Is Solar Energy Good Or Bad For The Environment

Although materials do vary between different types and brands of solar panels most contain toxic materials somewhere in their design.

Is solar energy good or bad for the environment.

However you also can t overlook the challenges that solar is facing as a new renewable energy source and the changes that need to be made before. All energy sources have some impact on our environment. The overall greenhouse gas emissions involved in solar energy is still much lower than coal or natural gas. Other manufacturers such as sonnen lg and byd offer great solar batteries for home energy storage as well.

Solar energy systems power plants do not produce air pollution or greenhouse gases. Solar energy is renewable sustainable and abundant and it produces zero harmful emissions to the environment as it creates power. Most people overlook the impact that the materials they are made from can have on the environment. Everyone knows that solar energy is unreliable and expensive.

A 2011 report showed that solar s carbon footprint averaged at roughly 85 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent co 2 e per gigawatt hour gwh while natural gas and coal came in at 499 co 2 e gwh and 888 co 2 e gwh respectively. The point that isn t made often enough although steve has written about it here on. That big yellow sun is as green as they come. The most popular residential solar battery is the tesla powerwall a 13 5 kwh lithium ion battery.

Using solar energy can have a positive indirect effect on the environment when solar energy replaces or reduces the use of other energy sources that have larger effects on the environment. However renewable sources such as wind solar geothermal biomass and. Let s shine a light on those environmental impacts and determine if the good outweighs the bad when it comes to solar energy and the environment. When we think of solar panels we often think of them as been very good for the environment.

Solar panels have the ability to harness energy while not causing air pollution which makes them ultra environmentally friendly. Fossil fuels coal oil and natural gas do substantially more harm than renewable energy sources by most measures including air and water pollution damage to public health wildlife and habitat loss water use land use and global warming emissions. It s impossible to deny that solar energy has plenty of benefits ranging from saving money helping the environment or even on a national level promoting america s energy independence.