Renewable energy sources, including solar energy, have increased in popularity in recent years. A growing number of households are installing solar panels in their homes—for good reason. There are many pluses to using solar power over traditional fossil fuels, including environmental and financial benefits. Let’s look at some of the main advantages of harnessing the sun’s rays to generate your electricity.
It Is a Renewable Energy Source (It Won’t Run Out!)
Compared to other energy sources, solar energy is truly sustainable. Whereas fossil fuels such as oil and coal are finite resources, the sun will keep rising every day! According to experts, fossil fuels could deplete by as soon as 2060, but the sun will burn bright for at least the next 5 billion years. What’s more, solar energy can be employed anywhere that there is sunlight—even in remote and rural areas—so it is a great way to ensure that future generations all over the world will have access to constant electricity.
It Keeps Those Pesky Electricity Bills Low
Energy derived from the sun costs a big fat zero! If you install solar panels on your home, you will generate your own free energy to heat your house and water—even on those cold and cloudy days. This means that you won’t need to buy as much electricity from corporate energy providers, which could save you hundreds of pounds every year. As well as lowering your outgoings by utilizing solar energy, you can actually make money from it by selling the surplus energy that your solar panels generate back to the grid. What a boon!
It’s Eco-friendly
It’s great that you can save (and make) money by using solar panels on your home, but did you know that solar energy also has a positive environmental impact? When we burn fossil fuels, we release harmful emissions called greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These emissions, particularly carbon dioxide, can lead to catastrophic global warming and widespread air pollution, which has a link to numerous respiratory ailments such as asthma and bronchitis. Solar energy, on the other hand, is a clean energy source; it doesn’t release any pollution into the atmosphere and, as such, using it can mean lowering your carbon footprint dramatically. Solar energy also helps to conserve water; fossil fuel practices such as fracking use huge amounts of water, whilst solar panels don’t need any water to generate energy.
It’s Very Low-maintenance and Easy to Install
Another great benefit of solar energy is that it is easy to install, and it requires very little maintenance, unlike many other forms of renewable energy such as wind and geothermal. You can install solar panels on your roof within a matter of days and begin creating your own energy in no time. Because there are no moving parts involved, they don’t need a lot of upkeep apart from the odd clean with a garden hose, and they last for ages (there is often a 25-year guarantee).
