solar energy environmental impact
Solar technologies use solar energy to provide heat, light, water, electricity and even cooling for homes, businesses and industry. Despite significant potential for sunlight to energy supply, solar energy provides less than 1% of the needs U.S. energy. This percentage is expected to increase with the development of new and more efficient solar technologies.
Different types of solar collectors used to meet different energy needs. Passive solar building designs capture the sun's heat to provide space heating and electricity. The cells photovoltaics convert sunlight directly into electricity. The concentration of solar systems solar power mirrors approach to creating a heat source of high intensity, that produce steam or mechanical power to run a generator that generates electricity. Flat plate collectors absorb the sun's heat directly to water or other liquids to supply of hot water or heating. And solar process heating and cooling systems use solar collectors and specialty chemical processes for dealing large-scale hot water and heating and cooling needs.
Solar technologies produce some negative environmental impacts during operation the collector. However, there are environmental concerns associated with the production of collectors and storage devices. Also, the cost is a major drawback solar energy. Although sunlight is free, solar cells and equipment needed to convert the direct current output to alternating current for use in a home is expensive. The electricity generated by solar cells is still more than twice as expensive as electricity from fossil fuels. Part of the problem with cost is solar cells can only operate during the day. In contrast, a coal or natural gas plant can run all day, which means the cost of construction plant can be spread over many more hours of use.
Sunlight around the United States, available varies considerably as a result of differences in cloud cover and latitude, and also varies with the season. In summer, daylight hours longer and higher sun angle provide more solar energy, compared to the winter when the sun is for fewer hours and in an inferior position in the sky. These variations must be taken into account in planning of solar collection facilities.
renewable energy – Solar and Wind Power
