Sun related Facts about Solar Energy
- Sunlight travels to the earth in approximately 8 minutes from 93,000,000 miles away, at 186,282 miles per second.
- The sun is also the main source of non-renewable fossil fuels (coal, gas and petroleum), which began life as plants or animals whose energy came from the sun millions of year ago.
- Solar energy is responsible for weather patterns and ocean currents.
- Clouds, pollution and wind can prevent the sun's rays from reaching the earth.
Other Interesting Facts about Solar Energy:
- Da Vinci predicted a solar industrialization as far back as 1447.
- In one hour more sunlight falls on the earth than what is used by the entire population in one year.
- A world record was set in 1990 when a solar powered aircraft flew 4060km across the USA, using no fuel.
- Fierce weather cost the world a record $130 Billion in the first eleven months of 1998- more money than was lost from weather related disasters from 1980 to 1990 ($82 Billion).
- Researchers from the Worldwatch Institute and Munich Re blame deforestation and climate change from Earth warming for much of the loss. The previous one-year record was $90 Billion in 1996. Source – Associated Press, November 28,1998.
- About 2 billion people in the world are currently without electricity.
- Accounting for only 5 percent of the world's population, Americans consume 26 percent of the world's energy.
- Electric ovens consume the most amount of electricity, followed by microwaves and central air conditioning.
- Third world countries with an abundance of sunlight and a population currently without electricity, represents the fastest growing market for solar energy, with the largest domestic market being the utilities sector.
- Shell Oil predicts that 50% of the world's energy will come from renewable sources by 2040.
0 comments:
Post a Comment