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The solar specialists at Palmetto Solar have found that when a family decides to install rooftop solar panels on their home, their children understandably become interested in solar energy and solar power systems. We want to help parents explain solar power and the benefits of solar energy systems to their kids. However, the complexities of solar energy can quickly become confusing, even for adults. So we broke down and simplified some main points about solar power and provided fun facts specifically catered to interest kids!

Kid-Friendly Solar Energy Facts

The sun is full of energy and solar energy comes from sunlight that reaches earth! The amount of sunlight that reaches earth varies depending on location, time of day, time of year, and weather conditions.

The sun has produced energy for billions of years! This means solar energy has been used by people for hundreds of years to cook food, keep warm, and to dry clothes. Today, it is also used to create electricity.

Solar cells turn light from the sun into electricity. Solar cells are also called photovoltaic cells. 'Photo' is Latin for light and 'voltaic' means electricity.

Solar cells are put together to make solar panels. Solar panels are put on your home's roof to collect sunlight and turn it int power. If you have seen big shiny panels on the roof of a house, that house is using solar energy! Solar energy can be used to power anything in your house that needs electricity.

Solar Panels are not just for houses. In fact, solar panels are used all around us to power many different things. Solar panels can be put on food trucks, cars, boats, buildings and space satellites. There are even planes that run on solar power! Solar panels can also be used to power smaller things such as calculators and the orange flashing highway signs that warn us about a traffic jam or a closed exit.

Solar energy is good for the planet! It does not create pollution like energy from coal and oil. We waste energy to make power from coal and oil. No energy is wasted when using solar power!

Solar is our energy future, so it only makes sense to teach the future generation about the benefits of the sustainable energy source. If you are interested in installing solar PV panels on your roof, talk to your kids or younger siblings about it! We think you'll be surprised by their response! Who knows, your talk may even spark an interest in a future solar career!

In the meantime, if you have any other solar energy questions or are ready to make the switch to solar power, get in touch today! Palmetto Solar makes going solar easy with worry free no money down financing. We install solar energy systems across South Carolina including Charleston, Columbia and Greenville and can schedule and in home consultation with one of our trusted solar specialists! Please give us a call today (855) 339-1831.

Palmetto Solar

Palmetto

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Solar Energy for Kids - Renewable Energy World

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The solar specialists at Palmetto Solar have found that when a family decides to install rooftop solar panels on their home, their children understandably become interested in solar energy and solar power systems. We want to help parents explain solar power and the benefits of solar energy systems to their kids.

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Without the sun there will be no solar energy

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Its on Khan Academy!

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Solar power (video) | Energy | Khan Academy

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Learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

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p.s - Sorry it was kind of bad.

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This is a solar panel used to create energy!

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Solar energy is the technology used to harness the sun's energy and make it useable. As of 2011, the technology produced less than one tenth of one percent of global energy demand.

Many are familiar with so-called photovoltaic cells, or solar panels, found on things like spacecraft, rooftops, and handheld calculators. The cells are made of semiconductor materials like those found in computer chips. When sunlight hits the cells, it knocks electrons loose from their atoms. As the electrons flow through the cell, they generate electricity.

On a much larger scale, solar-thermal power plants employ various techniques to concentrate the sun's energy as a heat source. The heat is then used to boil water to drive a steam turbine that generates electricity in much the same fashion as coal and nuclear power plants, supplying electricity for thousands of people.

How to Harness Solar Power

In one technique, long troughs of U-shaped mirrors focus sunlight on a pipe of oil that runs through the middle. The hot oil then boils water for electricity generation. Another technique uses moveable mirrors to focus the sun's rays on a collector tower, where a receiver sits. Molten salt flowing through the receiver is heated to run a generator.

Other solar technologies are passive. For example, big windows placed on the sunny side of a building allow sunlight to heat-absorbent materials on the floor and walls. These surfaces then release the heat at night to keep the building warm. Similarly, absorbent plates on a roof can heat liquid in tubes that supply a house with hot water.

Solar energy is lauded as an inexhaustible fuel source that is pollution- and often noise-free. The technology is also versatile. For example, solar cells generate energy for far-out places like satellites in Earth orbit and cabins deep in the Rocky Mountains as easily as they can power downtown buildings and futuristic cars.

Pitfalls

Solar energy doesn't work at night without a storage device such as a battery, and cloudy weather can make the technology unreliable during the day. Solar technologies are also very expensive and require a lot of land area to collect the sun's energy at rates useful to lots of people.

Despite the drawbacks, solar energy use has surged at about 20 percent a year over the past 15 years, thanks to rapidly falling prices and gains in efficiency. Japan, Germany, and the United States are major markets for solar cells. With tax incentives, and efficient coordination with energy companies, solar electricity can often pay for itself in five to ten years.

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Solar Power Has Benefits as a Source of Alternative Energy

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Solar energy is the technology used to harness the sun's energy and make it useable. As of 2011, the technology produced less than one tenth of one percent of global energy demand. Many are familiar with so-called photovoltaic cells, or solar panels, found on things like spacecraft, rooftops, and handheld calculators.