Solar Panels and The Environment
You already know that switching to solar energy can have a big
effect on the environment, but you might be wondering just how big
an effect. After all, can one person or one family switching to
solar energy for heat and electricity really make that much of a
difference on the environment?
Yes! One person or one family can save 20,000 tons of greenhouse gas
from polluting the environment just by using solar energy to heat
your hot water and heat your home. 20,000 tons is a lot of
greenhouse gases! And that’s just if one home just switches to solar
energy. Imagine the decrease in greenhouse gases that could happen
if 20,000 people per year switched to using solar energy to heat
their hot water and heat their home. Add to that the effects of
reducing energy consumption by 50% if you use solar energy for
electricity and suddenly the impact on the environment is enormous.
In addition to reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that you put
out switching to solar energy has a big impact on the environment
because you will be reducing the amount of fossil fuels that you are
using. Fossil fuels are very bad pollutants and contribute directly
to poor air quality and other environmental problems.
The environment isn’t just hurt by people burning fossil fuels for
energy. The environment is also hurt by what is necessary to get
those fossil fuels. Enormous portions of the earth need to be dug
up, processing plants and refineries built, and natural ecosystems
destroyed all over the planet just to get to the fossil fuels that
are buried in the earth. Most of the pristine wilderness is gone in
any country that has natural deposits of fossil fuels because of the
ever-growing demand that countries around the world have for fossil
fuels.
When fossil fuels are processed there is a huge amount of solid waste, much of
it toxic, that is left behind. This waste takes up space in landfills and then
seeps into groundwater while the runoff flows to the waterways polluting the
water and the soil. The carbon dioxide and other gases that are released poison
the air for miles around the processing plants of these fossil fuels.
Solar energy might not solve all of the environmental problems that we face as a
result of the overuse of fossil fuel but it’s a start. Just having a few
thousand people per year switch to using solar energy to heat and power their
homes will be a big step towards creating a safer, cleaner environment for
everyone. And since the costs of buying and installing solar panes is dropping
all the time soon it will be a lot more common for homes to use solar energy for
their power needs.