Solar will replace fossil fuels within 20 years

The future of solar energy is now. Solar and wind power are rapidly becoming cheaper and more abundant. Soon renewable sources will entirely supplant fossil fuels worldwide. This will be determined primarily by politicians.  Some world leaders continue to press for more oil and gas production, even in sensitive areas like the Arctic. The reality is that the rising tide of solar photovoltaics and wind energy offers our only realistic opportunity of avoiding dangerous climate change. There are no environmental solutions in fossil fuels, and it is difficult to envision any response to climate change that does not involve solar and wind energy. 

In order to minimize global warming we need to replace fossil fuel use entirely, with energy sources that meet these criteria:

Very large and  ubiquitous resource base
Low or zero greenhouse gas emissions 
Unlimited raw materials
Minimal security concerns warfare, terrorism, and accidents
Low cost
Currently available in mass production.

Benefits of solar power

Solar PV meets all of these criteria, while wind energy also meets many of them. The earth will have sunshine and wind for billions of years to come. Most of the world’s population lives at low latitudes (less than 35°), where sunlight is abundant and varies little between seasons. Wind energy is also widely available, particularly at higher latitudes.

Solar and wind have minimal environmental impacts and water requirements. The raw materials for PV – silicon, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, aluminum, glass, steel and small amounts of other materials – are in unlimited supply.

Complete replacement of all fossil fuels requires solar and wind collectors covering much less than 1% of the world’s land surface area. A large proportion of the collectors are installed on rooftops and in remote and arid regions, thus minimizing competition with food production and ecosystems.

Biomass energy is not efficient and its requirement for soil, water and fertilizer put it in conflict with food production and ecosystems. Nuclear is too expensive, and its construction rates are too slow to catch PV and wind. There is no safe way to store the wastes generated  The more widely PV and wind generation are distributed across the world, the less the risk of wide-scale disruption from natural disasters, war, and terrorism. Other clean energy technologies can realistically play only a minor supporting role. The solar thermal industry is hundreds of times smaller than the fast-growing PV industry (because of higher costs). Hydropower, geothermal, wave and tidal energy are only significant prospects in some regions.

There has never been a better time to install a solar power 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. You can see how much a system will cost, and how much you can save over the next 20 years. 

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