Solar has come of age

There is an apparent need today to investigate our country’s energy use, pollution, and the ramifications of global warming. Installing solar panels is the most effective means to positively impact the environment. Here are some ways that solar garden developers are able to ensure that their projects are built to protect our environment. For well over a century now, coal-and-natural-gas-fired power plants have spread pollution into the air around them. Coal ash and fracking have tainted groundwater, and coal mining has destroyed once-mighty mountains. Solar is already helping with this toxic legacy–but project developers must be vigilant to avoid any negative impacts on the land.

Solar power is happening now and needs major expansion

Solar energy scratches a number of itches for the home or business owner. In fact, once they’re installed, they are entirely neutral to their neighboring environment. Panel manufacturers use specific processes to recycle excess manufacturing materials to make sure that they never leave the factory, and some even include an end-of-life recycling scheme in the purchase of their panels.

Solar farms and gardens are helping clean our air

Those of us who know the value of land—both natural and cultivated—know that protection will always trump restoration. A tract of cleared forest can take several decades to recover the social and economic value of lost biodiversity. Similarly, farmers put great consideration into maintaining the health of their soil in order to bring you healthy and cost-competitive food. This same principle is why the solar business needs to do its part to preserve rural land and contribute to the areas where these projects are located. These principles can ensure that the solar industry has a positive impact on our rural lands and keeps natural habitats relatively intact.

Ideal locations for solar gardens

Experts suggest that we build solar farms and gardens where you can’t build anything else. On capped landfills and Superfund sites, anxieties about contamination make it illegal to use the land for other purposes. Where feasible, these sites are optimal for solar gardens. There is an effort to build on brownfields. Brownfields are sites that have previously been developed for human use. It doesn’t make environmental sense to damage ecosystems and fell trees to build solar farms, so they should always be created on brownfields. Fortunately, states like Massachusetts now have policies that give community solar projects increased financial incentives to build on brownfields and capped landfills.

Solar is the most environmentally friendly energy source

Leaving land fallow is a great way to rebuild soil health. This means that solar plants can have a positive influence on soil health, and this restorative effect of solar plants can be magnified by putting in soil-restorative plants around the bases of the solar panels, and by allowing animals to graze around the periphery.

There has never been a time when solar power has been more vital. The latest climate reports are much worse than the previous extremely pessimistic predictions. Scientists are concerned that the burning of fossil fuels will undo all the good that conservation efforts have done. Only about a half century of fossil fuels remain but burning those fuels will cause further and irreversible damage. The importance of installing solar panels cannot be overstated. Without a clean energy option, we are doomed to even more dangerous climate reports. The best option by far is solar, which is an energy source that is primed to go right now. The financial benefits make solar a hard to beat investment since the payback period is so fast.

Please visit our solar blog to find out more about the benefits of going solar.

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