Maybe because they realized the importance of the energy of the sun. As we enter the 21st century, we look back, after all our malpractices which have almost destroyed our planet, at what the ancients had figured out way before than we did: To value the energy of the sun.

It is the relentless energy of the sun, which it has in store aplenty to light the world for many generations to come, and its advantages are numerous. Consider some of them to have an idea about them.

Free Forever

The sun has been providing its energy to the tenants of planet Earth for millennia now, and is continuing to do so. It is up to us to utilize this energy, which is available without any charge.

Earlier civilizations like the Greek and the Egyptians are known to have used the energy from the sun. It should act as an inspiration for the modern civilization.

Environment-Friendly

The process of using energy from the sun is environment-friendly and completely free of any pollution whatsoever, let it be environmental or noise pollution. It is much safer, simple and cost-effective than expensive and hazardous means of power generation like using fossil fuels, which give away carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases that are deteriorating the condition of our atmosphere, and our planet is increasingly being affected by global warming, which is a proven threat.

Reliability

There are no questions whatsoever about the reliability and availability of the energy from sun. The sun has been around for billions of years, and will continue to carry on its works for even billions of years further. And it provides us energy every day to light our part of the world, and does the same job on the other parts of the globe when it sets in the areas you are living in. Unlike other energy sources, the solar energy is always available on a good portion of the populated land, and it is up to us to utilize it to the fullest.

Unlimited Potential

If properly addressed and worked on, with technological advances, we can potentially settle all the power problems of the world through one source, the energy from the sun. If you consider it, the potential of the energy of the sun that can be exploited for power generation is unlimited, and yet the current power production from solar energy constitutes even less than 1%. In fact, the solar energy that falls on Earth after every 8 minutes is enough to fulfill the power requirements of the United States for the whole year. Although it is not actually possible to utilize absolutely the entire solar energy that reaches the surface on the earth, but we are no where near as well.

Why Realizing So Late?

Yes, the ancients knew it, but how come we did not figure it out for centuries? Why cannot we effectively and efficiently use the immense amount of energy from the sun? Why such a huge amount of solar energy is being wasted every single day?

The greatest reason for those questions is the fact that the sunlight reaching the surface of the Earth is so sparsely scattered that it is not easy capturing it to be utilized for our energy needs as efficiently as its potential.

In order to create a substantial difference in successfully utilizing the solar energy for our use is to develop an efficient mechanism to capture the energy of the radiation of the sun as an energy source, to convert it into our required form of energy and to store it.

So far, human beings have only been able to devise three mechanisms for this purpose.

The Reflection or Parabola Mirror Method

A method right out of the ancient history textbook, the Reflection method is based on the idea of concentrating the rays of the sunlight on one point by the positioning of one or several mirrors, and the heat energy extracted out of the sunlight is used for the desired purpose. The similar method is also carried out through a parabola mirror, which is shaped like a dish antenna, and it is also used to concentrate the sunlight on a point to produce heat energy.

The Radiation Method

An ingenious yet simplistic method, that is the basis behind the concept of solar water heaters. It is carried out by placing black colored pipes, placed between two closely gripping layers of glass, and they are exposed to the sunlight. The sunlight heats the water up due to the radiation of the heat energy from the sunlight.

The Photovoltaic Method or the Solar Panels

It is one of the most popular methods today, and the only one being used for power generation.

It is based on the innovation of a solar cell, which is made up of treated silicon crystals, which are excited when exposed to the sunlight, and electrons are knocked out of their orbits as a result of the excitation and a hole is created in the crystal from which an electron had just escaped. It is filled by an electron from the crystal next to it, and since another hole is created while doing so, a steady flow of electrons, or an electric current is attained through this chain reaction of electrical charge. The electric current produced as a result can either be used immediately, or could be stored in a rechargeable battery for later use.

So Why are We Not Using Solar Energy?

So, despite of our knowledge about all the benefits of solar energy, why are we not using it even near to its total potential? Why there are only a few solar power plants around the world, the output of which is hardly 1% of the total power production of the world.

Firstly, the point about their cost of investment is raised to be a problem in using solar power, and even the reliability is considered as a hurdle, as solar energy cannot be utilized unless the sun is clearly able to send the sunlight on the surface, which is not possible if the sun is covered by clouds or during nights.

Another reason for that simply is the fact that we have not yet been able to devise a technology that efficiently converts the extent of solar energy received into a respective amount of electricity, as the solar cells can only convert 20% of the energy that falls on their surface into electrical energy. Such a level of production is not deemed sufficient for power production on a commercial basis.

However, that does not by any means imply that we should discard solar energy. The good news is that technological research is being carried out for an improvement in the efficiency of the photovoltaic system, and some considerable improvements are expected, both in cost and efficiency, and soon the technology will be acceptable to be adopted both for commercial and personal use.

Unlike Antarctica, which is a continent land mass covered with ice, the Arctic is defined as a region rather than a continent with a small land mass, with a much larger extension of ice, like areas of Greenland for an example, which are covered with a mile thick layer of ice. The ice caps at the Arctic are so large, that they are four times as large as Texas.

Another important feature of the region is the Arctic Ocean. It is not one of the largest oceans in the world, and does not even constitute the tenth part of the Pacific Ocean, yet it holds its significance and distinction for something else. The Arctic Ocean and the waters around it are home to more fish in the world than in any other ocean of the world.

Although the Arctic and Antarctica are often confused due to their reputation of ice covered landscapes and almost inhabitable conditions, the Arctic is very different to Antarctica in this regard. The Arctic is inhabited by a number of species, including quite a fair amount of human population. This is not the case with Antarctica, which is mostly inhabitable with an exception of the penguins. Moreover, the Arctic is much milder than Antarctica, which remains in sub-zero temperatures all around the year. The Arctic summers see temperatures as high as 50F. The region is relatively in easier access to human beings than Antarctica, and therefore, to pollution.

The region has been in the news lately. Its massive ice deposits are melting at an astonishing rate. Scientists explain this melting as a work of Global Warming and the emission of Greenhouse gases in the Earths atmosphere, resulting in a rise in the average global temperature. What makes the melting more serous is the fact, that contrary to the popular impression, the Arctic receives negligible precipitation. Its annual snowfall accounts for only 8 inches on average, which is no match for the monstrous amount of melting of its ice caps, more than 6% of which has been lost to melting during the last two decades. Even though Greenhouse gases are widely held responsible for this phenomenon, there are other forces at play as well.

The oceans of the world are connected to form one massive water body. There is a massive current, known as the Conveyor, which flows throughout the mass of this water body, that is, across the oceans of the world. This Conveyor is responsible for the flow of water across the oceans to different temperature zones, and this current carries the warm water to areas which other wise be quite cold and chilly in temperature, like Europe, the temperature of which is warmed and stabilized by these currents. In this way, these currents pretty much control the climate patterns of the world.

As the ice mass of the Arctic continues to melt, it is adding fresh water to the oceans of the world. Recent studies show that this is having an adverse impact on the Conveyor currents. Scientists have observed that the ocean currents have slowed down up to 40% of its original pace. As has been the case a number of times in the history of planet Earth, the stoppage or reversal of this current will result in a total change of climate. This will result in extreme temperature trends and severe weather across the world. Temperatures in Europe would drop down by 20 degrees and there will be hurricanes in the most unlikely of places, which would be much stronger than those which occur these days. Overall, the climate of the planet will become much more turbulent than it is today, and will become pretty hostile to human life on the planet, especially those living in the coastal areas.

We generally take problems like the melting of the Arctic polar ice caps for granted, but the consequences of this event will be affecting our lives, and the future of human civilization on Earth. It is about time that we take some substantial steps to reduce the damage to the planet caused by our own designs.