We all want to do our part to conserve our resources and help the environment. Using solar power is one way to harness the amazing, free energy of the sun and reduce our ecological impact.
There has never been a better time to solar power your home. It’s easier (and cheaper) than you think.
More and more homeowners are learning how to use solar power to replace the expensive electricity they have traditionally bought from their utility provider. Just because you have done something for years doesn't mean it is the wisest course of action, and continually shelling out whatever your utility company charges for electricity year after year when there are much more attractive options financially really doesn't make a lot of sense.
Discovering how to use solar power teaches you about the marvelous effect of solar energy, as opposed to traditional electricity, has on our planet. Solar power is a clean energy, meaning it releases no carbon, sludge or pollution when it is created. This means the debilitating effects that greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and other chemical nasties produce are non-existent. You stop being a part of the problem, and begin to become a part of the solution when you learn how to use solar power, and then implement it in your life.
olar energy is free, limitless, and the panels pay for themselves. The biggest negative is the upfront cost, but that pays itself off over time, and then you are left with free energy for years and years. So do it for the financial reasons, or do it for the ecological reasons, but get started using solar power in your home today.
We should be using Natures inexhaustible sources of energy – sun, wind and tide. I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.
What you really want to know is how solar power benefits you? Ok we promise we’ll get to that but you should at least read how solar energy works to benefit us all (including good old Mother Earth) by reducing yours and our carbon footprints. Carbon footprint is defined as "the total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person".
This is more commonly expressed as an amount of carbon dioxide, since this is a gas known to the average person, and people can understand and relate to it better. Thus the term carbon footprint actually refers to GHG, carbon dioxide and other similar harmful gases. Unfortunately much of out daily activity releases carbon dioxide and increases our carbon footprint.
In a normal year consuming energy, the average American citizen has a carbon footprint of roughly 14,000 pounds, or 18 tons. Contrarily, solar power has a carbon footprint of exactly zero so this is a prime solar power benefit and one of the main advantages of solar power.
We know what you are thinking. "Great, solar power will help our environment, health and wealth, but it is super difficult and expensive to set up!" Actually, that is one of the mythical solar energy disadvantages supported by energy companies and those who profit from traditional energy sources. They would have you believe that solar energy costs outweigh the solar power benefits of savings that you’d get. And when you add the fact that solar power is unlimited (one of the main advantages of solar energy ), there really is no reason to ignore harnessing solar energy to power our energy-hungry lifestyles.
On a clear, sunny day, 1 kWh (kilowatt hour) is broadcast onto a 1 square meter surface at sea level per hour. On a typical sun-filled day, approximately 6 kWh of total solar energy can be captured from this relatively small area. That works out to a total of 180 kWh every month, and just 5 square meters is enough to replace the average American's electricity consumption each month. It's easy to see that one of the main benefits of solar power is that it’s inexhaustible.
Also, a little known fact about solar power concerns its source. Did you realize that you are legally entitled to sunlight? Yep, it is against the law for anyone to build a structure that blocks your "solar exposure" thus encroaching upon your solar power benefits.
This means that our government is fully aware of the benefits of solar energy and its amazing powers. This also applies to trees and natural impediments on your neighbor's property. You are within your legal right to have trees trimmed and hills reduced if they block the sun’s life-giving rays.
If the legalities of solar power are not enough to consider, how about looking at our foreign energy dependency? Let’s be real here! The phrase “energy independence” has been bandied about for the past 30 years. Isn’t it time we did something about it? We all have a personal and quite possibly physical investment in this wonderful resource.
Reducing and even eliminating our overseas oil providers far outweighs any and all solar energy costs of production. Every single kWh that we harness is done so right here in the good old USA, putting more money back in our pockets. To us this is truly one of the main benefits of solar power.
But what about electricity you say? Electricity might be the single most important aspect of our everyday lives, and we continue to use more every year. It powers so many things in our daily routine, and every year sees more technology that hungrily devours this energy source. But did you know that most electricity is harnessed from burning coal? We would immediately enjoy the solar power benefits of eliminating this carbon dioxide producing, massive carbon footprint.
Once again, you only have to look skyward for the answer. There are certainly many solar energy pros and cons, but the pros far outweigh the cons, and this is just another instance where solar energy disadvantages simply can’t be found.
Solar power is also strongest in the afternoon, when the energy draw is the heaviest. This means that solar power would drastically reduce, if not totally eliminate, blackouts. A battery backup could be set up to guarantee no energy reduction. So you can see that there are many ways how solar energy can be used in your daily life.
Just begin with basic photovoltaic cells on your roof, monitor energy costs, and expand slowly, and before you know it you will reduce your carbon footprint and put major money back in your pockets.
Reap the solar power benefits by discovering the costs, uses and advantages of solar energy. You’ll finally gain energy independence using the benefits of solar energy.
