Written by Davey Newlove
Over the years, solar energy has proven itself to be a clean and renewable source of energy. Solar panels can produce quite a bit of electricity for customers when the sun is shining. The benefits of solar panels goes well beyond lowering your power bill as well as other financial benefits. Solar energy provides many environmental benefits as well! Let’s take a closer look at the environmental benefits of solar energy.
Renewable Energy Source
Solar energy is a renewable source of energy. This means that solar panels can produce power and regenerate itself time and time again with a minimal impact to the environment. This is great because there is a finite amount of the earth’s natural resources. Once those natural resources are gone, they don’t come back for a very long time, if at all. This makes investing in renewable energy resources that much more important to the sustainability of our planet. When solar panels absorb energy from the sun, they turn that energy into power that can be used right away for human activity or stored by batteries for later use. The sun shines every day which provides an endless resource of clean, renewable energy.
Reduced Air Pollution
One of the biggest environmental benefits of solar energy is that results in minimal air pollutants. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2022, just over 60% of utility-scale electric generation came from carbon-emitting fossil fuels. These carbon-emitting fossil fuels create air pollution that is harmful to the environment. Solar energy doesn’t create harmful particles that get thrown into the air. This helps to make our cities safer and healthier to live in. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), widespread adoption of solar energy could drastically reduce air pollution. Reduced air pollution is not only good for people, but it’s good for the solar panels as well.
Fights Climate Change
Greenhouse gasses help lead to rising temperatures and climate change around the globe. Climate change is a major contributor to serious environmental and public health issues around the globe. One of these dangerous environmental changes is drier and hotter weather in the West that helps lead to more severe fires and drought. In the East, climate change leads to more severe and increasingly more frequent, major storms. Some greenhouse gasses are present in the production and distribution of solar panels, but solar panels do not generate greenhouse gasses while they are generating energy. By installing solar, you can help reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses and decrease your own carbon footprint. Fewer greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere helps fight the effects of climate change.
Solar Reduces Reliance on Fossil Fuels
Burning fossil fuels leads to harmful particulates being released in the environment. The extraction of fossil fuels is also a major contributing factor to human-made climate change. Solar energy is a clean and renewable energy source that helps reduce the need to extract and burn fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are also available in a finite amount, as to where solar energy comes from a readily abundant source: the sun! The faster we can make the change to solar energy, the faster we can begin to hang on to the resources which helps the longevity of our planet.
No Water Needed to Function
Unlike many sources of power, solar panels do not require any internal or external fluids to function. This means that solar does not use up one of our most precious resources in order to keep going. Many sources of energy require water to help keep moving parts cool. Instead, solar panels use air cooling methods to help make sure they don’t overheat. Solar panels also do not require any chemicals in order to be cleaned. These panels instead use natural rain and evaporation as a cleaning process. Moreover, solar panels have no moving parts which means they do not need any form of lubrication in order to function. Helping save one of our most precious resources is one of the most underrated environmental benefits of solar energy.
Solar energy has many great environmental benefits. If you want to do you part in helping the environment, contact JSunPV today to get started on your project!