Solar Energy
Why do we build passive solar homes? Most people familiar with the subject of alternative and renewable energies would reply with a variation of many answers to this question.
“To act locally in an ever expanding global market.” “The solar panels or photovoltaics will pay for themselves in a given amount of time depending on the system implemented.” “I would build a passive solar house to take myself entirely off the grid.”
These answers seem to be common when it comes to the world of alternative energies. Although the majority may reply to this question with similar answers there has to be a flip side or different view on any topic including renewable energy. “Green building,” or building with natural supplies
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No, we obviously cannot reverse the chain of events that has brought us to this point but we can individually do our part to stop the on going process.
Technology has brought us to where we are today as humans. For better or worse this is where we are and we are stuck with it. We need to use technology to our advantage in our everyday lives. This is where passive solar technology comes into play. It is, in a sense, a gathering of the new and old for a better world. Our ancient ancestors may have caused war and been unjust but they did not place the future of the world on the brink of extinction. As present citizens of earth our living habits dictate the way we use earth’s resources. We need to curb our ways and live “closer” or more in-tune with our mother earth. Greeks and Romans used passive designs in their architecture for such purposes as community baths and meeting halls as well as orientating their living spaces also. This technology is nothing new, so we have the ability to do this type of building on a large scale. The design concept is a huge part of this process for present day building, such as it was when the Greeks and Romans designed their architecture.
One must figure out the best way of designing a living space for the intended environment or climate. The passive heating and cooling of the living space entirely depends upon this. Major flaws have been made
Solar energy is the most ancient kind of energy found on earth, for it is as old as the sun. "Solar" means from the sun. The earth is only one of the many planets which is bathed in the sun's overflowing energy. Every second the world receives 95.8 trillion watts of power…just think about that for a minute. Think about how much power the earth just received in the time it took you to read this sentence? It is well beyond the amount of power used in one day. It has the potential to satisfy all our energy needs forever without ever having to use the pollutive fossil fuels ever again. "The problem however, does not lie in the limited source, as do fossil fuels, but in harnessing
installing solar panels are changing tastes and preferences of consumer. As Energy Sage (n.d.) stated,
placement. On the other hand, solar panels are highly costly and cause much maintenance and
Passive solar heating designs are some of the simplest forms of incorporating solar energy into your daily home life. Passive solar designs incorporate the sun
Fossil Fuels are a great alternative but the technology is still relatively expensive and can be very dangerous to the natural environment. The ability to power more homes from the direct sunlight coming from
When all of our natural fossil fuels are low or gone, solar energy will be one of the leading sources of energy that we will need in the future.
Green buildings could become one of the main factors to preserve our rapidly decaying environment. There is no easy way to define a green building, but a green building is essentially a structure that amplifies the positives and mitigates the negatives throughout the entire life cycle of the building (Kriss, 2014). There are many definitions for a green building, but all of them include the planning, designing, constructing, and operating of the building while taking into huge considerations of the energy use, water use, indoor air environment, materials used and the effect it has on the site the green building is being built on. The first green buildings dates back to as far as the 1970’s, when solar panels went from experiments to reality. Green buildings were not as popular as they are today due to their extremely high pricing. With technology rapidly growing, solar panels are becoming cheaper and cheaper, making the transition to creating green buildings more affordable. This is the primary reason for the increased growth of green buildings today. A modern company that is paving the way to the growth of green buildings named LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, focuses primarily on new and effective ideas for environmentally friendly buildings projects. With more than 60,000 commercial projects worldwide and 1.7 million square feet being certified every day, LEED is one of the leading groups for promoting green buildings. LEED has popularized the entire
Attention Getter: Let’s look ahead fifty years and see what the world is like. Imagine a world that is in total war with no end in sight. The cause behind this war is simple, oil. Everyone is fighting over those last few reserves of oil. How can this future be prevented? The answer is solar power.
When the new Southeast Polk High School opened they added many new energy saving products. This included installing geothermal heating under the high school cutting back on the cost of heating such a large building. Many new windows help save on energy used to light the building along with automatic lights that turn off after several minutes without movement. The new high school shows how easy it is to save money and help the environment. Renewable energy is good for all aspects of the U.S, providing jobs, economical growth, environmental cleanliness, and new research for improving energy efficiency. Therefore the United States should use renewable energy to benefit the economy and environment.
Alternative or clean energy is the way of the future. Every day we wait to implementing changes in the way we generate energy, is a lost opportunity to prevent further damage to the environment. As Kevin Begos (2016) points out in his article “The Solar Energy Controversies” by implementing solar technologies we can help the environment by reduce our dependency on fossil fuels (p. 387).
I am certain that all have heard of the terms green house gases, fossil fuels, and global warming. Have you ever questioned what will happen if nothing is done about the environmental problems facing the world today? What if I answer you that, we can merely use the power from the sun to power up our entire planet without the use of harmful energy sources, which affect our atmosphere? The power from the sun is what we call solar power. Solar power is the energy that comes from the sun as light and heat energy, and then it is later converted into electrical energy through solar panels (Nelson, 2008). This kind of power is completely free, right? Why should we put a lot of expense on other sources of energy, when there is a complete free
Solar energy is an eco-friendly alternative to fossil fuels. Our planet has been experiencing an average increase in global temperatures. Slowly but surely our planet is deteriorating, unless we change our form of energy into a greener alternative. Deterioration of our planet may occur at a faster rate. The depletion of fossil fuels is detrimental to our environment. By substituting fossil fuels with the solar energy, our planet will benefit. These benefits include: reduced climate change, beneficial economic opportunities on both a large scale benefitting our government and on a smaller scale helping individuals decrease their energy bills, and solar energy is renewable and sustainable.
“According to the International Energy Agency, renewables represent the "world's second largest electricity source (Staff).’” Many states have set mandates to reach a goal of getting a certain percentage of energy from renewable resources with California in the lead. The cost of harnessing and using renewable energy is now at about the same as nonrenewable energy. Solar panels are over one million houses including the White House. The lowering cost and inclusion of renewable energy into everyday lives has made total dependence on clean energy more possible.
Now that we understand what solar energy is and how it benefits our society, we are going to delve deeper into it’s advantages. The most prevalent advantage of solar energy is that it is renewable. It can be harnessed in all areas all around the world is available everyday. Unlike some of the other alternative energy sources, we cannot run out of solar energy. As long as we have the sun, solar
Solar energy and its use isn’t new to the world. It has been used by various societies beginning from 7thCentury B.C, when the sun’s heat was concentrated by glass and mirrors to light fires. Today, we have everything from solar-powered buildings to solar-powered vehicles. By and large solar technology has some environmental, economic, psychological and ethical implications for our society. Actions taken by companies and individuals to increase the use of solar technology will create good local jobs, improve our environment and reduce our dependence on foreign oil while doing what’s ethical and moral for our society.