Solar energy is becoming increasingly popular as the world
begins to take notice of the burgeoning carbon emission problems that come with
burning fossil fuels. But why all the fuss?
Nay-sayers have become less and less vocal as solar energy’s
popularity has grown increasingly unhindered. Below I will discuss the
advantages and disadvantages of solar energy.
Advantages of Solar Energy
No green house gases
Advantages and disadvantages of solar energy: The
major benefit of solar is avoiding green house gases that fossil fuels produce.
The first and foremost advantage of solar energy is that it
does not emit any green house gases.
Solar energy is produced by conducting the sun’s radiation – a
process void of any smoke, gas, or other chemical by-product.
This is the main driving force behind all green energy technology, as
nations attempt to meet climate change obligations in curbing emissions.
Italy’s Montalto
di Castro solar park is a good example of solar’s contribution to
curbing emissions. It avoids 20,000 tonnes per year of carbon emissions
compared to fossil fuel energy production.
Infinite Free Energy
Another advantage of using solar energy is that beyond
initial installation and maintenance, solar energy is one hundred percent free.
Solar doesn’t require expensive and ongoing raw materials
like oil or coal, and requires significantly lower operational labor than
conventional power production.
Lower costs are direct as well as indirect – less staff
working at the power plant as the sun and the solar semi conductors do all the
work, as well as no raw materials that have to be extracted, refined, and
transported to the power plant.
Decentralization of power
Solar energy offers decentralization in most (sunny)
locations, meaning self-reliant societies.
Oil, coal, and gas used to produce conventional electricity
is often transported cross-country or internationally. This transportation has
a myriad of additional costs, including monetary costs, pollution costs of
transport, and roading wear and tear costs, all of which is avoided with solar.
Of course, decentralization has its limits as some locations
get more sunlight than others.
Going off the grid with solar
Solar Barn: Going off grid is a huge advantage
of solar power for people in isolated locations.
Solar energy can be produced on or off the grid.
On grid means a house remains connected to the state
electricity grid. Off grid has no connection to the electricity grid, so the
house, business or whatever being powered is relying solely on the solar or solar-hybrid.
The ability to produce electricity off the grid is a major
advantage of solar energy for people who live in isolated and rural areas.
Power prices and the cost of installing power lines are often exorbitantly high
in these places and many have frequent power-cuts.
Many city-dwellers are also choosing to go off the grid with
their alternate energy as part of a self-reliant lifestyle.
Solar jobs
A particularly relevant and advantageous feature of solar
energy production is that it creates jobs.
The EIAA states that Europe’s solar industry has created
100,000 jobs so far.
Solar jobs come in many forms, from manufacturing,
installing, monitoring and maintaining solar panels, to research and design,
development, cultural integration, and policy jobs.
The book Natural Capitalism has a very
appropriate view of the employment benefits of green design and a prudent
approach to using resources.
The book proposes that while green technology and increased
employment cost alot of money, much greater money can be saved through simple
but drastically improved resource efficiency.
With solar energy currently contributing only an estimated
4% of the world’s electricity, and an economic-model where raw materials don’t
have to be indefinitely purchased and transported, it’s reasonable so assume
solar jobs are sustainable if the solar industry can survive the recession.
Solar’s avoidance of politics and price volatility
One of the biggest advantages of solar energy is the ability
to avoid the politics and price volatility that is increasingly characterizing
fossil fuel markets.
The sun is an unlimited commodity that can be adequately
sourced from many locations, meaning solar avoids the price manipulations and
politics that have more than doubled the price of many fossil fuels in the past
decade.
While the price of fossil fuels have increased, the per watt
price of solar energy production has more than halved in the past decade – and
is set to become even cheaper in the near future as better technology and
economies of scale take effect.
Furthermore, the ever-abundant nature of the sun’s energy
would hint at a democratic and competitive energy market – where wars aren’t
fought over oil fields and high-demand raw materials aren’t controlled by
monopolies.
Of course, a new form of politics has emerged with regard to government incentives and the
adoption of solar, however these politics are arguably incomparable to the
fossil fuel status quo.
Saving eco-systems and livelihoods
Because solar doesn’t rely on constantly mining raw
materials, it doesn’t result in the destruction of forests and eco-systems that
occurs with most fossil fuel operations.
Destruction can come in many forms, from destruction through
accepted extraction methods, to more irresponsible practices in vulnerable
areas, to accidents.
Major examples include Canada’s tar sands mining which
involves the systematic destruction of the Boreal Forest (which accounts for
25% of the world’s intact forest land), and creates toxic by-product ponds
large enough to see from space [1].
The Niger Delta is an example where excessive and
irresponsible oil extraction practices have poisoned fishing deltas previously
used by villagers as the main source of food and employment, creating extremely
desperate poverty and essentially decimating villages [2].
A more widely known, but arguably lower human-cost incident
is the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It killed 11 people and spilled
780 thousand cubic meters of crude oil into the sea.
An interesting glance at the situation caused by destructive fossil fuel
company practices in the Niger Delta. Sweet Crudeis a good
documentary if you want to learn more.
The best is yet to come
Solar technology is currently improving in leaps and bounds.
Across the world, and particularly in Europe, savvy clean technology
researchers are making enormous developments in solar technology.
What was expensive, bulky, and inefficient yesterday, is becoming
cheaper, more accessible, and vastly more efficient each week.
Disadvantages of Solar Energy
Solar doesn’t work at night
Obviously the biggest disadvantages of solar energy
production revolve around the fact that it’s not constant. To produce solar electricity
there must be sunlight. So energy must be stored or sourced elsewhere at night.
Beyond daily fluctuations, solar production decreases over
winter months when there are less sunlight hours and sun radiation is less
intense.
Solar Inefficiency
A very common criticism is that solar energy production is
relatively inefficient.
Currently, widespread solar panel efficiency – how much
of the sun’s energy a solar panel can convert into electrical energy – is at
around 22%. This means that a fairly vast amount of surface area is required to
produce a lot of electricity.
However, efficiency has developed dramatically over the last
five years, and solar panel efficiency should continue to rise steadily over
the next five years.
For the moment though, low efficiency is a relevant
disadvantage of solar.
Solar inefficiency is an interesting argument, as efficiency
is relative. One could ask “inefficient compared to what?” And “What determines efficiency?”
Solar panels currently only have a radiation efficiency of up to 22%, however
they don’t create the carbon by-product that coal produces and doesn’t require
constant extraction, refinement, and transportation – all of which surely carry
weight on efficiency scales.
Storing Solar
Solar electricity storage technology has not reached its
potential yet.
While there are many solar drip feed batteries available,
these are currently costly and bulky, and more appropriate to small scale home
solar panels than large solar farms.
Solar panels are bulky
Solar panels are bulky. This is particularly true of the higher-efficiency,
traditional silicon crystalline wafer solar modules. These are the large solar
panels that are covered in glass.
New technology thin-film solar modules are much less bulky,
and have recently been developed as applications such as solar roof tiles and “amorphous” flexible
solar modules. The downfall is that thin-film is currently less
efficient than crystalline wafer solar.
One of the biggest disadvantages of solar energy – COST
The main hindrance to solar energy going widespread is the cost
of installing solar panels. Capital costs for installing a home solar
system or building a solar farm are high.
Particularly obstructive is the fact that installing solar
panels has large upfront costs – after which the energy trickles in for free.
Imagine having to pay upfront today for your next 30 years
worth of power.
That’s an incredibly disadvantageous feature of solar energy
production, particularly during a time of recession.
Currently a mega watt hour of solar energy costs well over
double a mega watt hour of conventional electricity (exact costs vary
dramatically depending on location).
All is not lost though – nuclear is a good example
(economically) of energy production that was initially incredibly expensive,
but became more feasible when appropriate energy subsidies were put in
place.
Solar Energy Gets People Talking
One of the accompanying advantages and disadvantages of
solar energy and other green tech is that they’re making us re-assess how
things are valued in society, and how things like economics, environment, and
investment are handled.
There is debate and polarization of perspectives and
interests.
While not everybody is in favor of solar (some more
aggressively than others), the fact that there is discussion about the validity
of the status quo – the monopolistic nature of many industries, the problems
with solely focusing on economics, and environmental disregard – is a
fascinating development, a development that some may term an ideological
revolution.
At a practical level, many governments and state authorities
are encouraging solar use through incentives such as subsidies, rebates and
tariffs. California is a good example of how such measures can work.
Spain highlights the importance of long-term consideration
with such incentives, and how they can fail if not handled correctly or if
circumstances change, such as the global financial crisis.
Factors such as cheaper materials and installation as demand
grows will make solar more affordable in the future, but for the moment, the
fact is that producing solar electricity is financially expensive compared to
conventional methods.
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