In recent decades, much debate has ensued about the vast amount of natural resources and ecological services society depletes. Moreover, the debate has evaluated how society depletes these natural resources at a faster rate than the environment can replenish. It also assesses how society can mitigate these environmental issues in order to preserve our natural resources for the prosperity of future generations. Research suggests that the natural resources we currently use, such as coal and petroleum, could be fully depleted within the next 25 and 100 years respectively (Byrd, 2012). Given that society has a tendency to over-consume natural resources, many economists have suggested that the use of alternative energy could alleviate the effects of overconsumption and the environment's ability to replenish. Therefore, this study evaluates the potential of solar energy (SE) on society and the environment by evaluating a cost-benefit analysis between solar energy technology (SET) and conventional energy resources.
Electricity and The Call for Solar Technology:
Research on conventional energy resources has shown that the demand of electricity has drastically increased in recent decades, and will continue to increase in the future (Zweibel, 2010). Moreover, by evaluating business as usual models, where the annual growth rate of demand for electricity ranges from 2% and 3.2%, research has suggested that annual world demand for electricity will soar from around 20 trillion kWh (kilowatts) in 2010 to 60 trillion kWh in 2050 and 200 trillion kWh by 2100. Additionally, the average growth rate of renewable resources has only increased about 1.6% per annum, in comparison to the 4% annual growth rate of conventional energy resources. (Lloyd & F...
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First solar, Inc. is an American manufacturer of thin film photovoltaic (PV) modules, better known as solar panels. The company has an opportunity to expand into other regions, making the company more profitable. The company was founded in 1990, by Harold McMasters as Solar Cells, Inc., and it was then purchased by the True North Partners, LLC, who rebranded it as First Solar Inc. First Solar headquarters’ is located in Tempe, Arizona, U.S. The company went public in 2006, trading on the NASDAQ. First solar is ranked as the second largest maker of solar panels modules worldwide. They specialize in manufacturing photovoltaic modules, and also serve as providers of photovoltaic power plants. First solar became the first solar panel manufacturing company to “lower its manufacturing cost to $1 per watt and that has been done through their replacement of crystalline silicon for cadmium telluride as their semiconductor” to create panels (Lynley, 2011). The manufacturing company continues to grow and improve their products as well. We will be exporting our photovoltaic products to the Dominican Republic. The reason we chose to export solar panels to the Dominican Republic is simply because it is one of our smallest products yet the most accessible one.
Preview: Today I will discuss the potential that solar power has to become this country’s main supply of energy and the latest research that can make solar power more efficient and cost effective. I will also present the environmental benefits that come with using solar power over other and more harmful forms of energy.
Though this statement is supported by the International Energy Agency (IEA), an authoritative international institution that making his statement much credible, we should realise that there is an underlying assumption for this premise to be true, that is, the current policies are unchanged. Since we are not sure whether the current policies would continue or not, this premise is not necessarily true. On the contrary, according to another report by IEA, solar electricity is estimated to cover 25% of the world’s total electricity needs by 2050, taking up the largest portion of all sources of electricity (IEA,
The future of the United States solar energy industry will be shaped not only by economic growth, but also by the rate of declining oil resources and the global realization of the consequences of human induced climate change. Political responses to this realization in the United States include; new policies, legislature, and tax incentives to both businesses and private households to promote growth and investment in the solar power industry.
In the last few decades, technological leaps and the scaled-up production of solar panels have made sol...
Cheap is the name of the game with the big energy corporations, and solar energy is most definitely that. Amazingly, “Experts predict the cost of solar power will drop below retail electricity rates in many parts of the country between 2013 and 2018” (“Solar Energy,” #2, n.d.). In addition, solar panels have become much more cheap to install due to better technology, “Thin-film solar systems,” according to writer James M. Higgins, “are cheaper to manufacture than flat-panel systems, require fewer scarce materials, are much easier to install, and require less physical vertical space per installation since they are flat. Thin-film solar materials can deliver virtually the same efficiencies as most flat-panel systems but at about 20% of the cost.” One company, Nanosolar, has achieved a 14% conversion efficiency rate in its now-marketed products” (Van Coppenolle, para. 21, n.d.). Furthermore, the cost to transport the solar energy from it’s source to where it is captured is absolutely nothing. Since the source (the Sun) produces solar energy without cost and transports it to Earth through light freely therefore, having the transportation cost be nothing and the speed it comes here be very fast, only eight minutes! In conclusion, the...
With a rapid rise in energy prices, the concern of pollution, an exponential loss of resources and environment downfall, the awareness of limited resources around the world has dropped dramatically. Due to recent political decisions by President Donald Trump, with his recent 30% tariff on solar panels, affording solar technology will be more difficult than ever (Eckhouse). These tariffs will go on for four years by starting at a high percentage, then finally go down as time goes on. Utilizing renewable energy is the key to a long-term solution for keeping this economy alive and well. Recent research shows that bringing solar technology overseas into the United States is an extremely expensive change, but is cost-efficient in the long term.
One of the most compelling arguments for the use of renewable energy is how many forms exist of it. Nuclear power, solar power, wind power, tidal power, hydroelectric power, pumped storage, wave power, geothermal power, biomass, and biogas are the most widely known renewable energy sources (Darvill, 2013). This large selection of fuels supports the idea of renewable fuels one day powering the entire planet. All the sources of energy have different niches and benefits. Solar energy is extremely ef...
Solar power subsidies were introduced to the United States from the development of solar power systems in 1963 as a response to threats of a possible war from the growing nuclear development from space exploration (History of Solar Energy in California, 2014). This event was one of the first significant causes that led Americans to steer away from oil and towards renewable energy. In the 1970’s,increase interest in promoting fuel alternative energy continued when Arab members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) embargoed oil exports to the United States (History of Solar Energy, 2014). In reaction to the crisis, Congress passed the Energy Tax Act (ETA) in 1978 to encourage homeowners to invest in energy conservation by offering a federal energy tax credit of up to $2,000 for people who installed such devices to their homes from 1977-1986 (History of Solar Energy, 2014). In the same year, the California Solar Rights Act was passed in which restricted homeowners associations on the installing solar-energy systems (U.S Department of Energy, 2014). Since then, the Act has been amended twice in 2003 and 2004 “by extending its prohibition on restrictions to all public entities” and “minimize aesthetic solar restrictions to those that cost less than $2,000 and limits building official’s review of solar installations only to those items that relate to specific health and safety requirements of local, state and federal law (U.S Department of Energy, 2014, para. 2).
Energy is one of the most important components of economic infrastructure. It is the basic input required to sustain economic growth. In modern times, there has been an improvement in lifestyle since a better life can be translated into faster transport, faster communication and faster manufacturing processes. Considering different nations all over the world, there is direct relation between the level of economic development and per capita energy consumption. At present, this parameter for India is 300, for UK is 15 times more while for USA, it is about 30 times more. This simply proves that electricity as the most popular and indispensable form of energy be it in the thermal form, mechanical form, for lighting purposes or for transportation
With an ever-growing urban population, the world requires progressively larger amounts of energy to sustain a city lifestyle in which a person can drive to work, purchase food from stores, and use technology such as computers and phones. Over two thirds of the United States’ electricity is generated with the use of fossil fuels, contributing to the emissions causing global warming and degrading the environment. (UCSUSA coal) When people recognized that using coal and natural gas as ways to obtain electricity have severe negative long term impacts on the Earth, and that there is a fixed amount of these resources to be used, they began seeking alternatives to meet their energy demands. According to Malthus’ theory, wars should arise in order to obtain the last of these invaluable resources, however, it can be seen that that is not the case and people are instead trying to use different types of renewable energy. The Union of Concerned Scientists states that “we have the technologies and resources to reliably produce at least 40 percent of our electricity from renewable energy sources within the next 20 years, and 80 percent by 2050” (UCSUSA renewable energy). Humans have been able to progress towards renewable energy sources, limiting reliance on finite resources and opting for non-renewable ones, such as solar and wind energy. To help with this initiative, many state
I am certain that all have heard of the terms green house gases, fossil fuels, and global warming. Have you ever questioned what will happen if nothing is done about the environmental problems facing the world today? What if I answer you that, we can merely use the power from the sun to power up our entire planet without the use of harmful energy sources, which affect our atmosphere? The power from the sun is what we call solar power. Solar power is the energy that comes from the sun as light and heat energy, and then it is later converted into electrical energy through solar panels (Nelson, 2008). This kind of power is completely free, right? Why should we put a lot of expense on other sources of energy, when there is a complete free and healthy power? It is evident that solar energy is a healthy source of energy, which will help stop global warming all together, but it is economically efficient to switch everything to solar energy. Solar energy is capable of becoming the world's future power supply because, it is renewable, eco-friendly, and extremely efficient when strategically placed.
Energy is the key to accomplish economic,social and environmental targets of humankind, and amount of energy consumption,vanishing energy reserves, and production methods has been the most controversial subject in today's world. Scholars, governments, companies and societies are looking for a solution to fulfill the rising energy demand over the rapidly industrializing world. All these effort is to reach global economic growth in an environmentally non-destructive, efficient way. As the energy consumption increases worldwide, new terms like sustainability and efficiency of energy, vulnerability in supply and the effects to the environment are becoming more popular terms. Forecasting the results of new coming challenges like climate change and the search for a affordable energy with a reasonable cost with enlightening policies are the most attractive research subjects.
The world that we live into today affords us the expectation that the flip a switch will turn the lights on. As populations increase and developing nations undergo dramatic economic growth, this energy demand will only continue to grow. The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes that “the world’s energy needs could be 50% higher in 2030 than they are today” (ElBaradei). Given this projected growth, it is necessary for world leaders must take action to secure the energy supply. Meaning that world leaders need to start seriously considering an alternative to non-renewable energy sources. “In 2012, the United States generated about 4,054 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. About 68% of the electricity generated was from fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, and petroleum), with 37% attributed from coal” (U.S. Energy Information Administration). The fossil fuels that are used to supply over half of our country’s energy are in finite supply and are increasing in price to astronomical heights.