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About 6% of Australian homes now have solar hot water heaters. About 30,000 more
are produced each year. People building new homes are now more aware of
designing to catch the sun's heat in winter and keep it out in summer. This is
called `passive' solar heating. For example, using verandahs, bigger windows to
the north and no windows to the west. Why do you think this would help save
energy?
The sun's heat energy is being converted into electricity in solar cells on the
large panel attached to this solar car. The Bethany, a solar powered vehicle
designed by Cambridge University students taking part in the World Solar
Challenge across NT.
A similar but smaller panel of solar cells is making electricity to power a
telephone on a remote outback station. Solar cells could be much cheaper to
compete with fossil fuels if governments gave big orders to manufacturers.
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