In just 40 minutes on a sunny day in the UK, we receive enough energy from the Sun to provide the country’s entire energy requirements for a whole year.

That’s a pretty amazing statistic!  it makes me wonder why we’re not doing more to make use of that free energy.  We’re trying to build fusion reactors – why don’t we use the one we’ve already got?

Of course, there are two big problems with this;  the first is capturing that energy, and the second is storing it.

We can not cover the entire UK with photovoltaic cells or heat exchangers, but there’s no reason why individuals cannot put them on their property.

Even on overcast days, we are still receiving energy, and water heaters that use the sun as
their energy source do work rather well. Photovoltaic panels are becoming more efficient.

So why are new houses not built with these devices already fitted? They would add only a few thousand pounds to the price of the house, yet in the lifetime of the house they would save the owner(s) many times that extra cost. If legislation and regulations were introduced to fit these devices to newly built houses, then the cost of manufacturing them would fall.

There are examples of energy-efficient houses that generate so much electricity that the owners actually sell the surplus electricity back to the generating companies. This just goes to prove that in a lot of cases, many people could become self-sufficient in power for their homes.

As electric and hybrid cars become more popular, any surplus electricity could be used to fuel them.

Energy crisis? Not while we’re still orbiting the sun!