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Residential Solar

Residential solar power is almost exclusively photovoltaic in nature. This is unfortunate, because photovoltaic power is currently less efficient than using solar energy’s thermal properties to produce electricity. Thermal solar plants operate in excess of 50% efficiency, which is a mark that has only recently (as of 2008) been achieved with photovoltaic power, and even then only under laboratory conditions.

The drawback to thermal power in a residential solar setting is that it cannot scale down to the level necessary to become feasible. To produce electricity almost all power plants spin a turbine. This causes a coil to rotate around a magnet. The discrepancy between the poles of the magnet creates an electric charge, which can then be distributed to consumers. The amount of steam necessary to spin a turbine cannot be easily harnessed in a residential setting.

This is why residential solar power relies on photovoltaic panels, which translate sunlight directly into electricity. These panels are a less efficient use of sunlight, but unlike thermal power, they follow a directly proportional line. Thermal power is exponentially related, meaning that you need a certain base amount of input before it becomes a meaningful power source. Solar panels will increase power output as a straight function of the area covered by the solar cells. This is why the first solar cells were used in extremely small applications, to power watches and calculators.

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