What Does Solar Energy Mean to You? By Thomas Kerrin At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

In order to know where to find solar energy you must first know what solar energy is. Solar energy is energy from the sun. When the sun is shining solar energy is being produced as it sends the heat radiating to the earth. You can find solar energy anywhere or anything that the sun can shine on. There is a way that you can save the sunlight in order to provide heat during the cold, which is what millions of people have done throughout the years. It started thousands of years ago when people where able to use a thick lens or magnifying glass on an object that would attract the sun rays on that particular object and could get so hot it would catch fire. This gave a new prospective on how strong the heat from the sun really was.

The problem with capturing the suns heat is the fact that when it reaches the earths surface it does not go to one particular spot. It is spread evenly over the earth where the sunlight is able to reach. When this happens you may find it difficult to heat something using only the sunlight. Although the area or object may be hot if left in the sun too long it will not reach the full heating potential of the sun's light.

In order to use the heat efficiently to heat a room after the sun goes down or when the sun is unable to shine because of clouds you will need to use a source that will attract the heat to one particular area. This source is called a solar collector. The solar collector attracts a lot of sunlight to one particular area allowing the sun to pass through the source and into the space. The objects in the space absorb and hold the heat from the sunlight and trapping it so it will not get back out with the help of the source. Glass is a great solar collector because it allows the sun to pass through it and into the space but the heat from the sun can rarely escape leaving the space under the glass to become warm or hot from the heat. The objects in the space help to hold the heat as it comes in so that the space will stay warmer longer. This allows the area to be heated using solar power.

Because glass is a natural solar collector it makes it great to put into a greenhouse or a sun room. The glass attracts the sunlight and traps the heat inside so that they temperature in the greenhouse or sun room remain warm even at night when the temperature outside may be cold.

Solar energy can be found anywhere the sun shines but in order to fill the heat you must have direct sunlight for an extended period of time. If you just use the morning sun to heat your home your house may not stay warm through the night.

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