Francisco Vasquez The University of Texas at El Paso SOLAR ENERGY 2
S Abstract The energy sources that are widely used today, such as natural gas, are not going last forever. Eventually those resources will be exhausted and humans will be forced to find another reliable source of energy. There is one form of energy that is extremely abundant and is seen in everyday life. Sunlight. If the energy of the sun is harvested it could possibly provide more that what is already being consumed by humans daily. However, many questions are brought up about this seemingly unreliable source of power. This literature review will explore if solar energy really is the future of renewable energy.
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Solar Energy: A Literature Review There is already many other alternative sources of energy that are being looked into by researchers in order to eventually deal with the impending exhaustion of the planets natural resources. These include solar, nuclear, wind, etc. However, the nuclear method is dangerous and highly radioactive when something goes wrong, wind on the other hand, while plentiful in some areas, can be very scarce and unreliable at times. Sunlight is everywhere and has a huge amount of potential compared to the natural gases that are used today. Many questions arise about solar energy however. It is still a fairly new innovation that is yet to be implemented at a wide scale. There is many factors to consider when it comes to using solar energy as our sole provider of energy, not just technological but economical as well. These matters can be summed up into four questions:
1. Who would be interested in investing or using solar energy?
2. Can solar energy really by more productive and clean than our current sources of energy?
3. What advances have been made regarding the technological side of solar energy?
4. What are the constraints that are currently holding solar energy back?
Using data gathered from surveys as well as several other forms of information this literature will explore and question if solar energy is reliable and if it really has the potential to be the energy of the future. Who would be interested in investing or using solar energy?
If solar energy had the potential and was completely efficient, who would be interested in investing in or using solar energy? There are many individuals who could greatly benefit ny SOLAR ENERGY 4
switching to solar power in their own homes. But not only would solar benefit individual households. It could also be a great investment for companies or small businesses. Cutting down on the electricity bill could be of great interest to a large company, especially for one with large buildings and offices. However, for the general populace, the question is if there would be consumers willing to try solar energy out. In order to help answer the main question research was conducted through the use of a survey that was made available on social media, although it is on a small scale, it should give an accurate representation of the general communitys interest in solar power. Through the survey this question was asked: Would you switch to solar energy in your home or business? The following results were collected:
According to the chart, %78.6 answered yes to the question: Would you switch to solar energy in your home or business? While the remain %21.4 were unsure, this is most likely due to the lack of further knowledge in solar energy. Concerning the common consumer, what would appeal to them the most would be cheap prices. However, the results show that a majority of them would be willing to switch to solar energy. With more information, perhaps more people SOLAR ENERGY 5
could be persuaded to switch to solar energy, perhaps by showing them that solar energy could be cheaper and monumentally safer for the environment. According to solar advocate Zachary Shahan, in his article Is Solar Worth It? he explicitly says that although solar energy would not be beneficial for everyone it would still be very useful for a considerable amount of individuals, more than the amount of people for whom solar energy would only be an inconvenience. It is clear that solar energy is something that consumers would be interested in. However, houses with solar panels on their roofs are not a common sight. This is due to several reasons that will be addressed by answering the other questions regarding solar energy.
Can solar energy really by more productive and clean than our current sources of energy?
Through surveys and research it has been shown that solar energy could potentially be the sole energy provider of the future. However, is solar energy really more efficient and environmentally- friendly than the current energy source, coal and natural gas. The sun has always been around, providing sunlight for life on earth for million of years. Fossil fuels and oil on the other hand can be extremely difficult to acquire, and when acquired they have to be processed and refined which creates dangerous gases. Finally, theyre burned to generate electricity, which in turn creates carbon dioxide and dangerous greenhouse gases, which are harmful to the atmosphere. A successful company called Solar for Good Homes, states these two facts and two additional advantages that solar has over fossil fuels on their website for consumers interested in solar energy. The two other issues that they presented was the cost of consumer electricity and the human element. This company not only stated the environment issues, excessive excavation and pollution, but the costs and possible conflicts that could SOLAR ENERGY 6
arise over fossil fuels, such as one between countries. Solar energy is provided by the sun, so it is almost always readily available, the means of collecting it, through the use of silicon solar panels or photo-valtic panels, does not produce wastes harmful to the environment. The productivity of solar energy relies on two important factors; the efficiency of the technology used to collect sunlight and the location of this technology. The amount of sunlight different areas and regions receive vary greatly. This is due to weather and climate of the region. There is many corporations who have taken notice of this, therefore they build solar panel farms in areas that receive sunlight a significant amount of time. However, as mentioned before, this is not something seen commonly. The following is a map that the Department of Energy has available on their website energy.gov:
This map shows the potential of solar energy of the different regions of the United States. The red represents areas that have the largest amount of sunlight for the longest period of time. This map shows that sunlight is abundant, and with the appropriate technology and placing, solar energy could be much more productive than fossil fuels. SOLAR ENERGY 7
What advances have been made regarding the technological side of solar energy?
So far, research has shown that solar energy can be clean, productive and that it has room for growth. However, a lot of these factors depend on the efficiency of the technology used to collect sunlight. There are many institutions conducting research on solar energy technologies, such as improving the current solar panel or finding ways to intensifying the sunlight on solar panels. These innovations could make other factors, such as location, less relevant. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a several ongoing research projects on their website MIT technology review concerning solar energy. They go from improving the solar cells themselves with the use of nano- technology to small curved glass that concentrates the sunlight onto a small solar panel that collects sunlight more efficiently than traditional solar panels. These innovations also seem to have one thing in common, improved efficiency while keeping the costs of production as low as possible. If these new methods and inventions can be mass produced on the market they could significantly reduce the costs of solar panels and bring the future of solar energy closer than was initially expected. Conclusion Solar energy is essentially more desired, efficient, clean and is making significant advances in research. The constraints of solar energy were location of solar panels, efficiency of products, costs of the technology and the consumers reluctance to give solar energy a chance. However, in this literature review, it has been established that there is people willing to switch to solar. As well as proving that it is a clean and productive renewable energy that is making significant progress. Solar definitely has a bright future as an important and essential source of energy in the future. SOLAR ENERGY 8