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In the ongoing effort to be green, innovations must be made. There’s a necessity to try new things in order to reduce the impact humanity has on the world. And while that is good, there is still an economic factor to new ventures. Change, much like time, is money.
Currently one of the most used forms of energy in the US comes from power plants. These plants are fueled by coal resulting in a lot of negative environmental effects like smog and toxic emissions. These forms of pollution have a harmful impact on the environment by tainting our water and on human health by clogging our lungs. That’s why three scientists, Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller, and Daryl Chapin created the first practical photovoltaic cell or in other words, solar panels.
A question comes to mind. Are solar panels worth their cost to manufacture, install, and keep up?
Solar panels are essentially giant cells that gather solar rays and convert them into energy. If it seems like something from the future, it’s because it is the intended future. The sun’s rays hit the solar panels installed on roofs of houses or in fields. Each solar panel contains silicon cells that react to photons, units of light, and produce electricity. The direct current of electricity goes from the solar panels into an inverter and then gets turned into usable energy for the home.
This type of energy source is ideal because it is free to capture, it can be collected whether it’s overcast or not and has very little negative impact on the environment. Solar panels are one of many avenues of sustainable sources of energy the US hopes to implement and popularize, much like the Telsa car.
Small environmental impact is just one of the reasons why solar panels are making their way onto American homes. Solar power is considered “clean energy” which means that it doesn’t contaminate the environment. The effects are solely positive. Conserve Energy Future says that solar panels can easily be installed on rooftops or in large backyards of any home no matter how remote it is.
The solar panels are silent so there’s no contribution to noise pollution at all. Not only that but whatever electricity is not used gets sent back to the national grid and the owner will get paid for the electricity produced that she doesn’t use. Long term benefits like this can be very appealing for those passionate about a greener earth.
The benefits for households cause a ripple effect that benefits the major economy. The rise in solar power installation has created new jobs across the country. According to CNN Money, “The number of solar jobs in the U.S. has more than doubled in five years. In fact, there are more people working in solar now than at oil rigs and in gas fields.”
Chris Gorrie, campus president of the Ecotech Institute, a for-profit job training center for solar and renewable energy says “The companies we’re working with are begging to fill the [job] slots they have because they’re growing so much.” The rise in jobs decreases unemployment and provides income for homes. The increase in solar panel installation also brings about a demand globally for parts.
America is the leader in solar power energy so this provides an opportunity for the US to not only lessen its dependence on foreign oil but to sell more exports. Lastly, the new use of clean energy will reduce general spending in the economy. Exposure to the smog from coals can cause asthma in children which leads to about 12,000 emergency room visits and $100 billion in health costs every year. If solar power becomes much more widely installed, these numbers could significantly plummet.
Despite its benefits, solar energy is still not commonly used in America. Solar energy still makes up less than one percent of all energy used in the US. Some of the reasons for this are because solar panels are, much like the Telsa car, very expensive. To install one panel costs $1,000 which may not be ale to garner enough energy for a single household.
But installation costs aren’t the only downside to solar panels.
There are some environmental factors to creating solar panels. When creating solar panels, water is required for cooling the materials once they are made. Dry cooling would be the next logical option but dry cooling takes so much longer to cool than if water was used. That slows down production which ultimately results in a loss of money. Once the panels are cooled down, the cleaning process begins.
In order to clean solar panels hazardous materials must be used to clean and purify the surfaces. According to the UCSUSA.com, the chemicals used are similar to hydochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, and acetone. Once the panels are done being cleaned, the panels must be transported to their new homes which require, presumably, gas powered cars. Then if the homeowner were to move there would be the dismantlement and relocation.
Though there are some initial negative impacts, there are also some health risks associated with solar panels. Eiwellspring.org, a website dedicated to coping with chemical and electrical hypersensitivity, says, “Some of these technologies are unfortunately a health hazard to people who have electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS). These are people who get sick from electromagnetic radiation in very small amounts, such as that which comes from cell phones, computers and other electronic appliances.”
This can cause headaches, migraines, and an inability to focus. So people who do have EHS won’t be able to enter houses with solar panels on them.
Beyond the environmental and health risks are other unforeseen risks. For example even though you can still get sunlight whether it’s sunny or cloudy, the energy still requires the sun in order to function which means that panels may not work as well in unpredictable weather locations. And at night when there is no sunlight out at all.
When there is no sunlight, panel owners have to rely on the battery that stores the energy collected throughout the day. These batteries are very large and need to be stored somewhere in the house. These can impose on personal space depending on the size of the house. Speaking of space, if there is no room on the roof for the sufficient amount needed to power the house, then the panels will have to be installed with enough land to fit all the necessary panels.
If the homeowner doesn’t have enough room, then that could cause problems. Because of their size if a fire were to occur, they can also impede on firemen’s ability to maneuver on rooftops. It would be much more difficult to turn off during emergencies since the sun will keep providing energy to the panels and continue to make them hot.
Solar panels are one of the most recent and innovative attempts at clean energy, but it certainly is not the only form. Hydroelectricity is currently the leading form of renewable energy. It relies on dam water rushing through a turbine. It isn’t necessarily the most reliant form of energy collecting since the patterns of water vary from place to day and even day to day.
Other forms of renewable energy are biomass wood, waste, and fossil fuels. These types of materials are materials that are living or recently dead matter than can be used for fuel and industrial production as defined by the Institute for Energy Research. The downsides to this particular form of energy are the same as with coal burning- it pollutes the air.
Geothermal energy comes from steam or heat from the earth that reside in “heat sinks.” The power from this steam go into geothermal plants to produce significant amounts of energy. It’s also a consistent form of energy, but it is quite expensive. Whoever wants to use geothermal energy would have to live near the geothermal plant since heat dissipates and that equates to a loss in power.
Lastly, wind energy is another common alternative to petroleum and coal. In order to harness wind energy, turbines are used. This form of energy is not the most reliant since winds aren’t consistent in certain places. The turbines also have harmed birds as they try to fly between the blades.
There are many different types of energy used for consumption in America, but despite the “dirty energy” that is still being used today, there are many men and women making strides to provide and harness cleaner forms of energy.
Though solar energy contributes the least amount of energy in the US, it has proven to be one of the most consistent forms of energy anyone can have. The decision to install them on one’s house can be a difficult one when considering other possibilities and forms of energy. Solar energy is unique because it is proving to be the most ideal.
According to Solar Energy World, “By the end of 2016, the U.S. will be generating enough clean solar energy to power eight million homes, helping to offset 45 million metric tons of damaging carbon emissions – the equivalent of removing 10 million cars off our roads and highways.”
So are solar panels worth it? The evidence speaks for itself.
