What are some drawbacks with solar power?

Question

What are some drawbacks with solar power?

Answer 1

Well one drawback of solar power is that it requires sunlight.  And if you live in a dark place that doesn't get a lot of sun, you're out of luck.

Answer 2

you spend all that money for solar and in billion years the sun blows up. there goes your money.

Answer 3

It most important drawback is that after sunset all solar panels go totally dead.

Secondly, sunlight only sends about 1,000 watts per square yard to the surface of the earth, and thats at noon when the clouds are gone.

Present technology only allows us to recover about 10% of the available solar energy reaching the surface of a solar panel.

To replace this nations fossil fueled power plants with solar energy, it would be necessary to set up enough solar collectors to cover an area the size of the state of Connecticutt.

Answer 4

1. too costly.

2. need large amount of area to collect power.

3. takes time to collect energy.

4. cannot be used in cloudy or rainy days.

Answer 5

Initial cost.

And some sites just aren't suitable.

That's about it.

Answer 6

You need a great deal of Windex and lots of people to keep the panels polished.  Otherwise, your efficiency factor goes down.  You also need lots of real estate.

Answer 7

I think more people would like to have it, but price is the biggest drawback. Its kinda expensive.

It cost maybe $25,000, for a 3000 watt system. Most homes you need more, but this is probably the bare minimum you you can get by to run an average home, fridge, a few lights, tv, plus maybe one other appliance going, and not use up excess power from the grid. Most people will probably buy a new car with that money.

I think that the biggest draw back of getting a lot of this green stuff is the initial cost.

Answer 8

Cloudy days, trees, tall buildings, cost.

Answer 9

It is too costly for the average person to afford.

Answer 10

xoa

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. 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).

For 5 years we’ve seen “drawbacks with solar power”

Anyone interested can check it out at..

http://www.agua-luna.com

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at http://www.agua-luna.com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.

Dan Martin

Retired Boeing Engineer now living 100% Off-the-Grid with my family, using Alternative Energy & loving every minute.

for more info visit agua-luna com or email me at [e-mail]

http://www.agua-luna.com

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Answer 11

Solar power is expensive, and can be damaged easily.

Answer 12

its expensive initially

requires it to move to maintain efficiency

does not work at night

needs a lot of space for panels

requires you to design the house

the closer to the poles the less production

snow will cover it

need special transformers

7-10 years to recoup investment( without problems)

needs special connection to meter so you do not kill the maintenance worker.

Answer 13

So if it's only producing 10 % of the power striking the earth then just wait ten times longer and store the difference to be used later! But then you have to wait even longer while storing even more power because of the cut off caused by night! If day is longer than night then you may win in this race, but you can also use more than one collecter converted which will greatly speed up the entire process! Or you can just use one collector converter and increase the amount of sunlight directed to that one single unit! The point is there are ways to improve the situation and reduce the cost. Just think about it for a moment like I just did! Actually the farther North you are the shorter the payback period! Because you would use it for heating as well!

Answer 14

Solar power is basically cells which convert sunlight directly into electricity. Though these cells are becoming more reasonably priced, yet they are expensive in comparison to the amount of electricity they create.

They are would be unreliable as a sole source of power. In the far North, during winter months it is more difficult to use them to generate electricity since days are shorter and the sun’s rays strike the earth at greater angles.

Sunlight must be present for your solar modules to produce power. At night, you draw power from your utility.

Answer 15

Expensive

Unreliable

That should be sufficient.

Answer 16

There is not a high conversion rate of sunlight to electricity with today's technology.  To power the city of Manhattan would require paving the entire state of New York with solar panels.

It doesn't work at night.

The further from the equator you are, the less it works in winter.

Answer 17

Initial cost, after that none. I have heard that someone has developed a solar panel that costs 1/10 the price of previous panels, if that's true, solar will become much more prevalent.