In recent years, the American population has seen an ever-growing increase in the efforts to protect the environment. More specifically, the popularity of solar energy is increasing at a substantial rate. The use of solar energy helps to combat the pollution given off by fossil fuel technologies, but perhaps the reason that more and more people are beginning to install photovoltaic cell panels and solar thermal water heating systems is due to their economic benefit.
Many homes and businesses have installed photovoltaic solar panels to the roofs of their buildings in order to save the Earth and save money. More often than not, these solar panels are able to generate more electricity than the building actually needs; in this case, the excess energy goes back into the energy grid and the owner of the building receives full retail credit for the energy they “sell back” to their provider. By allowing them to sell energy back to providers, building owners have been able to pay off the investment of solar panel installation quickly and are able to turn a profit relatively soon after the installation.
There have also been federal government incentives that have motivated the usage of solar energy. On October 3, 2008, President Bush signed into law the Emergency Stabilization act of 2008, which extended tax credits for solar energy systems. The tax credits apply to both residential and commercial solar installations for 30% of the cost of a system “placed in service” from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2016.
The use of these solar panels however may not be as beneficial in every state. Although the installation of solar energy producing mechanisms may be advantageous in locations where there is sun 90% of the time, in places where this does not occur, the upfront costs may not be plausible. Even during this economic recession however, there are many banks that are willing to give out loans to home and business owners who are specifically planning on installing solar panels.
It is about time that alternative energy in the form of solar energy hits mainstream. Although the upfront costs may seem alarming, both banks and the federal government are trying to make it as easy and economically motivating as possible for people to implement. More and more politicians are urging lawmakers to create even more incentives for people to use these efforts and reduce the catastrophic effects that fossil fuels have on our environment. Now is the time to rally behind these efforts and reap the benefits that solar energy will have on our environment as well as our pockets.
-Corinne Brady
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I agree with your position on this subject. Solar energy is on the rise and it is time to take advantage of it. The Waxman-Markey energy bill calls for 20 percent of our energy to come from renewable energy sources including solar energy. Another prospective related to why the use of solar panels are not as beneficial, is the fact that it takes enormous amounts of water to shape the silicon wafers that make up these panels which exacerbates other environmental problems we are trying to solve, such as water scarcity.
ReplyDeleteThis is an extremely important topic as global warming is occurring due to our heavily reliance on coal and petroleum as opposed to renewable energies. The fact that solar energy is cheaper in the long run does not seem to compute in the heads of many. This is due to the high costs of putting in solar panels, that cost a lot upfront but save you so much money in the long run. Our love affair with coal and oil needs to end to protect this planet. We need to invest a lot in research and awareness of renewable energies like solar and wind so that the benefits can be known and applied.
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