Dawson Joseph
LBST-2213
As time moves forward, technology
grows tremendously. While sources of
energy (such as electricity) have impacted the world greatly, they will always
hold second fiddle to natural resources.
For example, the sun is the biggest source of energy in the universe,
and with the latest developments in solar energy, it may end up revolutionizing
how we use and spend our energy all over again.
Solar energy is an innovative
concept. “Solar power is produced by collecting sunlight and converting it into
electricity. This is done by using solar panels, which are large flat panels
made up of many individual solar cells.” (AE Solar Power, 2014) Now solar
energy isn’t exactly a new concept. People have used solar energy as a catalyst
to fuel electricity in certain parts of the world where electricity is too
difficult to develop by other means.
Solar power has even been used to power the simplest of devices, such as
calculators. However, with the latest research and development, solar power may
just now finally be hitting its true stride.
There are many reasons as to why
solar energy is now entering mainstream. First off, the cost has gone down
considerably. Julie Jacobson has stated, “The challenge several years ago was
not just the price – what with all of the overly generous utility and
government subsidies – but the access. It was a complicated mess with high
up-front costs and multiple vendors and contractors. The process today is
streamlined, as providers have honed their sales and installation process”
(David Glenn, Technica.com). This is very significant. Technology can be as
amazing as it can allow itself to be, but without the ability of it to reach
the average consumer because of a high price, it will never make it to its full
potential. With the price point reaching a low point, the nation would be able
to adopt it and then the positive benefits can be seen within society. In
addition, the production of solar energy panels have increased over the years.
Whenever production of a product increases, companies have more then likely
found ways to reduce the raw materials needed to manufacture the product. If
production costs have gone down, then the price for the consumer will go down
even further, which will then make the reduced price point even more
attractive. “New materials (such as perovskites) are becoming even cheaper to
manufacture, more efficient at converting energy” (David Glenn, Technica.com).
I believe this will greatly impact
society in a very positive way. The cost of living is hard enough even after
obtaining a career, and bills don’t stop regardless of one’s financial
situation. If solar power became more wide stream and heavily adopted, then the
decrease in electric bills would be incredible. This would have a strong effect
on the economy and individuals would be able to save more money and allocate
their funds to other areas of need/interest.
There is one major drawback to solar
energy that I can think of, and that is trying to obtain energy when the sun
goes down. If solar energy is inexpensive, individuals would want to stick with
it in favor of their standard electric power that they are paying now. So this
makes for a highly ironic scenario. People will have the light during the
daytime (when it’s generally not used as much) and not have light during the
nighttime (when the demand for it obviously grows). This would mean that the
entire solar power movement which was designed to give people access to
inexpensive light, would end up making it darker then it would brighter. “Solar energy can only be harnessed when it is daytime and
sunny, in countries such as the UK, the unreliable climate means that solar
energy is also unreliable as a source of energy. Cloudy skies reduce its
effectiveness.” (V. Ryan, TechnologyStudent.com).
After weighing
the pros and cons, I still believe solar energy will greatly benefit society in
the long run. Further research and development will undoubtedly maximize the
strengths and minimize the weaknesses in the current solar panel model. The
cost and demand will force developers to innovate as much as possible so that
it can become as common as TV sets in the near future. Homeowners will greatly
appreciate the decreased cost of their light bill, and society will benefit as
well.
