Solar : Marvelous Solar Panels Info Household Solar Panels Solar Power For Your Home Folding Solar Panels Pv System Amazing solar panel distributors

Solar. Thursday , February 15th , 2018 - 06:20:07 AM

The Earth receives 174 petawatts (PW) of incoming solar radiation (insolation) at the upper atmosphere. Approximately 30% is reflected back to space while the rest is absorbed by clouds, oceans and land masses. The spectrum of solar light at the Earth 's surface is mostly spread across the visible and near-infrared ranges with a small part in the near-ultraviolet. 6 Most of the world 's population live in areas with insolation levels of 150–300 watts/m², or 3.5–7.0 kWh/m² per day. citation needed

Solar radiation is absorbed by the Earth 's land surface, oceans – which cover about 71% of the globe – and atmosphere. Warm air containing evaporated water from the oceans rises, causing atmospheric circulation or convection. When the air reaches a high altitude, where the temperature is low, water vapor condenses into clouds, which rain onto the Earth's surface, completing the water cycle. The latent heat of water condensation amplifies convection, producing atmospheric phenomena such as wind, cyclones and anti-cyclones. 7 Sunlight absorbed by the oceans and land masses keeps the surface at an average temperature of 14 °C. 8 By photosynthesis, green plants convert solar energy into chemically stored energy, which produces food, wood and the biomass from which fossil fuels are derived.

The large magnitude of solar energy available makes it a highly appealing source of electricity. The United Nations Development Programme in its 2000 World Energy Assessment found that the annual potential of solar energy was 1,575–49,837 exajoules (EJ). This is several times larger than the total world energy consumption, which was 559.8 EJ in 2012.