Solar photovoltaic systems, often called solar PV for short, are made up of a number of components, the biggest and most important being the solar panels, solar inverters, mounting platforms, and cabling infrastructure. Combined, these components harness radiant light from the sun, convert it into electricity and transmit it into homes and businesses to power electrical devices, like lights and appliances, and provide heating and cooling via the electrical currents they create.

 

Selecting the right solar PV system can be everything from an investment standpoint - too small of a solar system and buyers, energy demands aren't met, too large of a system and buyers will overspend on a system that generates too much power and potentially fails to generate a return on their investment. The first step consumers should take is to identify how much electricity they need or want their system to generate. 

Wind is caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, variations in the earth's surface, and rotation of the earth. Mountains, bodies of water, and vegetation all influence wind flow patterns. Wind turbines convert the energy in wind to electricity by rotating propeller-like blades around a rotor. The rotor turns the drive shaft, which turns an electric generator. Three key factors affect the amount of energy a turbine can harness from the wind: wind speed, air density, and swept area.

 

The amount of land required for a wind farm varies considerably and is particularly dependent on two key factors: the desired size of the wind farm (which can be defined either by installed capacity or the number of turbines) and the characteristics of the local terrain.

Biomass is defined as any organic matter that is available on a renewable or recurring basis. It includes all plants and plant derived materials, including agricultural crops and trees, wood and wood residues, grasses, aquatic plants, animal manure, municipal residues, and other residue materials.

 

Traditional use of biomass is more than its use in modern application. In the developed world biomass is again becoming important for applications such as combined heat and power generation. In addition, biomass energy is gaining significance as a source of clean heat for domestic heating and community heating applications. In fact in countries like Finland, USA and Sweden the per capita biomass energy used is higher than it is in India, China or in Asia.