In 1839, Alexandre Edmond Becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect—that is, the ability to create an electric current from the sun’s rays.
Russell Ohl invented the first solar panel cell in 1941 and the first commercial panel was put out by Bell Laboratories in 1954.
Solar panels transform energy into power in two different ways – photovoltaic, which is power used for electricity, and solar thermal, which is power used for heating.
The sun provides the most abundant energy source on earth. With just one hour of direct sunlight, you could collect enough energy to generate a year’s worth of power for the entire Earth.
Solar panels can capture different parts of the sun’s light spectrum. So, if the sun’s not directly beaming on the panels – or it happens to be a cloudy day – power is still generated.
Solar panels produce 10 kilowatt-hours of electricity per square foot, while 174,000 terawatts of energy consistently strike the earth as solar radiation at any moment, even on the cloudiest of days.
To power the whole earth with solar energy, it would require 191,000 square miles of solar panels.
There is no pollution while generating solar energy and in 30 years the average rooftop solar panel system can reduce pollution by 100 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
The average solar panel has a 25-year warranty, and the most efficient solar panels are made from monocrystalline silicon.
The average solar panel system operates at 20% efficiency, meaning that it converts 20% of the sunlight that hits it into electricity.