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Solar Power For Kids

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Solar Power Education - How Teaching Children Ensures A Safe Environment

Today kids are learning about all sorts of things especially with modern technology. We are moving ahead and it is good to teach them about solar power, which is a resource that will be part of their future, depending on how much care is spent on it now. Wherever you see the sun shines, or you can feel any warmth or see it, you can have solar power. This kind of power to used for heating and lighting in business, homes and schools; for heating water, and it also a way to produce energy. By teaching kids how solar power actually works and how we should use it wisely will help to protect the future for us all.

Children need to learn why we need and alternative to the energy we use today and the effects and damage it has had on the world's environment. It is important for them to understand why we need to produce a safer energy source. Electricity is currently a non-rewable resource, as we gain nothing from using it. Once this power runs out we will need to find an alternative source of power supply. Scientists are always busy looking at new resources for energy production, so that when we eventually do run out of one source, there is another in reserve to replace it, so that we don't miss out.

Until then, another resource needs to be found, to ensure that is ready for when the switch over is necessary. We need to preserve what is left at the moment, so that in the near future we can immediately switch to a new energy resource with no problems. Much of energy production that we have is currently damaging and so harms the environment. By polluting the air, the sun is under threat and we run the risk of losing it as a natural resource. This alternative resource is vitally important, so by teaching our kids they can join our efforts to save solar power for the future.

Solar power generates energy by using the natural resources around us, and there are man made sources so that the solar power can be attracted to these sources and saved. We need to find a way for this be to cost effective by using solar sources that are cheap enough to provide us with the solar power that is needed. The average home would benefit greatly by switching over to solar power, and it is easy to set up, saving on the need for power lines. If your home is being built from scratch, by installing solar power you can begin to generate electricity in your home straightaway, to heat your water supply, and you could even sell your surplus energy for use elsewhere. You would be putting money back in your pocket. There are huge benefits to be gained by saving on producing a resource by the slow use of a natural resource. Children will learn how to save energy and how to plan for their safe future.

Conserving solar power by everyone of all ages and the sooner it starts, the more the future will benefit. Teaching kids is the way forward in order to save our energy, as we need a solution on how we can save on solar power in the future. Currently power is linked to each individual house for heating, our water supply and some other necessities; by being able to save in larger quantities we hope one day to cut out the need for so power lines that we see everywhere running through fields, our streets and backyards which will be replaced by solar panels and boxes instead.

About the author: Abhishek is an avid Environmentalist and he has got some great Alternative Fuel Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 70 Pages Ebook, "Energy Conservation And Alternative Fuel" from his website http://www.Wonder-Homes.com/643/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/solar-power-education-how-teaching-children-ensures-a-safe-environment-774692.html

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. QUESTION:
    I'm looking for a solar powered insect catcher for kids - any ideas?
    I've seen them on the net before, but can't find one now my daughter is old enough to enjoy one! It's a box with a solar panel on top to power a light that attracts bugs and insects so you can look and see what you have in the morning and set them free...

    Any one know where I can get something like that?

    • ANSWER:
      hi skiddo. ive just bought molly an ant farm. had never seen one before and came across it by mistake. its amazing to watch the ants carrying bread and bits of wood to make nests. its basically two panes of glass and the ants live inside.. lol you have to catch the ants first though. oh in answer to your question we just use good ole fashioned jam jars with grass.. shhh the rspca will be banging down the door

  2. QUESTION:
    What is a good idea for a simple solar powered toy?
    I am going to create a solar powered toy for kids under 14 and am searching for ideas. Any input would be appreciated.
    Can you elaborate Pensive, on the caterpillar tracks?

    • ANSWER:
      Goo ball thing

      light sensor .
      Sound sensor .
      Color changer .
      Caterpillar tracks as landing pad.

      It could interlock with other ones if it had a sort of geometric
      shape.like a tripod'y alien'y sort of with mobile solar docking station thing

      Or a nice simple organic mathematical shape with a light in.

      There could be a bath toy version .
      If something could sense what was in the bath water it could serve
      as a bath alarm.

      The base unit with caterpillar tracks would be the landing pad and could have the solar power grid attached and could have features such as opaque tracks or another light .

      Tracks can have interesting shapes incorporated in to them.
      and could be opaque.

      A feature could be a sensor that engaged an evasive maneuver to avoid been stepped on.

  3. QUESTION:
    solar power outlet for Christmas lights?
    is there such a thing as a solar powered outlet that i could plug my regular (non-solar) string lights into? we are very tight on money and cannot afford to plug in Christmas lights to up our electric bill. i only have 2 small strings of solar lights but our kids would be thrilled to see our yard decorated. is there something we can buy to plug our lights into to convert them to solar - or will we have to wait until we can afford to buy more solar string lights?

    • ANSWER:
      I know, you'd like it to be magical, but if money is tight, I wouldn't do a display at all, or at least, not an electric one. I would take a night-time walk with the kids to enjoy the more impressive houses in the neighborhood. It's a good lesson for children, too, that when times are tough, we can still enjoy things without spending a lot of money. We had no yard lights at all when I was growing up, but I never felt deprived.

  4. QUESTION:
    Can you help me with this solar application?
    First off, I'm just learning the ropes of electricity, solar energy, batteries, wiring batteries in series and parallel, AC, DC, DC to AC Conversion and all that. But I do have the same need of energy as everyone else and a strong interest in finding ways to make my life a little less power plant needy because I have 6 kids and every penny counts. So I'm thinking of ways to start powering each kids room directly solar. I know allot of people start and want to power the whole house from the get go. I'm taking a different more budget able approach my powering one room at a time. But I need some input to get my head wrapped around the project. So for now I will ask advice on my first step of the grand overall idea of the project. ROOM 1.

    Room 1(my room)=

    Qty 1- 60" digital projection TV -- run time 8 hours a day
    Qty 1- 12v WD TV LIVE media player
    Qty 1- Digital Alarm clock

    I have access to a plentiful amount of 12v car batteries. I have 3 pallets of these on hand.

    I have found affordable 12v 150mA solar panels and plan to buy multiple of these to mount in a panel on the roof.

    So this is what I need help with...

    1. How many of these fully charged 12 batteries will I need to have arranged to run the stated time period?
    2. In what way do I need to arrange them -- How many series and parallel?
    3. How many of the 12v 150mA Solar panels will I need to run in parallel in order to charge all the batteries enough to keep up with the demand of the application?
    4.From the batteries to the power strip to plug everything in I will need a DC to AC Inverter right? What should I get that would suite this?

    I figure If I can get my room self reliant then I can do the other rooms one at a time. I'm not worried about lighting and such at the moment. That can remain the same as it is for now.

    Thank you for any of your help in the matter. Looking forward to hear your input.

    • ANSWER:
      Your major power consumer will be the TV which may need anywhere from 200 to 500 watts depending on it's type. The clock might rely on the frequency of it's power source being exact if it is to maintain accurate time. While it requires only a few watts, it may need a much more expensive inveter. The TV Live only needs a few watts. You would probably want an inverter that is capable of delivering 1000 watts. It's entirely possible that it would be more efficient at converting 500 watts than one rated at 500 watts maximum would be.

      A 500 watt TV running for 8 hours would consume 4 kWh. A typical car battery rated at 90 minutes reserve capacity will have about 0.4 kWh of energy stored in it. You would need a minimum of 10. Car batteries aren't intended to be run nearly flat on a daily basis and you may get only a few weeks of service life out of them. They will last far longer if you only use about 10% of their capacity. That would indicate 100 batteries.

      How you wire them will depend on your inverter. If the input is 12 volts, all your batteries would be paralleled. 100 (or even 10) batteries in parallel can deliver dangerously high fault currents if something goes wrong. One shorted cell within just one battery could create a major meltdown or fire. Fusing each battery separately may be necessary.

      Each of your solar panels will produce a little less than 2 watts under peak conditions and probably average about half of that during an average summer day for 10 hours. That means that each panel will contribute about 0.01 kWh towards your daily requirement. Assuming that your charging and inverting systems are 100% efficient (they won't be), you would need about 400 panels.

      With 6 kids you might want look into a solar hot water system instead. Such a system would be far more likely to save you some money.

      The link below will let you download a free sample issue of Homepower Magazine. You'll find the lead story in that issue to be well worth reading.

      Don

  5. QUESTION:
    how many watts do you need to power an engine for a vehicle that can hold up to 6 kids?
    ok so me and my friends are planning on makeing some sort of tank type thing with a catapult and to power it we wanted to look into solar power and we wanted to know how many watts do you need to power the engine we found a place where we can buy them for .35 per watt

    • ANSWER:
      A six passenger golf cart runs on a 4,000 Watt motor.
      A 4 kW solar array would be larger than the vehicle.
      You could use the panels to charge the batteries.


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