Solar is the salient solution

Mankind is on the brink of environmental disaster. The predictions made by climate scientists that seemed so dire decades ago turned out to be too optimistic. The reports from the Arctic are particularly alarming and the rapid melting of the ice is causing sea level rise with dire consequences around the globe. Long-term damage has already occurred from fossil fuels and nuclear disasters. The overwhelming majority of climate scientists believe that we are in a global crisis. High prices for gasoline and home heating oil are here to stay and are subject to market fluctuations. The two biggest polluters, China and India, are rapidly increasing their demand for fossil fuels. Thankfully, those two countries are also two of the most heavily invested in solar power. However, power plants that burn fossil fuels are still dispatching huge amounts of harmful substances into the atmosphere every day. That’s to say nothing of vehicle emissions all over the planet. When will we wake up to the danger?

Scientists, engineers, and politicians have proposed various programs that could slightly reduce fossil-fuel use and emissions. These steps are not close to enough to make a dent in the problem. The U.S. needs a bold energy plan to rid itself of the insidious danger of fossil fuels. The current solar expansion is a step in the right direction that should have come decades ago. Solar energy's potential is nearly unlimited. The energy concentrated in sunlight striking the earth for 40 minutes is equivalent to global energy production for a year. The U.S. is fortunate to be endowed with a vast resource that is a virtual solar collection farm; at least 250,000 square miles of land in the Southwest are suitable for constructing solar power plants, and that land receives more than 4,500 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) of solar energy annually. Converting only 2.5 percent of that radiation into electricity would match the nation's total energy use in 2006. To convert the country fully to solar energy, enormous tracts of land would have to be covered with photovoltaic panels and solar heating troughs. A direct-current (DC) transmission infrastructure would also need to be erected to distribute that energy efficiently across the nation.

Solar technology is developing everywhere

Various solar technologies have been waiting to go for a long time. Industry insiders predict that solar energy could be sold to consumers at prices equivalent to today's rates for conventional power sources, about five cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). If wind, biomass, and geothermal sources were also utilized, renewable energy could provide almost all of the nation's electricity and 90 percent of its energy by 2100. The federal government would need to invest more than $400 billion over the next 40 years to complete the 2050 plan. Another great advantage is that solar power plants consume little or no fuel, saving billions of dollars every year. The infrastructure would displace 300 large coal-fired power plants and 300 natural gas plants and all the fuels they consume. The proposal would effectively eliminate all imported oil, reducing U.S. trade deficits and relaxing political tension in the Middle East and other volatile places. Because solar technologies are nearly pollution-free, the plan would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants by 1.7 billion tons annually and another 1.9 billion tons from gasoline-powered vehicles would be displaced by plug-in hybrids refueled by the solar grid. In 2050 U.S. carbon dioxide emissions would be 62 percent below 2005 levels, causing a major reduction of global warming.

You can do your part by installing a solar energy system!

Before solar panels came down in price, homeowners had an excuse for not installing solar on their homes. No longer. Rebates and incentives have made solar within reach of almost everyone.

Please visit our solar blog to find out more about the benefits of going solar.

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