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Chelsie
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13 Jan 2015, 9:23 pm

I have read somewhere that using solar energy is really more environment friendly rather than using what is being commonly used at home. I find it interesting but I wonder if we can rely on solar energy like what we do on the regular sources of energy? Any Pros and Cons who have actually have had experienced it?



Sweetleaf
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13 Jan 2015, 10:30 pm

It can be as far as how it collects energy, though then one has to think of production of solar panels and what not, not entirely sure that process is environmentally friendly but don't know a ton about it. But it basically creates energy out of sunlight doesn't take fuel to burn or anything like that so certainly can be healthier for the environment....I imagine solar power could fully power a home though considering there are breweries that run off of solar energy and I imagine they take more electricity than the average household.


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14 Jan 2015, 5:49 am

-expensive for a similar power level

But that's probably because it doesn't have as big an industry going for it.

Nuclear power is the best, but you know. (Though solar power is technically a form of collecting nuclear power, albeit a naturally occurring form.)



Chelsie
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14 Jan 2015, 10:28 pm

Thanks for your thoughts. I have actually been thinking of the same thing. What we usually read or hear are the positive side but there are less of the personal testimonials. Anyway, I am reading this case studies of one of the providers. It might interest you as well.



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15 Jan 2015, 10:05 am

There are a few negatives when it comes to using solar energy sources. As been mentioned before, it is an expensive technology, since it is still being developed using research laboratories. It is an investment that pays for itself over time though. Some of the materials used to manufacture the solar panels are quite toxic (to both humans and the environment). For example, cadmium is used in some of them (to make cadmium selenide, the light capture molecule), but is essentially a poison if you get it in you or on you. What that means is that the panels cannot be thrown away when they finally quit working, they must be recycled. This also does not address the leftover chemical wastes from the manufacturing process.

One of the biggest negatives for current solar technology is the limited energy efficiency that they have. Right now, most of them are in the 10-20% range. That means that only a small percentage of absorbed light actually gets converted into usable electricity in the real world. Granted, in laboratories with optimal conditions, some of these same materials can get closer to 30%, but most people do not live in laboratories. Dirt, dust, leaves, etc get on them (and sometimes in them) over time and that will slowly reduce the output. However, the last problem may change if enough research work is done on it.

There are a few technological breakthroughs in this area in the past five years that are buried in the scientific literature that very few people outside of the world of science read (unless it gets reported in a newspaper by a tech reporter). One of them is a solar powered paint, the other is a ink-jet printing way to apply the same material. Why is this important? Because it could be used as exterior (and interior) coatings of buildings, homes, roads, anywhere light can be harvested for electricity. The efficiency for this material is currently low, but it could still be improved with more research.

I like the idea of using solar paint with other technology to recover as much energy as you can. Case in point: Combine it with wind technology to recover more energy with the wind turbine. Combine it with water (top of the dam) to again recover more energy. You can do this with almost every energy source (yes, even nuclear if done right).



TheCrookedFingers
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16 Jan 2015, 4:58 am

I have solar panels. They have been fully powering my household for 4 years and we bought them with incentives from the government and the Italian energy company so we will actually make money out of them, in the long run (after an initial investment).



slave
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18 Jan 2015, 2:54 am

Chelsie wrote:
I have read somewhere that using solar energy is really more environment friendly rather than using what is being commonly used at home. I find it interesting but I wonder if we can rely on solar energy like what we do on the regular sources of energy? Any Pros and Cons who have actually have had experienced it?


20% of households in Australia use solar panels.



Shep
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18 Jan 2015, 3:08 pm

Pros:
- Mostly maintenance free ("mostly" because of snow that needs to be removed if you live in a colder cilmate. I believe some setups use heaters on the panels for this reason)
- Free energy during the day

Cons:
- Nighttime energy requires energy storage of some sort, which usually need to be replaced on an "every five year" basis
- Much bigger up-front cost, although regular expenses are minimal at best. Makes for a much longer return on investment though.

I'm really hoping supercapacitors catch on for this exact reason. They're a much better alternative, with the drawback that they have yet to be used in any large-scale applications yet, so "serious" research and development into them has yet to be done. Still hoping the up-and-coming electric car market sees potential in these considering they can be charged extremely rapidly and last an average of 100,000 charge/discharge cycles (over 270 years assuming one cycle per day). Thinkgeek used to carry an LED flashlight that charged in about 60 seconds and lasted a full day. It was about $100 USD (read: very expensive!), but the technology is there. Volume savings have yet to be discovered however. One can hope...

I digress though, solar panels themselves are quite green in terms of usage. Sweatleaf is correct in their production however, which (historically anyways) has been far from green. It's been years since I read up on the production side of things, so my memory's not as good as it once was, but considering the second result in a Google search for "solar panel production" is about hazardous materials, I'd imagine it's still something to be solved. It's a green technology, but not "greenly produced" if you will.



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18 Jan 2015, 3:33 pm

I can't wait until street workers get started on the solar panel roadways.


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Noted26
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23 Jan 2015, 12:31 am

Chelsie wrote:
I have read somewhere that using solar energy is really more environment friendly rather than using what is being commonly used at home. I find it interesting but I wonder if we can rely on solar energy like what we do on the regular sources of energy? Any Pros and Cons who have actually have had experienced it?


I would like to invest with solar panels also because I believe that it helps to stop global warming which threatens the survival of human society, as well as the survival of other species here in our planet. Of course it’s dependable the rising and setting of the sun is extremely consistent. We know exactly when it will rise and set every day of the year. However, the disadvantage is that the sun doesn’t shine 24 hours a day. When the sun goes down or is heavily shaded, solar PV panels stop producing electricity. If we need electricity at that time, we have to get it from some other source. In other words, we couldn’t be 100% powered by solar panels. At the very least, we need batteries to store electricity produced by solar panels for use sometime later.



albert147
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22 May 2017, 2:30 pm

Chelsie wrote:
I have read somewhere that using solar energy is really more environment friendly rather than using what is being commonly used at home. I find it interesting but I wonder if we can rely on solar energy like what we do on the regular sources of energy? Any Pros and Cons who have actually have had experienced it?


Hello,
Yes, It is absolutely right, Solar energy is a form of energy which is produced without harming the environment that's it is also called Green Energy. There are some pros and Cons of solar energy are:
Pros are:
1.Renewable
2.Abundant
3.Sustainable
4.Environmentally Friendly
5.Good Availability
6.Reduces Electricity Costs
7.Many Applications
8.Shared Solar
9.Silent
10.Financial Support from Government/State
11.Low Maintenance

Cons are:
1.Expensive
2.Intermittent
3.Energy Storage is Expensive
4.Associated with Pollution
5.Exotic Materials
6.Requires Space
https://solarlifesolutions.ca/solar-panel-maintenance/
Thanks,



roger199
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31 May 2017, 5:25 am

Interested in energy youtube ( Thorium - Kirk Sorensen ) covers lots of energy stuff ex NASA man found it very interesting. Comes across as quite impartial ( a proper scientist ) but obviously advocating for Thorium . I know someone who says global warming maybe fixed by fertilizing the ocean with limiting factor nutrients over anoxic zones .He might well be a genius .