Radio Review Integration of Solar Energy

Question: Discuss about the Radio Review for Integration of Solar Energy. Answer: Direct and indirect current are categories of current flow in a circuit. In direct current, the flow of current is only in one direction while in the alternative current, the flow of current changed periodically. The voltage in Alternative current keeps on reversing due to the changing direction of the current. Both currents are applied interchangeably though the direct current is most common in electronics while alternating current is common in buildings. An alternator is used to generate alternative current. The war of currents began in 1880s with two people George Edisons who supported the use of Direct Current and Westinghouse and Nicola Tesla who advocated from alternating current (Kruger, P. 2006, 168). Direct current was used all over in the U.S during the early years of electricity distribution and Edison was willing to do anything to defend his royalties. Incandescent lamps that were used all over the country and motors worked well with direct current. Storage batteries that provided power in cases of interruptions in generator operations directly used the current. Direct current was reliable and economical as generators could be paralleled allowing machines to use less current during light load. Edison had also come up with a meter used to measure the customers consumption and that only worked with direct current. During which no motor worked with the alternative current. By this time, there was all evidence on the advantages of Direct current. Tesla in collaboration with Westinghouse came up with a system used to generate, transmit and use alternating current using his magnetic fields. This spurred up the rivalry between Tesla and Edison where he dismissed teslas idea by saying that his ideas were splendid but impractical (Fadel, 2007, 220). Tesla had a better understanding of mathematics than Edison who was just an experimenter hence understood nothing about alternative current. Certain factors prompted the adoption alternating current, including the then high cost of direct current as well as the effectiveness of alternating current. The war of currents finally came to an end when Edison left from the electric power business and also realized the superiority of the alternating current( Gore,2006,89). All power companies had adopted the use of alternating current even his company. After the end of the current battle, the alternating current took over about 75% of electrical business in the United States. In conclusion, adopting both alternating and direct current was a great milestone in the energy sector. Combining these two currents gave a complete cycle of electromotive force which yields higher electrical energy compared to individual types of current. References Gore, A., An Inconvenient Truth,2006. Fadel, CMK (2007), Integration of Solar Energy in Rural Electrification in Senegal, UCAD, Dakar, Senegal. Kruger, P., Alternative Energy Resources: The Quest for Sustainable Energy, Wiley, New Jersey, USA (2006).