Is Solar Energy a Reliable and Practical Source of Electrical Power?
You have probably heard it said by environmental groups that we should switch to solar energy as a power source because it is free, there is an unlimited supply, and it is a cleaner source of electrical power because there are no by-products (compared to fossil fuels like oil and gas which release greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere when burned for power.) However, can solar energy be a reliable and practical source of electrical power indeed? When we use the term solar power nowadays, it usually refers to man-made technologies that rely on the flow of sunlight from our sun to create electricity or even mechanical power. Early pioneers in the conversion of solar power into usable forms of power were Auguste Mouchout, Frank Shuman, Charles Tellier, and John Ericksson. But the real breakthrough in conversion of solar power into pure electricity was achieved by the Bell Laboratories research team when they created the solar cell. Other people have been able to build on this devel
