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AuthorThe World Aloha  Solar is The Future! The World is a beautiful place, filled with many resources and life. Earth has been around for millions of years, thriving with life. Now, that all could change. Humans for a while now have drained the Earth of its non-renewable energy resources and not only will it run out of those resources, but it may damage the Earth’s climate irreversibly before humans are even done using it all. With rising temperatures across the World, the ice caps have begun to melt, causing flooding to below sea-level lands. After a while it will become so detrimental that it will displace millions of lives. With this crisis close at hand, one must ask; what can be done about this approaching threat? The answer is to look above, at the shiny bright beautiful light in the sky that gives all living things life, The Sun.
Solar Power is an unlimited energy source that comes from the sun. The United States Department of Energy is a department of The United States of America that researches and enacts US policies on energy, energy safety and nuclear handling. According to The United States Department of Energy, Solar Energy is the amplest source of energy on Earth. On The United States Department of Energy’s website, Energy.Gov, it declares that “173,000 terawatts of Solar Energy unceasingly batters the Earth. That is more than 10,000-fold The World’s total energy utilization”(Pierce). Solar power is a much more suitable energy source than other energy origins, such as oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear and even wind Power. That’s right, even wind energy; but why is wind power not as good as Solar Power? For one, wind power does not produce as much energy as the sun does. The United States department of Energy stated on energy.gov by (Liz Hartman) that wind energy produces 89,000 megawatts of energy in The United States in the year of 2017 A.D. Is this a lot? Yes! How does it compare to Solar’s output? Like and ant versus a super nova. Solar and wind don’t even come close. Wind produces 89,000 megawatts a year; in America, solar produces 173,000 terawatts every instant around the world, a colossal difference in power. Plus, Solar Panels are much more practical than wind turbines. Wind turbines; which absorbs the wind energy are monstrous while solar panels; in relative size; are diminutive. Consumers can fit solar panels on their property much easier than a gigantic wind turbine. Now, can wind power be helpful in saving the world from global disaster? Yes, but solar must be the leader in the global cause since it is so much more effective than wind Power. The sun doesn’t reach some areas of the Earth, so solar cannot be the leader in the fight against climate change. Wind needs to be the main energy sources for these parts of the world and so solar is not impeccable. Wind should be the leader in the fight against climate change, not solar for this reason alone, right? While it is true that some places on Earth do not get much sunlight throughout the year, there is a solution to this issue. The answer to this concern is solar batteries. Solar batteries store the energy consumed by solar power so that the energy can be used in later times. One type of solar battery is known as solar photovoltaic systems. According to “Leaving The Grid – The Effect Of Combining Home Energy Storage with Renewable Energy Generation” author Thomas Braunl states “Solar photovoltaic systems (PV) use multiple photovoltaic modules to convert sunlight into DC electricity. The DC electricity produced can be used to charge DC batteries or supply a DC AC inverter to supply power to a household.”[sic]. These solar photovoltaic systems are an answer to the sunlight not reaching areas all year-round argument against solar leading the world in energy resources. However, there are more answers to this skepticism. In the article “Solar And Wind Energy May Be Nice, But How Can We Store It?” host Jeff Brade declares “A company called SolarReserve may have found a solution: It built a large solar plant in the Nevada desert that can store heat from the sun and generate electricity for up to 10 hours even after sundown.”[sic]. Also that “At full capacity, he says, the $997 million plant generates enough electricity to power 75,000 Nevada homes.”[sic] (Brade). Now, ten hours can’t last all Winter, but having multiple batteries store energy overtime can store a ton of energy that can be used in a long-term sunlight drought. 997 million dollar plant generating enough energy to energize 75,000 homes in Nevada is a great figure! On a global scale, the results would be beyond imagination. Solar Batteries are the answer to the locations on the planet that do not have that much sun throughout the year. When the sun is there, the solar panel can use some of the power absorbed and store the rest for later. The Earth does get hit with 173,000 terawatts of power from the sun every instant after all. This much power is more than enough to store throughout the year. If Solar takes over the energy industry, what will happen to the jobs of oil workers, coal miners, nuclear power plant workers, etc? They will lose their job and that will cause chaos as well, correct? Incorrect, in fact evidence suggest that this will do nothing to jobs or the economy negatively. Instead of coal miners and such being out of jobs, they will instead transfer to new jobs, that are better than their previous jobs. Those jobs may have better working conditions, more benefits, and more also pay better wages in the future. In the article “As Coal Jobs Decline, Solar Sector Shines” NPR.ORG host Reid Frazier proclaims that “A reality more miners face, as coal jobs have shrunk by 40 percent since 2011. What is growing is the number of jobs in renewables. Solar power accounts for just under 1.5 percent of electricity in the U.S., and yet, according to the Department of Energy, there are more than twice as many jobs in solar as in coal.”[sic] Solar jobs are outclassing traditional energy sources jobs in the double margin. As innovation increases and entrepreneurial spirit increases, so do jobs. It’s natural for when one industry dies off, another one emerges in it’s place. It kind of like filling a gap that has been created, or matter, which can’t be created nor destroyed, just changed. The economy is ever changing, so new opportunities will always come out of the death of an industry, like coal. So, all the worries of coal miners and other energy workers jobs being lost is patched with the new solar energy jobs being created at a rapid pace. There really is nothing to be worried about. Everything will always work-out in the end, because it always has in the macro-scale of events in the world. Changing Solar to the leader of energy sources around the world will change the economy will harm it, because rapid change to the economy is pernicious, right? The world economy is constantly going through changes. So no, this will not damage the economy. Look at Amazon versus Sears and other brick & mortar stores for example. Once brick & mortar stores, like Sears; dominated the retail market. Today, Sears is ‘running for the hills’ and closing down stores everywhere while Amazon is thriving in the retail goods industry. Now, brick and mortar stores like Sears need to change their strategy in order to keep up with the changing economic ecosystem. The same matter will occur with Solar energy taking over the market. The economy is constantly changing and solar becoming the leader in the energy market will only not harm the economy but will bolster it. Change is necessary in not only the economy but in all aspects of the world. If renewable energy resources do not replace traditional energy sources, change the energy land-scape, then Earth’s beautiful climate will change, but not in a good way. Solar must be the leader in the energy industry because it’s the most effective and largest energy source in the world. The health of the planet is at risk, the future is at risk. With solar taking over, wars over oils will cease, with wars ceasing poverty will diminish and with less poverty comes peace on Earth. Solar energy may be able to bring peace on Earth and in turn save the world! |