The Negatives of Solar Energy Use
Humankind is threatening
to destroy the world as we know it because
of mainly two reasons: waste production and
energy demand. Both are accelerating the green
house effect because they are interlinked
in the production or reduction of waste. This
is the reason why many nations nowadays are
researching on the use of renewable energy
resources and other alternative clean and
green energy production. While solar energy
has generated rave reviews from many environmentalists—and
its potential is just being tapped—many
are still unconvinced of its possibilities
because of several solar energy negatives
that have yet to be solved.
Solar energy, along with wind and water, are
part of the renewable energy alternatives
being studied and considered for full production.
However, many of the solar energy negatives
still haunt Photovoltaic producers and manufacturers
of this world—especially on the cost
of production and land area needed.
The Cost is Just 0.10!
Compared to the 1980s, the cost of Photovoltaic
cells and its production is now only 0.10
of what it used to be. It continues to drop
as the weeks pass by but even with this good
news, solar energy production still is more
expensive than just producing and obtaining
energy from fossil fuel—about four to
five times costlier! This is just one of the
solar energy negatives that have made solar
energy production slow to take off the ground.
The Space is Enormous!
Solar energy negatives also include land space
usage. To produce solar energy, a large area
is needed to generate a substantial amount
of electricity. This means that solar energy
can not be a viable source of energy for areas
with little spaces—like inner cities
and highly urbanized areas.
Just to cite an example: A utility-scale power
plant produces about 20 to 60 megawatts of
electricity. For this, an area equivalent
to 1,000 square meters is needed!
Looks Like Rain Today
The most obvious of the solar energy negatives
is the amount of sunlight passing through
the solar cell. If clouds are present, it
blocks out a significant amount of sunlight
and the solar panel cells won’t be as
efficient as it was designed to be. While
newer technologies have somewhat solved this
problem, it is still lined up in the solar
energy negatives of the older model Photovoltaic
cells.
Lights Out!
Of course the term solar means sunlight—and
this again counts as one of the solar energy
negatives. Come nighttime, solar panels are
useless! One solution is to use rechargeable
batteries that are charged via the solar panels
during the day.
Still We Carry On!
With the above solar energy negatives, many
countries are still focusing mainly on how
to remove or reduce the waste from fossil
fuel instead of investing on solar energy
research. Some other countries are also looking
at the potential of nuclear energy. This is
an indication that solar energy will not be
the energy source of choice in the near future.
However, research into solar energy continues
to be done by several organizations around
the world and it is hoped that in the future,
all the solar energy negatives will be addressed
and eliminated.
|
