Is Solar The Way to Go?

With the intense emission of the non-renewable, harmful gases in our land; with magnanimous increase of the usage of the carbon-monoxide producing cars and the incredibly intense heat from the sun kissing our skin, we are now experiencing an inevitable change in the world we live in. Humans have developed tons of alternative sources, conveniently eco-friendly for us to use---hydroelectric power, wind mills and solar panels---the big question is, what can we do? With the sun getting hotter for our liking, burning our skin when we go out at noon or even by day, can solar power really help us today? What is solar power? Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaic (PV)--- a device that converts light into electric current using the photoelectric effect--- or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP) which is a system that uses lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. As the world continuously copes up with the on-going changes and developments in our generation today, we are now facing the reality of the problems which come from the burning of fossil fuels and emission of non other than the deadly harmful gases inhabiting our atmosphere. There are several advantages of using solar power which are written in article written by a man named Greg Whitburn. The first and foremost advantage of the solar power is that it does not emit any green house gasses, for solar energy is produced through the conversion of the suns radiation or heat to power. Through this, we are able to have an infinite use of free energy which is another benefit of the said energy. As we all know, solar energy is one hundred percent free since, generally, it comes from the sun where it does not require us to use expensive raw materials and maintenance like coal or oil but it only requires lower operational labor which leads us to another advantage that solar energy is inexpensive. Another particularly relevant advantage of solar energy production is that it creates jobs, where according to EIAA, Europes solar industry has created 100,000 jobs so far. Another and probably one of the biggest advantages of solar energy is that it has the ability to avoid the politics and price volatility that is increasingly characterizing fossil fuel markets because since solar power comes from the suns heat and the suns heat can be adequately sourced from many different locations, solar can avoid price manipulations and politics which, according to Whitburn, have more than doubled the price of many fossil fuels in the past decade. As the world sinks more and more into the bed of economical change, there are several countries, particularly in Europe, which have adapted the use of solar power as an alternative. Italys Montalto di Castro solar park is a good example of solars contribution to curbing emissions where in it is able to avoid 20,000 tonnes per year of carbon emissions compared to fossil fuel energy production. Another country which has recently adapted this kind of alternative is our very own country, the Philippines. According to the article written by Ben Cyrus G. Ellorin, an inquirer in Mindanao, the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Co. Inc.

(Cepalco) has just recently started to run a solar power plant in Cagayan de Oro City which is capable of producing one megawatt of electricity, where according to Cepalco, 100-150 megawatts of clean solar energy can be online in the next three years, with the first 20-MW plant ready to supply the grid, a house that remains connected to the state electricity grid, in less than a year. The Sun. Without the Sun, our world could not exist it gives off heat and light to support all living things. Solar energy has without a doubt become one solution to the worlds problems of today. As we humans continuously become more and more engaged with the bombastic manner of our generations fast economical growth and developments, we can now actually do something to change the earths state now. It is now time fire man to enter the solar system, but before we take big leaps, we all must take baby steps. Lets start with one simple thing: let us all conserve energy and prove that solar is indeed the way to go.