The Benefits of Solar Energy

Solar energy is more than just energy to provide power for your house or business. Solar energy is a fundamental source for life on Earth, it provides solar energy that is enough to fuel nearly every ecosystem on the planet. With the technological advantages, we can now use solar energy for something more than just providing a means for us to survive. Solar panels can take the energy that is radiating from the sun and convert it into a clean source of renewable energy that we can use as an alternative to fossil fuels.

Currently, solar energy is only responsible for supplying a portion of global energy, the solar panel industry is quickly expanding component of the sources of the renewable energy sector. Sure, there’s a debate about the cost of solar power, if they are actually a practical energy source and then there’s the question of how their performance of a mass solar installation will produce the desired amount of energy or not. The bottom line is solar panels are a technology that offers a lot more than just simply a promise that they will be a sustainable source of renewable energy.

Solar Energy on Earth

The sun produces enough solar energy though a thermonuclear fusion in its core; this source of renewable energy is released from the stars as neutrinos and electromagnetic, to put it in simple terms solar radiation. After the 8-minute trek across 93,000,000 miles of space, about a half a trillionth of the solar radiation that is generated by the sun reaches the Earth. The atmosphere is going to reflect around 29% of the incoming solar energy and is going to absorb around 23% of it. Around 48% reaches the Earth’s surface. Photosynthetic organisms, such as green plants, used the energy to manufacture the carbohydrates from carbon and water. This process translates solar radiation into a form of solar energy that is usable by other living things.

Solar Electricity

The modern technology for solar panels is divided into passive and active categories. Passive solar energy is the energy that exploits the heat or light of the sun directly, as in a building designed to provide natural light. Active solar-powered systems technology includes photovoltaic and solar-thermal systems. Photovoltaic solar-powered systems installation generates solar electricity from the sunlight using a semiconductor, a material that produces an electrical charge when the solar energy photons excite its electrons.

Thermal solar-powered systems concentrate and channel solar heat, for either heating purposes or to fuel industrial-scale steam-powered electrical generators. On a much broader level, the radiation from the sun is also going to be what is ultimately driving many other sources of renewable energy. The remains of the organisms that are powered by the sunlight are what compose coal and hydrocarbons, as well as differential solar heating of the planet, which helps to spur the air and water currents that are tapped through wind and wave energy.

Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction

The burning of fossil fuels introduces greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide as well as methane into the atmosphere. These gases are named that because they absorb the outgoing waves of radiation from the planet and are thought to boost the global temperatures -- which is a process that is somewhat similar to the function of the greenhouse. The use of solar energy eliminates the emission of greenhouse gases while they are producing solar energy. During the manufacturing or installation process of the solar panels and other sources of renewable energy, some emissions of greenhouse gases may occur. A solar energy assessment that was published by the International Energy Agency suggests that photovoltaic and thermal solar-powered systems may potentially constitute the largest sources of global electricity by 2050. The environmental benefits of solar energy would be very evident if this the case and could prevent more than 6 billion tons of annual carbon-dioxide emissions by then.

Sustainable and Resilient

When comparing solar energy with fossil fuels, which are finite on the human timescale, solar radiation is a source of renewable energy that is of extraordinary scale. The IEA noted that the largest energy resource that is on the Earth is solar energy. The amount of solar energy that the Earth receives in a year exceeds the amount of energy that has been derived from oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear sources in the history of humankind. The amount of solar energy that has been received by the planet in a single hour is greater than the globe's entire yearly energy consumption. Because the solar facilities can be so broadly spread out, and because they are made up of many separate devices, they’re better protected against disruptive events such as storms, which can knock out power to large populations by simply damaging a single generator or transformer station in a centralized electricity grid.

Health and Safety 

The environmental benefits of solar energy don’t end at reduced greenhouse emissions, fossil-fuel combustion can pollute both air and water, adversely affecting human health on both local and regional scales. The Union of Concerned Scientists gauges the economic repercussions of such health problems that are in the United States between $361.7 and $886.5 billion. Solar energy, in contrast, is not polluting. The solar panels technology can also cut down on noise pollution that is associated with energy generation due to the fact the solar panels are silent. They’re considered safe for humans to operate and don’t produce dangerous amounts of radiation. Solar energy is also able to be employed to purify drinking water, which is a huge benefit in the developing world.