Using the sun to help with everyday tasks is second nature to human beings; our
ancestors have always used the sun from navigation to drying clothes. Since the 1970’s solar panels have been converting the suns radiation into clean and renewable electricity. It is clear that solar power is a healthy alternative to polluting fossil fuels because of how environmentally friendly solar panels are. Solar power has little to no environmental impact such as carbon emissions or radioactive material like nuclear energy. Solar power is a uniquely versatile energy resource because of how easy it is for homeowners, businesses and even the government to benefit from this resource. Homeowners can use solar panels to heat their water and provide electricity making them less reliant on power companies. Businesses can use solar panels to reduce their electric bills and power their equipment. NASA, a government funded organization uses solar panels on the Mars rover and the international space station. Traditional energy sources don’t even compare to the advantages solar energy has to offer because of how versatile and simple solar panels are. Anyone with enough money could install solar panels on their building, in their backyard or on their car. No other energy resource has the dynamic wide range of use that solar power does. Solar power technology is rapidly improving in comparison to fossil fuels that have only marginally changed in the last few decades. This rapid improvement in technology represents a huge amount of money saved at an exponential rate when compared to the prices of 1977. According to the Swanson Effect, the cost of solar cells is halved about every 3 years. This graph shows how solar energy has become exponentially cheaper. At the same time, oil has only become more expensive every day. Although solar panels cannot harvest the sun’s radiation at night solar cell batteries make up for this because they are able to store excess energy generated that isn’t used during the day. Though it may be night time the solar panels are still providing electricity because of the solar cell batteries. The Solar cell efficiency is what dictates how much electricity can be converted in relation to how much sunlight is received; this too has been rapidly improving.
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If we continue to use traditional resources we only continue to destroy our planet and everything on it. Every process from the extraction of oil and coal to the distribution of these resources pollutes clean water sources and destroys the habitat for the local wildlife present. This has devastating effects on the population of animals and humans alike. Even though we don’t see the catastrophic effects on our world there soon could be. Our life styles are not ones that are self-sustaining and preserving we are on a rapid decline of fossil fuels with very little alternatives. We must now do something to change our habits and daily routines so that we will be prepared when oil or coal is completely saturated and gone.
Clean and renewable energy is the future and the preservation of mankind. We are literally killing our planet and ourselves everyday by using fossil fuels that pollute the environment. We must make our world a better place to live in, not only for our children’s sake but for all the other species that inhabit it as well. Solar power is the best and most promising resource we have to fuel human civilization without destroying the Earth itself.
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