Home > Environmental studies essays > The benefits of switching to solar energy

Essay: The benefits of switching to solar energy

Essay details and download:

  • Subject area(s): Environmental studies essays
  • Reading time: 5 minutes
  • Price: Free download
  • Published: 15 October 2019*
  • Last Modified: 22 July 2024
  • File format: Text
  • Words: 1,462 (approx)
  • Number of pages: 6 (approx)

Text preview of this essay:

This page of the essay has 1,462 words.

Solar power is an excellent source of alternative energy because it is renewable, and economical and doesn’t pollute the environment. Another reason it is a good source of energy is because solar energy is one of the cleanest and most renewable energy sources that is available to us. Also, solar technologies can keep the energy in many ways and forms and providing energy to heat or light or another form of solar energy. One example of this is solar farms which use panels to harvest energy in big quantities in underutilized land.

Solar energy is a big step in society that will improve the functions of rural areas. Also, solar energy declines pollution and causes less electricity loss. Solar power will also improve grid security which will cause less blackouts or brownouts. Solar electricity will make your home go off the grid excluding fossil fuels from your everyday living in your home. Solar farms from as small as 45 acres could provide power to 2500-3000 homes. Solar power would create jobs and economic growth by providing jobs for more people if more people used solar power.

Solar power should be conducted through the country because it is an effective way to make a free source of energy. Solar power Also should be used because it cuts down usage of fossil fuels creating a renewable resource for people all around. Solar power is a great way to decrease pollution to mother nature because it is the most green and efficient source of power. Solar energy is the cleanest and most abundant renewable energy source available, and the U.S. has some of the richest solar resources in the world.

The energy from the sun comes in forms of heat and light and solar energy should be used because it also broadly uses technologies that will form sunlight into renewable energy. Solar energy goes back very far in time to the Greeks, Native Americans and even Chinese would use the sun for energy. Solar power uses different types of technology to convert and make sunlight into many different energies such as electricity or thermal and mechanical power. Solar energy dates back very far one example was in 1866 “the French engineer Auguste Mouchout successfully powered a steam engine with sunlight.”  This was the first example of solar powered mechanical device.

Switching to solar energy would be the best thing to do because being powered by the sun it will always be a renewable resource for our generations and many to come. The energy is called Photovoltaic PV cells which makes the sunlight turn into electricity. There was a study made by Lawrence Berkeley national laboratory in California that stated “buyers were willing to pay 15,000 extra for a home with an average-sized solar panel system. Not only is this likely to amount to more than your original investment, it’s a return on investment that is in addition to the money you have saved on energy all the while that you owned the house.”

Solar panels would be a good addition to many communities everywhere because it creates a new scene of energy making houses more viable to purchase. One article says, “solar panels can even be the difference in selling your house or not, an added bonus that gives potential buyers a reason to consider your house over others as their next long-term home.” This change can make solar energy a more normal thing throughout many places. Solar panels are very easy to maintain, they are made to be outside due to any weather permitted. The chance of   service upon the solar panels is reduced immensely because of the durability they provide. Most manufacturers test their solar panels to make sure that they can withstand high winds and heavy snow loads, and many solar panels are specifically tested to ensure that they can withstand falling hail.

There are many opposing views of solar energy such as cost which on a normal house would be costing as much as 18,000 and 40,000. These prices make people have second thoughts on this process but making solar energy a more normal thing would lower these costs and make solar power energy a regular thing. One fact of cost is “The average price is less than $3.00 per watt in some places in the US and almost $8.00 per watt in other places. Currently, it can cost 20 cents or more to produce a kilowatt-hour of electricity from a solar-power system, depending on the area and the incentives offered. However, generating electricity from coal or natural gas can cost anywhere from 2 to 10 cents a kilowatt-hour. This form of energy amongst current technology would cost $396 per megawatt.” The longer solar power is used the more benefits come along with it making it the soon to be best way to transfer sunlight into energy.

However solar energy can store energy at night making the cost of the production and system well worth it saving more money at the end of the day. New solar capacity even overtook the net growth in coal, previously the biggest new source of power generation. The shift was driven by falling prices and government policies, particularly in China which accounted for almost half the solar panels installed. Solar power was the fastest growing source of energy worldwide last year. Solar capacity overtook the net growth of coal which was the biggest source of power generation. The Paris based IEA said “that solar would dominate future growth, with global capacity in five years’ time expected to be greater than the current combined total power capacity of India and Japan.” Sweden lacks natural energy reserves and gets 6.3% of its electricity from fossil fuels. It offers a project showing great illustration on how a city can sustainably transfer to solar energy.

There are many common grounds and thoughts of these opposing views such as solar power energy supplies typically will last decades. The main effect of solar energy consists of grid connected solar powered generators that would replace other sources of electricity. in addition, in some nations it may be economic to use solar generation to reduce reliance on imported oil, if that oil must be moved by truck to remote generator sites. It will always reduce risk in power generation planning and may make changes that we may not see in the future. Solar power will cause less electricity loss, the energy becomes domestic and you will be in control of your own bills and how much energy you decide to use. In this case saving money and budgeting gets easier and the acceptance of solar energy will soon be easier to distribute. Older solar panels from the 1970s and 1980s are still producing electricity, but they may not be producing as much energy as they have in the past. In this case understanding that not everything will last for a lifetime makes since, but the technology will only get better.

In conclusion solar powered energy is the best concept of energy using the sun and making the earth a more renewable place. Solar energy can reduce pollution and it may be costly but the more solar energy around the world will make it a more affordable and common concept for people. The more people who get involved in this movement will soon realize the change it will make in the long run for the earth. Solar energy does cost more but at the end of the year you would be saving more money since the energy is stored and not unused. Solar powered energy will make the earth a healthier place and greener. With solar panels on every house it will reduce pollution in the air and even making solar fields as small as 45 acres can supply up to 3000 homes making it affordable if done the right way.

Works cited

  • About the us electricity system and its impact on the environment. “PA environmental protection agency, 27 aug.2018, www.epa.gov/energy/about us electricity system and its impact environment.
  • “About Solar Energy.” SEIA, www.seia.org/initiatives/about-solar-energy.
  • “alternative solar energy.” Alternative energy, www.energyrefuge.com/archives/alternative-solar-enrgy.htm
  • “Solar Power.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com/terms/solar_power.htm.
  • “The Future of Solar Energy.” MIT Energy Initiative, energy.mit.edu/research/future-solar-energy/.
  • “The Opposing View of Solar Power.” Solar Energy: New Wave in Reusable Energy, cresustainabilitypresentation.weebly.com/the-opposing-view-of-solar-power.html.
  • Vaughan, Adam. “Time to Shine: Solar Power Is Fastest-Growing Source of New Energy.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 4 Oct. 2017, www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/04/solar-power-renewables-international-energy-agency.
  • Weber, Daniel. “Daniel Weber.” 1st Light Energy, Daniel Weber Https://1stle.Com/Wp-Content/Uploads/2015/04/1stLightLogo.Png, 21 June 2016, 1stle.com/10-reasons-to-go-solar/.
  • Williams, Gage, and Ozzie Zehner. “Debate: for and against solar energy- can it be clean, cheap and ubiquitous?” RSS, 1 Jan. 2017, eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2013/02/debate-for-and-against-solar-energy-can-it-be-clean-cheap-and-ubiquitous/.

About this essay:

If you use part of this page in your own work, you need to provide a citation, as follows:

Essay Sauce, The benefits of switching to solar energy. Available from:<https://www.essaysauce.com/environmental-studies-essays/2018-11-28-1543414025/> [Accessed 19-04-26].

These Environmental studies essays have been submitted to us by students in order to help you with your studies.

* This essay may have been previously published on EssaySauce.com and/or Essay.uk.com at an earlier date than indicated.