For about 20 years the annual race of solar power cars runs in Australia from Darwin to Adelaide, a trip of about 1,877 miles at top speed of nearly 62 miles per hour. These races are part of the World Solar Challenge with teams from many major universities and corporate enterprises competing. During the first race of solar power cars in 1987, top speed was just 42 miles per hour and is run to promote research into solar powered vehicles.

There are few efficient applications of solar power cars in use, however a few golf carts are run by solar power and they can recharge while sitting in the sunlight each year. Part of the problem is that the number of solar cells attached to the vehicle is limited by the vehicles size and the motors they operate are generally between two and five horsepower. Batteries are still to heavy to be able to receive enough power to push their weight as well as the weight of the vehicle and operator.

Batteries Work Same As Fuel Tank

Batteries within solar power cars serve much the same purpose as a gas tank on convention cars. While lead-acid batteries are more efficient and easier to connect, the power to weight ratio makes them a reluctant choice in solar power cars. Nickle-cadmium, lithium ion and lithium cadmium batteries have a better range, but are more difficult to incorporate into the vehicles electrical system. Typically, solar power cars require between 80 and 170 volts to operate.

While hybrid vehicles using gas or diesel engines are growing in popularity, hybrid bicycles using solar power and human peddle power have also grown recently. Being able to get a vehicle moving by human energy before adding power from solar energy is now being viewed as a possibility for solar power cars. Except, instead of using human power, stored battery operated motors are being used.

Since there are no established designs for solar power cars many designers are focused strictly on reduced drag. This has brought about development of many vehicles bearing a strong resemblance to airplanes.

Current solar power technology only collects about six percent of the available energy from the sun. It has been estimated that if just one tenth of one percent of the sun’s energy could be harnessed and converted into electricity, the world could be powered without the use of non-renewable resources. Additionally, with the new technology in solar power beginning to understand how to capture the invisible sunlight, more energy could be captured.

Current methods of gathering energy from sunlight focus on the amount of visible light, through the use of solar cells converting the energy into electricity. Recent advances in a new technology in solar power involves nanotechnology, which, when used with spray-on polymers, creates a solar panel that also sees the ultraviolet energy and can convert it into electricity.

Advances Offer Promising Future

Researchers of this new technology in solar power claim that an electric car painted with this coating could produce enough power to keep its batteries continuously charged. They also say that a jacket coated with this polymer could supply enough power to operate your cell phone. Additional advances in new technology in solar power could see the ability to harness up to 30 percent of the sun’s energy as realistic in the future.

Hybrid lighting systems are also part of the new technology in solar power, which combines solar power and electricity to provide interior lighting. Sun light is collected in a parabolic dish, much the same as signals for satellite television, and then focused on a fiber optic array. This array carries the light into the same area as the electric lighting, helping to provide the needed illumination.

Through the use of light sensors, when the sun shines brighter and more light is transmitted through the fiber optics, computers read the room’s brightness and adjust the amount of electricity used on the light bulbs, dimming them when the fiber optics provide more light and bringing back their brightness level when the sun is not as brilliant. This new technology in solar power is in limited use in some office settings and more research and improvements will increase its popularity.

Depending on which part of the country in which you live, solar panels can be used for the efficient generation of electrical power. In other parts of the country, wind power can be used on a regular basis, but when the winds do not blow and the sun does not shine, electricity may be scarce. A combination solar wind power generation system may be an alternative that can work where you live.

Either method uses batteries to store the power generated, and the use of a power inverter can provide as much as 240 volts of power to your residence. When the batteries are fully charged, the charging system automatically shuts off, but when the charge in the batteries is depleted to a pre-set voltage, the charger turns back on, keeping the batteries with enough power from the combination solar wind power grid.

Hybrid System Use Continues To Grow

While both systems send generated power to the charging unit, they both may not run at the same time due to weather conditions. Some places in the United States such as Kitty Hawk, North Carolina have strong winds throughout the entire year. That’s why the Wright brothers chose it to test their airplane. Using a combination solar wind power system would be more useful in places where the wind does not blow everyday.

Residents in the extreme northern part of North America may find a combination solar wind power system beneficial, especially in places with only six months of daylight. During the dark part of their year, they could not generate electricity without a combination solar wind power system.

Residences where electrical use is virtually non-existent after dark could probably store enough power generated during the day for nighttime use. However, if the charge in the batter diminishes after dark, a combination solar wind power unit would switch to wind power and keep the batteries adequately charged.

By using a combination solar wind power generating system, the need for gas or diesel generators is removed and even those living in the remote corners of the world can have their own source of electrical power without the need of fossil fuel.

Current solar power technology only collects about six percent of the available energy from the sun. It has been estimated that if just one tenth of one percent of the sun’s energy could be harnessed and converted into electricity, the world could be powered without the use of non-renewable resources. Additionally, with the new technology in solar power beginning to understand how to capture the invisible sunlight, more energy could be captured.

Current methods of gathering energy from sunlight focus on the amount of visible light, through the use of solar cells converting the energy into electricity. Recent advances in a new technology in solar power involves nanotechnology, which, when used with spray-on polymers, creates a solar panel that also sees the ultraviolet energy and can convert it into electricity.

Advances Offer Promising Future

Researchers of this new technology in solar power claim that an electric car painted with this coating could produce enough power to keep its batteries continuously charged. They also say that a jacket coated with this polymer could supply enough power to operate your cell phone. Additional advances in new technology in solar power could see the ability to harness up to 30 percent of the sun’s energy as realistic in the future.

Hybrid lighting systems are also part of the new technology in solar power, which combines solar power and electricity to provide interior lighting. Sun light is collected in a parabolic dish, much the same as signals for satellite television, and then focused on a fiber optic array. This array carries the light into the same area as the electric lighting, helping to provide the needed illumination.

Through the use of light sensors, when the sun shines brighter and more light is transmitted through the fiber optics, computers read the room’s brightness and adjust the amount of electricity used on the light bulbs, dimming them when the fiber optics provide more light and bringing back their brightness level when the sun is not as brilliant. This new technology in solar power is in limited use in some office settings and more research and improvements will increase its popularity.