Have you ever gotten a brand-new gadget, like an awesome computer, and powered it on for the first time with that satisfying noise? Not that noise, the other one that’s even better. And thought to yourself, why are we still using electricity produced by power plants burning coal or nuclear fission reactors? What about the most abundant source of energy on the planet: sunlight? Well, me too. That’s what this article is about.
Sunlight: An Omnipresent Energy Source
Sunlight is literally everywhere. It keeps everything on Earth alive in one way or another. So, it raises the question: why has so little of our energy production been from solar technology until recently? What advancements are making solar useful for much more than just calculators and those funny-looking cars?
Converting Sunlight into Electricity
Photovoltaic Panels
One 
to harness solar energy is through those big solar panels. They are made up of many individual photovoltaic cells. These cells contain semiconducting materials like silicon. When sunlight hits a solar cell, it knocks some of the electrons in the silicon free. This causes an electrical current to flow.
Solar Power Plants
Large solar power plants or farms take this electricity and store it for later use. This method is not very efficient. Alternatively, they send it directly to the grid. This is more efficient, but still not very efficient.
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
The other major solar technology is called Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). This is essentially a much larger version of using a magnifying glass to fry ants (or whatever other twisted stuff you did as a kid). These power plants work by using large mirrors or lenses to focus sunlight onto a series of tubes. These tubes contain a special fluid. This fluid uses the sun’s heat energy to produce steam that drives a turbine.
The Solar Renaissance
Both photovoltaics and CSP were very minor players in the energy market around the turn of the 21st century. But since then, solar power capacity has skyrocketed. In 2013, the world produced ten times as much energy from sunlight as it did just five years prior. That number should continue to grow. In fact, the International Energy Agency has projected that over one-fourth of the world’s electricity supply will be solar by 2050.
What’s Behind the Solar Boom?
Government Policies and Energy Market
Part of this solar boom has to do with government policies. The state of the energy market also plays a role. But there’s also been a lot of innovation in the actual technology that’s propelled solar to the forefront.
Technological Innovations
One of the biggest challenges since the advent of solar power has been efficiency. A solar plant can’t just convert all the light that hits it into useful electricity. Some of it is reflected back. Some is lost as waste heat. This has made solar energy expensive and inefficient for a long time.
Cheaper and More Efficient Materials
What we need are cheaper, more efficient materials. Thin-film cells are one such advancement. They are not only cheaper than traditional silicon but are also hundreds of times thinner. These thin-film cells now power some of the largest solar farms in the world due to their low cost.
Experimental Materials
There are also some other more experimental materials in the works. These materials promise to push efficiency to unprecedented heights. In 2000, the most efficient solar cell in the laboratory was rated just above 30%. By 2015 that number had risen to 46%.
Solar Power for Everyone
While there’s still a long way to go before we can run the entire world like one gigantic calculator, there are some amazing private projects going on. These projects allow you to determine if your area is optimal for solar panel installations on your roof. This can help you lower your personal electricity bills. Even if it doesn’t do much for powering an entire city.
The Future of Solar Energy
The day might be coming pretty soon when your gadgets can run cleaner and cheaper. Even if you opt for the deluxe clothes dryer that blacks out the whole neighborhood every time you set it to a drying cycle.
Conclusion
Solar energy is on the rise. With continued advancements in technology and supportive policies, it could soon become a dominant source of power. So, if you’ve ever wondered why we don’t use more solar energy, the answer lies in the rapid advancements and the promising future of solar technology.
Stay tuned to see how this clean and abundant energy source continues to evolve and power our world.
