Solar power and the environment

Almost everyone accepts the truth about global warming and that man's combustion of fossil fuels is the main cause. This fact is the driving force behind solar power, but now there are significant financial incentives to install solar power. Solar generation of electricity is experiencing a tremendous growth period. But how are solar panels made and how do they aid humanity in the search for clean, renewable energy?

Elemental silicon has had a huge impact on the human race. Silicon, found in sand, has the important ability to generate electricity when light strikes it. This "photovoltaic" effect enables sunlight to operate watches, power spacecraft,  and generate electricity for homes and businesses. Clean, renewable energy from the sun is normally the best alternative to polluting nonrenewable fossil fuels. However, in some conditions, that free energy impacts our environment.

Secrets to producing electricity from the sun

As a solar business owner, you probably market two types of technologies that produce electricity: photovoltaic, which uses silicon or other conductive substances, and solar-thermal. Solar panels containing small solar cells are examples of photovoltaic products. Devices that use solar thermal technology center sunlight on liquid that warms the water to produce steam. Energy from the steam circulates a generator that produces electricity. Solar power plants generate electricity for many customers using this method.

Minimal solar power effects

For instance, a solar-powered parking meter requires no fuel, and it releases no toxins into the environment. When companies create photovoltaic wafers that go into solar cells, the production process generates a limited amount of hazardous material. Workers must manage it to prevent environmental and health problems. When some solar cells break, they become hazardous waste and must also be handled with care.

Solar energy's negative effects on land and wildlife

It is becoming gradually more common for homes and small businesses to install solar panels on roofs. Because that installation occurs on existing developments, photovoltaic systems do not usually consume large amounts of property that you could use for something else. However, solar-thermal systems can sometimes use a fairly large amount of land depending on the type of technology you use and the facility's overall size. If a new solar energy installation requires land use, it could have a negative impact on wildlife habitat in the area. Off-grid PV systems often have disposable batteries that store energy when the sun shines so you can use it at night or at other times when soar is insufficient. These batteries can harm the environment unless you dispose of them properly since some of them can leak toxins such as lead and sulfuric acid.

Solar power plants produce more than electricity

Solar energy devices do little harm to the environment, but operations and maintenance activities at solar energy facilities sometimes have minor environmental consequences. Excess noise, for example, could disturb wildlife around a power plant.  Focused sun rays at a solar thermal plant could conceivably harm birds. Workers at solar energy facilities must also use and dispose of cleaning agents carefully to protect the environment as well as the life that lives in it.

There has never been a better time to install a solar energy system!

If you want to move into the future and join the solar revolution, or if you want to find out what solar panels are right for you, go to HahaSmart.com and try our price checker tool.

For more information relating to going solar, don't forget to visit our solar blog section for more handy guides and articles.

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