Introduction

Energy is the life blood of our modern world. Presently, most of our electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels. The supply of fossil fuels continues to decrease, drawing more attention to "alternative energy sources." One of these alternative energy sources is solar energy. Solar energy has many positive and negative aspects. In this activity, you will read about solar energy and form an opinion about its potential.

Information

Below are the links for you to explore about solar energy. Visit each of them, filling in your Internet Log as you do so.

Clean Energy          Explore the 4 topic links on this page.

California Distributed Energy Resource Guide: Solar Power Applications

California Distributed Energy Resource Guide: Strengths and Weaknesses
 

Activity

1.    Visit the three internet links.
2.    Complete the internet log as you visit each site.
3.    Fill in the diagram of solar power in the home.
4.    Write a paragraph in response to question #2.
 

Internet Log
 
 
 

Questions

1.    Insert the following labels in the diagram:

AC        DC        Inverter       AC        DC     Batteries

2.    Will solar power be used much more in the future, or will we get our power in other ways? Write a paragraph stating your opinion and support your opinion with facts from the internet links.