Alternative energy source “Solar Power”
Although we may use fossil fuels daily, they are detrimental to our environment and to our atmosphere. It has become a necessity to develop alternative sources of energy to power our high consumption and to reduce the negative impact on our planet.
It is estimated by 2050 that one third of the worlds energy will come from solar, wind or other renewable resources.
Solar power is essentially the best option, it is estimated that a 1.5kw PV system will keep more than 110,000 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere over the next 25 years. It is estimated this sort of device will eliminate the need to burn 60,000 lbs. of coal.
Solar power will also reach 362,000 installations and will cost more than $1 billion dollars to install. This means that it will cost around $0.49 per watt, however Chinese manufacturers estimate they can drop the price to around $0.36 per watt by 2017.
Solar power is starting to reach the mainstream, and it is predicted that by 2013 the U.S will install a system every 4 minutes. This is wonderful news for our environment.
As we can see here the global solar capacity has grown from 2.2GW in 2002 to 100 GW in 2012.
This is a remarkable growth and shows the world moving toward a more environmentally friendly society.
In addition to providing energy at a less negatively impacting way. Solar power is also adding jobs to the economy. There are now an estimated 1.36 million jobs in the Global Solar Power Industry.
As we learned previously in class, Texas has the highest solar capacity potential in the nation. “The sunshine hitting Texas in one month contains more energy than all the oil and gas ever pumped out of the state”.
As we can see, Solar Power is where our future lies, the Sun has the most energy in our solar system and if we can tap this resource to benefit ourselves and future generations, I believe no matter the cost, we should make the effort.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-most-important-solar-statistics-of-2013
I think solar power is ging to be huge in the future. Plus it has a stigma of being extremly costly, but in the last year it’s actually come down a significant amount- which gives it more hope for the future.