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Solar
Energy
Why Is Solar
Energy Important?
By Vijayalaxmi Kinhal
Ecologist, B.Sc. Agriculture, M.S. Ecology and Environment
Sciences
Solar energy is a major renewable
energy source with the potential to meet many of the challenges facing the
world.
There are many reasons to promote its
share in the energy market.
This power source is increasing in
popularity because it is versatile with many benefits to people and the
environment.
Importance
to Environmental Protection
According to the U.S.
Department of Energy, the amount of sunlight received by earth in
one hour is more than the total energy used to by the entire world for an
entire year!
In 2015, solar energy was the fastest
growing energy sector with a 33% rise according to Bloomberg.
The environmental advantages are the
main drivers in promoting solar energy.
Solar
Is Clean and Safe
Solar is a safe alternative which can
replace current fossil fuels like coal and gas for generation of electricity
that produce air, water, and land pollution.
World Wide Fund For Nature, also known as the
World Wildlife Fund (WWF), notes that electricity generation from fossil fuels
causes pollution of air leading to acid rain, damaged forest areas, and
affected agricultural production leading to loss of billions of dollars
worldwide.
Fracking in the U.S. uses thousands of
liters of water mixed with chemicals for extraction contaminating the water
used, along with nearby water bodies, and also causes earthquakes.
Nuclear power pollutes water and land
and has caused environmental catastrophes.
Use of solar energy will eliminate
these unsafe, unclean consequences from using conventional fossil fuels.
Prevents
Destruction of Habitats
Pristine forests are destroyed for
mining raw materials like fossil or nuclear fuels.
Trees constantly remove and use carbon
dioxide from the air to make their food, and this carbon is then stored in
them.
When forests are cut for mining raw
materials for conventional energy, this major carbon sink disappears and also
increases climate change.
"Eight out of ten animals on
land" live in forests, according to WWF, and a loss of habitats diminishes their
populations.
Switching to solar power is important
to keep these habitats intact for the animals who live there as well as
continue to keep the air clean.
Combats
Climate Change
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
the 2017 greenhouse gas emissions were 13% below the 2005 levels.
In fact, emissions decreased by .5%
from 2016 to 2017. Emissions are blamed for the rise in global temperatures,
and changes in weather patterns leading to a cascade of effects.
Heat waves, and increase in
disease-spreading insects cause health problems especially for children and the
elderly.
Climate change has lead to an increase in
flooding and hurricanes due to disturbed weather patterns.
Higher carbon dioxide concentration is
making oceans acidic and killing marine life, like corals.
Climate change causes extinct of
species from Sub-Arctic Boreal forests to tropical Amazon forests.
Higher temperatures result melting of
polar ice caps, reducing habitats for wildlife and also increase sea level.
This results in submersion and loss of
land along the coast, displacing people.
Irregular rainfall or increasing
droughts affects agriculture and livelihoods of the weaker sections of society
globally.
Solar power can restrict climate change
as it produces no carbon emissions.
The carbon footprint of solar panels
can be offset in as quickly as four years time according to a Greenpeace repor on energy myths (myth
5).
Social
and Economic Benefits
By the second quarter of 2019, the U.S.
had an installed capacity of 69.1 gigawatts (GW) enough to power over 13
million homes reports the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Small
and Decentralized Electricity Source
Solar energy's greatest attraction is
that it can be produced on a small scale directly by the end consumers in
contrast to large centralized conventional energy sources controlled by large
corporations.
· Solar
energy is suitable for heating and electricity generation using photo-voltaic
cells installed on roof-tops of individual buildings.
This is useful as decentralized sources
of electricity for households and commercial businesses, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Solar water heating and passive solar
designing of buildings to cool or heat space are other solar technologies
available for individual buildings according to National Renewable Energy
Laboratory.
· Medium-sized
systems for community level power generation are also becoming popular.
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
(Energy.gov) analysis stated that 13 states in U.S. installed
100 megawatts (MW) in 2015 alone, and residential units reached 2 gigawatts.
Community solar installations of 100 MW
were installed between 2010-2015. These installations are important to keep
communities running at a lower cost for everyone.
In addition, EIA states that on a large scale
"Solar thermal/electric power plants generate electricity by concentrating
solar energy to heat a fluid and produce steam that is then used to power a
generator".
· The
decentralized nature of solar power makes it a practical and viable energy
source in remote areas located far from the electricity grid.
This is crucial for agri-business in
farms for running irrigation, greenhouses, and crop and hay dryers, making
agriculture risk-free according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Cheap
and Reliable Energy Source
Technological developments and policy
and subsides by the government have reduced the high costs of solar systems.
The price of solar PV panels have
decreased by 60% and the cost of the solar electricity system by 50% according
to the Energy.gov report.
So solar energy is now competitive with
conventional energy sources.
The running costs are less and the
initial investment is regained leading to subsequent savings in energy costs
according to Greenpeace.
This happens because the input for
solar energy is free and clean sunlight while fossil fuels are mined and
transported over long distance according to the Greenpeace myth report (myth
1).
The Greenpeace report estimates that in
the U.S., the costs to deal with environmental problems from use of "dirty
power sources" double or even triple the cost of electricity from
conventional sources like coal.
Solar energy is important to help
offset and potentially eliminate, these additional costs.
Generation
of Jobs
The U.S. was the fifth largest producer
of solar panels in the world in 2016 and has created thousands of jobs in the
country, according to Guardian.
A 2016 Energy.gov report states that
employment in the solar sector increased by 123% in five years since 2010.
By 2015 there were 209,000 people
employed in solar jobs. Most were small businesses engaged in installations,
followed by solar designers, sales person and service professionals.
The industry grew 12% faster than the
average American job market, keeping the economy moving.
Jobs in
Solar Energy Industry
In 2018, fossil fuels, coal, petroleum,
natural gas, and other gases provided 64% of U.S. electricity.
Nineteen percent was generated from
nuclear energy, and about 17% was from renewable energy sources.
These figures are the same as in 2015.
In 2018, according to a Solar
Foundation report the solar industry employed 242,000 solar
workers.
Increase
in Solar Workforce
The 2017 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) workers
in the Traditional Energy and Energy Efficiency sectors are around 6.4 million
Americans.
In 2016, the jobs saw nearly a 5%
increase of 300,000 new jobs. This industry accounted for 14% of new jobs
created in the U.S. in 2016.
55% of energy workers are employed in
these industries while around 374,000 work full or part time in the solar
industry.
About 260,000 of those employees work
full time in the solar sector. In 2016, the number of solar workers increased
25%.
Funding
for Research and Innovations
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has
been the main funding agency since 1977.
Funding of more than 150 million
dollars were proposed in 2006 for solar energy alone.
In 2013, research into solar power
received $310 million with an additional $65 million in 2016.
The aim has been to develop technology
to improve the efficiency of solar panels, develop new solar power collectors
and storage capacity and slash costs of electricity generation to make it more
affordable for all through the SunShot Initiative.
There has been rapid progress, such as:
· Research
is trying to find novel photo-voltaic devices by decreasing the use of
expensive silicon, and experimenting with different forms and shapes of panels,
bio-based materials, and panel-less solar production etc, according to MIT.
· Improving
the capacity of batteries to store solar energy at times of surplus for later
use to increase efficiency and ensure a continuous supply is another option
being exploited.
Lithium-ion batteries in combination with
software, and new "polymer-hybrid supercapacitors" being
developed would be drive down costs.
A Sunny
Future
Production of energy from solar has
been doubling every twenty months since 2010 according to Bloomberg.
By 2050, Greenpeace Energy [R]Evolution envisions
energy being produced 100% by renewables, wherein solar power's contribution
will be 32% (p. 11).
The importance of solar energy is sure
to play a big role in saving the environment, helping people socially and
economically, and creating jobs and research.
Vijayalaxmi
Kinhal
is an ecologist. Her deep connection to nature pervades her life choices. In
her career of more than 25 years, she has expertise through practical
experience in organic farming and trade, research in tropical forests, land
restoration, and environment protection in India. Vijayalaxmi has been a
freelance writer since 2015 after moving to Germany with her family.
Freelance
Science Writer Career
As
a freelancer, Vijayalaxmi has written about sustainability, organic
agriculture, climate change, geography, and alternative energy. Earlier she
covered forests, bio-architecture, and green living for reports and grant
proposals as part of her management duties in the non-profit sector.
Vijayalaxmi
uses her writing to bring information generated by scientific studies to the
public sphere.
Organic
Science Background
Vijayalaxmi
studied Agriculture (B.Sc.), and Ecology and Environment Sciences (M.S.),
looking for a way to engage and work with nature. During the latter, she got
her first introduction to permaculture through talks and a farm demonstration
by Masanobu Fukuoka, the founder of natural farming.
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