Humanity has always needed energy to perform work, and for much of history, this energy came from human and animal labor. Then, in the Industrial Revolution, steam power made factories and steam trains possible as energy was available on a whole new scale. In the late 19th and 20th centuries, electricity was also harnessed, and this further expanded the developed world’s energy grid. Today, fossil fuel power plants are generating much of the electricity that North America and Europe use, but that may change in the coming decades. Fossil fuel power plants are facing heavy criticism due to their excessive air pollution, so solar panel installation is taking place all over the globe to replace these fossil fuel plants. Residential solar panels and massive solar panel arrays alike are generating electricity from solar energy on a great scale, and this may continue well into the future. Many solar panel companies can also be contacted for repairing solar panels or replacing faulty ones, and repairing solar panels can keep any solar array working well.
All About Solar Energy
Solar panels have a number of advantages over fossil fuel power plants, one of them being th4e truly astronomical scale of the sun. While a coal seam or a natural gas pocket may get mined out and exhausted over time, the sun generates power on a colossal scale. Every day, more solar power flows across the Earth than is used in all of industrial civilization, and the sun is due to shine like this for another five billion years. The sun is impossible to mine out, and its enormous power output means that solar panels can accommodate any future growth in humanity’s energy supply needs. For all intents and purposes, solar energy is an infinite power source, and it is easy to see the appeal in that.
Not only that, but solar power is very friendly for the natural environment. No matter how much power a solar panel is generating, it will never create any byproducts. No gas, no liquids, no radiation, nothing. This means that air pollution will decrease as solar panel arrays replace fossil fuel plants, and this is a major factor in the global “go green” initiative to reduce pollution. The same can be said for other clean energy sources, such as wind farms. And another benefit is that engineering and installing solar panels (and repairing solar panels) is very good for the economy, since all this creates many new jobs. The clean energy sector is relatively young, but it is already a robust player in the modern energy sector. Many Americans may find employment across the U.S. with repairing solar panels, shipping them, engineering them, and installing them.
Installing and Using Solar Panels
The benefits of using solar panels are clear. Now, what about the business and hard work of installing them and making use of them? Today across the United States and Europe, many clean energy companies are installing these panels on residential houses, business buildings, and in large arrays out in the wilderness. These panels can be arranged into arrays as large or small as needed, making them a flexible technology.
A homeowner may decide to have solar panels installed on their roof, and hire local solar panel installation crews to get the job done. These professionals will set up the brackets that will hold the panels, then set up the proper wiring and install the panels themselves. After inspectors look over the setup and deem it ready, the house will be disconnected from the public electric grid and will start getting power from the roof’s solar panels. This means no pollution and no electric bill. Such panels may have backup batteries that get charged up during the day from solar energy, and these batteries may power the house at night if need be. A similar array on a somewhat larger scale may be installed on a commercial building.
Finally, arrays of hundreds or thousands of panels can be installed out in the wilderness, often in dry areas with strong sunlight and little cloud cover (such as Arizona and Texas). These massive arrays can collect and generate enough power to supply entire city blocks or neighborhoods at a time, and they can replace local fossil fuel power plants.