Since there’s no point in having a dim light outside to help you see, it’s the course of wisdom to switch these lights off so that they may reach a full charge sooner. This results in a trickle-charge to that light’s power storage. Ambient sunlight may reach them, but not directly. It inevitably happens that you have solar lights mounted in places that are pretty shady.
Those lights are a little closer to the calculators we used in school, except they still have the means to store power captured from the sun. If we’re talking about solar lights that are mounted outside, then that’s a slightly different matter. Having a means of switching these lights on and off controls how much of that precious “free” electricity is used. What we’re trying to say is that by the time power makes it from the sun to the cells and is stored, that energy has been hard-won and shouldn’t just be used up willy-nilly. This also detracts from the efficiency of the way the power is collected and stored. So there’s a need to convert the power before it can be used. The modern American home is designed to run on alternating current. The power directed to the solar cells is a direct current. Worse yet, that power has to be converted once it’s captured.
For all that free power that shines down on the roof all day long, only a fraction of it can be captured due to the limitations of solar panel technology. Commercially available panels are only about 10% efficient. Part of the challenge starts right at the panel. This electricity is stored in cells that essentially function as rechargeable batteries that fuel the energy needs of the house. When the lights in question are the lights used inside of the house, they depend on the solar electricity collected from the solar panels that are normally mounted on the roof. That’s why, unlike the calculator, solar-powered homes don’t come to a grinding halt when the sun goes behind the clouds. Power collected from sunlight goes on a bit of a journey before it can be used as electricity. It’s been easy to carry that mental model of solar power into adulthood: that solar energy is this siphon of power directly from the sun to the devices using it. When we covered it with a finger, the numbers slowly faded away. When light reached the sensor, the calculator worked. Left unchecked, they were hours of entertainment. Most of us were introduced to solar power through those calculators we used in school. So once that energy is captured and stored, by all means: Control how soon and how quickly it’s consumed! From Calculators to The Task of Sustainable Daily Living A full day of sunlight for someone in Seattle is completely different from a full day of sunlight for someone in New Mexico. It can be.ĭon’t forget that sunlight levels vary across the country, let alone across the globe. Solar energy certainly may seem like a free lunch and an unlimited treasure trove of energy. As much as such a setup cuts down or eliminates the water bill, there’s no sense in leaving the tap wide open. Such a person would want a way of keeping the water in storage until they’re ready to actually use it. there’s a quick way to find out just how much water we waste on a daily basis. You could also compare it to the folks that rely on rainwater for their water needs. The reduced…and sometimes eliminated…utility bill doesn’t take long to get used to at all, but like finding out how much you really eat when you learn to cook, you find out just how many energy-demanding devices and appliances you have when you take up generating your own power. It’s Not as Easy a Relationship as We Might Have Thoughtīut it does take some getting used to.
Energy costs are unpredictable and have a tendency to go up more than anything else, so for the people that have the means to do it, becoming solar-capable is a very attractive prospect. Solar energy is one of those things that isn’t going away anytime soon. They have their solar panel, power storage, and light all in one tidy package. Then there are the lights that are mounted outside that are their own electrical system. There are the lights that are used inside the house and are connected to a larger electrical system throughout the dwelling.
But the answer also depends on what kind of light we’re talking about. Generally, an on/off switch on solar lighting allows control over the use of the power generated by the sun all day.