Solar Panels We Are Currently

¶ … Solar Panels

We are currently facing a global energy crisis with incredibly significant implication for the future of human civilizations on Earth. Since the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, human societies have become completely dependent on fossil fuels for virtually every aspect of ordinary life. There are three separate but equally important problems that result directly from this dependence: First, the supplies of oil reserves are finite and rapidly approaching depletion because of the ever-increasing consumption in industrialized nations. Second, the byproducts and consequences of fossil fuel burning energy systems represent grave dangers to human health. Third, the constant burning of fossil fuels is causing highly destructive to the global ecology and it is directly responsible for highly detrimental environmental changes that threaten millions of biological species with extinction.

There is a desperate need for the development of and shift toward alternative energy sources that do not pollute the environment, negatively affect human health, and that are not subject to depletion by virtue of being finite in their supply and continued availability. Currently, nations that are now making the transition from being undeveloped to developed are experiencing some of the very same negative consequences of fossil fuel energy reliance that Western societies experienced during the late 19th century. In China, for example, air and water pollution problems have been accelerating as more and more of the population is becoming industrialized. There is no need for China and other developing societies to go through the same problems and threats to the quality of human life that eventually inspired energy regulation in the West. Unfortunately, the recent disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan illustrates the tremendous potential dangers associated with nuclear energy. In light of those risks, one of the only viable technologies that are safe enough for widespread use and incapable of depletion is solar energy.

In principle, solar energy is the most appropriate choice for future energy systems because it is entirely safe, it produces no harmful byproducts at all, and unlike fossil fuels, solar energy is available in unlimited supplies and indefinitely. Solar energy systems consist, generally, of solar panels that absorb photons emitted by the sun passively and continuously whenever sunshine is not blocked by cloud cover. That energy is stored in solar batteries so that it can be utilized later as well as at night and when sunlight is obscured by clouds. Unfortunately, the current state of solar energy technology is not efficient enough to compete with the amounts of energy put out by traditional energy production methods. However, with continued research and development, solar panels are becoming smaller and more energy efficient in exactly the same way that traditional forms of energy production gradually evolved into more efficient forms throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Just as government subsidization was necessary to promote the growth of oil companies, gasoline engines, and (especially) the gasoline stations necessary to provide a nationwide infrastructure to support the use of private automobiles, that approach is now necessary to ensure that renewable energy forms can be developed sufficiently to provide a realistic and comprehensive alternative to fossil fuel systems.

The road to clean, renewable energy must incorporate public involvement together with education and political support for government policies and decisions necessary to develop the potential of solar energy. In time, that support can help future human societies eliminate their dependence on a source of energy that will surely run out sooner rather than later and that is responsible for such great negative costs associated with its use. Ultimately, solar energy is the most logical answer and the most reasonable and safe energy form for human civilizations.