New York City is known as the city that never
sleeps, why should its technology be any different? We are the most mobile
generation ever—our technology can literally travel anywhere. Thanks to
efficient batteries, Wi-Fi hot spots, and growing dependency on mobile devices,
we can seemingly take our technology to places we never actually thought
possible. New York is aiming to aid that process in the near future by
installing public solar paneled charging stations. First a bit on how solar
power works.
Solar
Revolution
The
idea of a solar revolution has talked about for quite some time. It’s the idea
that we could one take everything that used to be powered by either
electricity, or fuel, or batteries, and simply power it by the sun. This is an
outrageous prospect because on a sunny day, the sun gives off 1,000 watts of
energy per square meter of the planet's surface. If we were able to control
that energy and harness we could easily power all of our spaces for free.
How Solar
Energy Works
Solar
power uses photovoltaic (PV) cells to produce energy. The cells are grouped
together in columns or panels designed to trap the sun’s light. Once the light
has been trapped it uses a semiconductor, a devices that conducts electricity,
to power the panels. As sunlight hits the columns the semiconductor absorbs the
light and energy from the light. Once the light is captured the columns then
manipulate the light and harness it using PV cells to force them flow the same
general direction. This flow creates kinetic energy, which is then used to make
electricity, sometimes with the help of converting electricity with a pure sine inverter, as featured on Don
Rowe. Once the electricity is produced it can be either tapped into immediately
or stored like a battery. However, the semiconductor is naturally shiny and
doesn’t absorb sunlight very well. To counter this, designers coated the
semiconductor with an antireflective light, which allows it to capture a
maximum amount of light.
Public Solar
Power
New
York is teaming up with AT&T and a corporation called Goal Zero to
install solar charging systems throughout the city. The stations will come
equipped with a variety of different types of charges and inputs for different
type of phones. Also there would a number of female ports so that users could
bring their own chargers and not have to worry about not having the right cord.
Three 15-watt solar panels and a 168 watt-hour battery will give each street
charge enough juice to power up to six devices for several days, even when the
sun doesn’t shine or it’s nighttime. The charging stations are being put in
now, and will be on trial until mid September. If they are a success then
permanent locations will be announced all over the city. The main inspiration
for the project is the tremendous power outages cause by Hurricane Sandy. This
idea would be a clean energy source that could be used in in times of dire
emergency.
Author Bio:
After recently obtaining a B.A. in Communications, Ben now has the pleasure of writing vocationally.
After recently obtaining a B.A. in Communications, Ben now has the pleasure of writing vocationally.