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How Solar Panels Help The Environment

Why Is Solar Energy Good For The Environment

How do Solar Panels Help the Environment?

Solar power produces clean, renewable energy from sunlight and benefits the environment. Alternatives to fossil fuels decrease carbon footprint in home and overseas, reducing greenhouse gases around the planet.

Solar is proven to have a positive effect on the surroundings. The Majority of the Energy Made in the U.S. comes from Fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.

Expensive and detrimental to the environment. By comparison, Solar Power is free and easily plentiful. If we can catch all the sunlights energy shining the Earth for only 1 hour, we can power the whole world for a single year.

Generating power with solar energy rather than fossil fuels may dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide .

Greenhouse gases, which are produced when fossil fuels are burnt, lead to increasing global temperatures and climate change.

Climate change currently contributes to acute environmental and public health problems from the Northeast.Such as extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and ecosystem changes.

Among the biggest benefits of Solar Power is that it leads to very few pollutants.

Solar Energy Produced Coincides With The Demand

Energy demands are high during the day and drop significantly in the night. Solar energy is ready to use and can be produced in excess then stored for future use.

You just need to invest in powerful batteries, an inverter, and always remember to charge them during the day. You dont need much power at night but choose batteries that store for you a good amount of energy.

How Do Solar Panels Help The Environment

We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using Natures inexhaustible sources of energy  sun, wind and tide.  Id put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we dont have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.  -- Thomas Edison

Solar panels help the environment by producing power from of an off-planet source verses the continuous consumption of finite planetary resources.

In short, when we use energy from the sun, we dont have to pilfer from our own backyard.

Not only does this pilfering burn up a finite resource, but the acquisition of said resource is generally quite destructive leading to long term environmental damage. Ecosystems are disrupted and quite often destroyed for decades and sometimes longer.

The following are a list of resources, necessary for the human ecosystem, put at risk by the use and acquisition of fossil fuels.

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Fishing And The Impacts Of Climate Change:

Globally by 2100, the fish catch system is expected to decline by 6 percent and even a staggering 11 percent across the tropical latitudes.

While coasts and oceans are means of sustenance for 3 billion people across the world, forming the basis of nearly 50% of animal protein and minerals those help build up the food chains of poorest countries.

In addition to this conundrum, there is another: The fuel use involved in the fishery sector.

A conventional three-foot fishing boat uses 3,600 liters of petrol or diesel when it is operated for five hours daily for 240 days in a year, explains an expert in the field.

With nearly two-and-a-half lakh boats in operation, approximately one million liters of fuel is consumed, leading to carbon dioxide emissions of two million tonnes per boat per year.

This has been an unseen and largely-neglected field where the fossil fuels still prevail and are denigrating the serene marine environment.

Just like any other sector, fossil fuels need to be phased out in need of a better, environment-friendly line of operation.

India is currently the fourth-biggest marine food exporter in the world. This gets threatened by the exorbitant and challenging costs of fuel to be used in boats and allied processing, in addition to the significant Carbon footprint prevailing in the sector.

What Is Global Warming

How Solar Panels

Global warming is one of the most serious threats to the planet. Our reliance on fossil fuels is one of the primary causes of this environmental threat. The burning of fossil fuels increases air pollution and the release of greenhouse gases, a cause of the rise in global temperatures. These changes have also led to an increase in severe and dangerous weather patterns.

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The Big Questions For Comment

What does community ownership look like?

Community ownership takes many forms from cooperatives in the Midwest and elsewhere to community groups forming LLCs. Ownership can take place immediately or it may happen over time as the community gradually pays off a loan. Presumably, community ownership also means that community members participate in decisions regarding the governance, operation, maintenance, and upgrades of and to that facility. What does community ownership mean for you and your community? What are good examples of community-owned assets?

What is community wealth building?

Is a one-time influx of wealth into a community sufficient or should a project continually generate wealth for a community? How should that wealth be distributed? What are some examples? Community solar has the potential to not only generate power for a community, but also wealth. Groups around the country are working to create community solar that builds equity for future improvements or for excess electricity produced. By providing feedback on what community-wealth building means to you and your community as well as to whom and how that wealth should be distributed, we can craft community solar policy that ensures that wealth stays in the communities where it is generated.

What are direct and indirect community benefits?

What is meaningful involvement and engagement?

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Solar panels glimmering in the sun are an icon of all that is green. But while generating electricity through photovoltaics is indeed better for the environment than burning fossil fuels, several incidents have linked the manufacture of these shining symbols of environmental virtue to a trail of chemical pollution. And it turns out that the time it takes to compensate for the energy used and the greenhouse gases emitted in photovoltaic panel production varies substantially by technology and geography.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that the industry could readily eliminate many of the damaging side effects that do exist. Indeed, pressure for it to do so is mounting, in part because, since 2008, has moved from Europe, Japan, and the United States to China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan today nearly half the world’s photovoltaics are manufactured in China. As a result, although the overall track record for the industry is good, the countries that produce the most photovoltaics today typically do the worst job of protecting the environment and their workers.

Acid Drain:

The paper’s investigation, , profiled a Chinese polysilicon facility owned by Luoyang Zhonggui High-Technology Co., located near the Yellow River in the country’s Henan province. This facility supplied polysilicon to Suntech Power Holdings, at the time the world’s largest solar-cell manufacturer, as well as to several other high-profile photovoltaics companies.

Carbon in Creation:

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Impact On The Environment

Solar energy has no effect on the environment as it does not produce any by-products. No waste is generated in this process, either.

Also, it may take you years to carry out maintenance on your installed panels because they are built to withstand harsh weather conditions. They are permanently fixed on your rooftop or open yard hence no wear and tear at all!

Energy Balance Of The Solar Panel

How Solar Panels And A Home Battery Can Help The Environment

Geometrically, the solar panels are assumed to be horizontal when calculating the radiative heat exchange with the other elements: exchanges between the roof, the solar panels and the sky above are considered to be purely vertical . Note that we take the inclination of the panel into account to calculate the irradiance for power production.

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the energy balance of the solar panel and its impact on radiation received by the roof .

The energy balance equation of the solar panel is written:

The terms on the right hand side of Equation are outgoing energy from the panel:

SWpanel is the solar radiation reflected by the solar panel. It is classically parameterized using the albedo of the solar panel : SWpanel = panelSWpanel. It is also assumed to go back to the sky . According to Taha , the value of the albedo of the solar panel ranges from 0.06 to 0.1. We performed measurements of the albedo for a sample of solar panel by integrating the hemispheric directional reflectance measured with a goniometer . From our measurements, the value of 0.11 is used for panel in the present paper.

LWpanel is the long-wave radiation emitted by the solar panel to the sky. It depends on the surface temperature of the solar panel, which is estimated following the ISPRA center method:

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Add An Electric Vehicle And Drive On Sunshine

Its pretty obvious that driving an electric car means fewer, if any, visits to the gas pump. Opting for an EV also means offsetting 100% of a traditional cars harmful C02 emissions. But what many people dont realize is that if you charge that EV from a non-solar home, all you’re doing is moving the energy expense from the gas pump to your monthly utility bill. A properly designed solar energy system will power your home AND your car while helping to further offset the dirty electricity that youd otherwise need to purchase from your utility.

Chemicals Recycling And Disposal Of Solar Panels

Recycling and disposal of solar panels is a key area of concern. There is a clear problem with solutions on the horizon.

This is not as widespread or toxic as it may seem though. Standard solar modules’ silicon wafers are encapsulated, commonly by ethyly vinyl acetate . This layer protects the silicon wafer. If modules are not disposed of properly and exposed to specific test conditions is it possible some leaching may occur. Under normal operating conditions these materials will not be released.

Solar power is very effective at carbon mitigation. As with all technologies, the unintended waste or byproducts is something that must be dealt with.

An obvious answer is to recycle solar panels and sell their base elements. Great in theory, but this path is not an economical, scalable one yet.

Paths Forward

Large scale solar panel recycling plants do exist, but are not as prevalent as they need to be.

This lag is expected with new industries and technologies. Auto recyclers did not appear the day after the Model T rolled off the line. Bottle depots were not waiting around for the advent of bottles. E-waste recyclers have just recently become common place, decades after the explosion of consumer electronics.

It takes time for secondary industries to develop around primary industries.

Both options will take time to implement and perfect.

No fuel source is perfect, each has their own environmental advantages and disadvantages.

But some are better than others.

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Hypotheses On Types Of Solar Panels

As the model is able to consider both thermal and PV solar panels, it is now necessary to define some hypotheses on the use of each type of panel. This is, of course, a scenario-dependent element, in the sense that it can be modified for each study. For example, Taha only studied the implementation of PV panels in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The interest of also considering the deployment of thermal solar panels in this paper is that this energy production technology is less greenhouse gas emissive per unit of energy produced than PV . Here, it will thus be supposed that both types of panels are possible. The main hypotheses are:

On residential buildings and houses, the priority is given to thermal solar panels, which are more efficient. The thermal production is of course limited by the area of panels on the roof but it is also limited by the population in the building: it is not necessary to heat more water than required by the number of people who are going to use it. Therefore, once the necessary area of thermal solar panels is reached, the remaining space allocated for solar panels on the roof will be devoted to PV panels.

On other types of buildings only PV panels will be installed.

So if Nfloor is the number of floors of the building , the proportions of thermal panels and PV panels are calculated as:

This is this quantity that is involved in the energy balance of the panel .

Many Of Us End Up Relying On Fossil Fuels Without Even Realizing It

How Do Solar Panels Help The Environment

Many of us rely on fossil fuels to produce the energy we consume every day. Sometimes it’s obvious every time you fill your gas tank, you are reminded of your fossil fuel consumption. Sometimes it is less obvious, such as when you turn on your lights at home. This action could be drawing electricity from a coal-fired plant that releases pollutants in the air and contributes to smog, acid rain and potentially, lung disease.

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The Health And Environmental Benefits Of Solar Energy

  • Saves water which is the main requirement for survival to flora and fauna
  • Solar energy does not pollute the air
  • Widespread use of solar energy slows climate change
  • Solar energy reduces the carbon footprint
  • Solar energy reduces the dependence on fossil fuels
  • It has Zero energy production costs
  • Little or no loss of energy during transportation
  • Versatile installation
  • Positive Impact on the economy

Saving Energy And Money Too

An added bonus of leveraging solar panels efficiency for your home is an increase in the size of your wallet. Once your solar panels are up and running, it costs virtually nothing to generate clean, renewable energy. Not only can you enjoy guilt-free electricity consumption at home, but youll spend a fraction of the money that you would normally pay on electricity every month.

If youre ready to do your part to save the planet and save money on energy bills, contact Energy Monster for a free consultation. Well determine whether your home is a good candidate for solar, then create a customized plan for your home and family. What are you waiting for? Request your free solar consultation today!

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Switching To Solar Helps Numerous Health Conditions

More solar energy usage means less harmful effects from fossil fuels…and that means a reduction in the illnesses that greenhouse gases cause.

An American agency, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory , discovered that with greater usage of solar, sulphur dioxide , nitrous oxides, and particle pollution would be drastically reduced. This would result in lower rates of bronchitis, other breathing problems, and cardiovascular illnesses. It would help businesses too, as fewer workers would need sick leave.

Solar energy is not only good for the purse its good for our planet and our health. Making the choice to use solar power at home means youre making the world a better, safer, healthier place to live in…and that is truly priceless.

How Can The Fishing Future Be Shinier

Homeowner adds solar panels to help the environment with POWERHOME SOLAR

As per a Senior member of South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies , Solar power can only be used as an additional facility because of the widely available small oil-fueled generators costing only around 25,000.

The initial cost is all that matters for most.

Marketing and educating the people about solar power needs funds. Fishermen are not using solar power in their boats. In fact, two fishermen removed the solar panels from their boats when they modified their boat design.

There are various other perspectives that these sustainability promoting firms can keep in mind.

For example, the vessels need to be made respective to the purpose they are to be used, be dynamic with change in technology, be a bit more economical for faster adoption.

A few are even looking forward to these shortcomings for deeper penetration of its use: We are selling portable solar panels which shrink to the size of a briefcase when you fold them. Ultimately, the product has to be customized to suit the users.

There is so much to learn and adapt to in a warming world, the ailing planet provides an opportunity to look for other alternatives those may never been considered, fulfilling the human desires.

We have so many resources abound on this Earth, lets begin to care to survive and use these more efficiently for a better future on this planet.

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How Solar Panels Help The Environment

By | Submitted On December 14, 2010

If you have an interest in installing an alternative energy system on your property, you may already be aware that there would be a number of benefits on offer. Apart from the potential financial savings, it is worth taking a moment to understand how solar panels help the environment. It is the environmental aspect of renewable energy that has helped in encouraging countless property owners to make the switch.

Unfortunately, most of the electricity that businesses and homes consume today still comes from the burning of fossil fuels in powers stations. Oil, coal, and gas have been the main stays of power generation for more than half a century. The combustion of fossil fuels has a dramatic impact on the environment, not only does this cause untold damage to local ecosystems and habitats, in the form of atmospheric pollution and acid rain, evidence now points to this activity as being a major cause of climate change.

Nuclear power stations are now increasing in number, but these cannot be called ecologically friendly or green in any form. The waste from nuclear plants that are in use today will still exist when all of us are dead and buried.

Solar panels are the easiest way to reduce your carbon footprint, and help to bring about a cleaner and greener planet. If we were all to switch over to a renewable energy system overnight, many of the world’s problems would quickly disappear.

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