Skip to main content

Energy comparison: solar (PV) panels

Image
By
Hi everyone,

Today I'm looking into the first on a long list of energy sources: solar (PV) panels. Are they actually sustainable and could they become our main energy source in the near future? After all, enough energy from the sun reaches the earth in 90 minutes to cover the entire world's energy consumption for a whole year!

How they work

There are a couple of ways to transform energy from the sun into electricity. The one we are looking at today is solar panels also known as solar photovoltaic technology. Photovoltaic (PV) technology is the key to solar panels. A solar panel is made of many PV cells. A single PV cell will produce 1-2 watts of power. They are very thin and are normally protected by glass and/or plastics. This is the best explanation I could find (click here for the source):
When the semiconductor is exposed to light, it absorbs the light’s energy and transfers it to negatively charged particles in the material called electrons. This extra energy allows the electrons to flow through the material as an electrical current.
The electric current produced is a direct current, so a converter is added to convert it into an alternating current used in households. Some PV systems will have structures that angle the panels to face the sun for maximal energy production.

Energy storage

Solar panels themselves do not store energy. However, there are batteries for storing solar energy. They are quite expensive. Lithium-ion batteries are at least 90% efficient. That isn't terrible but you would still lose 10% of your electricity. Lead-acid batteries may be the most affordable, but they have an efficiency of 60%-80% (depending on model and brand). That's quite bad. Flow batteries, which are the newest model have 85% efficiency. So all in all, solar batteries aren't amazing and it's definitely one of the biggest problems for the industry.

Energy in production

To produce one 100-watt solar panel, you need about 200kWh (varying massively). With enough sunlight, the 100-watt solar panel would produce enough electricity to cover that in about 2 years. A solar array (multiple solar panels) has a carbon footprint about 20 times smaller than a power plant (when both produce the same amount of energy). A solar panel becomes net zero after about 4 years of being used. We're hoping that it will soon be possible to use solar panels to power the factory making solar panels. However, there would still be CO2 emissions due to transportation and maintenance.

Downsides

In 2016, 250 000 tonnes of 'solar panel waste' were generated in the whole world. Estimates say it could be 78 million tonnes in 2050. Cadmium and lead are contained in this waste and can be washed into local rivers and bodies of water, causing extreme health risks for nearby people.
As mentioned above, fossil fuels, normally coal, are needed to produce solar panels. During production, hydrofluoric acid and sodium hydroxide are used. Most of this is dumped in local bodies of water, where they release toxic substances and chemical waste. There are also allegations of a lack of the needed safety gear and regulations that protect the workers producing the solar panels.
19 different rare metals are needed for PV cells, and most of them require mining. So we cannot create endless solar panels without running out of materials.

Covering the Sahara?

Many people think we should cover the Sahara desert with solar panels. This may sound like a good idea at first. After all, it would produce enough electricity to easily power the whole world, there is plenty and as not many species live in the desert, it wouldn't destroy too much habitat. However, it is a very bad idea.
  1. We have already mentioned the fact that we do not have the needed resources to produce that many solar panels.
  2. We do not have the infrastructure to build a massive solar field.
  3. Such a project would produce massive greenhouse gas emissions during production.
  4. As already mentioned, we can't effienciety store solar energy and transporting it to another part of the world would be difficult.
  5. We would have to replace the solar panels after about 25 years, which would cause massive amounts of waste.
  6. It would cost trillions of dollars.
  7. While it is night in the Sahara, there will be no electricity production. However at this time, it is broad daylight in Australia meaning that they need electricity. As said before, the storage is not optimal.
  8. A power cable from the sahara to the rest of the world would have at least a 20% power loss.
  9. The solar panels would cool the desert, meaning plants would grow. Then it wouldn't be a desert anymore and we would be destroying more habitat.
  10. The dust and sand that the wind in the sahara picks up, fertilises the Amazon rainforest. With all those solar panels in the way, the dust wouldn't fertilise the Amazon. The amazon dying would be a catastrophy.
  11. Due to point 9. hurricanes and storms would rampage the Americas more frequently.
  12. Global oxygen levels may drop due to losing the amazon (point 10.) and the atlantic also being affected.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Covering the entire Sahara and trying to power the whole world with it, is a really bad idea. However, it could be implemented on a much smaller scale to provide local populations with electricity. Morroco has the world's largest solar farm in the Sahara.



All in all, solar panels aren't great for the environment. However, the idea of using the sun's energy is actually not too bad. If the technology surrounding the production, waste and storage of solar panels could be drastically improved, then we could use solar panels as the world's main power source. We just need the technology to be efficient first. This is already in the making, hundreds of scientists world-wide are working on how to improve solar panels. There are also ideas of creating solar farms in space, which would eliminate the problem of solar farms being reliant on the weather.

Your Green World Blog Team💚


Sources:

Image: 
This image, owned by Wolfram Burner (on flickr.com) is liscensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discussion || Should Everyone Switch To Electric Cars?

By
Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for joining me today, as I hop on the blog to discuss whether everyone switching to electric cars would really help the environment. In other words, should everyone switch to electric cars? This is the first part of a two-part series, discussing electric cars, so stay tuned for part two!! I would like to start this post by stating that I am by no means an expert. This is knowledge I have from my own experience, and from research I have done. If anything is incorrect please take it as it is and accept that this is a discussion and I am taking on board all opinions from reliable sources on this complex topic. Electric cars are a huge topic when it comes to sustainability and "saving our planet". There is no debating the fact that electric cars are better for the environment than diesel or petrol once they are on the road. But the production of them is often very polluting, with one study show
2 comments
Read more

What to do if a House Plant doesn't look Healthy (top tips) || Green Pets

By
Hi Everyone! Today I wanted to talk about what you should do if your house plants do not look healthy, and how important it is to be flexible around looking after house plants, how changing plans can be very important in keeping your house plants healthy. By not healthy, I mean a plant that has yellowed leaves, dried leaves or is looking droopy. Recently, some of my plants haven't been doing so well either, which has been very frustrating. Here are a few things I am doing to try to change this. **Disclaimer: I am not an expert. I am just a passionate plant mum from Somerset, England and I just want to share some tips. ** 1. Research, research, research I've been collecting information on each of my house plants and trying to match the recommendations for each of the plants. I recently visited Tresco Abbey Gardens on the Isles of Scilly, and I bought a book about how to look after house plants, which I have been using, but the
Post a Comment
Read more

New Year's Eve 2020 Challenge!!!

By
Challenge New Year's Eve is only a week away now.  Hundreds of people set goals for the coming year on New Year's Eve. We would like you to set some goals that are about the environment. For instance cut down on how much meat you eat or use less plastic. You can chose the easy, the normal or the hard challenge. Easy Challenge For the easy challenge you only need to set one environmental goal. Normal Challenge To complete the normal challenge you will need to set three environmental goals. Hard Challenge This one is for people who are willing to give things up for the environment. To do the hard challenge you must set five environmental goals. Completion Date 31.12. (New Year's Eve) You have one week. Other info Tell us about your goals We would love you to tell us about your goals. If you wish to share them with us: just write them in a comment. Tips Don't set goals that you know you won't be able to complete. Just
1 comment
Read more

June 2021 Factfile - some news from the past month, animals and our first plant of the month!

By
Hi Everyone! We’re terribly sorry for missing last month’s fact file (May). We have all had a busy few months. This is actually the May fact file coming out very late. The June fact file is cancelled. Because of this, this factfile contains news from both months. We are very sorry for the delay in this post. As announced in our last factfile, this post has a new feature to it; plant of the month. We hope you'll enjoy it! News: Sierra Leone has sold a rainforest for a Chinese Harbour Sierra Leone has sold 250 acres of beach and protected rainforest for £39m to build an industrial fishing harbour. It was home to many animals, including several endangered species. This will also have a disastrous impact on local communities, tourism and as I've already mentioned, the environment. Just click  here - It's an article about all the environmental disasters that happened in May. It shocked me. Red Squirrels were born
Post a Comment
Read more

Coral reefs

By
Hello! We would love to introduce you to the topic of coral reefs and especially coral reef bleaching, as it is a greatly ignored but certainly significant topic. Have fun! 5 coral reef facts 1. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on the planet and is 2300 km long! 2. Less than 0.1% of the world's ocean surface is covered in coral reefs. 3. At least 25% of all marine animals live there. 4. Coral reefs are often known as the rainforests of the ocean. 5. In 1 square kilometre of coral reef, up to 35 tons of fish can be 'produced'. The 5 biggest coral reefs in the world 1. Great Barrier Reef (near Australia) 2. Red Sea Coral Reef (near Egypt, Israel and Djibouti) 3. New Caledonia Reef (Pacific Ocean near New Caledonia) 4. The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (near Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras) 5. Florida Reef (Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico near Florida) What is coral? Coral is actually made up of small anim
Post a Comment
Read more

November Top Tips | sustainable activities and hobbies

By
Hello everyone, So this week, we are going to be talking about sustainable free time activities. This area can quite big when it comes to environmental impact, so here are some things that you can do in your free time, that are more sustainable. 1. Reading So reading is one of our favourite things to do. However, books are made of paper and the paper industry isn't great. Some ways you can get around this is by reading online (for example, on a kindle), or through borrowing books from a library or using book boxes. If there aren't any in your area then at least try to support independent bookshops! 2. Running If you love being active then this one is for you. Running is probably one of the most sustainable forms of sport. All you need are some running shoes and somewhere to run. There is obviously more high-tech gear but that isn't really necessary if it's just a hobby. 3. Gardening If you've got a small area of land o
2 comments
Read more

March Top Tips // 10 little things you can avoid in daily life

By Anonymous
Welcome to the Top Tips this month! We'll be talking about 10 things you can avoid using in everyday life. We know it's a really simple topic, but it can actually make quite a difference. The avoidable stuff will be things many use because they look nice or taste nice or similar, but aren't actually necessary. We will also write a couple of facts on these things, and give ideas on how you could substitute them if possible. Many might be very obvious, but think about it, do you actually not use them? Have fun! Chewing Gum Most people would not be surprised when told that lots of chewing gum have synthetic colouring and flavouring. However, most people would be surprised when told that chewing gum is largely made of plastic. What the companies call the "gum base" is plastic and partly made of the same stuff plastic bags are made of. The gum contains microplastics that, if you spit your gum on the ground often tend to get into the oce
Post a Comment
Read more

2021: How Our Year Went, Favourite Posts and Some Goals For 2022 | a wrap up

By
Hi Everyone! Today we wanted to share some thoughts on how our blogging year went in 2021 and some goals for 2022. We are now at the end of January, which is very scary, but we hope you will still enjoy this slightly belated wrap-up. In 2021, we published 36 posts in total. This is pretty good, we posted on average roughly every 10 days. However, there was a lot of time when we didn't post at all and our posts became increasingly just the monthly fact file. Many of you enjoyed the fact file, and for the most part, we enjoyed writing it but it became a bit of a chore by the end, hence the change we have made over to top tips. We think it would be nice to change our monthly post every year, and we will of course involve you in that just as we did this year. Our best posting months were by far August and September, which is understandable because we were on holiday for August and could schedule a lot of posts for September! Something we want to wor
1 comment
Read more

Photo Essay || Iceland Series (part 1)

By
Hi Everyone! I recently went on a school trip to Iceland! It was such an incredible experience (and I'm going to sound cheesy now) but it was also incredible to do it with some of my closest friends! I saw so many incredible things and learnt so much, so I couldn't resist sharing a little Iceland mini series of posts, all about Iceland, both my experiences there and what I saw, but also the way it uses geothermal energy, and the animals, natural landforms and plants that are there. Today I'm sharing some photos of my trip. These are all photos I have taken, and are also the highlights so please bear that in mind as you browse these! I hope it is interesting and inspires you to book a trip to Iceland! The blue lagoon <33 landscapes.... Lost little farmhouses a
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Don't People Switch To Electric Cars? || Green World Blog

By
Hi Everyone! The previous post in this series really blew up, so thank you so much for your support on that one. In this article, I wanted to discuss why people are not switching to electric cars, and why the transport industry still has a way to go in terms of reaching net zero. If you missed the first part of this post, then  click here to read it! ! I talked in the post linked above, about why people should switch to electric cars, while also taking into account the potential issues with them, and coming to a conclusion about should everyone switch to electric cars. In this post, I wanted to delve further into the topic of why people don't switch to electric cars. The cost is one of the main issues at the moment. To own an electric car, you need a reliable electricity supply, which is not readily available for everyone in the developing world, let alone the cost of buying the vehicle in the first place. The cost of the vehicle coul
Post a Comment
Read more