We all take it for granted that solar power is a good thing. We all talk about Queensland being the "Sunshine State" and the rest of Australia is not far behind. And we do make use of it ... we continue to make good progress in the use of solar power, right here Downunder.
Psalm chapter 136, verses 7-8 "Give thanks to him who made the heavenly lights—His faithful love endures forever. The sun to rule the day, His faithful love endures forever."
Why should we develop solar power anyway?
"It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest" is old Chinese proverb that has made its way into our language. The Old Testament says the same thing in several ways, including Deuteronomy chapter 23, verses 12-14: "You shall have a designated area outside the camp ... when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you."
In our modern cities in the developed world, we have learnt to clean up the waste that previous societies tipped into the streets, rivers and sea. In many cities, we limit the pollution that goes into the air too. For example, London cleaned up its "pea-souper" smogs by banning the burning of coal within the city.
But because the gas carbon dioxide is not poisonous, not visible, not smelly and is totally natural as a very tiny proportion of the atmosphere, it has not really been considered as a pollutant. That is, until recently. This gas is absolutely necessary in our atmosphere and is produced when animals breathe; and when plants respire also – yes, plants produce carbon dioxide as well as using it in the process of photosynthesis and producing oxygen.
The problem now is that because we are burning more fuel for our current high-tech society, we are putting more and more into the air than any civilisation before us.
But consider this. Even now at the new "record" of 400 parts per million, it means that would have to have 10,000 air molecules to find just 4 carbon dioxide molecules. These would be floating around among about 7,800 nitrogen molecules and 2,100 oxygen molecules (if there was no water vapour in the sample). Yet the plants find these molecules and, using sunlight from the sky and water from the earth, they make the sugars and carbohydrates as a storage mechanism for their own energy!
We as humans may think this is an unbelievably small amount of carbon dioxide, but the Earth and its atmosphere and all its animals, plants and microscopic organisms is finely tuned to these proportions. In fact, since the Industrial Revolution, the amount of carbon dioxide has increased by one third, which is why scientists in various areas of research are concerned about potential global effects. We need to reduce our "fouling of our nest" in any way at all, and we now have improved procedures to produce "renewable" or "sustainable" energy that burns less fuel in its production.
Solar power is one of these methods, and it can be used in a number of different ways. (Note that I said "less" fuel is burnt. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that you cannot ever, ever get something for nothing. There is, of course, some fuel burnt and used in the manufacture of the components, such as solar panels or sophisticated equipment for wind energy production – and in the transport over long distances of heavy bits of machinery and equipment).
Historical use of solar power: facts and figures
Thirty years ago, I and many of my friends had solar-heated hot water for our homes.We now have more efficient versions of similar heaters. These are passive sources of energy – they do not produce any electrical energy, but they heat the water so we don't use so much electricity or gas. The first solar hot water had been used way back in 1920.
Photovoltaic cells that do produce electricity were first discovered in a laboratory situation by the famous French scientist Becquerel in 1839; the first solar PV cells were being commercially produced in 1955 (14% efficient); President Carter put solar panels on the White House roof in the late 1970s; and by 1985 they were being used on domestic dwellings around the world and had achieved a milestone in improved efficiency.
In Australia at that time, people thought we needed to play catch-up – and we have done so. We now lead the world, and electricity production by solar methodologies has recently become less expensive than that produced from coal.
In 2001, the Government introduced a renewable energy target, and subsequently in just two years between 2009 and 2011 the installation of rooftop solar panels increased 10-fold – partly due to financial incentives by the various state governments, and the decrease in price and increase in efficiency of the panels themselves. Electricity production by rooftop solar has increased another 5 times since then. .
And did you know we already have solar farms? At the end of 2015, there were 19 in operation in the whole of Australia, the first such commercial solar power plant having been opened in 2011 near Alice Springs, NT. These are large-scale areas of solar panels, where the sun produces heat (not electricity), and the heat is used to drive conventional turbines.
Amazing new developments in research
I have picked just a few Australian highlights of the many I have read recently, to indicate the progress being made by scientists, technologists and those who fund the research (including Government, Universities and private grants).
At the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Professor Martin Green has been in the forefront of leading research into solar cells for many years. He set one record for the efficiency of converting solar energy into electricity in 2014, and his team has just broken that record with a conversion efficiency of 34.5%. This is approximately the same as the efficiency of burning coal and much more than natural photosynthesis by plants, which is only 2% at its best.
Also at UNSW, there has been progress in a completely different type of "thin" solar cell, using less toxic components. In NSW alone, there are 4 new large solar farms planned or in the construction phase. This will double the electricity production from this type of technology. Even though NSW is behind all other states except Queensland,nearly 9% of electricity produced from renewable sources – including rooftop solar.
"Solar is a key part of NSW's energy mix and will become even more important into the future. I'm delighted to see these projects getting the green light," Anthony Roberts, the energy minister, said.
Behind the scenes, mostly unpublicised compared with sportsmen and musicians, our scientist are on track to find less polluting and less wasteful ways of providing the constant energy that our increasingly technological lifestyle requires. Our abundant sunlight is one way we can achieve one of these aims; being able to use that sunlight more efficiently can help with the other. Our scientists are well on the ball, and future generations will benefit from their work.
We do not yet know which of these processes will be the ones that become feasible, popular or cheap – but we need to support the continuing research into innovations, we will not be able to move forward into the future of more efficient energy production.
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html