Solar power made up more than 2% of American energy generation in 2020, and its share of the power market continues to grow. People and institutions around the world have begun to embrace the benefits of solar power.
As the cost of installing new solar energy sources has gone down, the economic benefits of the technology have caught up with the environmental ones. Over time, solar will continue to become a cheaper, more reliable energy source.
Why have people embraced solar power so fully? Is it the financial benefits, or something more? Here we’ll look at seven of the biggest benefits solar power offers.
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Reduces Air Pollution
Most other energy generation requires some type of fuel to burn. Burning fuel releases byproducts into the atmosphere and creates pollution. While smog in major cities has gone down in recent years, most non-renewable power contributes to polluted air.
As more energy comes from renewables, air quality will go up. People switching to solar makes a real difference in the health of the air for humans and the environment.
Air pollution contributes to several human health issues. Developmental issues in the lungs, cardiovascular damage, and cancer all link up with the quality of the air we breathe. As more of the grid uses solar power, these health issues should fall off.
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The Benefits of Solar Power for Portability
As solar generators have become more popular, they’ve become a great way to power things without the need for fossil fuel. You can power a lot of small electronics for numerous charges with something like this Bluetti generator. That power doesn’t generate potentially toxic fumes the way a portable gas generator does, either.
Solar generators that can both generate and output power at the same time offer clean, consistent generation. Even if they don’t generate as much power as they can output, they still have excellent life during an outage.
Solar generators also make much less noise than other generators. A portable solar energy solution makes a great backup when you want your power source to operate quietly, rather than with the steady noise of a gas generator.
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Attenuation of Climate Change
Human industry has a significant effect on the climate. Non-renewable energy sources don’t pollute the air in a way that only affects human health. The long-term stability of the environment also suffers when large quantities of carbon dioxide enter the sky.
Adopting renewable energy in greater amounts will reduce that problem in the long term. Renewable energy does have its own startup costs in entering the power grid, both in terms of financial outlay and environmental impact. Once in place, solar energy can help fight the tide of climate change.
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Reduces Environmental Impact of Other Power Generation
While other power sources, such as nuclear and hydroelectric power, offer their own viable solutions to climate change, they do have drawbacks. Nuclear power uses a lot of water at multiple stages of the process. Hydroelectric power changes the flow of water, which can have a massive impact on the local ecology.
Solar power does need water in some cases as a coolant. Nevertheless, its water needs remain lower than those of many other power generation methods.
No single power solution will serve as a perfect energy source. By improving infrastructure for all power generation methods, people can attenuate the downsides of each individual approach.
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Energy Bill Reductions
Even if you aren’t enthused about the benefits to the environment, you might find the ones in your pocketbook appealing. A solar power investment pays off in about eight years. Sunnier areas will see a full return on the investment faster, while more overcast climates will get there more slowly.
Many areas offer solar panel grants, low-interest loans, tax credits, and other incentives for going green. Whether you’re constructing a new home or making renovations on an existing one, laying out the money for solar will pay dividends.
In some cases, you can even come out ahead. If your solar setup generates more energy than you use, many states let you sell your excess back to the grid.
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Redundancy
A grid with a single central power source is vulnerable if that source fails. Grids where solar has become popular gain their power from dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of sources. By using multiple locations, the grid improves its resilience.
This distributed grid also reduces the distance electricity has to travel to reach its final destination. The shorter the distance is, the less electricity gets lost in transit. This compounds solar energy’s efficiency over more centralized sources.
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Improve the Value of Your Home
Lots of people want to have solar power for their homes, but not all of them want to figure out how it works. Finding an installer can be difficult, and laying out the money doesn’t excite everyone.
If you do it, however, you add that value to your home. You won’t get the full value of solar if you install it and immediately sell and move. A solid solar solution can still attract a buyer if you decide to move, though.
Embrace the Sun
The benefits of solar power over fossil fuels cut across almost every element of power generation. They attenuate environmental risks, improve the resilience of the power grid, and improve your financial situation. Getting started with solar can be a chore, but it usually proves to be worth it.
Did you like this article about solar power? Are you curious about what other environmental issues affect health, and what people can do to change them? Check out some of our health and science articles Learn More
