Pros And Cons Of Solar Energy

Earth, along with the other planets in our solar system, is forever indebted to the sun for all the energy it has ever received. All the seasons, our planet’s own rotation and its solar revolution is based on sun’s gravitation pull and solar energy reaching the planet. The most important effect of sun’s energy might be the creation and sustenance of life on Earth. Life on Earth is not possible, if the sun goes missing even for a second. No wonder, ancient civilizations considered sun to be a god and worshipped it.

After the world realized the danger of depleting all of the world’s fuel resources, that too very rapidly, alternative methods of energy production were quickly investigated. One of the most environment friendly and naturally abundant resources found was solar energy. If harvested properly, solar energy can cater almost 50% of our energy needs. However, like any other process, usage of solar power has its own pros and cons. Herein we have enlisted the advantages and disadvantages of using solar energy in a simplified manner, so that you can decide the effectiveness of this resource and choose whether you support this power source or not.

Advantages Of Solar Energy

Solar energy is a renewable resource in true sense. It will not get depleted unless the sun gives up burning, in which case there will be no life on our planet as it is.
Solar panels produce no pollution while operating, unlike nuclear reactors and thermal power plants. While the former causes problems of nuclear waste disposal, the latter produces harmful smoke and ash.
Solar energy production from energy panels or other means is completely noiseless, unlike other sources.
Laying solar power panels are easier and cost effective when employed in remote areas as compared to whole power cables. Moreover, they come in handy in places where local power grids do not work. For example, in space.
Unlike oil or coal reserves, solar energy is available in all parts of the planet and is not concentrated in a part of the planet. Therefore, solar power harvesting can be employed almost everywhere.
Solar power generation units are compact and flexible in design, which means they can be installed in almost all kinds of spaces without being worried about construction of new spaces.
Solar panels do cost more initially, but free power generation, over the years, results in overall cost effectiveness.
Personalized and individualistic power generation is possible with solar power generation. This results in reduction of load on power grids and also less depletion of resources.
The solar panels require very less maintenance and monitoring.

Disadvantages Of Solar Energy

The initial costs for components are high. This makes setting up a solar energy harvesting panel a pretty costly affair.
The solar cells work only during the day and also their efficiency is greatly reduced during overcast days. This demands a highly developed and efficient system of storage for energy.
Pollution can also adversely affect the efficiency of solar panels. This results in highly reduced efficiency and also makes solar cells unsuitable for some places.
Though almost all places receive sunlight, not every location is feasible for solar panels.
Creating large scale solar energy plants is very costly and difficult in terms of finding location.
Solar energy is not as concentrated form of energy as the fossil fuels. Therefore using them in automobiles and other mechanized forms is difficult, considering the low power output.

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