Does Solar Energy Help the Environment?

Discover the true Facts about Solar Energy and turn your city Green.

Here we discuss Facts about solar energy usage, systems, plus sun related and other Interesting Facts about Solar Energy. All of which will help you with your decision whether or not to install a solar energy system at your home and make your city Green.
Perhaps you'd even like to save yourself a lot of money and build your very own solar energy system.

General facts

• Solar Energy is better for the environment than traditional forms of energy.
• Solar energy has many uses such as electricity production and heating of water through photovoltaic cells and directly for drying clothes.
• Solar energy can also be used to heat swimming pools, power cars, for attic fans, calculators and other small appliances.
• It produces lighting for indoors or outdoors.
• Solar Energy is becoming more and more popular. The worldwide demand for Solar Energy is currently greater than supply.

Facts about Solar Energy usage:

• Solar Energy is measured in kilowatt-hour. 1 kilowatt = 1000 watts.
• 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) = the amount of electricity required to burn a 100 watt light bulb for 10 hours.
• According to the US Department of Energy, an average American household used approximately 866-kilowatt hours per month costing them $70.68.
• About 30% of our total energy consumption is used to heat water.

Sun related Facts about Solar Energy

• Sunlight travels to the earth in approximately 8 minutes from 93,000,000 miles away, at 186,282 miles per second.
• The sun is also the main source of non-renewable fossil fuels (coal, gas and petroleum), which began life as plants or animals whose energy came from the sun millions of year ago.
• Solar energy is responsible for weather patterns and ocean currents.
• Clouds, pollution and wind can prevent the sun's rays from reaching the earth.

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Comment by Sandy Falagan on July 9, 2009 at 1:36pm: Unfornately, solar panels will not work for us for the same reason a direct tv dish will not. We have huge trees in our yard. There is no question solar energy will help our environment and our
pocket books.

Comment by j viramontes on July 9, 2009 at 12:38pm: I am still in awe that solar energy isn't our main source of energy. Why don't we have mandatory solar panels on buildings in the desert areas? Huge solar and wind farms? we have the technology, what are we waiting for?

side note - check out the new Tesla all-electric sedan. Awesome!

Tesla

Comment by Russell Reaves on July 9, 2009 at 12:37pm

Solar energy is great for the environment, hopefully they will continue to bring the costs down so it can become more common. Anything that is natural and renewable is good for us, and good for out planet!

Russ

Comment by Robert Sloan on July 9, 2009 at 11:05am: Obviously, solar energy does help the environment. It reduces the pressure that power generators put on the environment. There are many, many ways to lower electrical usage or generate power, some take a lot of investment and others very little.

If you make sun tea, you're using solar energy. Instead of heating the water set it out in a large closed clear jar or pitcher with the teabags in. This is cheap or free, you can even do it with a cleaned-out two liter soda bottle easily recycled from your own trash or any friend who drinks soda, and 100 cheap teabags are about the cost of that bottle of soda. Plenty of good beverages all summer long.

The key to tricks like that is forethought though. You need to make it up earlier than you need it because you won't have solar energy for it at night.

Products that help people use solar energy may be very cost effective, since so many things take electricity. Getting online isn't something you can do by just putting a jar in the sun, I wish. One of the great things about any investment in generating your own power though is that if you generate more than you use, it goes into the grid and the local power company has to send you a check instead of a bill.

Solar is not the only way to generate your own energy though. It may not be the best way for you depending on your climate. Solar energy is at its most effective in climates that are sunny all the time, especially in lower latitudes where the days are going to be longer by the tilt of the Earth. If you live in a mostly overcast area in a Northern latitude, you might be better off looking into other green alternatives because you may not get enough sun for your solar energy stuff to function well enough to be cost effective. It still might not. But you may have water or wind power locally, or you may be near the coast where wave energy might replace burning fuels. Again, wind power isn't a lot of help if your area doesn't get much wind.

The solutions to breaking dependence on fossil fuel energy are complex and multiple. For something to help the environment by lowering your energy dependence, it's best to look close at your immediate environment for what sources of energy are the easiest and most cost effective to use. Solar is one of the best... but only one.

Another direction is to reduce the amount of things you use energy for by living well. It may be simple and stupid, but if you turn off all the lights and appliances you're not using whenever you're not using them, your energy footprint and bills will go down, helping both you and the environment. Any appliance that is annoying or inconvenient, question whether you'd be happier without it. Washing dishes by hand is not such an onerous chore, but to use a dishwasher you almost have to go through the same process by pre-rinsing and stacking them in the dishwasher, bending over both to put them in and take them out. If you have back trouble, just standing at the sink may be a lot easier than using the dishwasher!

Hanging laundry to dry the way people did for centuries can be a lot cheaper in energy usage, and usually leaves the clothes smelling better and less wrinkled. It takes time and physical activity, but at the same time that physical activity is free instead of going to an expensive gym to walk on a treadmill and bend and stretch. That can help fight obesity and the health hazards of a sedentary life too.

What I find interesting about the entire environmental movement is that so many of the good ideas that help the environment also help the person who changes their habits in tangible immediate ways. Environmental awareness is self rewarding. If you do the things that are in reach and improve your quality of life, don't guilt yourself about the ones that you may not have the resources to do.

Not everyone is mechanical enough or prosperous enough to convert entirely over to self generated energy. But if you can't, then following some specific practices each of which lowers your bills and some of which have other positive effects can still make a big difference when it's cumulative. Worrying about it isn't productive. Doing something real, however small, makes a difference and will probably help in more ways than one.

Comment by Dennis G. Unger on July 9, 2009 at 11:00am: All alternative energies must be utilized to a proportion that makes sense. Solar thermal is great for personal use while PV , Hydro, Bio Fuels can all be gut on the electric grid.

Comment by Bill Buff on July 9, 2009 at 10:46am: THANKS FOR THE INFO USEFUL

Comment by Patti Walbridge on July 9, 2009 at 9:53am: I suppose if you believe it does, it does.

Comment by Meditations by Matthew on July 9, 2009 at 9:16am: Solar Energy is the wave of the future especially if they can come up with a cheap way of producing it for our homes. Also, sending bouys out into the ocean that coverts wave energy into electricity will become very popular in the near future. It is just oil companies will lose money with these newer thoughts and they run most of the government but I see the tide changing a bit.

Comment by Kristen Scott on July 9, 2009 at 8:36am: Until solar, wind or any other alternative energy source will be successful, it will have to be easy and affordable for the consumer. It's a slow process getting everyone on board. We all think it's a great idea, but we don't have the money or the knowledge to make it happen. Address this and you've got a winner.

Comment by Matt on July 9, 2009 at 8:27am: Hi Gurminder, great post. Solar power is certainly a great way to cut down on the harmful energy consumption practices we utilize today. If each person does a little bit we can have a huge impact on the health of our planet. Thank you for the post!!