Solar energy is a renewable power source that harnesses the strength of the sun to create electricity. This entire process is completed by installing solar panels on a home or office building. With so many people trying to get away from fossil fuels, solar energy is becoming increasing popular throughout the country. While solar energy has its fair share of benefits, it also still has a few faults. These are the main pros and cons of solar energy.
Pros:
Lower Electric Bills
Using solar energy results in a direct reduction of your traditional electric bills. Once the solar panels on your home start generating power, you will be less reliant on power from the electric company. Creating more solar energy will create smaller energy bills each month. You will continue to see this savings every month throughout the lengthy lifespan of your solar panels.
Save the Environment
While you may not think about it much, the electricity used in your home is not very good for the environment. The power company creates the electricity primarily using coal and natural gas. Constantly depending on these limited resources is not sustainable for the environment. Solar energy is completely sustainable because it only uses sunlight to create the power. This is simply one of the easiest ways to help the environment right now.
Cons:
Costly Initial Investment
One of the main things keeping people from converting to solar energy is the high investment costs. While the prices are going down every year, purchasing and installing solar panels on an average home can still cost more than a new car. While you will get this money back over the years by using less traditional electricity, there are not a lot of people financially capable of spending more than $20,000 to make the conversion right now.
Need Perfect Conditions
The other big con of solar energy is that it requires perfect conditions to create power. Solar panels need to get direct sunlight in order to generate energy, so they will not be able to do much on cloudy days. You also need a fairly spacious roof to fit enough panels to power your entire home. This space is not available on a lot of urban homes.