Why do you want home solar panels? Many people want to offset the rising cost of electricity, saving money during long summer days when solar panels really shine. Solar energy can make your utility bills more predictable.
Have you also thought about solar panels and pollution reduction? Do you want your energy purchases to contribute to a cleaner environment? With the right information, you can have both—more control over your utility costs and less contribution to pollution.
5 Reasons to Switch to Solar for the Environment
1. Use Less Energy From Coal-Burning Utilities
If you install a medium-sized set of solar panels on your home, you can reduce your need for electricity from the grid by about 80% or more. In other words, you’ll be using 80% less electricity from power plants that are burning coal and putting more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
If you continue that for 20 years, your home will be offsetting the emissions from about 150,000 pounds of burning coal.
2. Enjoy the Lower-Emission Production Process
Making solar panels uses energy and resources, involving mining, transportation, and manufacturing, which can all contribute to greenhouse gasses. However, solar panels then produce no emissions for the next 25+ years of operation.
Their average emissions, then, are much lower than many other power sources. Coal, for example, produces 25 times more carbon dioxide emissions to create the same amount of electricity as solar.
3. Save Limited Water
One of the lesser-known effects of solar panels on the environment is that it saves water. All manufacturing processes use water, including the creation of solar panels. But once the panels are finished, they create electricity without ongoing water usage.
In contrast, power plants that run on coal, natural gas, or nuclear fuel all require constant supplies of water to continue creating electricity. And water tables and reservoirs have limited supplies, which are also needed for drinking water and farming.
4. Power Your Electric Vehicle
If you drive an electric vehicle, you are probably recharging it at home, using electricity from the city grid. This is supplied from traditional power plants, which burn coal or natural gas. In other words, your vehicle might not reduce greenhouse gas emissions as much as you’d like.
However, if you set up a solar power system at home—and it’s designed right—you can charge your vehicle using energy from the sun instead of the grid.
5. Invest in an Improving Technology
The efficiency with which solar panels create electricity (accounting for their whole manufacturing process) has improved by about 50% in less than ten years. As technology improves, solar panels could become even cleaner to manufacture.
Plus, when you purchase solar panels, you might enjoy high enough savings from your utility bills to offset the price tag in one to two years. Earning your money back in two years or less is an excellent investment, whether you’re thinking about solar panels reducing pollution or not.
You can install a source of clean energy for your household that will last you for decades, get it paid off relatively quickly, and even help to protect the environment at the same time. Contact Smart Wave Solar to get a quote on your own reliable home energy system.
