Environmental Benefits Of Solar Energy

How much solar energy reaches the earth in one hour? According to National Geographic, if people tapped into all of the available radiant energy from the sun, one hour would provide for the world's energy needs for an entire year. While the environmental benefits of solar energy are great, there are difficulties to overcome. The first recorded use of direct solar energy by a human being is from the 1830s. EPA reports that John Herschel, an astronomer from Great Britain, made use of a thermal collector to cook food while on a journey in Africa. Much has been learned since that time about how to harness the sun's energy. Photovoltaic cells generate electricity by using energy from the sun to detach electrons from the atoms. These loose electrons then create energy when they flow through the cell. This is the type of solar energy usually used in residential settings to tap into the environmental benefits of solar energy. Solar power works only during daylight hours. To make the application practical for round-the-clock needs and cloudy days, batteries are employed to store the energy until it is needed so that the environmental benefits of solar energy can be realized. Many other techniques are used by solar power plants to concentrate the heat generated by the sun's energy. Boiling water, super-heated oil or even molten salt can be used to generate steam, which in turn moves turbines. Eleven power plants in California, one in Arizona and one in Nevada make use of solar energy. Due to the nature of solar energy, a great deal of land is needed to support collecting the power needed for large population centers. The other main problem with using solar energy to power cities is the difficulty of getting the electricity from the place where it is generated to the place where it needs to be used. This limits the ways in which population centers can tap into the abundance of solar power. The environmental benefits of solar energy are many. This is an inexhaustible source of power, so long as the solar system remains intact. It does not pollute the air or increase the dangers of global climate change. It creates no hazardous waste. Solar power remains an expensive choice, despite the falling prices for the necessary technology. Even with this fact, the use of solar power has increased at about 20 percent per year. This is because people are becoming more aware of their impact on the environment. A solar installation will require about 15 to 20 years to recoup the investment. After this, the system will generate savings for the owner. RESOURCES: National Geographic Green Living: http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/solar-energy-benefits-drawbacks-2259.html EPA: http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/display.abstractDetail/abstract/9575