Benefits and Drawbacks of Solar Power

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With the apparent benefits of solar power being a much-discussed subject today, most people think that it is a viable investment to use solar power.

With the disaster in the Massey coal mine, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the emission of nuclear radiation in Japan making the headlines it isn’t easy to see why solar power is fast becoming the preferred choice of the lot.

Should we install solar panels, or is it wise to review the benefits and drawbacks of this energy source first?

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Of course, in being realistic about solar power, it’s wiser to acknowledge that there are both benefits and drawbacks, and understand them before making a choice.

So here are a few benefits and drawbacks of solar power:

Benefits

Without a doubt, solar power is not only much safer to produce compared to other sources of energy but is also clean in terms of the environment. This benefit, as most people will agree, counts for a lot.

Secondly, when you install solar panels, your use of grip power reduces, and thus, a return on investment is likely in a few years because of the reduced costs when it comes to energy bills.

Thirdly, since the sun comes out every morning in almost military fashion, you can expect the amount of electricity produced to be reliable. In fact, some manufacturers will provide an estimate of power that will be produced and will refund the balance amount if the panels don’t meet those standards.

Drawbacks

While the solar energy produced for a year is accurate estimated, the same can’t be said on a weekly or monthly basis. Sadly, your solar panels will never produce electricity at night. However, there are ways to resolve this.

Without a doubt, solar panels are expensive to install, and without any assistance from the government, it’s unlikely that people will be able to afford them.

For these solar panels to work, they need a lot of exposure to the sun, and some houses haven’t been designed to suit the needs of going green. In short, if your roof doesn’t have southern exposure, then it’s going to be impossible to install solar panels.