How to Understand Energy Jargon - Step One to Rethinking Solar (Part 1)

[Brendan David]

You're most likely not an electrical engineer so you'll find that the
terms for residential electricity more than confusing and nonsensical
at times. The following article explains the terms associated with
home electricity and defines the general electrical concepts found in
residential solar electric systems. The majority of this article
defines on the important terms, principles, and technical definitions
that will be further explained in relation to home solar power in
another article.
The intent of this article is to help you to understand enough about
electricity so that you can understand the technology used in solar
photovoltaic (PV) systems. You most likely will review a lot of
information and learn many new solar energy terms when you begin the
process of purchasing or renting a home solar power system.
When you start researching residential solar energy systems, or even
taking a close look at your electric bill, you hear a lot about
kilowatts and kilowatt hours. You may have used these terms mistakenly
as the same thing in the past. They are pretty close in meaning. Both
terms are just a measure of relative electricity sizes.
However, they are very different measurements, as you will learn
through the electricity definitions included here. In order to
understand what they mean, you also need to understand a few basic
concepts about electricity.
When talking about electricity, you will be using terms like power and
energy. The average person often uses these terms interchangeably in
daily speech along with current, potential, charge, electrons, and
even photons. You might have learned about all of these electricity
terms way back in high school. In use as part of your daily life, you
may have confused their meaning.
Common Residential Electricity Terms
Here are the most important electricity concepts you need to know when
you begin the process of purchasing or renting a solar energy system
for your home. It may be surprising to you that the actual meaning of
a few of these is not quite what you expected.
Power: The rate at which work is performed or energy is provided.
Power is the amount of energy required or expended for a given unit of
time. It is measured in watts (W).
Energy: The actual work done by solar panels installed on your home.
In other words, energy is power supplied over a period of time. It is
typically measured in joules or watt hours (Wh).
Potential: The capacity of an electric field to do work (i.e. to
provide energy). This is similar to the height of water behind a dam.
It has capacity to do work. The higher the water, the more potential
energy that is available. Potential is calculated and measured in
volts.
Current: A passage or movement of materials charged with electricity.
This is not unlike the speed of water flow in a river. It is measured
in amperes (I or in common terms amps).
Resistance: The characteristic of a material, substance, object, or
circuit to limit the passage of electricity. Items letting electricity
to pass with low resistance are called conductors and materials that
resist electricity from flowing are called insulators. Resistance is
measured in ohms (R).
Charge: A property of some subatomic particles, i.e. the charge on an
electron (subatomic particle is negative). Charge determines how
subatomic particles interact. Electrically charged matter is
influenced by and produces electromagnetic fields. Charges are either
negative or positive and have measurable strength.
Field: An effect produced by an electric charge that exerts a force on
charged objects in its vicinity.
Electron: A negatively charged subatomic particle. The current is
caused by the movement of electrons from different energy levels
within its atomic structure.
Photon: An elementary particle that is the carrier of electromagnetic
radiation of all wavelengths. The photon is different from many other
elementary particles, such as the electron, because it has no mass.
That means that it travels at the speed of light across the vacuum of
space. Trillions and trillions of photons are blasted out from the sun
every second.
Upgrading Your Home to Solar Power
To understand solar electric systems and how they work, you first need
to understand the basic principles of electricity. This means learning
the language used to explain these principles. In our next article
which is a ongoing series related to renewable energy, we will dive
into understanding the language of residential solar electric systems.
Becoming comfortable with the electricity jargon and technical terms
is an important step when considering purchasing or renting a solar
energy system for your home. You should feel comfortable talking with
solar industry experts about your home solar options. In future
articles, we will dig deeper into the details and emerging options for
home solar power systems.

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