'Why should you care?'
Air pollution is the largest contributor to major health and environmental problems. Solar energy produces no air pollution.
Better yet solar energy is quiet, creates no hazardous waste, and is renewable and inexhaustible. After the initial set up, solar power can operate with very little maintenance or intervention. Once the units are in place, there is no further cost for the energy that is produced.
Solar energy is beneficial to the environment because no greenhouse gases are produced. You may ask yourself, well what are greenhouse gases?
Greenhouse gases are found in the earth's atmosphere and are a necessary and beneficial part of our planet's survival. When sunlight strikes the Earth's surface, the energy is reflected back towards space as infrared radiation, or heat. The greenhouse gases absorb this heat, trapping it in our atmosphere and keeping the planet warm and stable. Without greenhouse gases our planet would be uninhabitable. You may be wondering, "but I thought the production of greenhouse gases was a bad thing?" It is.
Greenhouse gases exist naturally on our planet as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, however they are also created by human beings through industry. Natural greenhouse gases create a symbiotic balance between the energy that arrives from the sun, and the amount of energy that leaves. This balance keeps the planet at roughly the same temperature. However, as we produce more and more unnatural greenhouse gases- through the burning of fossil fuels- the balance is tipped and the earth begins to keep more heat than it gives off. The result is a phenomenon known as global warming. Fortunately, solar energy does not produce any of these greenhouse gases, therefore it does not contribute to global warming.
- Solar power is relatively pollution free, although the impact of environmental pollution during manufacture and construction should not be neglected.
- Facilities can operate with little maintenance or intervention after initial setup.
- Solar power is becoming more and more economical as costs associated with production decreases, the technology becomes more effective, and the costs of other traditional energy sources increase.
- Solar power is available to approximately half the planet at any given moment.
- Solar power can be viewed as a local resource because of regional climatic variances.