There are about one million solar installments—private rooftop, community, and commercial—in the

United States, and they account for about one percent of the electricity produced in this country. With
the cost of PV systems continuing to fall, that number is expected to double in the next two years,
according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), a nonprofit trade association. In 1998, the
average price of a residential system was $12 per watt; in 2014, it was $4. (The number of watts on a
rooftop system varies; the Hipplers’ system is 8,160 watts.) The SEIA ranks Massachusetts sixth among
states for solar power generation, as measured by installed solar capacity; the state currently has about
1,020 installed megawatts (MW), enough to power 163,000 homes. Massachusetts Governor Charlie
Baker has set a goal of 1,600 installed megawatts for the state by 2020.

Solar power systems save money for all ratepayers because they generate most of their energy during
the hot summer months, says Kaufmann, when “everyone has their air conditioners running,” and
demand for electricity is at its highest in Massachusetts. Utility companies, which obtain electricity from
a variety of sources, must constantly balance customers’ supply and demand. As demand goes up—say,
during the morning hours after people wake up and begin turning on their devices—the companies buy
electricity from more and more power plants. They start with plants that can produce electricity most
cheaply and move up to more costly plants from there. If demand gets high enough, Kaufmann says,
“they have to turn to plants that do not operate very often per year because they’re relatively small,
relatively inefficient, and their fuel costs are high” and “that really drives up prices.”

Here’s where solar energy comes in: When a PV system generates electricity, it goes directly into the
grid, which is the network of connected power stations and transmission lines that brings electricity to
individual customers. Utility companies can use the electricity from PV systems—which is highest in the
summer months—rather than turning to those inefficient, more expensive power plants. By not turning
on those expensive power plants, each kilowatt hour of electricity generated by PV systems reduces
electricity prices by about 1 cent per kilowatt hour. (In 2015, residential customers were charged about
15 cents per kilowatt hour.)

These savings can be evaluated by comparing them to the subsidies that ratepayers make to owners of
PV systems. One subsidy is termed a solar renewable energy credit (SREC). In order to receive SRECs, PV
system homeowners like the Hipplers opened an account with the New England Power Pool Generation
Information System (NEPOOL-GIS), an electronic registry run by APX, a California-based energy exchange
company. The NEPOOL-GIS tracks the electricity generated by the PV system and issues an SREC for every
1,000 kilowatts (kW) it makes. An 8 kW system like the Hipplers’ should produce nine to ten SRECs a year,
according to estimates from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a government agency.

More peer-reviewed scientific studies of the effects on wildlife of large-scale solar energy developments
and operations are needed to adequately assess their impact, especially in the desert Southwest,
according to a scientific literature review conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and published in the
journal BioScience.

Homeowners can sell their SRECs to utility companies via online auction sites like SRECTrade.com, where
the price is set by market forces of supply and demand, or at a special state auction at the end of the
year. They also can use a broker/aggregator who pools SRECS from many PV system owners and sells
them in bulk to utilities. In several states, including Massachusetts, utility companies have an incentive to
buy SRECs because state law requires utilities to generate a percentage of their electricity from solar
energy and other renewable energy sources. In Massachusetts, that number is 11 percent; it will
increase by 1 percent each year until it reaches 15 percent in 2020.

In their literature review, the authors of the paper, USGS scientist Jeffrey Lovich and Maryville College
scientist Joshua Ennen, found that out of all the scientific papers they examined, going back well before
the 1980s, only one peer-reviewed study addressed the direct impacts of large-scale solar energy
development and operations on any kind of wildlife. Peer-reviewed studies are those that have been
reviewed by experts in the same field of study and are then published in scientific journals.

One reason why there are few peer-reviewed studies is that the interest in developing alternative energy
has grown exponentially in recent years and science has to "catch up." Opportunities for hypothesis-
driven research on solar energy facilities of this scale, particularly research looking at baseline conditions
before development, impacts of operation, or conditions after development, have been limited.

The authors pointed out that a great deal of information exists in environmental compliance documents
and other unpublished, non-peer-reviewed literature sources, but that more peer-reviewed studies are
greatly needed.

"The dearth of peer-reviewed studies, as shown by the USGS review, can happen whenever society
rapidly embarks on major undertakings, such as developing large-scale solar projects," explained USGS
director Marcia McNutt. "Our goal is to raise the visibility and accessibility of information of impacts of
solar energy impacts on wildlife as these important projects move forward."

According to Lovich and Ennen, these studies are particularly important in sensitive habitats such as the
desert Southwest with its wildlife diversity and fragile arid desert lands. "For example," said Lovich, "the
desert tortoise is an ecological engineer whose burrows provide much-needed shelter for many other
desert species. Yet large areas of habitat occupied by Agassiz's desert tortoise and some other at-risk
species have potential for large-scale solar-energy developments."

The review paper findings can help the Bureau of Land Management and other agencies charged with
solar siting, development, and operational responsibilities to identify, prioritize, and resolve information
gaps relative to development and operational impacts to wildlife, and direct monitoring efforts.

The paper does not contain any new scientific findings; rather, it examined peer-reviewed, already
published articles. This is a common way to assess the state of published knowledge on a topic, identify
information and research gaps, and focus future projects.

Nowadays, sensor node networks are designed and increasingly used in various fields and sectors, such
as in military (examples Battlefield surveillance, nuclear, biological and chemical attack detection and
reconnaissance), in health (examples Tele-monitoring of human physiological data, monitoring patients
and doctors inside a hospital), in environment (examples Forest fire detection, flood detection) and in
other various applications. However, the power sources and supply of the nodes remains as challenge.
Therefore, energy conservation plays an important role for this network. Usually the battery powered is
used as power sources for sensor nodes, but energy harvesting offers an alternative, although it not able
to avoid from the problem. In this paper, an analysis is performed to compares the use of batteries
powered against solar cells powered. The basic parameter and characteristic for both of power supplies
are studied in terms of capacity or volume, low self-discharge, shorter recharge time, energy density and
power efficiency to generate power for the sensor nodes, the lower cost and also in terms of
characteristics such as size and weight.

With the recent rise in energy costs many people have been looking to alternative sources of energy.
One of the greatest energy sources (our sun) is readily available for the taking. We just need to be able to
harness it’s power. For those interested, below is a brief history of how solar power came to be.

The history of photovoltaic energy (aka. solar cells) started way back in 1876. William Grylls Adams along
with a student of his, Richard Day, discovered that when selenium was exposed to light, it produced
electricity. An electricity expert, Werner von Siemens, stated that the discovery was “scientifically of the
most far-reaching importance”. The selenium cells were not efficient, but it was proved that light,
without heat or moving parts, could be converted into electricity.

In 1953, Calvin Fuller, Gerald Pearson, and Daryl Chapin, discovered the silicon solar cell. This cell actually
produced enough electricity and was efficient enough to run small electrical devices. The New York
Times stated that this discovery was “the beginning of a new era, leading eventually to the realization of
harnessing the almost limitless energy of the sun for the uses of civilization.”

The year is 1956, and the first solar cells are available commercially. The cost however is far from the
reach of everyday people. At $300 for a 1 watt solar cell, the expense was far beyond anyone’s means.
1956 started showing us the first solar cells used in toys and radios. These novelty items were the first
item to have solar cells available to consumers.

In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s satellites in the USA’s and Soviet’s space program were powered by
solar cells and in the late 1960’s solar power was basically the standard for powering space bound
satellites.

In the early 1970’s a way to lower to cost of solar cells was discovered. This brought the price down from
$100 per watt to around $20 per watt. This research was spearheaded by Exxon. Most off-shore oil rigs
used the solar cells to power the waning lights on the top of the rigs.

The period from the 1970’s to the 1990’s saw quite a change in the usage of solar cells. They began
showing up on railroad crossings, in remote places to power homes, Australia used solar cells in their
microwave towers to expand their telecommunication capabilities. Even desert regions saw solar power
bring water to the soil where line fed power was not an option!

Today we see solar cells in a wide variety of places. You may see solar powered cars. There is even a solar
powered aircraft that has flown higher than any other aircraft with the exception of the Blackbird. With
the cost of solar cells well within everyone’s budget, solar power has never looked so tempting.

Recently new technology has given us screen printed solar cells, and a solar fabric that can be used to
side a house, even solar shingles that install on our roofs. International markets have opened up and
solar panel manufacturers are now playing a key role in the solar power industry.

Long before the first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, generating awareness about the
environment and support for environmental protection, scientists were making the first discoveries in
solar energy. It all began with Edmond Becquerel, a young physicist working in France, who in 1839
observed and discovered the photovoltaic effect— a process that produces a voltage or electric current
when exposed to light or radiant energy. A few decades later, French mathematician Augustin Mouchot
was inspired by the physicist’s work. He began registering patents for solar-powered engines in the
1860s. From France to the U.S., inventors were inspired by the patents of the mathematician and filed
for patents on solar-powered devices as early as 1888.

Take a light step back to 1883 when New York inventor Charles Fritts created the first solar cell by coating
selenium with a thin layer of gold. Fritts reported that the selenium module produced a current “that is
continuous, constant, and of considerable force.” This cell achieved an energy conversion rate of 1 to 2
percent. Most modern solar cells work at an efficiency of 15 to 20 percent. So, Fritts created what was a
low impact solar cell, but still, it was the beginning of photovoltaic solar panel innovation in America.
Named after Italian physicist, chemist and pioneer of electricity and power, Alessandro Volta,
photovoltaic is the more technical term for turning light energy into electricity, and used interchangeably
with the term photoelectric.

Only a few years later in 1888, inventor Edward Weston received two patents for solar cells – U.S. Patent
389,124 and U.S. Patent 389,425. For both patents, Weston proposed, “to transform radiant energy
derived from the sun into electrical energy, or through electrical energy into mechanical energy.” Light
energy is focused via a lens (f) onto the solar cell (a), “a thermopile (an electronic device that converts
thermal energy into electrical energy) composed of bars of dissimilar metals.” The light heats up the
solar cell and causes electrons to be released and current to flow. In this instance, light creates heat,
which creates electricity; this is the exact reverse of the way an incandescent light bulb works, converting
electricity to heat that then generates light.

That same year, a Russian scientist by the name of Aleksandr Stoletov created the first solar cell based on
the photoelectric effect, which is when light falls on a material and electrons are released. This effect
was first observed by a German physicist, Heinrich Hertz. In his research, Hertz discovered that more
power was created by ultraviolet light than visible light. Today, solar cells use the photoelectric effect to
convert sunlight into power. In 1894, American inventor Melvin Severy received patents 527,377 for an
"Apparatus for mounting and operating thermopiles" and 527,379 for an "Apparatus for generating
electricity by solar heat." Both patents were essentially early solar cells based on the discovery of the
photoelectric effect. The first generated “electricity by the action of solar heat upon a thermo-pile” and
could produce a constant electric current during the daily and annual movements of the sun, which
alleviated anyone from having to move the thermopile according to the sun’s movements. Severy’s
second patent from 1889 was also meant for using the sun’s thermal energy to produce electricity for
heat, light and power. The “thermos piles,” or solar cells as we call them today, were mounted on a
standard to allow them to be controlled in the vertical direction as well as on a turntable, which enabled
them to move in a horizontal plane. “By the combination of these two movements, the face of the pile
can be maintained opposite the sun all times of the day and all seasons of the year,” reads the patent.

Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics
(PV), indirectly using concentrated solar power, or a combination. Concentrated solar power systems use
lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaic
cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect.
Photovoltaics were initially solely used as a source of electricity for small and medium-sized applications,
from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to remote homes powered by an off-grid rooftop PV
system. Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. The 392 MW
Ivanpah installation is the largest concentrating solar power plant in the world, located in the Mojave
Desert of California.

As the cost of solar electricity has fallen, the number of grid-connected solar PV systems has grown into
the millions and utility-scale photovoltaic power stations with hundreds of megawatts are being built.
Solar PV is rapidly becoming an inexpensive, low-carbon technology to harness renewable energy from
the Sun. The current largest photovoltaic power station in the world is the 850 MW Longyangxia Dam
Solar Park, in Qinghai, China.

The International Energy Agency projected in 2014 that under its "high renewables" scenario, by 2050,
solar photovoltaics and concentrated solar power would contribute about 16 and 11 percent,
respectively, of the worldwide electricity consumption, and solar would be the world's largest source of
electricity. Most solar installations would be in China and India. In 2017, solar power provided 1.7% of
total worldwide electricity production, growing at 35% per annum. As of 2018, the unsubsidised
levelised cost of electricity for utility scale solar power is around $43/MWh.Photovoltaic solar panels
absorb sunlight as a source of energy to generate direct current electricity.

A photovoltaic (PV) module is a packaged, connected assembly of photovoltaic solar cells available in
different voltages and wattages. Photovoltaic modules constitute the photovoltaic array of a photovoltaic
system that generates and supplies solar electricity in commercial and residential applications.

The most common application of solar energy collection outside agriculture is solar water heating
systems.