how can we get solar energy when its raining?
97888
if you have the right panels you will still get a trickle charge, after all, unless it is night time, it is still light during a storm, so some light must be getting thru.
242248
Evaporation from the sea. Dig shallow pools and with bis leaves collect the moist. You can also get salt this way. Also collect the water from the rain.
801669
There is a lot of possibilities starting from the simplest one which is wind generator.  More complicated would be water generation where a usually dam is build and potential energy of the water accumulated behind the dam moves water through turbines and generates power. Some other may include thermal energy of the earth. If you drill deep enough you will get to the earth crust zone where temperature is high to produce steam and this steam is converted (generated) into the electric power. Ocean waves are also source to generate energy.
1113363
The first thing to come to my mind is if you're talking about convective rainfall, which requires the ground to heat up.  If you have a layer of say altostratus clouds (with no precip) move over an area, the solar heating will decrease and this could halt any convective clouds that may have been forming, and which may have produced rain if the heating had continued.  But this is just off the top of my head.
310959
Solar energy is horribly inefficient, it only converts appx 3-4% of the energy available it, it costs a fortune to. i would suggest using a different form of renewable source. use solar energy to heat you water (very simple non-electrical system - black hose-piping within a black box - supprisingly effective for what you may thtink it is, this also saves money on electricity. \n\nYou could convert your central heating to a heat engine system (loads of info online about it) - expensive outlay but unlike solar cells very efficient with it.\n\nother than that common household electrical requirements nowadays are sickening and really need the national grid juice to power it. If you have a river/stream by your house tha can easily be harnessed to power all your lights, refridgerator and basic amenities ... - however how many ppl actually have a stream... LUCKY BAS***D'S!\n\nGood luck with What ever you do, any one cutting down their fuel useage is good!!!
560597
water it every day and make sure it gets plenty of sunlight!!
43785
it produces a lot of energy
607273
Honestly, it is because solar panels alone are too unreliable (cloudy days, etc.) and WAY too expensive to use and maintain. It would not be economically feasible.
176368
While the above is true, don't give up. U can still get power from the sun to power your computer.\nAlso, there are many prototypes in the works.\n\nMicro-Star unveils solar-powered notebook computer:\n \nThursday, January 12, 2006 \n\nA Taiwanese company has developed a solar-power notebook computer to save computer users the trouble of charging batteries by plugging them in, the company said yesterday. \n\nMicro-Star International Co said it spent a year to develop the first-generation solar notebook computer, Solar NB, and is now developing the second-generation Solar NB. \n\n"Solar NB is a notebook computer with a solar panel on its top. The first-generation Solar NB can operate on solar light power for half an hour but it takes the solar panel half an hour to collect that much power," Micro-Star International's marketing manager Chen Chien-hung said. \n\n"For the second-generation Solar NB, we will use satellite solar power which is more effective but also more expensive," Chen said. \n\nThe 12-inch first-generation Solar NB costs NT$55,000 (US$1,700). The second-generation Solar NB will cost NT$80,000 and is expected to be able to operate on light power for at least four hours. \n\nChen said that although Solar NB can be used outdoors, the main purpose of developing Solar NB is not for outdoor use, but for indoor use, and the solar panel does not collect solar power, but light power. \n\n"We want to allow people to use notebook computers when they travel in an aircraft or train, either by relying entirely on light power or using both light power and the battery when the light in the plane or train is dim," he said. \n\nMicro-Star International unveiled a pair of Solar NBs at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show last week in Las Vegas, but will not market it until the product is more mature. \n\n \nhttp://www.partsonsale.com/desktopcompsol.html\n\nhttp://www.solarpower.org/art4.html
168594
You can store it in batteries and it lasts as long as the batteries last.\n\nThe sun produces a huge amount of energy every day (173 millions of billions Watts). The amount we receive generates wind (converted into electricity through windmills), heat, photosynthesis of plants and trees and 1.37kw of energy per square metre. This energy can be harnessed by PV cells and converted into electricity. In fact, less than 1% of our planet’s desert areas would generate all the electricity we need if it was covered with PV panels.\nGenerating electricity this way is quite simple: light hits a cell made of a thin layer of silicium over a metal support which generates electrons. The motion of these electrons generates current. PV cells are assembled in panels, generating up to 100w/h of DC power (14v approximately). These panels are connected to a regulator, which controls the electricity production, sends some to appliances, some to battery storage and dumps any excess. PV panels generate electricity when subjected to sunlight. This means they do not produce at night. This is why most systems store electricity in batteries.\n \nHOUSING APPLICATIONS\nA modern house does not require a lot of electricity and it does not seem very efficient to burn diminishing fossil resources in huge plants located far away and then transport this electricity over hundreds of kilometers to houses. By having a few PV panels on the roof, any ordinary house can generate its electrical needs; this power can be supplied in DC (for halogen lighting for example) and AC (220V) through an inverter to power standard appliances.\n \nA house connected to the grid can then sell electricity by day and buy some back at night.\nAn independent house generates all its needs by storing electricity in battery banks. In windy areas, a windmill can be a very good complement to PV systems.\n \nPV systems do not require fuel, have no moving parts that can wear, require virtually no maintenance and last for a very long time (some PV systems have a 30 years warranty).\n \nINDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS\nThey constitute the bulk of the applications today, for remote lighting, transmitters, satellites in space, etc. Industrial buildings could also produce part of their needs through PV.\n \nCOST MATTERS\nIs PV technology expensive? Prices are now going down and make it ever more competitive. PV systems last a very long time and over say 50 years, they should become extremely competitive.\nThe cost of fossil fuels is expected to increase over the next 20 years. Furthermore, fossil fuel generators require heavy maintenance. Another aspect to take in account is the pollution they generate: this has a heavy cost in terms of global warming, poor air quality, health problems and logistic costs (transport of fossil fuels, electricity on high power lines and their waste), not to mention collateral damage such as oil slicks, Chernobyl type accidents, respiratory diseases, chemical runoffs and other nasty results.
254615
You would need to make a distiller of sorts - the sun's rays could evaporate the pure water, and you would just need to capture the water vapor - use a leaf or something similar to direct the vapor into a cup.  \n\nHere's a link on PBS Kids that explains it. Of course, on a deserted Island, you might not have plastic wrap, but you could very well improvise.
470132
Solar energy ( using solar panels or something ) is the ultimate alternate energy source, because the energy in living things comes from the sun.  The energy in petroleum, which comes from dead plants, comes from the sun.  And the energy from hydroelectric dams comes from the sun, because the sun evaporates the water so it can rain down on the mountains and fill up the reservoir behind the dam.  Why not just go directly to the source--the sun.\n\nAs for simulating day and night, you must do this!  The human body schedules itself to sleep about every 24 or 25 hours.  Going against this schedule or against the schedule of light and dark periods can cause difficulty sleeping, difficulty staying awake, and possibly psychological problems.\n\nI don't really know what kind of colony you are referring to, so I can't really answer the other questions.  Is it a computer simulation, like Sim City, or a science-fiction colony on the planet Mars, or just a wilderness survival plan?
659160
It absorbs light energy from the sun.
57397
When the sun goes down, it is no longer produced.  If you lived somewhere like seattle where it is very rainy and there is little sunshine, it wouldn't be too effective.
536971
Solar photovoltaic panels contain arrays of solar cells that convert light into electricity. Solar cells, or PV cells, rely on the photovoltaic effect, which describes how certain materials can convert sunlight into electricity to absorb the energy of the sun and cause current to flow between two oppositely charged layers. Individual solar cells provide a relatively small amount of power, but electrical output is significant when connected together as an array making up a panel.\n\nOn a bright day, the sun delivers about 1 kW/m² to the Earth's surface. Typical solar panels have an average efficiency of 12%, with the best commercially available panels at 20%, and recent prototype panels at around 30%. This would result in 200 W/m². However, not all days have bright sunlight, and therefore not enough solar energy can be captured.\n\nA solar water heater uses the sun's energy to heat a fluid, which is used to transfer the heat to a heat storage vessel. In the home, for example, sanitary hot water would be heated and stored in a hot water cylinder. Panels on the roof have an absorber plate to which fluid circulation tubes are attached. The absorber, usually coated with a dark selective coating, assures the conversion of the sun's radiation into heat, while fluid circulating through the tubes carries the heat away where it can be used or stored. The heated fluid is pumped to a heat exchanger, which is a coil in the storage vessel or an external heat exchanger where it gives off its heat and is then circulated back to the panel to be reheated. This provides an effective way of harnessing the sun's energy.
18707
The answer depends on how big or how much each solar panel produces.  But you definetly need at least 1,200 Watts. You can either try to produce the energy Chemically or Mechanically.  Chemically you need Photo Electric Panels Large enough to produce 1,200 watts.  Mechanically you would use mirrors to focus the suns rays onto a boiler to create steam and then turn a turbine generator.
133982
The Sun produces energy through a process called "nuclear fusion." This is the same process that happens in a hydrogen bomb. The Sun converts hydrogen into helium, and that conversion process releases energy, mostly in the form of heat. The Sun "burns" about 600-million tons of hydrogen every second.