SOLAR ENERGY

By Anonymous -
By: Tej Mehta
(sorry for the post  being late)

INTRODUCTION
Do you think that the sun will blink out during your lifetime? Probably not. That means solar energy won't be going away for a long time too. That proves that solar energy is reliable. Solar energy is when photons are allowed to knock free electrons from atoms, which generates a flow of electricity.   When it comes to storing solar energy, well, Tesla, has taken care of that. (see previous post Tesla power wall)

PROS

There are many pros to solar energy, but there are cons. Some pros are that solar energy is extremely reliable. (SEI 2) It won't go out during our lifetime, and during future generations, unlike fossil fuels, or other energy sources. Solar energy is pretty much free once you get the panels. All you have to do is pay for the maintenance, and storing the energy. (SEI 2) The sun produces enough energy to power about 2880 trillion light bulbs! Also, the sun constantly gives the earth about 35,000 times the energy we need. That means, if we put solar energy into use, we would have much more energy than we need! (SEI 3) As of now, New York is using the most solar power. But we really need to get solar panels in places that have plenty of sun, like Arizona, and California.

CONS
There are also some cons of solar energy. One of the cons is the fact that you need space to put solar panels. (SEI -1)In certain houses, the roof is too small for solar panels to fit on. (SEI -1) For solar farms, more and more land is being developed, and therefore there is less and less room for solar farms to be built. (SEI -1) Another con is when the sun is not out and it is raining. Solar panels will not work all day, unlike fossil fuels, or biomass. (SEI -1) Even though solar power pollutes less than other energy sources, it still pollutes during manufacturing. (SEI-1.5) When Solar panels and other Sun captureres are being manufactured, Nitrogen Triflouride and sulfur hexaflouride can be released.

Considering the pros and cons, this is solar energy's SEI rating: 2.5



CONCLUSION
All in all, solar energy is a great, reliable alternative to fossil fuels. It has many good qualities and some minor bad qualities. Solar energy could power our world until the sun goes away. If we can get solar panels to everybody's homes and offices in the U.S, we would have an abundance of energy.

I used http://www.solarpowerocks.com/, http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/SolarEnergy.php, and http://energyinformative.org/solar-energy-pros-and-cons/.

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