Harnessing Solar Energy for Every Home: Energy Saving Applications

Most of the present day resources of energy are limited and irreplaceable. The next generation will face acute energy crisis if alternate resources of energy are not developed concurrently. Increasing cost and import of conventional resources have bad effect on the economy of a country, and the only cheaper solution is “unlimited power” from the sun. The use of solar energy is so far limited in household applications. In fact, if we harness only 0.0034 percent of the solar energy reaching the Earth’s surface, the energy need of the whole world will be met. In the present work, a substitute of 10-watt conventional night lamp has been proposed by a solar night lamp of the same light intensity through an experimental setup. The developed solar system is cheaper, portable, user friendly, and free from maintenance. The paper stresses on the need of replacement of conventional night lamp by solar night lamp in every home for reducing the energy crisis at present. 1. Introduction Scarcity and cost of fossil fuels combined with their greenhouse gas emissions make the development of nonfossil fuel based methods of transportation a high-priority task. This interest was further fueled by world apprehensions concerned with nuclear wastes and nuclear safety on one hand and global warming on the other hand [1, 2]. These considerations make solar energy the ultimate strategic choice as a source of world energy. As a result of current day satellite technology, designers now have a more or less clear picture about solar energy intensity distribution worldwide. Solar energy research emphasis over the past three decades was concentrated on two main aspects of this subject. The first is concerned with solar energy direct heat production and the second is involved with solar energy electricity production. Recent technological developments in thin-film photovoltaics, such as amorphous silicon [1, 2] and hybrid dye-sensitized/photovoltaic (PV) cells, are leading to new generations of consumer portable solar arrays. These new arrays are lightweight, durable, and flexible and have been reported to achieve power efficiencies of up to 10% [3]. There are many types of solar power lights that can be used to illuminate your home and surrounding and at the same time save the natural resources. These lighting systems will not only save electricity but also cause less pollution, by emitting less amounts of heat when compared to conventional lighting sources like bulbs. Solar lantern lights are extensively used for indoor lighting. All of the solar lighting devices used for indoor