Why is solar energy so difficult to use?

Question

Oil will be running out sooner or later. Why scientists are so slow?

Answer 1

There was an oil boom in the late 1900's. Around the same time, the electric car was being developed in California. The latter was not used due to the former. Oil became more cost-effective.

But to answer your question, solar energy is difficult to store.

Answer 2

There is nothing hard about solar electric. I instlled my own system.

Solar panels produce the electric in DC current

Charge controllers, control the charging of batteries

Batteries store the solar electric

Inverters change the solar electric from DC to AC voltage to us in your home.

Not that difficult.

It is the startup cost that no one wants to pay. But most don't know they can get the inverter first of the size they need and the batteries. Setup these two items up as a battery backup system. Then next year buy a large charge controller and start adding solar panels as time goes on.

The inverters come with a built in battery charger so the batteries would stay charged from the grid till they were needed or when the electric goes out. Then as you start adding the solar panels. You will slowly quit using grid power unless it is a rainy day which you can use the grid as a backup system. Or get a wind mill and solar electric and get rid of the grid.

Answer 3

Actually solar is not difficult to use or implement, but the cost of the equipment has made it a barrier for most people. I recently got a quote of over $25,000 for the solar panels for my house.

But I found a company that will rent all the solar electric panels to supply 100% of a home's power for a monthly rate equal or less than utility power. I think this is fantastic idea that could make solar easy and affordable to almost anyone. Email me if you'd like to know more about this. [e-mail]

Answer 4

It is difficult to use because it is WEAK.

Scientists are slow because they are not as smart as you would like them to be.

Sunlight provides 1,366 watts per square meter in space, as measured by satellites. It is less on the ground due to clouds, shadows and night. Also, the solar cells can only convert a small part of that to usable power, maybe 15%. See the source.

OK, now the math. One horse power is 734 watts, so that 1,366 watts per square meter is less than 2 horse power. Assume your whole car is covered with solar cells, and that your car is 2 meters wide and 4 meters long (about 7 by 13 feet). That is 8 square meters or less than 16 horse power. Now real solar cells only convert 15% of the energy to electricity, so you get only 3 horse power. Then you drive in the shade of a tall building or under some trees, or on a cloudy day, or at night, and get little or no power. Ok, so you use fuel cells or batteries in an electric car and cover your house roof with solar cells. Let us say your house has 185 square meters of roof (about 2,000 square feet). It gets 185 X 1,366 watts of power, at noon on a clear summer day (less at all other times). That is 344 horsepower. With 15% efficient solar cells on all of it, you get 52 horse power. That might work, if you are very energy efficient, with a small electric car, no air conditioner, low power appliances and so on. And the price of all the solar cells, batteries and the electric car will be more than your house cost. And what about big trucks, buses, airplanes, commercial buildings, and factories? They need much more power and in many cases do not have access to a big enough roof to collect it. And what about tall buildings. A tall building uses way more power than falls on its roof, so it needs a big solar cell farm in the country somewhere to supply the power.

And, again, the solar cells cost a lot of money. Right now, with rising energy prices, more people are buying solar cells, and the manufacturers are unable to make enough to fill all their orders, so prices are going UP, not down. In time, if demand stays high, more factories will be built, but if the price of oil goes down again, many of them will go bankrupt. By the way, the solar cell factories are not be powered by solar power. Solar cell manufacturing takes a lot of power; more than can be collected from the roof of the factory. There is no solar powered solar cell factory anywhere in the world. If solar cell factories relied only on solar power, they would have to charge WAY more for the solar cells they produced. Also, solar cell manufacturing uses a lot of toxic chemicals and produces toxic waste. This is the same kind of cost accounting that environmentalists use when they say oil has a higher cost that we notice, because of the power required to produce it and the pollution it causes

So, anyway, the main problem is the power is very weak and hard to collect.

Answer 5

because the companies that make it are not subsidised by the government so the price for the technology is HIGH and the quality of the technology is not that good since there is not much funding for research and development for solar.

when you see solar come - if you ever see it come on a mass scale it will be controlled by a big auto or consortium of them - it will be in the hands of ford or toyota - gm or a combo of them or even more. They will decide when to mass produce it and then control the profits

Answer 6

It requires large collectors and good weather to be an effective energy sourse. If you had a solar vehicle it wouldn't run at night or in the rain.

Answer 7

It is not difficult; most of our lights are solar-powered. There are solar panels, which generate electricity but, they are very expensive.

Answer 8

No markets. Lack of research and development. With the opening of markets and the strengthening of demand, you find an increase in competition and in turn, better products, ease of use and cheaper prices.

Answer 9

It is hard to collect and store. When we develop better methods, that will change.

Answer 10

it's not difficult, it's just that startup can be expensive