How do you transport solar energy?
Question:
Answer:
Solar energy is frequently collected by devices called solar cells. These flat plates convert sun light to a little electricity which can then either be stored in batteries, used or sent out on the grid.
Solar energy (sunlight) can also be used to make plants grow. Once grown they can be harvested and shipped to locations where it can be burned as fuel or it can be transformed into alcohol or diesel and used as a fuel.
Sunlight can also shine on a field of mirrors that all reflect to one point that holds a tank of water that is boiled to make steam. The steam is used to make electricity by turning a generator. All in all there is not that much energy in a square foot of sunlight so it takes a lot of area to make much power. That is why you do not see things like solar cars.
First, you transform it into electrical energy with a solar cell (wikipedia it) and then store it in a battery or capacitor.
You transport it via mirrors to another place. Storing it, without conversion, is not an option at this time. ~
Solar energy is mostly in the form of electromagnetic radiation, so it pretty much moves by itself, at the speed of light. Some of it is carried by particles forming the solar wind, as kinetic energy.
What we do is we collect what we can from the electromagnetic radiation and convert it into another form that we can manage - electricity - using solar cells. That may be converted into chemical potential energy by storage in a battery.
Plants use photosynthesis to convert it into chemical potential energy in various forms, until it is finally locked away for storage as chemical potential energy in glucose, then starch and cellulose (long chains of glucose).
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