Environment

What On Earth Is Photovoltaic?

by remintola | July 6, 2007 at 08:43 am

684 views | 9 Recommendations | 6 comments

Photovoltaic (PV) is actually just what it sounds: photo, from photon, which is the unit light particle and in this case, from the sun; voltaic from volt, the unit of electricity (pressure) which drives electrons. So, this is the form of direct current electricity derived from sunlight. Photovoltaic panels or modules contain solar cells made from silicon, similar to silicon semi-conductor chips, and capture the sun's energy by converting photons into direct electrical current by knocking electrons from the semiconductor to create electron flow. I am sure you have likely seen PV panels, otherwise known as solar panels. PV panel is a more accurate term as "solar panel" can be confused with the hot water variety.

I wanted to write this article to let people know a little more about PV electricity, because I believe it is an up-and-coming trend which will allow people to dervive power from the sun to flow back to the electrical grid, known as grid-tied or grid-connected, and could allow them not to pay for electricity. This kind of grid-tied system uses no batteries for electrical storage and is called "net metering", where an electrical meter will monitor the amount and flow direction of electricity to credit the consumer if there is a net overage production.

Currently, there are many local and federal incentives for installing and using these kind of systems. In the US, a great resource to determine what is available to you where you live is the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency.

General Steps to a New PV System

Electrical usage assessment

Energy audit

Energy offset plan

Site analysis

Budget options

Installation

The first thing to do when considering a PV system install, is to determine your current electrical usage and to find if there is any way to increase efficiency. You should know that most Americans use more electricity than is really necessary, due to avoidable energy losses like; poor home insulation, inefficient windows and appliances, incandescent light bulb use, etc. It doesn't cost much to consider wasteful situations and make changes (everyone should try and do this without a solar PV install anyway). Typically, for every dollar you save improving your home's energy efficiency, you'll save 3 to 5 dollars on solar system costs.

Energy offset is "just how much electricity do you want to produce with your PV system to offset your adjusted usage" (meaning, your more efficient use of electricity, if you are not already as efficient as you could be).

A site analysis would take into account how much sun reaches your house based on geographic location, angle of home/PV panel location in relation to the sun's trajectory, how much of sun is blocked by trees of reaching the intended PV panel placement, and some other considerations such as panel mounting, inverter type, etc.

Budget options: electricity production from solar PV is not inexpensive and the payoff for a typical system varies, but is about 13 years. So you have to take all of this into account along with the incentives offered in your location. Also, the more efficient you can make your home, the sooner you can break even on your investment.

A PV system installation will require contracting a company that is properly insured, trained in PV system design and installation, and can provide all of the above preliminary steps to ensure that the desired PV system outcome is achieved.

I am hopeful that this little article was useful information for people who may be interested in deriving some streaming energy that the sun has made available to all of us for so long. If nothing else, just taking time to assess the waste of our current electrical use and some effort to make a few changes, could have an additive effect to prevent CO2 emissions.

If you live in or around Boulder, Colorado and are interested in more PV solar information or having a site inspection/assessment, you can check out www.flatironsolar.com, or call Bob at 303-775-4574.

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ryan

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 09:53 on July 6th, 2007

remintola, this is good stuff! I attended an alternative energy conference in Israel last year where researches discussed reducing the cost of PV cells to $850 per kilowatt from the current cost of about $3,000 pkw by using different materials such as a dye based system in place of silicon. There is a lot of hope in the energy from the sun, especially considering it is more than enough to sustain life on earth....that is until it runs out of 'fuel' too, but I think we have a couple million years until that happens.

remintola

at 10:17 on July 6th, 2007

Hello Ryan,

Thanks for your comment. I too am following the new dye solar cell technology with great interest. Although, unfortunately I believe that it is still about 2-4 years from being acceptably mature. From what I understand, the stability of the dye has been tested to about 2 years, which silicon PV cells are guaranteed to 10 years. I will endeavor to research this potential.

Kaitlin

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 10:06 on July 6th, 2007

remintola, thanks for posting this! This is great...I learned more here about solar power than I have in my whole life. Keep up the good work!

Victoria Revay

at 10:37 on July 6th, 2007

Solar power now makes sense...thanks for posting.

talentedchimp

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 17:01 on July 6th, 2007

remintola, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Break even after 13 years? Most people would balk at this figure because we are not taught to think long term any more. People forget that by installing PV technology, you are helping everybody, not just yourself; the next family that moves in, the environment, in fact the whole population of the world. That would make me feel good.