Solar power?

Question

What are the strengths weaknesses of solar power? How soon could it be widely used? How would its cost compare to present energy costs?

how environmentall friendly is it?

Please include sources (:

thanks.

Answer 1

If what 7 says is true.  Why are they making solar panels for $1 a watt.  They maybe smoking people out of $5 to $8 dollars a watt but that's because they are crocked.  If you made a solar panel for $1 dollar a watt and (if not crocked) sold it for $2 dollars a watt and it paid for itself in 7 years and the panel produced energy for 25+ years.  Is 7 saying it would never produce more power then was used to create it or is he a idiot.  Has 7 ever taken a math class.

Answer 2

All of the following information is from a NOVA special called "Saved By The Sun" which is a relatively unbiased source, and interviews people with many viewpoints about solar power.  I provided the link below to the transcript, and to the show itself, where you can watch it online.

I hope this helps - I would suggest watching the material... it is less than an hour, and it taught me a lot.

Strengths:  

- The sun is a renewable resource, meaning it will continue to provide energy, even as it is consumed, and the amount never decreases.

- It is a clean energy source, meaning it does not release carbon into the atmosphere

- Daily, the sun's rays are at their strongest when electricity consumption is at its highest. Even used as just a supplement to traditional energy sources, it could lessen the need for power in the middle of the day.

- If you have solar panels, and are out of town, you can hook up to the local power grid, and they will pay you for the power you add to the grid.

Weaknesses:

- It is not sunny everywhere. It would be impossible for some places to rely solely on solar power, because they are close to a pole during the wintertime and have very short days or because the climate has more cloudy days than sunny ones.

- Even in sunny places, it's only sunny for half of the day.  There is currently no way to store solar energy, so another energy source must be present.

- Buying and installing solar panels is expensive when compared to paying a power plant to provide your energy.

How soon could it be widely used:

Difficult to predict, since it depends on how quickly the technology advances.  The technology is currently too expensive in order to be widely used without incentive.  

Germany has an incentive program... they pay people 50 cents per kilowatt hour for the electricity they send to the grid, but the people pay only about 20 cents for the electricity they buy from the grid. So at the end of the month, panel owners almost always make a profit.  Since it is still a recent program, it's unknown if the plan is sustainable... for instance, if the technology advances, then people will have to spend even more money to upgrade their old panels to keep up with the new ones.

Costs:

It currently costs from $15,000 to $28,000 to install solar panels onto your house.  More, if you also install hot-water panels.  Even after paying this, you still have to pay the power company to remain connected to the power grid, which could be $10 a month.  Meanwhile, the average electric bill, without solar power, is about $70 a month.  That means it would take over 20 years of living in that house in order for the solar panels to pay off.

How Environmentally Friendly is it?

Since it is from a renewable resource, and it is clean, it is very friendly.  The un-friendly part is that it takes energy to produce the solar panels, and transport them, and install them.  In order for them to be truly friendly, they need to reach the point where they will be very efficient, so that they not only provide clean energy in the end, but they make up for the pollution that was used in creating them and transporting them.

Answer 3

Something that is not well appreciated is that the energy used in producing the cell is for most cell technology greater than the energy will ever produce during their service lifetime. Solar cells should be viewed as a means of facilitation remote power generation. It is not a solution to overall energy needs.

Addendum. The energy required to run furnaces to grow the crystals as just one energy input is enormous. Math, ya... I'm an engineer.