Does anyone know or work about photovoltaic energy?

Question

Does anyone know or work about photovoltaic energy?

Answer 1

SOLAR energy is photovoltaic energy.

Answer 2

It generates DC voltage much like a battery.  You can use a solar cell and battery much the same way.

Answer 3

These are generalizations, but I'll overlook the exceptions for laying the groundwork.

A photovoltaic cell is a small, flat device made of silicon, ranging from the size of your fingernail to the size of a small plate.  You put it in the sun, and it generates electricity.

The cell is generally expensive in comparison to the electricity it generates, so it's only cost effective where electricity is expensive, or it would be hard to change batteries.  Prices are coming down as technology advances, so photovoltaic applications are becoming more common.

Dozens of cells are put together into a photovoltaic module to generate more power.  A typical number might be 72 cells.  Such a module might be the size of a small table, say, 3 feet by 5 feet, and generate about 200 watts.  It costs about $800 retail.

If you could somehow reliably mount such a module to a bicycle, it would supply more power than the average cyclist riding along.  In other words, you could build a solar-powered bicycle with unlimited range - you could travel across the whole continent as long as the sun was shining brightly!

We are getting to the point where people are starting to consider mounting many modules on their rooftops to generate electricty for themselves.  This would have been unthinkable 10 years ago, but again, prices are coming down.

An example system (and link to a cheesy movie) is at the url below.

Answer 4

Photovoltaic energy is basically solar energy.

This site explains it all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltai...

Answer 5

You might find some useful information here:

http://www.nrel.gov/