The Environmental Impact of Solar Panels

Solar Panels and Their Environmental Impact

As the global environmental crisis become more and more pressing every year, renewable energy source such as solar panels are gaining a lot of traction throughout the world as an alternative energy production method. Solar panel systems offer a substantial benefit to the environment, make them the most important tool to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future for the next generation. These benefits range from reducing greenhouse gas emission, improving air quality, allowing for energy independence while also helping create 10,000's of jobs world-wide. Solar panels will play a crucial role in helping battle climate change and ensuring environmental stability worldwide. But what exactly makes solar panels so effective at combatting environmental issues? In our blog will delve into the many ways which solar panels can positively impact our society and make for a greener better tomorrow.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

One of the most significant benefits that solar panels can offer to our environment is the massive reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Traditional energy production will often rely heavily on fossil fuels. The most effective way to extract energy from fossil fuels is often by burning fossil fuels like coal and natural gas to generate electricity. This method of burning fossil fuels will release great amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (CO2) as well as adding other harmful pollutants into the air too. Over time these pollutants and emissions will slowly accumulate over time which is leading the greenhouse effect on our atmosphere trapping more and more heat causing global warming and climate change.

Solar panels generate electricity by harnessing the power of the sun by converting the sunlight directly into electricity making solar energy one of the best and cleanest forms of energy production without the need of combustion. The earth is hit with 5.4 Yottawatts of solar energy every year, to understand how much energy that is here is the number written a simpler format 5,455,728,000,000,000,000,000,000 Watts. This means that if you took all the energy the sun hit the earth with for 1 full second it could provide the earth with a years’ worth of electricity. Since solar panels do not generate energy with combustion methods this results in 0 emissions during the generation process of solar energy which is the crucial aspect for helping make a positive environmental impact on our planet.

Job Creation in the Renewable Energy Industry

The transition to solar energy will have great economic impacts across the world especially in the form of job creation. As the demand for renewable energy grows so will the need for skilled workers to be able to perform, the manufacturing of solar panels, installation, operation and maintaining the solar panel systems. In recent years the renewable energy sector is one of the fastest growing industries in the world.

According to reports most jobs in the solar industry are often local meaning the economic benefits of renewable energy will directly help the community around the area. The solar energy sector offers a range of employment opportunities from sales, installation, customer service, marketing, research, manufacturing and logistics. These jobs are often well paid and will provide long term careers in a ever expanding industry allowing for economic growth while also battling climate change.

Improving the Air Quality

Another major benefit for solar energy is the improvement it offers in our air quality. Fossil fuel-based energy production methods release great amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere, These include carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter. All of this contributes to air pollution and air pollution is a serious public health risk and is linked to serious health problems such as respiratory problems, heart disease and premature death.

Solar panels produce electricity without the emitting any of these harmful pollutants giving us much lower level of air pollution. Investing into solar energy will result in cleaner skies and air reducing the incidents of respiratory issues like asthma, bronchitis and lung infections especially in children and the elderly.

The health benefits that will come with cleaner air will also have great economic impacts as well. By increasing air quality with the use of solar energy we will also be increasing the populations average health which means lower healthcare costs, less days off work due to illness. This will create a healthier more productive society which is one of the more overlooked reasons for solar panel installations.

Energy Independence

Solar energy also provides us all with energy independent by allowing the public and small business the opportunity to generate their own electricity while also sending any excess they have generated back to the national grid.

Solar panels can be installed on site allowing protection against natural disasters and cyber-attacks against the national grid. It is possible to have solar panels that can still work while the national grid is down so this is perfect for areas that do not have access to easy electricity supplies.

Installing solar panels can also help save people money on their bills as the consumer has effectively built their own mini power station allowing them to protect themselves from future price hikes and other political problems that the world may face that can artificially increase the price of energy.

Preservation of Natural Resources

Solar panels will not only reduce emissions and increase air quality, but they will help the preservation of natural resources. Fossil fuel-based energy production relies on the extraction of finite resources such as coal, oil and natural gas. These extractions which include mining, drilling and fracking are not only very energy intensive to perform nut they also have massive environmental impacts. Entire ecosystems are disrupted, and often large areas of land are often rendered unusable after the extraction of these materials. Not only that but there can be massive accidents such as the big oil spills we have seen time and time again.

Solar panels are created mostly of silicon, which is the second most abundant element on earth, 27.7% of the earths curst mass is made up of silicon. Solar panels can also be installed on rooftops, so we do not need to create any extra space to make for solar panel installations. Even if we build large solar farms in fields this has a lot lower impact on the environment than building a fossil field power plant in the same place.

Additionally solar energy can play a crucial role in reducing the amount of water usage world-wide too. Fossil fuel power plants consume vast amount of water for cooling purposes. in contrast solar photovoltaic systems require minimal water in the production of making them which make them an ideal energy solution for the conservation of water supplies in areas that often suffer from what scarcity.

Research and Development

The advancement of solar energy and solar technology is made possible through collaborative research and development efforts. Governments, academic institutions and private companies are investing money into the improvement of solar energy.

Continued research and efforts are focused on increasing the efficiency of solar panels while making the more and more cost effective. With the sudden surge of solar energy adoption across the planet this is also pushed the way for battery development.

Sustainable Development

The wide spread adoption in renewable energy such as solar panels will help promote sustainable development by helping people understand and address environmental issues. we can help underserved communities by helping them with clean renewable energy solar power can help communities by reducing their reliance on expensive energy and helping increase the air quality of these communities.

Solar panel installations can also be adapted and combined with other means of sustainable development as solar panels can help be used to gather rainwater by using guttering systems. This type of approach can help push the sustainability of a community installing large scale solar panel plants in areas with not much access to water or power can help them achieve both and the costs of solar panels are nothing compared to power stations.

Educational Opportunities, Awareness and EPC's

The adoption of solar energy is also educating the population of the importance of renewable energy and the negative impacts of fossil fuels. Schools and Universities will often install solar panels to help reduce their running costs allowing them to spend more money educating their students. They will often use the installation as a lesson for students to show them the power of renewable energy.

Schools will be adding renewable energy and the environmental factors into the curriculum which will increase awareness of the next generation.

When installing renewable energy, it is often required to have an EPC rating done on your property this is basically a full report on how energy efficient your home is, but it also will explain what environmental factors and financial factors improvements to your home can achieve allowing the general public to be educated on how to improve their own home.

Environmental Impact Assessments and Regulations.

Despite their many benefits solar panel installations need to be planned carefully to minimise environmental impacts that they could cause themselves. Environmental impact assessments (EIA's) are conducted on any large-scale solar project to assess the risk to any local eco system such as wildlife and habitats. These assessments help to identify any potential risk that large scale solar panel installation could cause while also ensuring the best outcome for the area.

By adhering to the regulations set out by MCS and other important standards across the world solar panel installations can help reduce the effects of climate change while increasing air quality with much lower risks to the environment. It’s even starting to be shown that large scale solar farms are even having positive impacts on the biodiversity in the area by creating new habitats for certain species further enhancing the environmental impact of solar energy.