WHY DO WE NEED TO USE SOLAR POWER?
You may think, why do we need another energy company? We're perfectly fine now - I have lights, heating, and running water. But that's not true at all. Right now, about 91% of the energy used by the US come from nonrenewable resources, and once does are gone, it's uh-oh for you... Plus, consider it! Studies show that by using solar leasing companies or just getting bank loans, you just pay $0 or about $0. Later, all you have to pay for are monthly loans on your house, your car, and the like. Those payments, in this case, are likely to be lower then the amount of money that you are saving on your electricity bill. So to sum up, the average solar home owner will save about $20,000 over 20 years of going solar. That's a thousand bucks an year!
Using solar power helps the environment greatly because it doesn't harm animals or plants. It also does not harm the atmosphere, because no harmful gases or such are released into the air. Furthermore, as a renewable resource, it won't be used up forever, or at least until the sun burns up in about 5 billion years. By using concentrating power plants, 5 megawatts of clean power can be made! Every concentrating solar power plant used saves 7000 tons of carbon dioxide from going into the atmosphere. Isn't that a good reason to use solar energy? The costs of solar energy's prices are a bit high, but then again, our goal is to make solar energy available for reasonable prices. Sunlight isn't available 24/7, like at night or on a cloudy day, and also, unfortunately the efficiency of most PV modules turning sunlight into electricity ranges from only 5% to 15%. This means that the amount of energy that can be saved for future use is limited. We can always rely on the sun coming out the next day, though. Also, solar panels are silent when working. Sounds obvious, duh. Well, that's just another thing! Oil - pumping machines are usually giant, and make lots of loud noise. This makes them seem impractical, especially when you compare them to solar panels...
You may think, why do we need another energy company? We're perfectly fine now - I have lights, heating, and running water. But that's not true at all. Right now, about 91% of the energy used by the US come from nonrenewable resources, and once does are gone, it's uh-oh for you... Plus, consider it! Studies show that by using solar leasing companies or just getting bank loans, you just pay $0 or about $0. Later, all you have to pay for are monthly loans on your house, your car, and the like. Those payments, in this case, are likely to be lower then the amount of money that you are saving on your electricity bill. So to sum up, the average solar home owner will save about $20,000 over 20 years of going solar. That's a thousand bucks an year!
Using solar power helps the environment greatly because it doesn't harm animals or plants. It also does not harm the atmosphere, because no harmful gases or such are released into the air. Furthermore, as a renewable resource, it won't be used up forever, or at least until the sun burns up in about 5 billion years. By using concentrating power plants, 5 megawatts of clean power can be made! Every concentrating solar power plant used saves 7000 tons of carbon dioxide from going into the atmosphere. Isn't that a good reason to use solar energy? The costs of solar energy's prices are a bit high, but then again, our goal is to make solar energy available for reasonable prices. Sunlight isn't available 24/7, like at night or on a cloudy day, and also, unfortunately the efficiency of most PV modules turning sunlight into electricity ranges from only 5% to 15%. This means that the amount of energy that can be saved for future use is limited. We can always rely on the sun coming out the next day, though. Also, solar panels are silent when working. Sounds obvious, duh. Well, that's just another thing! Oil - pumping machines are usually giant, and make lots of loud noise. This makes them seem impractical, especially when you compare them to solar panels...
SOLAR POWER VS. OTHER RESOURCES
Other renewable energy sources are biomass, geothermal, hydropower, and wind power. These are other options for clean energy sources. But they aren't all perfect - like when poisonous gases escape from deep inside the earth in geothermal sites, they can be toxic. Not only that, but setting up a geothermal power plant is risky - initial planning must be made, because if the site stops producing geothermal energy, the whole company would go bankrupt, or lose lots of money. Or wind turbines, which can harm birds or nearby wildlife. For hydropower, the area in the reservoir around the dam is filled with water. The plants and trees in them start rotting and decompose by other method without oxygen. So this type of decomposition dumps methane and carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, which, as you must know, is one of the causes of global warming (*Scary organ chords* DUN DUN DUN!!!!!) Lastly, Biomass has its cons as well. Though by using biomass, carbon dioxide emissions are reduced, there is an increase in methane gas, which can make smells that attract unwanted pests.
Other renewable energy sources are biomass, geothermal, hydropower, and wind power. These are other options for clean energy sources. But they aren't all perfect - like when poisonous gases escape from deep inside the earth in geothermal sites, they can be toxic. Not only that, but setting up a geothermal power plant is risky - initial planning must be made, because if the site stops producing geothermal energy, the whole company would go bankrupt, or lose lots of money. Or wind turbines, which can harm birds or nearby wildlife. For hydropower, the area in the reservoir around the dam is filled with water. The plants and trees in them start rotting and decompose by other method without oxygen. So this type of decomposition dumps methane and carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, which, as you must know, is one of the causes of global warming (*Scary organ chords* DUN DUN DUN!!!!!) Lastly, Biomass has its cons as well. Though by using biomass, carbon dioxide emissions are reduced, there is an increase in methane gas, which can make smells that attract unwanted pests.