We are all used to seeing solar panels on the roofs of buildings and houses. Even in the middle of a desert esplanade in which hectares of panels are installed.
However, have we ever wondered what uses of solar energy produced by solar panels can be applied?
In this post I have made an analysis of the different ways that solar energy is applied. I hope it helps you.
1. Charge Portable Devices
This is probably the most widespread use of solar panels. Sounds weird right?
Solar panels can charge many of your mobile devices. Be it your smartphone, tablet and even your computer. These are some of the devices that can be charged or that directly work with solar panels:
Calculators : This is not something that may surprise you, many of the scientific calculators that we use in the institute and the university have a small solar plate that is enough to load the calculator and make it last until it breaks.
Powerbanks : That’s right, for people who leave home a lot, travel or go to the countryside a lot, a solar powerbank can be a real solution. Today there are many options and with them you can charge your mobile devices unlimited.
Security cameras : The installation of security cameras is associated with the wiring for the transmission of images and provide power to the camera. However, today there are cameras that self-feed from the sun and transmit their images via Wi-Fi.
Backpacks : Another option for those who spend a lot of time outside or in the field are backpacks with solar panels. Thanks to them, our walks and walks in the mountains can be more than productive.
Fans : A very good option are those small portable fans, which you buy once and the next day run out of batteries. However fans with solar panels will not run out as long as they enjoy light.
2. Ventilation
This is one of the forgotten uses of solar panels.
If we have extra space on our roof or windows, we can take advantage of it to install a solar-powered fan. Thanks to this we can ensure a fresh current inside our property on hot days.
This type of fans is also usually done on ship decks. Which are usually closed and have no air flow. Therefore, a solar fan is one of the best solutions since it saves energy and does not need the ship’s batteries for operation.
The uses of this type of fans can be extended to others such as refrigerating barns with cattle inside, ventilating a garage so that the gases expelled by the exhaust pipe are not trapped, or even a greenhouse in which it is necessary to run the air to regulate plant temperatures.
3. For Heating
On the contrary if what we want is to heat our apartment thanks to solar energy it is possible thanks to thermal solar panels.
Through a closed circuit, the water heated by the solar panels on our roof is carried throughout the installation.
In this way radiators and heaters are heated that give the house a way of heating that saves up to 55% of fossil fuels.
4. Outdoor lighting
You may be thinking about those small lights that are stuck in the lawn of your garden and that thanks to a solar panel that has charged the lamp’s battery will turn on at nightfall.
However, this option goes much further. Many streetlamps begin to include solar panels around them. This way we can illuminate the streets of the cities in a clean and sustainable way.
In the same way the light traffic signals work in most cases thanks to a solar panel placed on top of them.
5. Open doors
With a simple installation you can automate the doors of vehicles, which are usually manual.
This is a good option for rural properties, in which the lighting may not have arrived and therefore such a simple electrical installation is not worth the cost. Similarly, farmers can better control the passage of livestock from one side of the door to the other without having to open and close it manually.
6. Remote Communications
Solar panels ensure that any part of the world that receives sunlight can be able to maintain communication with another person in another part of the world.
This is the case of the military. Which go to missions around the world in countries and areas where coverage does not reach and there is no electricity to charge devices. Thanks to a simple deployment of a device connected to solar panels this problem is solved, being able to communicate thanks to solar energy.
Similarly, space stations need solar energy to operate on their own and send messages to the station on Earth. This would not be possible without the large number of solar panels deployed on either side of the ship.
7. To Cook
Not everything was going to be solar panels. We can also use the sun’s rays for cooking.
This is possible thanks to solar ovens. Thanks to the combination of reflectors and mirrors direct the sun’s rays towards the same point, transmitting much heat to it.
It is the most ecological way of cooking since it does not need fuels or wood burning to produce heat.
This is a very simple solution and it has spread a lot in recent years thanks to the fact that people with few resources can take advantage of this type of solutions to save money and not only heat the food but also purify the boiling water.
Thanks to this we can heat pots, pans … and cook stews, biscuits and much more.
8. Heat Water
One of the great uses of thermal solar panels is effectively to heat water.
Thanks to the so-called ACS (Sanitary Hot Water) facilities, the water in the panels is heated and then passed to a boiler that manages the water to the property. In this way you can enjoy hot showers, scrub the dishes with hot water, and basically everything that involves the use of hot water in a home or business.
Thanks to its use instead of a traditional boiler, we save on propane gas and other fuels.
The big beneficiaries of this type of facilities are the businesses that require hot water on a daily basis. These are some:
Heated pools
Hotels
Chemical companies
Industrial laundries
Canning
Spas
And many others
9. Water Distillation
This is another use of solar energy in which solar panels are not required.
Distilling water thanks to the heat of the sun is based on digging a ditch on wet soil and waiting for evaporation to take effect. Thanks to the condensation the particles of pure water reach the plastic or the surface where it is collected.
10. Provide Energy to Cities
After all, solar energy is applicable to any process that requires electricity or hot water. Thanks to it, entire cities could benefit from the energy of the sun, as well as businesses and private homes. Without a doubt this is one of the cleanest, cheapest and most durable energies that exist at the moment.
