What should be done about increasing the use of solar panels on houses?

Introduction:

I decided to study about solar panels and the different ways that the use of them could be increased in houses. In this inquiry I’m going to explain what solar panels are, which types are the best and for what they are best, after a bit of research I figured out that the way that the use of solar panels in houses can be increased if the government gives subsidies to people who are interested in buying or are wanting to buy solar panels.

It is increasingly evident that climate change is going to impact our lives on Earth. The burning of fossil fuels is a major driver of climate change. The development of solar panel technology means that we can now significantly reduce our emissions from energy production. The problem that we face is getting people to invest in them. The cost of solar panels is prohibitive for most people. However the benefits to us as a collective are worth the investment. Therefore the government should subsidise the cost of solar panels for private homes.The problem with not using solar panels is that, if you use normal electricity sources, such as fossil fuels it pollutes the earth by a lot, which is why global warming is happening right now.

What is a solar panel:

The term solar panels stands for photo-voltaic (PV) module. A photo-voltaic panel is an assembly of photovoltaic cells mounted in a framework to create a solar panel. These photo-voltaic cells use sunlight as a source of energy, or else a solar panel wouldn’t work. If a solar panel had no sunlight it couldn't produce direct current energy. The most common way that people use solar panels is warming up water for a house, as solar panels do not generate electricity but rather water. Solar panels are usually installed on the roofs of houses so they catch more sunlight, but some people with a big property usually install the panels in a field. Solar panels are made of many little photovoltaic cells, (Photovoltaic simply means they convert sunlight into electricity).

This shows what a solar panel is made of and what order these components are put:

How does a solar panel work:

Cold water is pumped up to the solar panel and is transferred to a storage tank, a pump then pushes the cold water through tubes into the solar panel, which then heats up and is sent back to the storage tank. The water is heated by the energy of the sun and then it returns down back to the tank, in some systems a conventional boiler may be used to increase the temperature of the water because maybe in winter the solar panels do not get as much sunlight as in summer. Simply put, a solar panel works by allowing photons, or particles of light, to knock electrons free from atoms, generating a flow of electricity.Many of these photovoltaic cells form a solar panel. The difference between a PV panel and a water warming solar panel is that a PV panel can only produce electricity because, unlike the water warming solar panel it doesn't have tubes which go through the solar panel, these tubes contain water and that’s how the water warms up.

This is how a water warming solar panels works:

Is there different types of solar panels and if so why?

There are three main types of solar panels:

The first one is called monocrystalline, polycrystalline and thin-film. Each type of these three solar panels has its disadvantages and advantages, the best type of solar panel can’t be based on your liking it has to be thought about, the perfect type of solar panel has to go well with your property and the use and need of this solar panel. Both monocrystalline and polycrystalline have cells made of silicon wafers. To build a monocrystalline and polycrystalline panel, silicon wafers are assembled into rows and columns to form a rectangle, which is then covered with a sheet of glass. The only slight difference in the making of these two solar panels is that monocrystalline solar panel cells are cut from a single pure crystal of silicon, while polycrystalline solar cells are composed from shards of silicon which are then melted together before being melted into the wafers.

Up to 90% of any solar panel can be recycled with around 85% of the panel consisting of glass and metal. Obviously there are other elements, such as silicons and plastics that make up the panel, and these require a much more labour intensive method to dispose of appropriately. There are materials within a solar panel that could be harmful. These would include Lead, Cadmium and copper, a by-product of the manufacturing process called silicon tetrachloride, which is particularly nasty compound and should be disposed of correctly.

Numerical data:

In this chart you can clearly see the amount of GWh of solar energy consumed from the year 2007 to 2015. This is a great example because it shows clearly how it has increased and it has increased by quite a lot in 8 years. GWh means Gigawatt hours, is a unit of energy representing one billion watt hours. This chart is a good source of information because it helps me get a better understanding of how much, and by how much the usage of solar energy has increased through 8 years.

How are solar panels a good alternative energy source?

Solar panels are a good alternative source of energy because it uses solar power to work, and solar power is a green energy that doesn’t pollute the earth. Installing solar power systems in a residential setting generally means setting up a solar photovoltaic or solar thermal system on the roof. Solar energy is inextinguishable, unlike fossil fuels that are finite. As I said earlier on, solar energy doesn’t pollute the environment, but fossil fuels do, which is why solar energy is a good green energy. Solar energy is a modular technology, which means that you can install any number of solar panels based on your needs and requirements.

Using solar power greatly reduces your electricity bill, even completely eliminating it if your solar panel installations are big enough for your needs of electricity. Solar power currently offers one of the best alternative power sources for the reason that is one of the longer lasting options that are available and year on year, with cost coming down and technical advances, has become an alternative that stacks up financially against what the current power companies can offer.

How much does it cost to get a solar panel?

Solar energy can lower your electricity bill by quite a lot, but buying a solar panel costs quite a lot, and again the cost of solar panels is based on your budget, but also the need and the use that you’re going to make of it. The cost of solar panels can be calculated by price in dollars per WATT ($/W). For example in New Zealand the price of 7 2 Kilowatt solar panels, would cost $5,500 (GST fully included). Another thing that can determine the price of solar panels can be based on the type and shape of roof that your house has, for example if your roof has a weird shaped angle then you will have to pay more because the company will have to bend and pretty much customize the solar panel so it fits to your roof. The factors that you need to consider before choosing the right solar panel or any other sustainable energy you have to consider a few factors depending upon your driving motives.

Firstly if you are doing it for environmental reasons you would have to consider what the environment features you would have at your disposal and what their carbon footprint would be. An example would be that if you live in an area that rains all the time but is very windy, a robust wind turbine may be an option. If you live in an area that has comparatively, low sunlight hours it’s windy but you have a stream close by, Micro-hydro could be an option.

But if you have heaps of sunlight for most of the year then you obviously would choose solar panels as an option.

What can solar panels be used for?

We can use solar panels to generate electricity on a private or industrial scale. A domestic solar power system can help you power your home using a good green energy. While on an industrial scale solar panels can be used for providing electricity for the masses. In this case engineers install a large solar panel array which forms a solar power station. One of the big advantages of solar panels is that they can provide energy for remote locations, this means if there is enough sunlight and you live really rural you don’t need normal electricity to power your home. In my research I found that the top 4 ways that solar power is used in private properties are:

Providing electricity, this is the most common, because most of the appliances and tasks in a home use electricity. The second one is heating water, this is because with the increasing costs of electricity, most homes have solar water heaters. The third one is solar ventilation fans, solar ventilation solutions, including the solar attic fans, help reduce the overworking HVAC system by cooling your home during hot weather periods of the year. The fourth is heating a swimming pool, this isn’t quite the same as heating normal house water, it’s heating a large amount of water and heating a pool with normal pool heaters that use normal electricity would cost a fortune, this is why solar power is good for this.

What would change if everyone had solar panels?

In an area covered by solar panels, less solar radiation would be absorbed by the earth because it would be absorbed by the panels. Then it would be turned into electricity. As a result, in Layman’s terms, our environment would almost immediately cool.This paragraph links back to my introduction, because after doing research on this question I found the answer to the problem of people not having solar panels installed in their homes.

My expert Steven Straughan:

Steven Straughan has been working for a solar company for just over 8 years, the thing that initially sparked his interest in working for a solar company was a gentlemen that originally began a solar panel company in Tauranga called PowerSmart. In a brief discussion that he had with this gentleman, he explained to Steven how solar was going to offset one third of the diesel requirements of a Pacific island and the time frame it was going to take to pay itself off compared to importing diesel annually. Stevens looked into the potential and from there he was hooked.

This below is the company that Stevens works for.

Conclusion:

In this Inquiry I considered all of the other options and solutions to my answers, the other two were that, every house that is newer than 2019 or is being built would have to have a solar panel installation, the other one was that lowering the prices of solar panels, after doing research on each one of these I thought that if solar panel companies lowered their prices for solar panels, there would be no good income for them because, even if more people bought solar panels, they still would have to make a lot more solar panels and they would get less money while selling more. So with this statement I think that the right solution to this problem would be that the government gives subsidies to people who are interested or are buying solar panels.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

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