Advantages of Solar Energy

Solar energy accounts for more than 99 percent of energy on our little planet

. Only two other types of energy exist on our fair blue orb: gravity and the molten core of the planet itself. Even the molten core could be solar energy; one theory states that the planet is simply solar garbage shot out from the sun during a massive solar storm billions of years ago. If you get right down to it, gravity constitutes the only form of energy that is definitely not generated by the sun.

"Gravity?" some might be asking. Indeed, gravity is a massive untapped source of energy. Water flows because of gravity. When water churns a hydroelectric turbine, gravity powers many homes, though water tends to get the credit.

Some people think that wind energy is not solar energy, but if you think about it even the wind is, in the final analysis, solar in origin. The sun heats the atmosphere, causing movement the same way steam results from boiling water. The movement in the atmosphere is wind, ergo wind comes from the sun.

Fossil fuels -- petroleum, natural gas and coal -- are decayed organic matter. Organic matter only thrives because the sun. The lowest levels of the food chain -- plants -- "eat" sunlight like food in the process of photosynthesis, which is why house plants die without sunglight.

Since we know that nearly all available energy on this planet originates from the sun, does it not make sense that the sun should be tapped directly? The primary reason that solar energy is superior to "other" forms of energy is this: We can tap it in its most basic form. We don't have to wait millions of years for dinosaur bones to decay into sunlight. Sunlight itself is the alpha. Oil and its attendant problems are currently the omega, but that need not be.

We can harness solar energy immediately. It is very simple to harness solar energy. Have you ever opened the drapes on a sunny winter day to let the sunlight in, to enjoy its warmth? You have harnessed solar energy. It has not cost us a dime -- which brings us to the second advantage of solar energy: It is cheap. Even solar panels have become cheap in recent years. If one considers the cost of cleaning up oil spills and the cost of global climate change (in the form of intensified weather events which are now undeniable on a global scale), solar power is indeed the cheapest form of energy in the world.

Another advantage of solar energy is that it is ubiquitous on the surface of the Earth. Even on a rainy day, a massive amount of solar energy is hitting the ground. Which brings us to the final advantage -- solar energy is abundant. Every single day, more energy from sunlight reaches the surface of our planet than will be burned in the entire history of all fossil fuels combined. This is absolutely a scientific fact. Look it up. It works out to 12.2 trillion watt-hours of solar energy per square mile per year. Multiply this by 198 million square miles on the surface of the earth. This is a lot of energy.

Harnessing solar energy on a massive scale should be a priority in these times. It is easier than digging and drilling for dwindling amounts of coal and oil. It is safer than nuclear power and can be brought on line much more quickly. Let's do this!

Advantages of Solar Energy

By: Chuck Lin

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