How does solar improve the environment?

For many different reasons, a growing number of households are opting to install solar panels on their homes to help reduce their energy costs. By using the power that you’ve generated on your own roof, you can save hundreds of dollars each year and become less reliant on the conventional power grid. However, solar power is also a great sustainable, green energy choice that helps to assuage guilt for burning fossil fuels. Solar energy doesn’t only have the advantage of reducing your electricity bills; it also has many benefits for our planet. Some of the key benefits of solar energy on the environment include:

Using less water is a huge benefit for a drought-stricken West

Water is one of our most precious and depleted natural resources. We live on perhaps the driest continent on the planet, and we run the risk of running out of fresh water in the near term. Traditional electricity production can use thousands of gallons of water each year. Water is used for cooling generators, processing fuel and transporting fuel through pipes. Generating energy through solar panels, however, uses no water at all. The operation of solar photovoltaic cells doesn’t require water to generate electricity, reducing the demand for this precious resource. The only water needed is the water needed to clean the panels when they get a bit dirty.

Reducing air pollution through solar

The air we breathe can hinder our health. Electricity generation from fossil fuels generates harmful carbon dioxide and methane gases that lower the quality of the air we breathe. Breathing bad quality air on a daily basis can have dire consequences for our health. Air pollution is responsible for asthma and allergies, bronchitis, pneumonia, headaches, anxiety, heart attacks, and even some cancers. Using the sun to generate progressively more of our power means less and less harmful emissions from burning fossil fuels. Generating electricity from solar panels creates no harmful emissions, and the more homes and businesses that rely on solar power, the less toxic emissions from fossil fuels into our air.  With solar energy powering a home or business, there is no burning of fuel and no emissions to contaminate our environment.

Reducing your carbon footprint

Solar energy is perhaps the cleanest source of energy, and it’s an extremely effective way of making your household more efficient and sustainable. Solar panels don’t use any water to generate power, they don’t release harmful gases into the environment, and the source of their energy is renewable and, best of all, free of charge. Using solar energy also means you reduce the need for carbon dioxide emitting energy to be produced for the grid on your behalf.

Reducing our reliance on fossil fuels

Solar energy supplies are unending. If we could harness all of the sunlight illuminating the earth for just one hour, we could use that energy to power the entire world for an entire year. The sunshine used in solar energy production costs nothing beyond the initial cost of installation. Reducing our reliance on these finite resources and taking advantage of an abundant, free source of energy, such as sunlight, will mean lower energy prices, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and a stronger, more stable energy future. Solar power has wide-ranging advantages for our planet, especially when it comes to our environment. From reducing greenhouse gases, improving our air and conserving our precious water, solar energy can help to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and lower energy prices for years to come.

Now is a great time to join the solar revolution!

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