Why couldn't we get all our energy needs from solar power?

Question

Why couldn't we get all our energy needs from solar power?

Answer 1

The republicans just won't let it happen.   Big oil does not give them money for nothing.   Wasn't our vice president, head of a big oil company?    If they could make more money off of it, then it would happen.   Not until exxon and the utilities can make a few trillion.

Answer 2

Its very expensive compared to things like oil and coal.  Its takes up huge amounts of space to get a usable amount of power because its so inefficient.

Answer 3

well we can... but there is only so much of it we can use..... plus when it is cloudy or in dark places like in caves or mountain sides it wont be too good

Answer 4

Unfortunately, present technology is simply not adaptable enough to create enough usable electricity from solar energy.  The efficiency of solar cells is too low for there to be significant gains to power much more than back up house energy or a supplement.  The cells also take up a lot of space.

The future looks sunny (pun intented) for this sort of thing, but right now, it's just not efficient enough.

Answer 5

We can.

There is enough solar energy hitting the surface of the planet in 1 hour on any given day, to power the world for 1 year.

But just like you have people that want solar power, you have people that dont want it, usually for selfish reasons.

People talk about the price. Compared to what? I've never looked at exact numbers, but I would guess that a nuclear power plant costs a tad bit more than even a solar tower. And i've never heard of a solar tower losing containment and making profound changes to the living entities for miles in every direction.

We have solar power stations that were fully operational in california that were just dismantled. Did we run out of sun and  nobody told me? Did less people go to southern california so they really didnt need the power anymore?

Answer 6

Because that'd take a lot of sunlight and a lot of solar panels. Some places don't get a lot of sunlight, nor do they get enough sunlight to power all our energy needs by solar energy. Besudes, governments aren't willing to spend the 1,000,000,000,000's of dollars needed in order to provide these solar panels to everybody, which is why they go the cheap route of burning coal.

Answer 7

its too expensive, thats the main thing. the problems the other people mentioned are for small scale solar, not solar that would provide for the power grid.

Answer 8

The commercial solar panels the manfu. makes for people don't work with all spectrum's of light that come from the Sun. Now world Gov. have more money to buy a better brand of solar panels ( like the ones that power up the space station that is revolving around this earth )

Answer 9

Similar to the plants that cover this earth which can photosynthesize even when there are clouds and it rains - WE CAN.

But we will not be let to. There are the oil, gas, coal, atomic industries that will go down if they let the solar energy to be the basic energy source.

And of course it is costly, but it's nothing compared to the investments the above mentioned industries need, especially now, when these resources are ending and are more and more costly.

Let's just hope that someone will think more about the future than about their wallets.

Answer 10

The reason it isn't the main source of power is because it does not generate nearly enough energy for the use of a 1st world country. It requires too much space which would consume farm land thus causing food prices to go up.

Seriously though people, green groups are jsut as bad as big oil. They are ignorant to an opposing points claiming that people who do not support them are just "ignorant". Alas the irony.

Answer 11

big oil companies haven't figured out how to control the sun

Answer 12

Well, in some places it simply would not work.  Take a lot of Alaska & Canda right now are in darkness for almost the entire day at this time of year.

I use to live in Washington State....we had cloud cover a really good portion of the day.  Wouldn't work there either.

You are also talking about generating ELECTRIC from solar.  That means having big batteries.  Those batteries weigh 70-150 pounds.  I don't know of too many "average" people who can move those about, when the new batteries are needed, much less say a senior citizen.

Of course too, you would have widespread problems in areas that have big hail stones.  It's not just a matter of calling the electric company then.  That means you the home-owner are climbing up on your roof and taking care of the problem yourself.  Of course that also means you have to have the cash to do the repairs,  or your homeowners insurance has to cover it.  If an area was hit by a big storm, how soon do you supose it would be, before they had your solar panels back in stock, if thousands of other folks needed them?

What do you do if a neighbor plants a tree that shades out your solar panels after a few years?

Even if you are talking about getting your solar power from commercial solar sites, their technology simply has not caught up cost efficency wise yet.  Commercial wind power cost seven times LESS that commercial solar power at this time.  

We need to continue with the solar, wind, tide, and other green energies.  But really we need a combination of them, to make them effective.  Cloudy day and the solar is not generating electric?  Maybe the wind is blowing then.  Diversification is good.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 13

Every home could supply all of it's energy needs and then some, that could go back into the grid, just by using their roof space alone for solar panels.  Solar technology is just too expensive right now to be affordable to the average Joe.

Answer 14

Solar energy cells do not produce the high amperage required for machinery.

Answer 15

The storage batteries are way too expensive at this time.

Answer 16

well, because not everything can be run on solar power . . . . . duh!  construction for new homes for REAL PEOPLE who just moved here or someplace and needs a house.

also the following things wouldn't be as good ran on solar power

1)  cell phones

2)  tv's

3)  computers

4)  well, ya get the point . . . . . . . . THE NECESSITIES FOR PPLZ LIKE ME!!!!!