Everything about making your home eco-friendly!
Solar energy is energy from the sun that is converted into electrical or thermal energy. It is the use of solar radiation for both active and passive technologies.
Solar power has been utilized for many centuries because it is an efficient source of energy. The Greeks discovered its benefits for warming their homes when they built them facing the south. Farmers and horticulturists follow the sun’s cycle to grow their plants in the most optimum ways. These are examples of passive solar technologies.
Today, active technologies of using the sun’s radiation include creating electricity and heat in your home, which reduces the amount of non-renewable energy used as well as your gas and electric bill. Solar power is considered the energy of the future because it is an eco-friendly way to power the technologies we use on a daily basis. Unfortunately, we are far from discovering an environmentally beneficial way to capture the sun’s energy, which is contradictory because the whole purpose of using solar energy is based on the idea avoiding the use of limited resources as a way to protect the environment.
The many advantages of solar power are growing at an astronomical rate. This is because the sun’s energy is an everlasting, reliable source unlike the resources we have been taking advantage of such as coal, wood, and fossil fuels. Besides for the fact that the sun will not run out of energy, another benefit of acquiring solar power is that we receive such an abundant amount of energy from the sun per year.
According to a source from Wikipedia:
“[t]he amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the planet is so vast that in one year it is about twice as much as will ever be obtained from all of the Earth’s non-renewable resources of coal, oil, natural gas, and mined uranium combined.”
If we were able to utilize even a quarter of that energy, we would thwart the depletion of non-renewable resources. This would, in turn, affect our planet in a positive way because we would not be omitting fuels into the atmosphere. Also we would not need to destroy various eco-systems such as rain forests or the ocean for the energy sources we use today because there would be no need for them if we were completely powered by the sun.
There are numerous advantages to using solar energy. If we could power our buildings, homes, cars, and heating systems with energy from the sun we would not need to use oil or natural gas, or other non-renewable resources to power our technologically advanced life style.
Unfortunately, attaining solar power does have its disadvantages. Due to the fact that it is a new and growing technology, the way we build solar panels is not environmentally friendly. According to an article in The Green Beet,
“[m]aking solar panels, which are in many ways directly descended from semiconductors, also produces toxic byproducts that could sicken living beings, warns the SVTC. Among these are caustic liquids like silicon tetrachloride, dusts and nanoparticles like kerf (a remnant from cutting silicon ingots), and potent greenhouse gases like sulfur hexafluoride.”
Also, the panels themselves are not recyclable items, so if they are thrown away could easily become pollutants. They are not recyclable because of the chemicals they contain. Another negative aspect to pursuing solar technologies is the cost.
It is extremely expensive to make solar panels and purchase them. Many do not feel the cost is worth the future benefits of solar panels. If we could find a way to utilize the sun’s energy in an environmentally and economically friendly way, we would truly advance as a human race and save what is left of our planet.
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