Turning the Sun into Power for Everyday Life
It was something we always knew. Before we knew the world was round; before we knew our world traveled around it. We knew the Sun was the greatest source of power touching our life on earth. We saw it illumine the world around us. We noted the plants reached up in growth to it. We felt it warm us. Our ancestors built altars and great edifices to honor it. Noting its seasonal durations, we began to harvest its gifts through agriculture. In the 2700's BC, a lens was created in Assyria, that focused the sunlight into fire ignition. From the 3rd Century BC to 20AD, the Greeks, Romans, and the Chinese developed “burning mirrors” to light torches. Around the world, home-dwelling and public use architecture was developed to utilize what is now called “passive solar”, to deliberately capture the sun's warmth and utilitarian light. In 1893 the photo-voltaic (PV) effect was discovered in a French laboratory. In 1905, along with his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein published his paper on the photo-voltaic effect. In the 1931, Thomas Edison advocated turning to the sun as the best bet for the future of humanity's growing energy needs. In 1954, the first silicon PV cells were successfully created at Bell laboratories. 1963 saw the world's (then) largest solar array built in Japan-242 watts. In 1964 NASA began to employ solar arrays in space, powering satellites. 1973 saw the world's first solar powered residence built in Delaware, that also fed energy production excess back to the grid. In 1976, NASA Lewis Research Center begins installing 83 PV Power systems on every continent except Australia. The world's “modern” solar revolution had begun! There have been multiple important steps by scientists and inventors, since 1767 that have led us to today's solar implementations, and are too numerous to mention. Science has revealed to us that our very atoms shaping our existence, are made of “star-stuff”-namely, the star we call the sun. Perhaps the underlying compulsion that has driven humanity-from ancient sun worshipers to modern science and invention- to reach for the power of the sun, is innate in our fiber.
Perhaps it is, quite simply, natural. It is now somewhat fruitless to wonder “what if”- what if we had focused and worked as diligently creating the electrical grid based on renewable energy resources, instead of non-renewable sources, over the last 100+ years. We can observe, learn from-but not change- what has passed. We can, however, make new choices now, for today, and tomorrow. The unhappy news has been realizing the costs, to our planet, and to our pocketbooks, with yesterday's choices. The good news is that we have reached the technological juncture, that caused the Rockefeller family to withdraw their investments from the fossil fuel industry, and invest instead in “Green Tech”, in September of 2014.
It took a few generations, but it appears Thomas Edison was very clear-sighted when he said to Harvey Firestone and Henry Ford; “we are like tenant farmers, chopping down the fence around our house for fuel.
We should be using Nature's inexhaustible sources of energy-sun, wind, and tides-...I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until...” The bad news: scientists around the world predominately agree, we have waited “until”. The good news: current focused solar development has the world on track to derive 50% of electrical production for our growing demand from solar.
More good news-an MIT think tank deduced, in 2015, that if we do indeed achieve that 50%, we will begin to shift our atmosphere back to greater health. The accelerated developments in solar technology are now producing higher quality results at lower prices, relatively speaking. Particularly relative to the costs of Utility rates, when one decides to “go solar”. In truth, the most compelling reasoning driving home and business owners to invest in solar, is the undeniable conclusion Solar makes the bank account Green. For many, it's simply a bonus if it makes the world greener, i.e., a healthier Earth-and, happily, it does. Investing in our own solar power brings a healthy ROI through cost avoidance-what we don't have to pay, by comparison, for more expensive Utility prices. Simultaneously, the earth benefits, also by cost avoidance- negating drilling, mining, transportation, and the residual wastes of burning fossil resources. This is how solar conserves, making the investor's bank account- and the earth- Green. The simple and startling realization, is that the power of the sun is an extra-terrestrial resource we can access and use for our daily life-if we choose- placing far less stress on the earth we are borrowing from our grandchildren.
The wonderful reality is, making that choice has become the money-sensible one. Continuing to rent Utility power is not. Utility companies in California are mandated by the CPUC to continually increase renewable sourced energy in their electrical production, which is good. At the same time, Solar's rapidly evolved technology has now made owning our own clean power more affordable, which is even better! It is an exciting transition time as humanity around the globe is awakening to the benefits and eased access to the power of the sun being applied to our modern everyday needs. There are many making this progress possible-think tanks, labs, manufacturers, distributors, financing entities, government leaders, concerned and interested consumers, and, of course, Sales, Service and Installation companies like our own.
At Sun Solar Electric, we are proud of our work's positive effects-and especially of our workmanship in what we do. Whether Installing Solar, performing Electrical Services, or the combination of same, our goal is to provide our customers maximum efficiency in production and savings. And, we pride ourselves in the how of what we do-providing informative choices on proven products to fit each customer's specific purchase criteria, along with market-competitive prices. What we never do is sacrifice quality-in our work, parts, or any of the little things that will maintain the integrity of our customer's investment. In this business of the future, here and now, we're still a bit “old school”. We put in long days of hard work, and enjoy that feeling at the end of the day that we've done our work well. Whether a home or a business, it's a good feeling knowing we've helped another turn the sun into power for their everyday life.