Greenhouse gases and the promise of solar

Is there any great mystery why solar energy is enjoying a resurgence? One doesn’t have to look long at the news to see some climate-related event that could have been prevented by more responsible energy policies. Climate experts agree that solar energy is a technology that has multiple benefits for humanity. One of the main reasons that people want to look at installing solar panels is to save money. Solar has become one of the best investments a home or business owner can make. For others, a big reason is that solar will have a positive impact on the environment, and the future generations of the planet.

Environmental and financial advantages of solar power

It is true that solar panels have both financial and environmental benefits, and here are some significant ways that solar panels are having a positive impact on the environment. When ignited, fossil fuels are used to produce electricity. However, they simultaneously produce substantial amounts of greenhouse gases. These are gases that get discharged into the atmosphere and trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere. The most prominent of these gasses is carbon dioxide.

The search for fossil fuels is also severely polluting

In addition to these extraction processes, searching for oil can have its own negative impacts. Seismic techniques for searching for oil beneath the ocean floor can do serious harm to fish and marine life, not to mention when there are oil leaks, such as the Gulf Oil Spill in 2010. By contrast, the advantages of solar panels do the reverse to the environment. Solar panels provide clean, efficient energy, utilizing a resource that is not using the limited resources of the planet.

Here are three significant environmental benefits of solar panels:

Solar panel technology reduces air pollution

Generating electric power with solar panels produces no greenhouse gases. The current solar capacity currently installed across the United States offsets as much as 16.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually This is a significant step toward managing the human impact of global warming.

Solar energy decreases water pollution

Many power plants today demand a significant amount of water to produce steam to spin turbines and cool down the system afterward. The amount of water used in the process consists of almost half of all freshwater withdrawals in the United States, which adds up to billions of gallons every day. Solar energy creates no pollution of local water sources and does not strain domestic supplies through competition with agriculture, drinking systems, and other vital water needs of each community.

Solar technology diminishes the need for finite resources

The sun remains the world’s most dominant energy source, creating an incredible 173,000 terawatts of solar energy every second. That is more than 10,000 times the world’s total combined energy consumption. Fortunately, this resource is renewable, meaning it doesn’t exhaust after one use. By contrast, all fossil fuels are non-renewable, meaning once they are used, they can’t be reused a second time. While fossil fuels seem in abundance today, it’s a fact that they will deplete and run out within a few decades. Experts expect this energy supply to last another fifty years, which is a very short time of time geologically. The cost of finding and extracting fossil fuels is proving very expensive. Solar energy is available now and in the future, for as long as the earth functions.

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

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