of solar cells as we now use them.

Right now, there are two basic types of photovoltaic, or PV, cells that are in use. The first one is a solid silicon-based PV cell that although is very efficient, but it is very costly and fragile to make.

After the launch of the solar boat, solar plane is here to play its part in the advancement of renewable energy. An experimental solar plane took its first test-flight this week. After the successful test flight, it has become possible for the Solar Impulse to plan of making a trip round the world.

According to reports, the test flight was expected to fly for about 90 minutes, reaching an altitude of about 1,000 meters.

The solar-powered airplane weighs about 1,600 kilograms and has four electric motors on board that supply the power to keep the plane up whether its day or night.

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We are living in a world where there are limited resources. Our needs are unlimited and these resources are not enough to meet our demands. We need energy to run our electric devices that are a part of our daily life.  We are currently using wind, water and other petroleum products to create energy that is not enough to meet our demands. So we need something special to fulfill our energy need with lower cost and more efficiency.

For the last twenty years or so, the word “solar revolution” is being heard on almost all the platforms.  It is estimated that this will take over at least 50% of energy production. The main idea behind is that solar energy will be used to generate electricity and this form of electricity will suit almost every part of the world. Moreover this technique will reduce the cost of electricity being produced.

The Photovoltaic Cell

The landmark of this solar revolution is photovoltaic cell that is used in solar panel to generate electricity. Multiple photovoltaic form an array and multiple arrays form a solar panel. Main issue in implementation is this concept is its installation cost. Since this cost is very high, making this process difficult to implement. As far as renewable energy market is concerned, photovoltaic cells’ efficiency is the landmark in its popularity.

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Our Earth receives 174 petawatts (PW) of solar radiations at the upper atmosphere, out of which almost 30% is reflected back to space whereas the rest is absorbed by clouds, oceans and land masses.

The Earth’s land surface, oceans and atmosphere that absorb solar radiation, raises their temperature. This causes warm air that contains evaporated water from the oceans to rise, causing atmospheric circulation or convection.

The water cycle gets completed when the air reaches a high altitude, where low temperature prevails, and the water vapor condenses into clouds, which rain onto the Earth’s surface.

It has been reported that the scientists in Georgia and New Jersey are busy in devising ways to take off the solar panels from the roofs of homes and cars, and moving them into basements and walls.

This will enable the homeowners to decorate their rooftops however they want, as the new panels would continuously provide solar power while protecting the delicate photovoltaic cells.

Zhong Wang, a scientist at Georgia Tech said that this might be the world’s first 3-D solar panel system.

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The method of making solar panels is complicated and delicate which is why there are delays in advances of solar process. However, advances in semiconductors and photovoltaic design have been made that permitted progressively more efficient and inexpensive solar cells to be developed.

Crystalline Silicon Solar Panels

The process of developing a crystalline solar panel is as follows:

• First silicon is cut into tiny disk and than a centimeter thick. These thin,
• Wafer-like disks are then polished and if any damage found, they are then fixed and repair.

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In February 2009, President Obama signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. Besides creating jobs, the bill promises to spur U.S. companies to greener heights through investments totaling more than $75 billion.

According to Environment America, a federation of state-based environmental advocacy groups, the stimulus package includes $32.8 billion for clean-energy projects, $26.86 billion for energy-efficiency initiatives and $18.95 billion for green transportation.

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As the race to find more alternatives to fossil fuels speeds up, newer ways to produce energy are coming up. But none of these new inventions are as interesting and innovative as the Cool Earth Solar “Balloon”. This particular balloon is designed to produce 400 times more electricity as compared to a solar cell that does not contain the company’s concentrator.

The main concept behind this design is to create an inflatable plastic thin-film balloon, i.e. the solar concentrator that upon inflation focuses the sunlight onto a photovoltaic cell held at its focal point.

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1. Solar pool heater can be used to heat your swimming pool. They can raise the temperature of your swimming pool up to 15^oF. This can be done with the help of solar pool blanket which can be bought easily from the market and can be cut according to the size of the pool. It will cost you just around 75 to 150 dollars. This in return save the money expended on the heater and is also environmentally viable i.e. it will reduce the emission of green house gases.
2. Solar pool heating system can be hybridized with the gas heating. It will still save your money. This type of system is especially good in the areas where sunlight is not available for long hours. 
3. Photovoltaic cell converts sunlight into electricity. These are the most popular uses of sunlight or solar energy. These can be used in homes, shops and offices etc and their use can decrease the expenditure of grid electricity. In some parts of the world government also give inventive for installation of solar energy project. In Japan, solar energy is considered as a practical substitute to fossil fuels. In some parts of America, the cost of solar energy is decreasing and the cost of fossil fuel is increasing. Read the full story