Solar Thermal Energy Plants Are Not So Widely Used Despite Being Low Tech Applications
There is more than one way by which to produce solar energy and everyone is already familiar with the solar panel that is a very common and also affordable means of producing solar energy and in which use is made of photovoltaic for the same. However, there is yet another means of producing solar energy and that is the solar thermal process and in this means of producing solar energy, solar thermal energy is gathered through the use of parabolic mirrors which face the sun and at the focal point a clear tube is positioned in which a fluid flows that gets heated.
An Answer To Oil Scarcity
In the solar thermal energy process there are pipes that go through a boiler in which steam is generated that in turn creates electricity and the whole process is very much like what is seen in traditional plants fired up by coals. However, solar thermal energy plants are quite scarce in their numbers and there are very few of them in the world though one was certainly built towards the end of the seventies as an answer to scarcity of oil in those years.
There is some notable advantage to using solar thermal energy than solar panels and that is that there is not much need for high tech applications as compared to what is required with photovoltaic and the silicon crystals that are used to create electricity flows when hit by sunlight are made through simply baking in an oven the compound which turns into crystals when allowed to cool. Thus, solar thermal energy is not technology dependent and with economies of scale can bridge the gap between conventional power and solar power.
The advantage to using solar thermal energy is also that it is available everywhere and it can heat up the earth, light up the day and even keeps us warm and will also dry up our clothes. In essence, when you think about solar thermal energy, you are thinking about a means to harness the solar power and put it to use in applications such as heating and electrical power generation with the help of solar thermal collectors of which solar hot water panels are a good example.
The main uses of solar thermal energy are in building design as well as in architecture in which it is used to heat and also ventilate in either active or passive solar designs.
