What are the negative effects of Solar Energy?

Question

I have a debate coming up at school and the topic is that 'All new houses should have solar panels'

I think that we do have our backs against the wall but we can only come up with that they are bad in areas with inconsistant weather and for how expensive they are and there are more consistant types of energy such as wind turbines, wave enrgy and geo-thermal.

are there any other negative effects? is there something that we can build on on the points we have already and are there any good websites??

oh yes, we live in Queensland, Australia and the drought is starting to turn!

Answer 1

Your on the right track.  So far the expense more than offsets the power produced.  They also take up large amounts of space in order to get a decent amount of energy.  Another thing to consider is that they operate less efficiently the hotter they are.

Cons:

$$$ — The main disadvantage is the price. The panels and installation have high starting costs.

Climate Variability — Although solar energy can be used in most climates, the number of hours of sunlight will determine the number of panels you’ll need and what the wattage of power will be.

Aesthetics — Solar panels take up quite a bit of roof space and to some and aren’t pleasant to look at.

Not 24 Hours — They only work when the sun is shining. At night you will have to rely on stored energy from net metering or have an alternative system.

Answer 2

one negative is the disposal of the deep cycle batteries

also if the majority of a community is on "grid connected"

PV systems the remaining minority will suffer grossly increased energy bills as the energy providers will suffer a huge financial loss.

another point you can mention is althoe  most PV panels are gauranteed for 10 years most start to deminish after 5 and every year after that output is reduced by a further 10% and this is not covered as its not a structural issue.

but apart from this there is little fault to find.

Also the Aus government currently gives a rebate if $8.00 per Watt,so a 1MW system that will cost around $16000.00 will only cost $8000.00 after rebate. so they might debunk your claims with that.

ALSO, many times i have spoken to clients who want a PV array installed, they expect to be able to maintain the same level of energy consumption as before however this is just not feasable, not because of cost but rather space. Example--The amount of PV panels needed to power an electric stove (if all elements were in use) is greater than the array to power the lights and general outlets .So in situations like this it is much more logical to have thier stove on gas, the hot water system on gas or seperate solar set up, and in many cases it is best to leave A/C on grid only. so in summation Solar is not suitable for everything. Good luck mate!.

Answer 3

Yeah unfortunately cost and weather are the only negatives I think... and the weather can be overcome by using other sources..

So cost has to be your main line of argument - but it's a great one, because it is actually so prohibitive that no-one's going to do it anytime soon.

You could research the costs and compare them to other forms of power - then argue that putting solar panels on all houses would be stupid, because you could power the whole country with wind for 1/10 of the cost, or whatever...

Plus with costs, someone has to pay for them.. is it homeowners or taxpayers? What does that mean for ordinary people? Are there better things that money could be spent on?

I don't think you've got your back against the wall at all - you've got the "sensible"/"pragmatic" side of the argument rather than the "idealistic" side, but in real life the pragmatic side usually wins as soon as people realise they will have to pay for the ideals ;-)

Answer 4

It could probably raise our taxes just to build thousands of these panels. But it goes to a good cause. Everything can be seen in 2 different views. Hope this helps =]

Answer 5

sun burn.

the nanotech folks say they are making/ have made a paint that converts light to energy. When it becomes super effient, I don't know WHAT can beat it, but right now those little cells cost way more than they save short term, and long term you've gotta wonder how long they last so you can be spending what you didn't save on replacing... they gotta get better technology. talk about that.

Answer 6

okay neagtive is cost to produce electricity is very costly for panels conversion of power etc

other tahn that you need sunshine and they dont call queensland the sunshine state for nothing

Answer 7

there are not much of negative pts except the availability at some places