What are some disadvantages and advantages of solar energy?

Question

Could you please list some for me

Answer 1

Disadvantages, they can have a large up front cost, I'm sure manufacturing creates some bad waste. Not usually available to renters

Advantages:

If you purchase you can have at least 10 years of free energy

Don't have to worry about electric rates going up

Don't have to worry about peak demand outages

Reduce CO2 emissions

They don't use fossil fuels

You can also lease, which means no up front costs, you lock in your electric rate for 20-25 years, electricity goes up at least 5% a year in some areas closer to 10%.

Answer 2

good= saves oil/gas/fuel

bad= costs loads and it will take a long time to pay back

x

Answer 3

Advantages:

-Harnesses the natural power of the sun.

-No emissions.

-Creates it's own energy (basically)

-Can be used to power Solar Cookers (make your own food without any wood to burn or oil [becoming popular in many African countries where cooking resources are sparse])

Disadvantages:

-Very expensive for the amount of energy received and distributed throughout the power grid.

-The technology is very young (maximizing the amount of energy harnessed, amplifying the rays to reuse and thus amplify the power of the rays, etc. etc.).

-Terribly inefficient when compared to the output of Nuclear power.

Wind and Solar power will be considered white elephants for a while--until technology starts to catch up.  Nuclear power is the decent replacement for Coal/Oil/Natural Gas, at least until Wind and Solar catch up.

Solar technologies just aren't there yet.

Answer 4

hi

the advantages of solar energy are

no pollution

no wastage of natural things like oil ,fuel

mainly is environment friendly

i can't think about disadvantage other than this i.e. it is costly but is pays back  

Answer 5

most people say the disadvantages are the cost of purchasing and installing the solar panels.

it doesn't have to cost the world, you can actually make and install your own solar panels for a fraction of the price of buying one.

i'm in the middle of building my own one at the moment and have already built and installed my own power generating wind mill. it's really not that complicated either.

i've reviewed the whole process on my website: http://theearth4energyreview.blogspot.co...

Answer 6

Let me start off by saying we (my family and I) live completely, 100% “off of the grid and are completely self sufficient”

The house is built utilizing natures natural elements, in the shape of an octagon with 8ft wide arch doors on every wall to catch every angle of wind (typical 4 sided homes have half the chance as one with 8 sides. A circle being the most efficient design). Woodburning stoves, solar chimney, solar AC, solar heating, solar water heating (pool and home), solar stove, solar power, wind power, hydrogen powered back up generator, hydrogen back up water heater, hydrogen stove, 2 hydrogen powered trucks, 1 EV (electric vehicle) and satellite internet.

There are no utility lines, no water lines, no roads, tv, cell service, etc. on our ranch. EVERYTHING needed is produced here. All electricity comes from 27 solar panels, 2 main wind gens and a back hydrogen generator if needed (typically we can last 9 days with all luxuries of sunless windless weather, hasn't happened yet). Water is caught and storaged from the rain. Hot water is made with solar batch water heaters with an on-demand hydrogen hot water heater as backup. Even our vehicles use alternative energy (2 hydrogen trucks, 1 EV electric vehicle converted). Because of this we have no bills, no debt and no mortgage.

The following steps were taking directly out of a DIY guide I offer to those who would like to run their homes on solar power safely, reducing their monthly utility bills or even selling power back the the electrical companies. The entire guide is available at www agua-luna com. Its pretty simple but if you have any problems feel free to contact me directly I can walk you threw the process.

Materials you will need

A sheet of copper flashing from the hardware store. This normally costs about $5.00 per square foot. We will need about half a square foot.

Two alligator clip leads.

A sensitive micro-ammeter that can read currents between 10 and 50 microamperes. Radio Shack sells small LCD multimeters that will do, but I used a small surplus meter with a needle.

An electric stove. My kitchen stove is gas, so I bought a small one-burner electric hotplate for about $25. The little 700 watt burners probably won't work -- mine is 1100 watts, so the burner gets red hot.

A large clear plastic bottle off of which you can cut the top. I used a 2 liter spring water bottle. A large mouth glass jar will also work.

Table salt. We will want a couple tablespoons of salt.

Tap water.

Sand paper or a wire brush on an electric drill.

Sheet metal shears for cutting the copper sheet.

The first step is to cut a piece of the copper sheeting that is about the size of the burner on the stove. Wash your hands so they don't have any grease or oil on them. Then wash the copper sheet with soap or cleanser to get any oil or grease off of it. Use the sandpaper or wire brush to thoroughly clean the copper sheeting, so that any sulphide or other light corrosion is removed.

Next, place the cleaned and dried copper sheet on the burner and turn the burner to its highest setting.

As the copper starts to heat up, you will see beautiful oxidation patterns begin to form. Oranges, purples, and reds will cover the copper.

As the copper gets hotter, the colors are replaced with a black coating of cupric oxide. This is not the oxide we want, but it will flake off later, showing the reds, oranges, pinks, and purples of the cuprous oxide layer underneath.

The last bits of color disappear as the burner starts to glow red.

When the burner is glowing red-hot, the sheet of copper will be coated with a black cupric oxide coat. Let it cook for a half an hour, so the black coating will be thick. This is important, since a thick coating will flake off nicely, while a thin coat will stay stuck to the copper.

After the half hour of cooking, turn off the burner. Leave the hot copper on the burner to cool slowly. If you cool it too quickly, the black oxide will stay stuck to the copper.

As the copper cools, it shrinks. The black cupric oxide also shrinks. But they shrink at different rates, which makes the black cupric oxide flake off.

The little black flakes pop off the copper with enough force to make them fly a few inches. This means a little more cleaning effort around the stove, but it is fun to watch.

When the copper has cooled to room temperature (this takes about 20 minutes), most of the black oxide will be gone. A light scrubbing with your hands under running water will remove most of the small bits. Resist the temptation to remove all of the black spots by hard scrubbing or by flexing the soft copper. This might damage the delicate red cuprous oxide layer we need to make to solar cell work.

Cut another sheet of copper about the same size as the first one. Bend both pieces gently, so they will fit into the plastic bottle or jar without touching one another. The cuprous oxide coating that was facing up on the burner is usually the best si