The Main Reasons to Adopt Solar Energy - Term Paper Example

Audience: A group of citizens Topic: Solar Energy Overview: Sunlight is a critical provider of energy through various harnessing technologies. Whereas it presents numerous benefits to citizens, it also has limitations that could deter full realization of the benefits. Leveraging on government efforts to make the technology accessible, citizens could greatly benefit from the technology should proper maintenance practices of the solar panels be observed. Executive Summary The use of sun as a source of energy for various purposes has been in existence for a long time. Targeting the general citizens, this paper borrows from secondary sources to enlighten on the technologies used to harness solar energy, specifically considering photovoltaic systems and concentrating solar power technology. This energy source has been noted to be economically, environmentally and socially beneficial though it suffers from the limitations of cost, location, inefficiency, unreliability and pollution. The paper recommends that citizens adopt solar energy as a beneficial source of energy, ensuring proper maintenance practices to optimally benefit from the technology. Discussion of Solar Energy Introduction and Background Humans have been using solar energy for as long as they have existed on Earth. From as far as 5,000 years ago, people worshipped the sun. Walker gives the examples of Egypt where Ra, the sun-god, was considered to be Egypt’s first king and Mesopotamia where Shamash, the sun-god, was immortal and equated with justice (2). Today, the sun is said to be the nearest star to the Earth without which no life would be on the planet and has consequently been used for various activities in everyday life of humans including heating, drying clothes and drying grains. Plants manufacture their food using sunlight and animals feed on these plants. Furthermore, decayed plants produce oil, natural gas and coal used today, thus the argument by Kleissl that fossil fuels are in real sense sunlight stored millions of years back (12). Thus, solar energy is responsible for our energy needs. The Issue Every time the Earth is hit by solar beams, it is irradiated by adequate energy to supply energy needs. According to National Geographic, solar energy refers to the technology that harnesses the energy from the sun so as to make it useable. This energy contributes less that 10% of 1% of the worldwide energy demand. It could be converted into electrical, thermal and chemical energy forms as noted by Kleissl (2). The technologies used to execute this process are many and each aim at absorbing maximum sunlight and converting the absorbed sunlight energy into electricity. The first technology is referred to as photovoltaic, PV, systems. This uses semiconductor materials to directly convert light into electricity through photoelectric effect (Kleissl 2). Depending on the wavelength and intensity of the solar irradiation and semiconductor composition, PV technologies absorb solar photons which Walker describes as light particles that comprise the individual energy units (76). This either converts the energy directly to electricity or stores some of the energy through chemical reaction. Solar cells refer to devices with the ability of directly converting sunlight into electricity. This occurs when the absorbed sunlight knocks off electrons from atoms so as to allow electrons to flow through, producing electricity. The technology could also make use of solar arrays which are small with the ability of only generating small amount of electricity. Facing these cells in a way to absorb maximum sunlight, they generate considerable electricity in a combined fashion. Concentrated PV systems could be used to enhance the efficiency of such cells. There is also the concentrating solar power, CSP technology. This one uses mirrors to focus or concentrate the light energy from the sun and converting it into high temperature heat. This heat would then be channeled through conventional generators so as to create steam that would drive turbines to generate electric power (Walker 64). This plant would be made up of one part that collects solar energy and then converts it into heat and another that converts the heat energy to electricity. Kleissl indicates that the US has used the CSP technology for over 15 years (8). When used for commercial scale, this technology would require large solar irradiation areas. This could be executed in three different technological approaches as noted by Mendelsohn, Lowder and Canavan (5). First, it could use systems where parabolic reflectors would have oil-filled pipes that run along the center. This oil would be heat to as much as 7500F, then used to boil water than produces steam to run conventional steam generators and turbines. Also referred to as central receiver, power tower systems make use of many large and flat mirrors which track the sun and focus the sun rays onto a receiver. The receiver sitting on a tower would heat a fluid like molten salt to as high as 1,0500F the used to produce steam for electricity generation. Because molten salt efficiently retains heat for long, it could be used to store the energy for later use. Finally, the dish engine systems entail the use of mirrored dishes in concentrating sunlight onto a receiver. The dish tracks the sun to capture maximum solar energy. The concentrated sunlight which has been integrated into an external combustion engine for high efficiency irradiates the receiver and heats gas in tubes causing it to expand. This causes the gases to drive the pistons which in turn drive a crankshaft that drives electric generator. Pros of Solar Energy Solar energy has numerous benefits that go beyond the monthly generated revenue. These benefits cut across economic, environmental and social aspects of humans. Economically, the National Geographic observes that PV solar energy is easily permitted and installation is faster than any other renewable or traditional power plants. Since solar energy is produced locally and used on-site, it saves the need for the costly project of extensive high-voltage transmission with regards to the needed materials and the complex infrastructure. Because the infrastructure of solar energy equipment has no moving parts, the fixed photovoltaic systems tend to last much longer as compared to other energy sources (Mendelsohn, Lowder and Canavan 15). This makes solar energy reliable over a long period of time together with cutting down on maintenance costs. In the long run, households stand to greatly benefit from solar energy as solar panels produce vast amounts of free energy. Secondly, solar energy has environmental benefits. As documented by the U.S. Energy Information System, EIS, the fact that solar energy plants emit no pollutants, make no sounds and cannot be said to be an eyesore, the source of energy is said to be quiet, clean and visually unobtrusive by nature. The fact that minimal to no water being is used for zero-emission electricity production makes this technology conservative of water resources. Furthermore, Kleissl observes that the predictable nature of solar energy curve makes it efficient when utility rates are at the peak (54). This technology could be used virtually at any geographical location because of the presence of sunlight all around the planet. Lastly, solar energy technology offsets the expensive, inefficient and environmentally polluting power plants meant to exclusively meet peak demand. Similarly, there are numerous social benefits associated with solar energy. This form of energy has been said to create clean and renewable energy hence its role in sustaining and supporting the heath of the current and future generations (Walker 76). It is also noted to be a source of distributed generation, DG, energy which could extenuate national security concerns with regards to energy disruption. Because of the on-site generation and usage of solar energy, EIS argues that solar energy fosters national energy independence. Solar energy also creates good jobs locally, especially for new energy economy. In support of this postulate, the National Geographic observes that solar energy technology creates far much more job opportunities per megawatt hour than would be the case with any other type of energy. As such, solar energy is indeed a critical contributor to the social well-being of humans. Cons of Solar Energy Whereas solar energy has been noted to be beneficial to a society and nation at large, it has some limitations. These limitations relate to cost, location, pollution, reliability and inefficiency. The cost of harnessing solar energy could be exorbitant. The initial cost involved in the purchase and installation of solar panels has been widely cited as a critical limitation (Walker 69). Despite the government offering various forms of subsidy programs, rebate incentives and tax initiatives to promote the use of solar energy, the involved cost still hampers efficient and full utilization of this form of energy. However, the advent of new technology could bring down the cost of solar cells used to generate electricity. With the same regard, solar energy installation could require large installation areas, especially if meant for commercial purposes. The second limitation of solar energy is location. It should be appreciated that the location of solar panels plays a critical role in the determination of the electricity generated. According to Kleissl, areas which are largely foggy and cloudy would lead to production of electricity at reduced rates and could call for installation of many panels so as to harness adequate amount of solar energy (17). In the same way, houses covered by landscapes, trees or other adjacent buildings could deter the production of adequate amounts of solar energy. Moreover, it has been noted that solar energy is inefficient. Supporting this postulate, EIS observes that solar panels do not absorb all the light energy from the sun, as such rendering the panels 40% efficient on average. This implies that 60% of light energy from the sun gets wasted. However, Mendelsohn, Lowder and Canavan observe that there has been tremendous improvement on technology that has enhanced efficiency of solar panels to about 80% (21). Nonetheless, this comes with increased cost implications. Solar energy suffers the limitation of being unreliable. Whereas other forms of renewable energy could be harnessed even at night, solar panels harness no energy at night. This makes users of such energy to shift dependence to local utility grid for power at night as documented by the National Geographic. This could be mitigated in some instances with the purchase of batteries to store excess power that could be utilized during such times when solar panels are rendered useless. Finally, even with the validity of the argument of solar energy being clean, this form of energy has been associated with some degree of pollution. A majority of photovoltaic cells are made of silicon, lead, cadmium and mercury among other toxic substances (Walker 98). The disposal of these substances into the environment could negatively affect the environment. Recommendations Solar energy could benefit citizens to a great extent. Of importance would be to consider the long term economic savings as in the short run, the initial cost could be a limitation. With the sun providing clean and renewable energy as noted by Mendelsohn, Lowder and Canavan (2), it not only protects the economic aspect of a society but also its social wellbeing. This provides a critical solution to the increased concerns on environmental pollution that has resulted in global climate change. The technology of solar energy keeps improving as man seeks to make maximum use of the energy from the sun to meet the global energy demand. As such, it would be beneficial to keep at par with such technologies, buying batteries capable of saving solar energy for future use. This would delimit the problems of intermittent supply of solar energy based on the availability of sunlight. Whereas such technologies could be costly as argued by Walker, citizens should take advantage of government subsidies on solar energy resources to install such technologies and enjoy the benefits (87). As noted by EIS, such subsidies would cause the cost of solar arrays that initially cost $18,000 to go as low as $6,000. To improve on efficiency of solar panels, it would be useful to regularly clean the solar panels so as to enhance absorption of sunlight. Therefore, it would be appropriate to appreciate that the light from the sun provides critical energy source, be it through direct conversion into electricity or indirectly by heating the water used to produce steam that turns the electricity-producing turbines. With this regard, two technologies have been used to harness solar energy: PV technology involves the direct conversion of sunlight energy into electricity using solar panels whereas CSP technologies involve the use of mirrors to focus sunlight energy, converting it to heat and the creating steam that drives turbines to generate electricity. Such technologies continue to be widely adopted across the world because solar energy has been shown to bear massive economic, social and environmental benefits. Despite this energy source suffering the limitations of cost, location, inefficiency, unreliability and pollution, governments still offer subsidies to citizens to encourage its adoption. Thus, citizens should make use of such opportunities to mitigate the cost limitations and practice proper maintenance of solar panels to ensure optimal efficiency in the production of solar energy. This way, the gains attributed to solar energy would be realized to a great extent. Works Cited Kleissl, J. Solar Energy Forecasting and Resource Assessment. Waltham, Massachusetts: Academic Press, 2013. Print. 462pgs Mendelsohn, M., T. Lowder, and B. Canavan. “Utility-Scale Concentrating Solar Power and Photovoltaics Projects: A Technology and Market Overview.” Nrel.gov. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Apr. 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. 1 – 65. National Geographic. “Solar Energy.” 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. U.S. Energy Information System. “Solar Basics.” n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. Walker, A. Solar Energy: Technologies and Project Delivery for Buildings. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2013. Print. 285. Read More