The Potential Importance of Solar Energy For the Future
In recent years the energy crisis and associated problems like carbon emissions and global warming have grabbed the headlines and created awareness of the imperative need to make changes to the way we live and use – and abuse – our natural resources, in particular our energy usage.
Energy resources such as fossil fuels have always appeared to be in plentiful supply, or so we’ve been lead to believe, and, as a result, the way we’ve used those resources has been pretty cavalier. They’ve always been regarded as being in infinite supply and we’ve never really concerned ourselves with the effect of our ever-increasing reliance on them on the environment.
The effect has, of course, been disastrous, as evidenced by the effects of carbon emissions on the earth’s atmosphere and the resultant global warming. As a result, attention has turned to what we need to do to stop the advance of global warming and to the adoption of alternative energy sources, with the spotlight falling on solar energy in particular.
Solar Energy Abundance
Solar energy is energy from the sun that’s supplied to us freely and abundantly every day. And that’s the great thing about solar energy – it’s overly abundant (more than six thousand times the amount of energy used by the entire planet annually reaches the earth in one day!), and it’s there for us to take advantage of.
With fossil fuels rapidly disappearing and projected to be exhausted before too much longer, making use of the sun’s energy is now more important than ever.
Technology Getting Better And Cheaper
Governments throughout the world, lead by the United States in particular, are placing increasing importance on the need to adopt solar power more rapidly and more comprehensively. One of the major obstacles preventing more homeowners from having solar energy systems installed on their homes is the perceived initial expense involved.
This is a reasonable concern, but one that should diminish over time, as the technology used to produce solar panels gets better and the panels themselves become more efficient and cheaper. The price of solar panels has dropped dramatically over the last five years or so, while their efficiency has increased proportionally.
Exciting Things To Come
There are many exciting developments being discussed and developed in the area of solar energy. New ways to make the most of the energy from the sun are coming onto the market all the time, such as silicon being installed in drapes to capture the sunlight coming in through windows.
We’ll see solar infiltrating our lives increasingly in the future, as more and more everyday tasks and devices are converted to use more of the sun’s energy that’s currently going to waste. We’re seeing major advances in solar transportation in the form of solar planes and boats, and the solar car, currently in the experimental stage, can’t be too far behind. The day of the solar high-speed train can’t be too far away either.
Solar has been used to further the space race, so it’s already proven its worth many times over. With the threat of global warming increasing and the dwindling supply of fossil fuels available, it’s important that we take steps to develop alternative energy supplies as rapidly as possible.
Solar is a known quantity with limitless potential, and expanding its use into all areas of life is not only wise but essential for the future of our children and their planet.