Amazing News and Facts About the Sun and Solar Energy

What is true and what is new under the sun?

- Florida Power and Light (FPL) recently announced some exciting rebate incentives for new solar hot water and PV system installations for its residential and commercial customers.  The application process can begin after information is obtained from an initial consultation with a licensed solar contractor; application submission is online only and begins June 29th, 2011.

- The sun is clearly the largest object in our sky: it contains more than 99.8% of the total mass of the solar system.

- In Greek mythology, the sun was deified as the god Helios; to the Romans it was Sol. Before the Egyptians went on to worship multiple gods, they focused on just one: the sun god called Ra.

- Presently the sun is about 70% hydrogen and 28% helium; the remaining less than 2% is composed of oxygen, carbon, iron, neon, nitrogen, silicon, magnesium, and sulfur.

- The sun is about 4.5 billion years old.  It will continue to radiate for another 5 billion years or so, although its luminosity will approximately double in that time. Eventually it will run out of fuel.

- On August 1, 2010 many interconnected solar activities occurred at once: multiple flares, filament eruptions, long-distance interactions all over the sun, and strong thermal variations.

- Photovoltaic (PV) technologies convert light from the sun into electricity.  The use of solar energy does not cause greenhouse gas emissions.

- During the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci devised plans for solar energy collectors in his notebooks. He conceived of a method using mirrors which would reflect sunlight to heat water.

- In just one hour, the earth receives more energy from the sun than the entire world uses during a whole year.

- About half of worldwide production of solar panels is consumed by the country of Japan, mostly for grid connected residential applications.

- Fannie Mae recently replaced its Energy Efficient Mortgage feature with a new Energy Improvement incentive for the upgrading of an existing home through a purchase or re-finance mortgage. Only single family homes qualify.  Contact Wayne's Solar to take advantage of this energy and cost savings opportunity.