If someone told you that the future of the human race depended on our using more solar energy, you might think that they were crazy. If that were the case, then surely the politicians would be making more fuss about it, surely there would not be objections on aesthetic ground to sites being created, not if it is so important. However, through applying a little bit of logic, we can see that it is actually that important.
At the moment our way of life is based on the fact that we are able to get cheap energy. That is, energy which is relatively cheap. No longer do we have to rear, keep and feed horses as a mode of transport, for example. We might think petrol is expensive, but that’s nothing to having to own a horse to get around. If this cheap energy runs out before we have an alternative in place then the planet will no longer be able to sustain the population of the planet as it is. Unfortunately the cheap energy comes in the form of fossil fuels, non-renewable energy, meaning that it will run out. Before that happens it will become more expensive, and there are signs of that happening today. That is why we can say that renewable energy like solar power is actually so important.
If we want to avoid these problems, which will come from the non-renewable energy running out, then we have to transition to renewable energy like solar power. Of course this has not even mentioned the dangers that the effects of global warming can have, which can also be very serious. The way to combat this as well though is through the use of solar panels.
Two of the reasons that solar panels are so popular is that they are versatile and they are relatively efficient. Solar cells are scalable, so you can have huge ones that you put in a desert, and they work as a solar power plant. Then you have the small ones that can go on things like pocket calculators. But you also have what is perhaps their most useful size, the ones that can go on the roof of a house.
It might not seem as if you are making much of a difference on your own by getting solar panels for your roof. Actually though, you are exercising true democratic power, you are literally and figuratively taking the power for yourself and changing the world one little piece at a time. It is all any of us can do, and it is the only way that the world changes. Don’t think of yourself as being on your own though, you can connect to all of the other people that have done the same thing.
There are quite a few people who have taken the plunge and got a solar installation, but of course nowhere near enough. What we have been able to observe, however, is that when the government brought in the Feed in Tariff, which made solar panels a better investment, more people started buying them. You could take that to mean that people are greedy and only care about the money, or you could view it that they wanted to be able to get them but they were too expensive before.
Perhaps, however, you do not think that expense should come into it when we are talking about the survival of humanity. However it is not something we can afford to ignore, we just have to hope that solar power can be made even more efficient, powerful and cheap so that it can take over from fossil fuels as soon as possible.
The best thing about solar energy is probably that you have the opportunity to directly get involved in using it. You can stop being a part of the problem, reduce your carbon footprint, and make money at the same time when you get solar panels for your property.
To have installations of solar energy, and for more information, author David Brown also writes at Solar Energy UK.
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