solar panel, definition of

This is an economic incentive-based alternative to command-and-control regulation. In an emissions trading program, sources of a particular pollutant (most often an air pollutant) are given permits to release a specified number of tons of the pollutant. The government issues only a limited number of permits consistent with the desired level of emissions. The owners of the permits may keep them and release the pollutants, or reduce their emissions and sell the permits. The fact that the permits have value as an item to be sold or traded gives the owner an incentive to reduce their emissions.

• Home Battery Storage Buying Guide
  Buying a Solar Home Battery Storage system can be a confusing undertaking, in this guide we examine the issues, clear up the confusion and give you useful advice.
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  The costs of solar-power storage batteries are explored in this article and how to get the best economies and long term reliability.
• How does solar power work?
  We explain how solar power works and how it can be used to provide clean renewable power.
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  Establish the facts around solar power. This article explains the pros and cons of having a solar power system for your home, and how to work out the costs.
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  Solar Power systems installed at the home or office can reduce environmental impact. How solar panel systems work is described and how you and the environment benefit.
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  Building orientation to the Sun is important to reduce energy consumption, keeping comfortable and saving money. This article explains how best to get building orientation correct. Through a combination of benefits and opportunities the correct building orientation could save you thousands.

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• Solar Panel Calculator
  This solar panel calculator will, given the Watt rating of a solar panel, its dimensions and number of units calculate the total power you can expect and roof space taken up. It will also tell you the rated voltage and ampage, useful for correctly sizing an inverter or regulator.
• Solar Wiring Size Calculator
  Interactive Solar Panel Wiring Size Calculator. Makes sure your wiring is the right size for a given distance, power and voltage drop. Works in metric or imperial.
• Solar Power Calculator
  Calculate the power solar panels will generate each season based on latitude or nearest town or city worldwide. Also works out off grid energy savings of going solar powered..

• Did you know these surprising solar panel facts?
  Solar panels are by far the best applicable technology for converting solar energy to usable electricity today. With the sun available to us around the year, it is only reasonable to consider taping its energy for domestic use. Even so, the currently...

Related Tags: solar, energy

Solar Panel Efficiency is a percentage measure of how Solar Energy from the Sun hitting a solar panel is ideally converted into useful electrical power. This is often given assuming perfect conditions; i.e. no shade, maximum sun and cool. In practice the actual rate of conversion can be somewhat different due to:

• Shading - even partial shading can have a dramatic effect on the energy produced.
• Heat - the hotter a solar panel becomes the less efficient it is at converting solar energy into electrical energy.
• Sun Strength - akin to shading, but if the Sun is behind clouds or low in the sky you will get dramatically less power.
  

• Solar Panels for your home, with the reduced feed-in tariff, are they a sound investment?
  We take a more detailed look at solar panels and help you work out if investing your money in solar is the right thing to do for you and the environment.

• SunPower nabs record for world's most efficient rooftop solar panel
  Solar panel efficiency is the holy grail of the solar power world, and SunPower just propelled the industry further with the "most efficient rooftop solar panel" in the world...
• With a special glass coating, these solar panels can capture sunlight from almost any angle
  When it comes to boosting efficiency in solar panels—that is, increasing the amount of the sun’s energy each photovoltaic cell can harness—researchers have tried a lot of tricks...
• New Software Allows Developers to Create Super Efficient Solar Parks
  In 2012, Siemens developed a software that allowed them to design ultra-efficient solar parks in just a few seconds, but at that time only Siemens had access to the tool...
• Study Discovers That Solar Panels Have a Cooling Effect on Buildings
  It turns out that solar panels can do more than provide you with renewable energy - they can significantly cut down the power needed to heat and cool your building as well...
• Off-the-Shelf Dyes Increase Solar Panel Absorption
  The hippies were the first to push solar energy en masse in the 70’s, so it’s a wonder we haven’t thought of this before — it turns out the same stuff used to tie-dye t-shirts can increase the efficiency of solar panels...

Related Tags: solar power, solar energy, energy efficiency, renewable energy, solar cells, green energy, solar panels