Free Article: New Technology In Solar Power

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New Technology In Solar Power Offers Bright Hopes
By George Sykes

Since the beginning of mankind, the sun has been used as a source of lighting for interiors; but, as man's interiors grew, the need for more light grew. The electric light bulb enabled people to participate in many activities after the sun went down and new technology in solar power is starting to make the light bulb fearful of its future.

Current solar power technology only collects about six percent of the available energy from the sun. It has been estimated that if just one tenth of one percent of the sun's energy could be harnessed and converted into electricity, the world could be powered without the use of non-renewable resources. Additionally, with the new technology in solar power beginning to understand how to capture the invisible sunlight, more energy could be captured.

Current methods of gathering energy from sunlight focus on the amount of visible light, through the use of solar cells converting the energy into electricity. Recent advances in a new technology in solar power involves nanotechnology, which, when used with spray-on polymers, creates a solar panel that also sees the ultraviolet energy and can convert it into electricity.

Advances Offer Promising Future

Researchers of this new technology in solar power claim that an electric car painted with this coating could produce enough power to keep its batteries continuously charged. They also say that a jacket coated with this polymer could supply enough power to operate your cell phone. Additional advances in new technology in solar power could see the ability to harness up to 30 percent of the sun's energy as realistic in the future.

Hybrid lighting systems are also part of the new technology in solar power, which combines solar power and electricity to provide interior lighting. Sun light is collected in a parabolic dish, much the same as signals for satellite television, and then focused on a fiber optic array. This array carries the light into the same area as the electric lighting, helping to provide the needed illumination.

Through the use of light sensors, when the sun shines brighter and more light is transmitted through the fiber optics, computers read the room's brightness and adjust the amount of electricity used on the light bulbs, dimming them when the fiber optics provide more light and bringing back their brightness level when the sun is not as brilliant. This new technology in solar power is in limited use in some office settings and more research and improvements will increase its popularity.

Author Details:
George Sykes writes for various web sites writing articles about environmental issues and green energy such as solar power.

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