Advantages of Solar Energy

some advantages of solar energy system are as follows

A TRULY RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE

  Solar energy is one of the few completely renewable energy sources in the planet, so we’ll start with that. The sun will continue to shine for at least 5 billion years after we all cease to exist, according to scientific estimates. There are fewer site-specific requirements to meet, which benefits each of our individual clients at Low Carbon Energy in addition to being beneficial on a larger scale. Solar panels will always be a viable source of electricity as long as your property receives sunshine for at least a few hours each day (which is the case for practically all buildings).

SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCES ENERGY BILLS

By producing your own energy on-site, you may power your house or place of business without relying as much on the National Grid or other conventional utility providers. Simply put, you’ll save more money the more energy you create. The size of the system and your typical usage patterns will clearly affect how much, as well as the precise amount. Theoretically, though, saving hundreds or even thousands of pounds over the course of a year shouldn’t be too difficult.

The Feed in Tariff allowed you to sell any extra power you had back into the National Grid until March 31, 2019. Unfortunately, as of this writing, this program is coming to an end, but there is no guarantee that the government won’t propose additional incentives in the future.

AFFORDABLE AND SIMPLE TO INSTALL (AND BECOMING EVEN MORE AFFORDABLE)

Obviously, the cost of solar panels is a huge concern for many of our customers here at Low Carbon, and while pricing can differ greatly across customers, the ease of installation (the panels have no moving parts, after all) means that we’re able to maintain consistently great prices for our clients. If you’ll pardon the pun, the future is looking bright for solar panels since they are no longer the expensive experimental item that they once were.

Solar PV has become up to 70% cheaper than it was in 2010, making it a more lucrative potential for businesses than ever, as we observed in our essay about the elements that affect solar panel prices.

LOW MAINTENANCE COSTS

The minimal maintenance expenses associated with keeping solar panels in good condition is another appealing feature. The majority of owners are quite content with washing them no more than a few times per year. Again, there is no wear and tear since they are mechanically inert. As a result, once the original expense has been paid for, you can anticipate paying relatively little on upkeep and ongoing repairs, allowing you to take advantage of the savings!

REDUCE YOUR IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT

The capacity of solar panels to create electricity without greenhouse gases or water pollution makes it a clear winner in many people’s views. Environmental activities are more important than ever on our global agenda. Additionally, solar panels are entirely quiet, making them a highly practical option for even the densest metropolitan environments. If you own a business and are thinking about installing commercial solar panels, you may even use them as a powerful example of your CSR, which might be the key to luring in new clients.

IMPROVES YOUR ENERGY SECURITY AND INDEPENDENCE

Your company will be less susceptible to power outages and other disruptions if you are less dependent on the National Grid. One of the main risks in these situations is a loss of productivity, which can significantly restrict your capacity to execute tasks for your clients and customers and swiftly result in financial consequences for you (as well as incurring various other associated costs). However, by producing and storing energy on-site, you may be able provide the yourself with such a supply in case the primary power goes out, which reduces this loss of productivity and keeps your cash stream intact.

THE ELECTRICITY YOU GENERATE IS (BY DEFINITION) MORE VALUABLE

Our energy needs are normally at their maximum between 11 am and 4 pm, and then temporarily rise again in the evening, according to studies. It is simple to understand why; those are the times when the great majority of us are practically certain to be at work, followed by a little downtime in the evening. These are the times when you’ll pay the most for energy since, as is only natural, power prices are at their highest. But fortunately, this 11am–4pm period is also when solar energy reaches its highest output capacity. As a result, the power you produce is, by definition, more value, saving you even more money on energy.

IT HELPS YOUR GREEN CREDENTIALS AND CSR

Solar panels may be a beneficial and very noticeable way to show your company’s dedication to environmental concerns, in addition to being actively better for the environment on their own merits. Customers are increasingly choosing environmentally friendly enterprises and using their right to free speech in the current day, especially in light of the escalating climate problem. Solar panels are excellent for enhancing your corporate responsibility for that purpose alone, which may significantly improve your chances of obtaining the increasingly picky clients and investors you need.

THEY ARE SILENT AND SPACE-SAVING

These issues are undoubtedly important, but somewhat secondary to the other advantages on this list. If your business is growing physically, such as with additional premises or buildings on-site, the flexibility of solar panels to easily be mounted on the roof of an existing building can save you significant space elsewhere, which can spare you from logistical difficulties. Additionally, solar panels, as alternative to noisier technologies like mobile generators, might help you build a better reputation with the neighbors if your company is located in a housing area.

SOLAR ENERGY HELPS THE WIDER ECONOMY

Of course, there are wider-ranging advantages. When compared to investments in coal or gas, solar power generates two to three times more employment and has a substantial positive impact on the economy on a national and international scale. Additionally, it is a trustworthy source because it is very hard to privatise the sun. Although there is less of a direct advantage to your particular business from this, it is undoubtedly a great feel-good aspect and, as we’ve indicated, it may be fantastic for raising your company’s visible CSR.

The world is making enormous gains toward renewable energy, and technology is developing quickly, as we’ve discussed in previous piece. Browse our product selection to learn more about what solar panels can do for businesses, or look at our consulting services to see how we can make your company even more efficient.

Disadvantages of Solar Energy

In general, solar energy’s drawbacks include high costs, poor efficiency, the requirement for installation space, the unpredictability of sun exposure, and high pollution levels during solar panel production.

Accessibility to sunlight and position

While solar energy has many advantages, there are also some disadvantages to consider when it comes to accessibility to sunlight and position. Here are a few potential drawbacks:

Dependence on sunlight: Solar energy systems rely on access to sunlight to generate electricity or heat, which means that they may be less effective or completely ineffective in areas with limited sunlight or in shaded locations. This can limit the feasibility of solar energy in certain locations and applications.

Negative Latitudinal Solar Effects

The quantity of sunshine received annually varies greatly depending on where you are, and the farther you are from the equator, the less effective solar power becomes.

Because there isn’t enough sunshine in a day to completely power solar, people of areas like the Northern United States, Canada, and Russia are at a solar disadvantage. However, the distance from the equator is meaningless in areas like Hawaii, where there are 277 days on average each year with rain and clouds. The solar system frequently experiences cloud cover that blocks sunlight.

• Solar Seasonal Drawbacks

Seasonal factors also affect solar efficiency. The earth is angled such that the sun is closer to where you are during the summer, allowing you to produce more power than you use. Because of how the earth is tilted, throughout the winter you are farther from the sun and therefore unable to produce enough power to meet your demands.

No of the season, the likelihood of turning any solar energy into power reduces to zero in locations that see days or weeks of overcast weather that brings rain and snow. Solar panels will degrade over time due to UV radiation damage, just like anything else left in the sun.

• A Lot Of Space Is Needed For Solar Panels

The installation area won’t be a significant barrier for homeowners who wish to install solar panels, especially because they are often put on the roof.

However, major businesses who wish to generate a lot of power will require a very wide installation area to deliver electricity on a regular basis. China’s  Golmud Desert Solar Park is home to the world’s biggest solar field. It occupies 640 acres and supplies 80 solar power plants with 2.8 giga watts of energy.

Solar panel fields are being built on more and more deserted terrain. In any case, this property is not classified as agricultural, but the construction of solar fields.

• Sunshine Is Unreliable

Therefore, you must either store any extra energy generated during the day or connect to a backup power source, such as your community’s utility system. In addition to the expensive cost of the solar system, this implies that you will have to pay extra for power when you need it.

Clouds and storms reduce the amount of energy you can create by obstructing sun rays that would otherwise be absorbed by the solar panel. Installing solar tube lighting to collect natural light and pull it into your house is a good way to smooth out the draw on your solar panel system during the day.

• Solar Panels Don’t Work Well

The majority of solar panels on people’s homes, according to Qualitative Reasoning Group at Northwestern University, only convert 14% of their available energy into power. Only 22% of the energy that is available to solar panels currently is converted into electricity.

Solar cells will never operate at 100% efficiency because of the second law of thermodynamics. When using mirrors and motors to move the panels in the direction of the sun, the greatest theoretical maximum efficiency is 85%.The highest theoretical maximum efficiency for a system that does not follow the sun is just 55%. The same holds true for solar tracking devices on overcast days.

• Solar Panels Cause Environmental Degradation

Land and water consumption, pollution, habitat loss, and the use of extremely hazardous chemicals that produce toxic waste are all environmental drawbacks of solar panels. Solar farms may take up a significant amount of area, and unlike wind farms, they cannot share the land with other uses such as agriculture. When it comes to mining and the manufacture of the raw materials needed to make solar cells, solar power systems also have an impact on land usage. When minerals are mined, transported, and refined using fossil fuels, mining frequently results in water pollution as well as air and land pollution.

 Additionally, it degrades the ecosystem by removing land, primarily through erosion brought on by humans.

• The Making of Solar Panels Requires Fossil Fuels

The manufacture of solar panels also consumes a significant quantity of coal. As a result, coal mining and our carbon footprint grow together with the manufacture of PV panels. The majority of PV panels in the United States are imported from other countries, therefore it seems like we may disregard this issue. In the field of renewable energy, this is one of the worst instances of green washing.

The industry won’t acknowledge the realities regarding the consumption of fossil fuels, carbon footprint, coal, and toxic waste involved with photovoltaic cells because there are billions of dollars to be earned on solar panels. The necessity for coal, regardless of where it is extracted, is undoubtedly a disadvantage of solar panels. We are only repurposing our ravenous usage of coal until coal is eliminated from the picture.

• Solar Panels Create Toxic Waste

Massive solar panel fields will need to be recycled after their useful lives are through and disposed of as hazardous waste. Cadmium and lead, two very dangerous metals, are among the substances included in solar panels. The manufacture of solar panels involves the usage of several additional poisonous and risky components.

• Arsenic gallium nitrate
• Copper-indium-gallium-diselenide

Hydrogen fluoride, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, Sulfuric acid, Nitric acid, Hydrochloric acid, Acetone. Manufacturers must ensure that these high-value materials are recycled in the US rather than disposed of in a landfill.

The panels must be properly disposed of after they are deactivated at the end of around 20 years to prevent the release of harmful elements like lead and arsenic into the land and water. However, the majority of PV panels are produced in nations like China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan where hazardous ingredients are carelessly dumped in fields, contaminating the air, water, and land.

You might not think it’s a huge problem, but in 2020, 89% of the solar panels that Americans installed were from imports, primarily from Asia. The likelihood is that the ones you purchase were made carelessly. Contributing to the environmental issue elsewhere doesn’t make the situation any better.

We should all be concerned about and knowledgeable about how pollution affects our health and the environment. Here is a fantastic, fair movie explaining the drawbacks of solar panels while also providing.

• Expensive Energy Storage

The majority of people believe that the single largest barrier to producing solar electricity on an industrial scale is renewable energy storage technologies. The cost of battery storage systems that can store solar energy as electrical energy is currently prohibitive.

For the purpose of subsequent usage, Tesla developed the Power wall battery. However, these batteries are incredibly costly, with one battery costing over $11,500. Two Tesla batteries would be required and would cost a staggering $18,500 to provide a four-bedroom home with a day’s worth of electricity. Each extra unit you purchase does lower the price per battery. However, they no longer permit you to purchase a Power wall alone. A complete solar panel system must be purchased from Tesla.

Batteries may be produced more affordably thanks to the recovered materials, which is one of the key advantages of recycling batteries. The cost of these lithium-ion batteries is anticipated to decrease with time.

• High Initial Cost

Average-sized systems, which generate between 4kW and 8Kw of power, cost between $15,000 and $29,000.

These expenses cover the price of the solar panels, inverter, mounting gear, cabling, installation, licence, repairs, monitoring and maintenance, as well as other operational and administrative expenditures. Be advised that a battery storage system, which is an extra expense, is not included. If you want to use your system to generate power even when the sun isn’t shining, you’ll need battery storage solutions.

To dependably meet energy demands, day and night, for the typical four-bedroom home, you’re looking at a total cost of between $33,300 and $47,300 if you include the cost of a battery storage system. You could still need to cut back on use or expand your system’s capacity to accommodate your demands depending on the temperature and region. The payback term should be taken into account while analysing the upfront cost.

You will likely need to invest $18,000 in a solar power system and wait 20 years before you start saving money from it. On the other hand, a solar panel system does relieve pressure on your local electricity grid even if it does not necessarily pay for itself monetarily.

• Solar Panels Could Damage Your Roof

Solar panels that are not put properly run the risk of leaking or sagging the roof. A professional should always install them. When we’re not using it, we all want to use less power. Solar panels may be used to create power, but they could harm your roof in the process.

When solar panels are installed incorrectly, the roof may get damaged, allowing water to pour in and do serious harm to your home’s exterior and inside. Find a reputable solar supplier and make sure they have positive ratings to prevent this. Because of the weight of the panels, mounting solar panels safely requires extra support. If the roof has defects or is not sturdy.