1. Solar Energy
Solar Car!

2. What is Sustainable Technology?
Sustainable technology uses a technology that has:-
Less energy
Limited resources / or no resources
Does not pollute the environment
Can be re-used / recycled

3. What is Solar Energy?
Solar energy is collected by using the energy of the sun which is then generated into electricity.
This energy is produced by photovoltaic cells.
Photovoltaic cells has layers of semiconductor material (silicon or germanium) which produces electricity when it absorbs the sunlight.

4. Advantages of Solar Power
The advantages of using solar energy:-
Uses ‘free’ energy from the Sun
It is clean as it does not effect the environment
There is unlimited energy from the sun
No costs to create electricity

5. Disadvantages of Solar Power
The Disadvantages of using solar energy:-
Expensive to set up because of limited materials
Needs a large surface area to collect energy from the sun
The energy is only available when there is sun, this would not be suitable for use in a country with a varied climate

6. Solar Powered Car
A car is powered by using the energy from the sun which is then converted into electricity that powers the car.
The car is used for racing, which can travel up to 3000km over 4 days, with an average of 100km/h.
It uses thin-film photovoltaic cells on the surface of the vehicle.

7. Comparing between Solar Cars and Petrol Cars
Petrol is expensive, limited, and emits carbon dioxide. Petrol causes global warming which effects the world, whereas solar is free to run, unlimited and clean.
Driving the solar powered car at night could be restricted, due to lack of solar energy.
There are more benefits of running solar powered cars than using petrol.
Solar
Petrol

8. Thin-filmed Photovoltaic cells
Thin-filmed photovoltaic cells are different to normal photovoltaic cells, as they have no silicon crystalline cells. This makes it lighter, flexible and a third cheaper to produce, but the downside of using this, is that it is half as efficient as the original type.
To help the solar car accelerate faster, thin-filmed photovoltaic cells are used because they are lighter, therefore gaining more speed.

9. Conclusion
In conclusion, using solar energy for cars will be a huge benefit for everyone because it saves money to run the car. Also it is green as it does not produce greenhouse gases which affects the environment, making the world a safer place to be.
Energy storage would be needed if the solar car is to be used at night time.
The manufacturing cost of photovoltaic cells is expensive but the price is decreasing, as the competition for producing solar panels increases.
I think this is definitely the product for the near future.

10. References