Most people in developed countries are used to being able to flip a switch and have electricity spring to life to power the myriad objects and systems in their homes. Electrical energy is used to operate everything from kitchen appliances like stoves, ovens, refrigerators and dishwashers, to light fixtures, garage door openers, and smaller items such as television sets, computers, hair dryers and more. Although many of us have grown up and spent our lives using electricity to help us accomplish the tasks of daily life, there are some new alternatives that are starting to be more widely put into use, and one of the most promising is photovoltaic energy.

It All Begins With The Sun

Since time immemorial, people have enjoyed the heat that comes from the sun. It warms the earth, warms homes and helps plants to grow, enabling our sources of food to flourish. Scientists began to think about how the energy of the sun could be harnessed to create a reliable means of bringing that energy for people to use, and thus began the advent of and initial research into solar energy.

The major benefit that comes from using solar energy is that it is free to everyone on the planet. Although it is true that some parts of the earth receive more sunlight than others, the goal is to capture the energy from the sun and store it in cells, which can then be drawn upon at times when direct energy from the sun is not available, such as at night, or at times of year when sunlight is less strong or available.

What photovoltaic solar cell technology tries to do is convert natural sunlight into electricity. The first step is that a material is needed that can capture the sunlight. This material is called a semiconductor. The semiconductor, which is often silicon, absorbs the sunlight. Once the light has been absorbed, the next step is that energy is released into the photovoltaic solar cell in the form of electrons.

Those electrons have to be organized within the cell in order to create usable energy, and so an electrical field is used to establish the electrons to go in the same direction, which is known as an electrical current. At this point, the electricity can be taken out of the cell by using a metal contact on the top of and at the bottom of the cell. Many individual solar cells can be connected to form a solar panel, which also results in more electrical capacity created from the larger system.

Many advances are happening right now in photovoltaic energy development, and the day may soon come when solar energy will be cost-effective to be used widely throughout the country.