It’s Magic!
BY RICHARD A. FLOREY
Marketing Director
EcoVantage Energy, inc.
www./ecovantageenergy.com
electrical imbalance within the cell, which acts a bit like
a slope down which the electrons will flow in the same
direction”.
See? Magic.
How the Power Grid Works
The US power grid has been called the world’s largest
machine, with 5,800 power plants, 3,200 utilities,
and over 2.7 million miles of power lines. As a result,
most energy utilities are granted monopoly control
over a local market with the mandate to provide
low-cost, reliable energy as a public good. To enforce
this mandate, utilities are either publicly owned or,
more commonly, heavily regulated by state regulatory
commissions that set the prices that utilities are
permitted to charge consumers.
What Exactly is Energy?
Well, for this scenario, the specific form of energy we’re
talking about is that which has been harnessed to
serve our lives. That said, here’s an interesting thought;
the warmth and light we get from burning wood, oil,
charcoal or coal and all the energy we receive into our
bodies from our food, is all stored energy from our Sun.
Think about that for a minute. Energy from fossil fuels
is energy from the Sun that has been stored, like data
in a flash drive; energy to be revealed to us upon its
destruction. Mind. Blown.
How PV Cells Work
What if you could just take that energy, sun energy, as it
comes and turn it into power? Well, you can do just that.
That’s what is happening when the sun’s rays, photons,
strike the photo cells in a solar panel. The difference is,
the energy is not stored, but rather, the photons strike
the cell’s silicon particles that release an electron. The
rest is magic. Or, here’s some official science talk to
help explain, from physics.org.
In Conclusion
We at EcoVantage believe having a grid-tied solar
system with battery backup is the simplest, most
efficient and most responsible step forward in
harnessing energy for our lives.
“As these (photons) hit the silicon atoms of the solar
cell, they transfer their energy to loose electrons,
knocking them clean off the atoms. The photons could
be compared to the white ball in a game of pool, which
passes on its energy to the colored balls it strikes.
Freeing up electrons is however only half the work of
a solar cell: it then needs to herd these stray electrons
into an electric current. This involves creating an
Set it. Forget it. No Mess!
If there’s any one thing I’ve been most impressed
with, having gotten to know Solar since coming to
EcoVantage, it’s such a clean technology. I mean
literally. Of all the ways to make electricity, other than
hydroelectric and
geothermal, solar
leaves zero waste
byproducts; no carbon
or radioactivity!
Solar panels do,
however, need
washing from time to
time, so, there is that.
Otherwise,
Nuclear Waste
solar panels are practically maintenance free and create
zero pollution.
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