Solar energy is a trending topic of science in recent times. The non-renewable sources of energy are about to extinct due to their limited storage on the Earth. Therefore, alternative sources of energy are needed to fulfill our daily needs of energy. There are some renewable sources of energy like Solar energy, Wind energy, Geothermal energy, Hydro energy, etc. available in nature which can be good options as alternative sources of energy. In this post, I am going to share some advantages and disadvantages of Solar energy with a short description.
Contents in this article:
- What is Solar Energy?
- How solar energy is used?
- Why is Solar energy renewable?
- Advantages of Solar energy
- Disadvantages of Solar energy
What is Solar Energy?
The term “Solar” comes from the word “Sun”. The light energy coming from the Sun is known as Solar energy. The light energy of the Sun can be converted into heat energy and electric energy that can fulfill our daily requirements of energy.
How is solar energy used?
Now, what solar energy is used for? Silicon-made Solar cells can convert Solar energy into electric energy. This will fulfill the shortage of electricity. Apart from this, Solar energy is a powerful source of heat energy. If solar energy is available then we don’t need to burn coal or petroleum to produce heat.
The usage of Solar energy has some pros and cons which are discussed in the later half of this post.
A short description of Solar energy
At present, non-renewable sources of energy like coal, petroleum, etc. are the most dependable sources of heat and electricity. But, the world is facing a crisis in these sources of energy. Therefore, people are thinking to use renewable sources of energy. The light energy of the Sun is Solar energy which is a potential alternative source of energy. One can convert Solar energy into heat energy and electrical energy. The conversion of light energy into the heat energy is an old deal. For example: If we need some hot water, we can get it by placing a bucket of water in the Sun. But, the conversion of solar energy into electricity is a new finding.
Albert Einstein discovered the Photoelectric effect in 1905 when he explained how light can emit electrons from the metal surface. If we arrange a proper circuit, these emitted electrons flow through the circuit to give electricity. That concept is now adopted in a properly. We can convert Solar energy into electricity easily. The discovery of Semiconductor materials has made it easier. Many of the official and private sector buildings use Solar panels as the source of electricity which consists of Solar cells made of photo-diodes.
Solar energy as a renewable resource
The non-renewable sources of energy like Coal, Petroleum, etc. do not have unlimited storage. These are vanishing day by day as we are using these. We cannot generate these sources of energy in a quick time, it takes millions of years to regenerate these sources. On the other hand, Solar energy is very much natural and can be available for the next billion years. Sunlight will be available every morning repeatedly when Sun comes out (except on cloudy days). This is why Solar energy is a renewable resource of energy. We can use Solar energy to heat a body, produce electricity, etc.
There are some other renewable resources of energy like Wind energy, Geothermal energy, Hydro energy, etc.
Advantages of Solar Energy
There are some advantages and disadvantages of Solar energy and its usage. In this section, I am going to point out the advantages only. There is a separate section for the disadvantages of Solar energy. The pros of Solar energy usage are as followings –
Solar energy is renewable
The main advantage of Solar energy is that it is renewable. There will not be any shortage of Solar energy as long as the Sun exists.
Impact of Solar energy on the environment
The burning of Coal and Petroleum pollutes the environment badly. But, Solar energy is natural and environment-friendly.
Low cost
Solar cells convert solar energy into electricity. Solar cells consist of Semiconductor-made photo-diodes which are very cheaper. Therefore, the production cost of Solar Panels (consists of a large number of solar cells) is very low.
Disadvantages of Solar Energy
There are two main disadvantages of Solar energy-
- It is almost impossible to get Solar energy from the Sun during the rainy season or on cloudy days. Therefore, we need to have another alternative source as a backup.
- Solar cells cannot convert the entire amount of solar energy falling on them into electricity. That means the efficiency of the solar cells is not that good.
Conclusions of Solar energy
In this article, we have discussed Solar energy, its advantages and disadvantages. We may conclude that –
- Non-renewable sources of energy will extinct very soon. So, we need alternative energy resources.
- Solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy and hydro energy are some good resources of renewable energy.
- The use of Solar energy is easier now. Solar cells or solar panels can convert solar energy into electric energy.
- There are some advantages and disadvantages of Solar energy.
- Still, we are unable to use the majority part of Solar energy due to a lack of proper mechanism. So, there are many scopes of utilizing solar energy in better ways.
Hope we will be able to take full advantage of Solar energy in the future. This is all from this article. If you still have any doubt on this topic you can ask me in the comment section.
Thank you!
Related posts:
1 thought on “Advantages and Disadvantages of Solar Energy”
Comments are closed.