Advantages of using Solar Power ~ Infinite ∞ Energy!

How Solar Power Can Change Our Lives

Climate change is one of the biggest threats of our time and it is time to take action now. With that said, solar power has the potential to slow down global warming. Global warming has been a concern on most of the people's minds as the environment around us keeps getting warmer and warmer. The usage of coal, nuclear power and other natural sources to create energy has harmful effects on the environment overtime. However, solar power has led to the invention of the solar panel. Solar panels provide a solution for all of this as it can harness energy from the sun without harming the environment. There will not be any harmful greenhouse gases or carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as solar power will not create any pollution. With the added knowledge that solar power is a renewable energy source, companies should put in the effort to solve global warming by picking up solar energy.

Over the last decade, 43% of Fortune 500 companies have a target to cut down on their carbon footprint, reduce energy usage or operate a part of their activities with the help of renewable energy. Large companies are always finding practical ways to minimise cost and achieve their targets. As the price of solar power falls, companies are starting to recognise renewable energy as a feasible way to lessen their carbon footprint. This means that solar power could save you money. Recent study by NC Clean Energy Technology Center concluded that in the first year of installing the solar panels, America's 50 biggest cities saved an average of $44 to $187. Though $44 and $187 may not seem like a lot of money saved, in 10 years’ time, investors would have saved $1000 if they had switched to solar panels. It is also important to note that the higher your electricity bill, the more you can save if you installed solar panels.

Figure 1: Number of job creation with an investment of $ 1 milion in different industries.

Furthermore, solar power can create more job opportunities per $1 million invested as compared to coal or natural gas. Thus, giving businesses an opportunity to venture into the renewable energy market. As coal and natural gas are the few non-renewable resources that are being used today to supply our energy needs, investing more money into solar would not only help solve an energy crisis but also help with the unemployment in a country.

There are plenty of other renewable resources that can help us solve our energy problems and be less reliant on coal and natural gas such as wind energy, biomass and hydro power.

Figure 2: Comparing finite and renewable planetary energy reserves (Terawatt per year).

As we can see from the picture above (Figure 2), solar power can produce more Terawatts per year than all the other energy sources combined. Even all our non-renewable resources could not produce more energy than what solar could potentially produce in a month.

In September, Goldman Sachs managing director and head of the environmental markets group, Kyung-Ah Park, said that the renewable energy industry has arrived at a turning point with more renewable energy systems installed this year than conventional systems. This benefits the suppliers as there is an increasing demand for renewable energy. This could create opportunities for suppliers of renewable energy around the world including other businesses connected to the value chain. Aanesen, Heck, and Pinner mentioned that annual installations of solar panels can increase 50 times more by 2020 in comparison with the demand in 2005

To energy companies, renewable energy sources are representative of an opportunity for them to undertake environmentally sustainable operations to focus on shareholders and other stakeholders. Not only that, solar panel prices are expected to continue to fall as the industry evolves even though subsidies are expected to diminish. This is due to manufacturing capacity doubling through the process of new developments of technologies, 3D printing and economies of scale. Over the next three to five years, fundamental costs are expected to drop by as much as 10 percent annually until 2020. This can be further explained by the graph in figure 3.

Figure 3 : The ways that industrialization can decrease the cost of solar-photovoltaic systems.

For consumers, they will not recognise the direct benefits from renewable energy. But if renewable energy is embraced on a wider scale, lessening the effects of global warming could be achieved. By adopting solar energy into their homes, consumers will help reduce the effects of greenhouse gases which would then influence a change in the climate to a less unpredictable and violent one if everyone was doing it. In addition to that, reducing the burning of fossil fuels by switching to solar energy would directly benefit the general public as people would benefit from cleaner air as a result of less emission from fossil fuels.

So the only question that remains is, why not solar?

The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun.

– Ralph Nader

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References:

Shanan, Z., (2013). Advantages & disadvantages of solar power. Available at

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/10/08/advantages-disadvantages-solar-power/.

[Accessed 13 October 2015].

Perez, R. & Prezer, M., (2009). A fundamental look at energy reserves for the planet. Available at http://www.asrc.albany.edu/people/faculty/perez/Kit/pdf/a-fundamental look-at%20the-planetary-energy-reserves.pdf.

[Accessed 13 October 2015].

Solar Nation, 2015. Can switching to solar panels save me money. Available at

http://www.solar-nation.org/can-switching-to-solar-panels-save-me-money.

[Accessed 13 October 2015].

Aanesen, K., Heck, S. & Pinner, D., (2012). Solar power : Darkest before dawn. Available at https://www.mckinsey.com/client_service/sustainability/latest_thinking/~/media/5E847C563A734F148B5F3A6EFBD46E39.ashx. [Accessed 10 November 2015].

Fehrenbacher, K., (2015). Goldman Sachs to invest $150 billion in clean energy. Available at http://fortune.com/2015/11/02/goldman-sachs-clean-energy/. [Accessed 11 November 2015].

Mooney, C., (2015). Apple just announced dramatic new solar energy plans in China. Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/10/21/apple-just-announced-dramatic-new-solar-plans-in-china/ [Accessed 11 November 2015].

Written by: Teh Hui Huang

Editors: Yeap Weng Yeow, S.