May 2020
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2,544 Reads
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12 Citations
It is no overstatement to say that all of the higher life forms on earth are alive by solar energy alone. It would be common to know that our ancestors depended on solar energy, natural resources, such as firewood, charcoal, water mill, windmill until the Edo period (17C ~ middle of 19C). No generation in human history has relied more on fossil fuels than we have since the Industrial Revolution. You have to recall that fossil fuels will inevitably disappear within about 200 years. Photovoltaic has a completely different mechanical structure from other power generation methods which rotate a magnet to generate electricity. Initially, photovoltaic was developed as a source of power for satellites. Despite several advantages, however, photovoltaics was viewed as ‘at best a minor power source’ because it was less efficient, needed larger areas and were heavily impacted by weather. ‘Solar Sharing’ refers to sharing the surplus solar power, which is not contributing to crop production, between agriculture and power generation. It secures the sunlight needed for crop production and maintains farming. This terminology comes from my own words “sharing solar energy”, and now it is becoming a normal noun. The purpose of this book is to overcome the ‘big drawback’ of photovoltaics that is believed to require a large area, and make it the main source of permanent power in the future by disseminating this concept of ‘solar sharing’. In addition, this book aims to make agriculture industry a key industry that provides both ‘energy and crops’ in human society. Moreover, it is expected to obtain a large amount of electricity by applying the concept of ‘Solar Sharing’ in many places, including farms, fishing, livestock, gardens and rooftops. Fortunately, many people have understood the basic concept of Solar Sharing since the invention in late 2003. As more and more people know solar sharing through this book, we hope that solar power generation by solar sharing has spread beyond Japan and around the world, making a society that is not dependent on fossil fuels one day.