Solar Energy is becoming more and more popular but it still only accounts for 1% of electricity use in the United States. This is a great way to produce energy without using a lot of our natural resources but comes at a cost. It costs quite a bit to purchase the equipment to generate power from the
photovoltaic panels, but electric companies are trying to use incentives to get people to invest in it. They are suggesting that consumers put these panels on their roofs, from this utility companies can then purchase this power from the consumers. People can produce energy and get paid for it, rather than use energy and have to pay for it.
One of the downfalls of solar energy however is that it doesn't produce energy at night. To fix this the energy produced during the day can be preserved and used during the night for the little amount it is needed.
Solar energy is something we should all start looking into because it quite possibly could be the future of energy production. Although it might be more expensive at first it will save us all in the long run.
Information retrieved from:
The New York Times.
This is a great summary from what we learned about the new environmental building in class on Monday. I like how you provided a link to learn more about what photovoltaic means, this is something I am most definitely considering once I decide to purchase or build a home, so knowing a little more about the topic helps.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Solar Energy is better to use in certain places than others? Obviously California gets more sun than Duluth, MN (year round) so it would probably be a better idea to start these in places that are sunnier? I don't know if that affects it or not though...
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dani. I think we DEFINITELY need to put these up in the sunnier states. Hopefully we can find other sources of renewable energy too, so that states like ours can help just as much.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is a good summary from what we talked about in the Environmental classroom Monday. Hopefully, solar energy will become more popular in the near future!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great article. I really hope that we will beging to use more solar energy.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting. I was surprising to me that the Bagley classroom only had to pay about $6 for electricity and eventually the power company will have to pay them. I wish I had solar panels at my house, my bills would be way cheaper!
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