Solar energy accounts for a lot more than 99 percent of energy on our little planet. Only two other varieties of energy exist on our fair blue orb: gravity and the molten core of the planet itself. Even the molten core could be solar power one theory states that the planet is basically solar garbage shot out from the sun for the duration of a massive solar storm billions of years ago. If you get proper down to it, gravity constitutes the only form of power that is definitely not generated by the sun.
“Gravity?” some may well be asking. Indeed, gravity is a massive untapped source of energy. Water flows simply because of gravity. When water churns a hydroelectric turbine, gravity powers many properties, although water tends to get the credit.
Some people feel that wind energy is not solar energy, but if you feel about it even the wind is, in the final analysis, solar in origin. The sun heats the atmosphere, causing movement the same way steam results from boiling water. The movement in the atmosphere is wind, ergo wind comes from the sun.
Fossil fuels — petroleum, natural gas and coal — are decayed organic matter. Organic matter only thrives simply because the sun. The lowest levels of the food chain — plants — “eat” sunlight like food in the process of photosynthesis, which is why residence plants die without sunglight.
Because we know that practically all offered energy on this planet originates from the sun, does it not make sense that the sun should be tapped directly? The main reason that solar energy is superior to “other” forms of energy is this: We can tap it in its most simple form. We do not have to wait millions of years for dinosaur bones to decay into sunlight. Sunlight itself is the alpha. Oil and its attendant difficulties are at present the omega, but that need to have not be.
We can harness solar energy immediately. It is very simple to harness solar energy. Have you ever opened the drapes on a sunny winter day to let the sunlight in, to take pleasure in its warmth? You have harnessed solar power. It has not expense us a dime — which brings us to the second benefit of solar power: It is low-cost. Even solar panels have turn out to be cheap in recent years. If 1 considers the cost of cleaning up oil spills and the price of global climate alter (in the form of intensified weather events which are now undeniable on a global scale), solar power is indeed the least expensive form of energy in the globe.
An additional benefit of solar energy is that it is ubiquitous on the surface of the Earth. Even on a rainy day, a huge quantity of solar energy is hitting the ground. Which brings us to the final advantage — solar energy is abundant. Each and every single day, far more energy from sunlight reaches the surface of our planet than will be burned in the entire history of all fossil fuels combined. This is definitely a scientific fact. Appear it up. It works out to 12.two trillion watt-hours of solar power per square mile per year. Multiply this by 198 million square miles on the surface of the earth. This is a lot of energy.
Harnessing solar energy on a huge scale should be a priority in these times. It is easier than digging and drilling for dwindling amounts of coal and oil. It is safer than nuclear power and can be brought on line significantly more speedily. Let’s do this!