Solar Energy Disadvantages

In my previous post on solar energy advantages, I talked about the various advantages that getting a solar panel of your own on your roof top can be helpful for you and why you should consider it a responsibility of yours in order to help not only our environment but also other people living in this planet and our own children and the future citizens of this world. In this post, I will list some of the disadvantages of utilizing solar energy. Although there are some good reasons that may make you decide against installing solar panel despite the many advantages, I want to remind you about one of the biggest solar energy advantage.

It is the fact that you can use solar energy panels in combination with your traditional energy provider that you have been getting for all these years. That way, you can use solar power during the day time when the sun is out and during the night time, you can switch back to the normal electricity that you were originally using. That way, you are helping as much as you can by installing solar panels and it will also help you save up a lot of money as well.
Okay, for those of you planning to install solar panels, you should probably be warned of the following disadvantages.

1. First and foremost, the initial cost of setting up a solar panel can be quite high and hence, you may have to shell out quite a bit of money to make sure you get the best tools and equipments to use for setting up your solar panels. Sometimes, some of the semi-conducting materials that you are supposed to use to make up the main part of the solar panel can set you back by quite a bit of money as they are pretty expensive. This tends to discourage a lot of people but what they and you, the "the prospective buyer" have to understand is that it is not difficult to make up for what you have spent because the money you have used up goes "practically
   maintenance free" for a long time in the future. This, as a matter of fact can save you a lot of money rather than set you back. Consider this as an investment that will get you returns in the long term if not immediately just like financial investments give you returns over the period of a few years.
2. One question that most people planning to get solar energy panels for their homes ask is how they can get energy during the night time or on days when it is extremely cloudy or rainy. Here's a fact for all of you wondering about this. There is something called "net-metering" that can adjust your electricity meters such that you get charged for the exact amount you use and for making sure that any excess energy you produce can earn you money. Here's what awea.org has to say about this –
   
   "Net-metering" is a simplified method of metering the energy consumed and produced at a home or business that has its own renewable energy generator, such as a wind turbine. Under net metering, excess electricity produced by the wind turbine will spin the existing home or business electricity meter backwards, effectively banking the electricity until it is needed by the customer. This provides the customer with full retail value for all the electricity produced. Under existing federal law (PURPA, Section 210) utility customers can use the electricity they generate with a wind turbine to supply their own lights and appliances, offsetting electricity they would otherwise have to purchase from the utility at the retail price. 
   
    
   But if the customer produces any excess electricity (beyond what is needed to meet the customer's own needs) and net metering is not allowed, the utility purchases that excess electricity at the wholesale or 'avoided cost' price, which is much lower than the retail price. The excess energy is metered using an additional meter that must be installed at the customer's expense. Net metering simplifies this arrangement by allowing the customer to use any excess electricity to offset electricity used at other times during the billing period. In other words, the customer is billed only for the net energy consumed during the billing period."
   
3. Another could-be problem is that if you need enough electrical energy to power your entire house, you will need a large area for installing solar panels. One possible solution that many people employ is to use the energy only for heating purposes or for other similar purposes instead of using it for electricity. But of course, if you have a big enough house or a big enough terrace, then there are no problems whatsoever as you can fill it up with plenty of solar panels that can generate plenty of electricity for you.
4. There is another problem that many people report and that is that solar photovoltaic cells depend on the location of the sun for maximum efficiency. But this problem can be overcome in many ways. One of the simplest and easiest ways is to get some special mirrors which can be placed in the appropriate positions so that they can reflect the sun's rays irrespective of what position the sun is in onto the panel and hence still be as effective. This has been the solution that has been suggested to most people having this problem and it has also worked for most of them.
5. There are also reports on TV Channels such as Discovery Channel and other news channels about solar powered cars. As optimum as this is, it can get quite bulky. We know that most youth today and most people who commute in cars desire to have the sleekest and the most efficient of cars. And because of that, this would probably not work out as the best car that has been built.

I hope that the above list of disadvantages did not discourage you from installing solar powered panels in your house. Just remember the fact
that there are a lot more advantages than disadvantages of installing solar paneles.

To a greener future,
Andy.