Solar Energy Is Good For The Environment Not Just Your Bank Balance

The Environmental Benefits Of Solar Energy

The electricity produced from solar panels is clean, renewable and emission free.

Whereas most of the electricity generated around the globe is produced by burning fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, generating electricity with solar power does not result in any emissions of carbon dioxide or local air pollutants.

While extracting and using fossil fuels is expensive and harmful to the environment, solar energy is free and readily abundant - if we could capture all of the sun's energy shining on the Earth for just one hour, we could power the entire world for one year!

Generating electricity with solar power instead of fossil fuels can dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2). Greenhouse gases, which are produced when fossil fuels are burned, lead to rising global temperatures and climate change. Climate change already contributes to serious environmental and public health issues throughout our country and the world, from wildfires out West to increasingly frequent and severe major storms in the East.

By going solar, you can reduce the demand for fossil fuels, limit greenhouse gas emissions, and shrink your own carbon footprint. In fact, just one home installing a solar energy system has a measurable effect on the environment.

Take for example a home that uses 8,288 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year. For that home, switching from fossil fuels to solar has the same emissions reduction effect as planting about 150 trees every single year for the lifetime of the solar panel system.

Choosing a clean source of electricity like solar panels can eliminate the same amount of carbon emissions that would result from burning over 5,000 pounds of coal each year.

One of the biggest benefits of solar energy is that it results in very few air pollutants. An analysis by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that widespread solar adoption can significantly reduce nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter emissions, all of which can cause health problems. NREL found that, among other health benefits, solar power results in fewer cases of chronic bronchitis, respiratory and cardiovascular problems, and lost workdays related to health issues.