Solar energy - more than enough to go round!

(I-Newswire) April 8, 2008 - Ayrshire, Scotland, 8 April 2008--There is enough latent electrical power waiting to be harnessed from sunlight falling on the surface of the earth in just eight hours to satisfy the total energy requirements of our entire planet for a whole year.

So argues John Quinton, chairman of building contractors William Skinner & Son based in Ayrshire, Scotland and Cambridge, England, a company that has made a recent and successful entrance into the renewable energy field.

John Quinton says: "The sun alone provides 2,125,000,000,000,000,000 kWh annually. World energy consumption in 2006 was the equivalent of 29,308,000,000,000 kWh.

"What that says is that the annual consumption of energy of the entire world in one year was about 8 hour's worth of the available energy from the sun. And the sun's energy, beyond the cost of collecting it, is free."

John Quinton goes on to say that wind-turbines can recover some of this, because the energy of the winds is essentially the result of the transfer of some of the sun's energy into air movement, but the real answer, he says, at least so far as electricity generation is concerned, has to be the use of photo-voltaic cells that convert the sun's energy – which is more than just the heat we feel in sunshine – directly into electricity.

He points out: "This technique has been known for hundreds of years, but only recently has it been developed for practical use. It is effective, albeit costly – but the major oil companies, amongst others, are investing billions in research to improve PV performance, with the current aim of cutting the cost of a PV panel to 10% of what it is now, and doubling its efficiency. This will give a cost reduction to 1/20 of the present figure."

John Quinton's article "Solar energy - more than enough to go round" appears in "Ayrshire Scotland Business News", the online magazine of the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle, a recently formed association of some of the top companies in Ayrshire, south-west Scotland.

It can be read in full at:

http://www.ayrshirescotlandbusinessnews.com/2008/04/solar-energy-more-than-enough-to-go.html

ABOUT WILLIAM SKINNER & SON

Building contractors William Skinner & Son have made a successful diversification into the solar heating market, attracting a large number of new clients throughout the UK, and have demonstrated their commitment to the wider field of renewable energy by installing a 6kW Proven wind turbine at their HQ in St. Quivox on the perimeter of Glasgow Prestwick Airport and including PV panels in the design for their proposed office extension.

The aim now is to offer general advice on the suitability of any of the available renewable energy techniques, or any mix of them, to solve individual energy supply problems, and they are developing a consortium of available local expertise to help them develop that.

Website: www.williamskinner.co.uk

Issued by: Murdoch MacDonald
Telephone: 01292 281498
Mobile: 07833 667322

E-mail: Murdoch@famepublicity.co.uk
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Blog: http://www.AyrshireScotlandBusinessNews.com

Issued on behalf of building contractors William Skinner & Son by Fame Publicity Services.

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