Lesson 3
Sun as the Main Source of Energy
BY: DENNIS P. CAROLINO
describe the sun as the
1 major source of energy;
At the end of
the lesson, you define what the Earth’s
should be able 2 energy budget is; and
to:
identify the factors
3 affecting Earth’s energy
budget.
ALBEDO
• All objects can either absorb or reflect light. This is
a property known as albedo. It has a value that
ranges from 0-1.
Albedo Values
THE SUN
• The Sun is the Earth’s
main source of energy,
and powers many of the
processes in the planet.
Sun as the main source of
energy.
THE SUN
• Plants are dependent on the Sun for photosynthesis.
Importance of the sun on humans and other life forms.
SOLAR ENERGY IS
RENEWABLE
• As long as the sun shines, solar
energy is available for
everyone to utilize.
• This is advantageous since the
sun is an environmentally-
friendly source of energy. Utilization of solar energy
by using solar panels.
EARTH’S ENERGY BUDGET
• Earth’s energy budget is
the balance of energy
absorbed and energy
reflected.
• 30% of the energy from the
sun is reflected and
scattered by clouds,
atmosphere, and Earth’s
light-colored surfaces. Earth’s energy budget
FACTORS AFFECTING EARTH’S ENERGY BUDGET
• There are certain factors that affect Earth’s
energy budget such as:
• the amount of light colored surfaces
• amount of radiation received
• Earth’s axial tilt
• presence of greenhouse gases.
THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT
Greenhouse effect is one of the factors that affects Earth’s energy budget.
1 Albedo is the ability of a material to reflect light.
Earth’s energy budget ensures that the absorbed
2 solar radiation is balanced to the radiated ones.
The factors that affect Earth’s energy budget are the
amount of light colored surfaces, amount of
3 radiation received, Earth’s axial tilt and the presence
of greenhouse gases.
Write true if the statement is correct.
Otherwise, write false.
1. Albedo is the ability of the material to absorb light.
2. High albedo means more light energy is reflected.
3. Black surfaces have an albedo value of 1.
4. Earth’s energy budget ensures that energy in is
always balanced to energy out.
5. When the size of the area of light surfaces, energy
balance is also affected.
Compare the albedo values in Alaska and Sahara.
Which do you think has higher albedo? Explain.
Naotatsu Shikazono. 2012. Introduction to Earth and Planetary System Science: New View of
Earth, Planets and Humans,Germany:Springer Science & Business Media.
Renu Anand. 2016.The Story of Planet Earth,New Delhi: The Energy and Resources Institute
(TERI).
Ronald Martin. 2012. Earth's Evolving Systems: The History of Planet Earth, Massachusetts:
Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Michael Pidwirny. 2016. Chapter 4: Solar Radiation and Earth: Single chapter from the eBook
Understanding Physical Geography, Our Planet Earth Publishing.
Rubin, Kenneth. 2016. Geochemistry Lecture 33 Accessed March 17, 2017.
https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/krubin/GG325/lect33.pdf.
