Thursday, May 7, 2009

Basic Solar Energy Disadvantages

We will soon go into greater depth of the pros and cons of solar energy, but first, here are some basic solar energy disadvantages.

First off the expense of solar panels and solar panel installation is too pricey for most consumers. What makes it costly is actually the amount of solar panels that are needed in order to keep up with standard energy use. Installations cost more than a year's worth of conventional power for most consumers.

Solar panels demand direct sunlight to be useful; cloudy days hinder power production. This means you must rely on stored power, or possibly convention power. Pollution also acts as an insulator, preventing sunlight from beaming on solar panels. This means a weakened supply of power. To counter this effect, larger panels are being used but this leads to another issue. Believe it or not solar panels create pollution, just not the way you way think. Solar panels are actually made with materials that generate certain levels of pollution. In the short term, with thousands of solar panels being made daily, this is not such a good image for solar energy. Still the pro natural energy experts insure us the amount of pollution being prevented will certainly undermine this.