Solar modules in space

DID YOU KNOW? Solar cell technology is used for decades in space for the needs of the space ships and satellites.

Nature has its own way of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and even giving out oxygen in the process, the process that most plants use is called photosynthesis. It is not a particularly energy-efficient process, commonly only getting around 1% benefit from all the sunlight that hits the plant. The chemical reaction of Photosynthesis is generally this one:(6) H2O + (6) CO2 + sunlight energy gives C6H12O6 + (6) O2.

It’s really an interesting process, taking generic water (usually from the ground) and carbon dioxide (from the air) and energy from sunlight and creating a complex hydrocarbon molecule (called glucose) and releasing oxygen in the process. Essentially all living things exist because of this single chemical reaction, because we all use that glucose as the energy source for nearly all biological functions. (As the glucose is broken down, back into water and carbon dioxide inside us, for example, energy that has been earlier captured from sunlight is released to drive needed chemical reactions and the water and carbon dioxide is released in our exhaled breath.) Most plants do this photosynthesis. Tropical rain forests tend to do it more efficiently, mostly because they can grow all year long and they have excellent supplies of both water and carbon dioxide. It is NOT the most intelligent thing for humans to be doing in chopping down rain forests at the rate of a football-size-field every few seconds (to clear farm land, which then becomes useless after just a few years of farming). As humans, as animals, we NEED oxygen to breathe! Without plants, there would not be any oxygen in the atmosphere! There are so many ways to invest for cleaner planet Earth. These include concentrating solar power systems, passive solar heating and daylighting, photovoltaic systems, solar hot water, and solar process heat and space heating and cooling.  Solar power can be used in both large-scale applications and in smaller systems for home.