Advantages of Solar Power Vs Disadvantages of Solar Power
Many households are considering of converting their home energy to be solar powered for the purpose of cutting down their electricity bills while saving our planet with this environmental friendly power source. But, not many are taking their action to make the real conversion to a solar-powered home because they are still doubt on the advantages of solar power that they can really get after the conversion while they do worry about the potential problems that may encountered after they make the conversion. Let briefly go through the advantages versus the disadvantages of solar power, so that you are cleared before you make your decision on whether to use solar-powered energy at home.
Advantages of Solar Power
Solar power is a renewable source generated from the sun, meaning that the solar energy source is never going to finish. So, we do not need to worry about we may jeopardy of the energy source if you over use it.
Solar power is environmental friendly energy source. Unlike oil, the use of solar energy will never causes green house effects or emits carcinogens into the air and causes the air pollution.
The sun is FREE. Unlike the traditional energy source which you need to pay more if you use more, there is not limit on how much you can use the energy generated from solar power, and you do not need to think of the electricity cost when you use a solar-powered energy generator, because the sun is FOC (Free of Charge).
Little maintenance cost on solar power system. Solar cells can last for a lifetime and because there are no moving parts, it needs very little maintenance. You do not really need to allocate significant budget for it maintenance cost.
Disadvantages of Solar Power
The key stopping factor that makes most of people who are interested to install solar power system is the total cost is expensive. A solar power system that provides enough energy to power an average sized home can cost anywhere from ,000 to ,000. Seeing the potential market demand on solar power system, the industries with continue research efforts are trying to reduce the material costs. Moreover, there are many simple-to-follow DIY instruction manuals had been made published to teach people how to build their own solar power system using cheap materials which can be found at local market.
The solar power can be generated without sunlight, which means the power cannot be created at night, during rain and winter season when sun is hiding behind the cloud. This had been one of key discouragement of using solar power as the alternative power solution.
If you build the solar panel at the roof of your home, it becomes part of the house. You may need to sell it together with your house if you decide to move to a new home. And you need to reinstall the solar power system at your new home.
Summary
You should clearly understand of both the advantages and the disadvantages of solar power system before you go ahead to convert your home to be solar-powered so that you can really benefited from the advantages of solar power while handling the disadvantages of solar power to minimize the impacts.
Frequently Asked Questions
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QUESTION:
What are advantages of solar power harvesting over wind?
What are the advantages of solar power harvesting over wind?Im putting together a project, mostly on a future perspective from an investment point of view, but I would welcome any information or ideas you have about solar technologies benefits vs Wind harvesting technologies
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ANSWER:
Both solar and wind store the electricity in batteries, or send it straight into the power grid, and wind works up to 24hrsToday, these two technologies are not in competition with each other, it's all in where you place them.
At the moment, solar energy is very poor, between 4 and 22% of actual sunlight hitting the solar panel is converted to electricity. Investing in solar research, converting actual sunlight into a higher percentage, will eventually make wind only productive in very high wind areas and low sunlight hours (NS poles).
Also, space. The further one goes out, the less sunlight, but there are certain types of winds. Perhaps not those that turn blades, but it's a wind that solar can not capture, only development in wind technologies.
Jupiter. If you could lower a wind turbine down to windy planets, well again I say there is a place for both technologies. If this is a project on future investments, how far into the future, is it only on earth?
Here on earth solar may end up the dominant, but in space?
So if you invest NOW, invest in solar, wind - you probably wont see a return on your money, your grandkids might!!
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QUESTION:
What are the advantages of solar power harvesting over wind?
Im putting together a project, mostly on a future perspective from an investment point of view, but I would welcome any information or ideas you have about solar technologies benefits vs Wind harvesting technologiestahnks
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ANSWER:
Depends on the location. In some locations, you can depend on the sun to shine almost every day and the wind to be faint and erratic. Other places the wind blows almost every day with a good speed, but the sun is hidden frequently.Both require a large amount of capitol investment but not as high as nuclear.
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QUESTION:
What are some disadvantages and advantages of solar power?-
ANSWER:
Advantages: From the very first day it is installed and commissioned, a PV system will produce clean, green electricity. Whatever a system produces reduces its owner’s need to purchase “dirty” electricity produced by burning fossil fuels or harnessing the power of a nuclear reactor. Translating an array’s power production to common measures of energy or energy-related items helps to understand PV’s value. For example, a hypothetical 5kW PV array in New England should produce the equivalent energy of 10-12 barrels of oil each year. This is like saving 10,000 pounds of carbon or greenhouse gas emissions. Another way to express this system’s beneficial attributes is to say the greenhouse gas emissions it offsets are equivalent to planting about 20 mature trees each year, or driving your car about 7,000 miles less than you typically would in a year.Compared to other investments, a solar system is a clear winner. Over its lifetime, it should outperform conservative investments such as a savings account or bond fund, and match the historical rate of return of the stock market. However, the financial returns of a PV system (in the form of reduced electric bills) are more of a sure thing, whereas there are no guarantees when investing in stocks (the S&P 500 is essentially unchanged in the last 10 years).
A PV system for your home or business offers a locked in electric rate for that portion of your demand which is offset by your array’s production. This is not only a hedge against inflation, but a hedge against future increases in electric rates from your utility, which have been trending at more than twice that of inflation! If electric rates continue to increase at their recent rate, they will double in about 15 years. As electric rates rise, your monthly savings in the form of cash not spent on your bill will actually grow.
Disadvantages: Upfront investment
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QUESTION:
what are the advantages and dis advantages of solar power?
this is for a school project that i am workin on....any information/helpful websites will be appriciated.....
ty
ty for all of the info so far...it has really helped...however any other info you know is still widely appreciated
circle....from what i have found out, all of the information you have given me is correct tyand ty to every1 esle that helped me!!
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ANSWER:
Advantages:
The 89 petawatts of sunlight reaching the earth's surface is plentiful compared to the 15 terawatts of average power consumed by humans. Additionally, solar electric generation has the highest power density (global mean of 170 W/m2) among renewable energies.
Solar power is pollution free during use. Production end wastes and emissions are manageable using existing pollution controls. End-of-use recycling technologies are under development.
Facilities can operate with little maintenance or intervention after initial setup.
Solar electric generation is economically competitive where grid connection or fuel transport is difficult, costly or impossible. Examples include satellites, island communities, remote locations and ocean vessels.
When grid connected, solar electric generation can displace the highest cost electricity during times of peak demand (in most climatic regions), can reduce grid loading, and can eliminate the need for local battery power for use in times of darkness and high local demand; such application is encouraged by net metering. Time-of-use net metering can be highly favorable to small photovoltaic systems.
Grid connected solar electricity can be used locally thus minimizing transmission/distribution losses (approximately 7.2%).
Once the initial capital cost of building a solar power plant has been spent, operating costs are low compared to existing power technologiesDisadvantages:
Solar electricity is expensive compared to grid electricity.
Limited power density: Average daily insolation in the contiguous U.S. is 3-9 kW·h/m2 usable by 7-19.7% efficient solar panels.
Like electricity from nuclear or fossil fuel plants, it can only realistically be used to power transport vehicles by converting light energy into another form of stored energy (e.g. battery stored electricity or by electrolysing water to produce hydrogen) suitable for transport.
Solar cells produce DC which must be converted to AC when used in currently existing distribution grids. This incurs an energy loss of 4-12%.
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QUESTION:
Solar power advantages & disadvantages?? o.O?
Please can you give me some advantages and disadvantages of solar power (solar cells and panels)? ^__^-
ANSWER:
Advantages:-Non-polluting
-Renewable
-Low Maintenance
-It does't produce carbon dioxide
-The energy source(sun) is free
-Solar power systems do not produce any noiseDisadvantages:
-Cost a lot of money
-Weather Dependent- efficient solar energy collection is dependent on sunshine
-Solar energy cannot be produced at night
-Takes up land space
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