The Effect Of Solar Energy On The Earth 's Surface Essay

In the last 100 years, the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has increased, causing the Earth to warm by an average of 0.6 degrees celsius, largely a result of burning fossil fuels for energy, transportation, and land use changes increased for food production. The basic science is straightforward and climate researchers have shown that gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and others can trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, causing a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. Human activities such as industry, transport, energy generation and deforestation all produce these greenhouse gases. In the last 20 years, concern has grown that global warming is inevitable and now considered most probably caused by man-made increases in

     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

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

It is largely known that the most significant issue facing the planet today is global warming. There is no doubt it is one of the biggest environmental issues throughout time, though it is widely debated among scientists and environmentalists what the main causes are. Global warming isn’t a new issue, in only 1989 the UK Prime Minister at the time warns that the increasing emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere are going to have a significant impact on the earth in the future (BBC News, 2013). The warming of the earth is caused by greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide that trap long-wave radiation in the atmosphere. This warming of the earth surface is referred to as the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases are the gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapour which accumulate in the atmospheric layers prevent heat being radiated from the earth to escape. Without greenhouse gases the earth would be considerably cooler but with increased human activities, temperatures are rising to an unstable level (Arbogast, 2011).

Over the past 150 years there has been undeniable evidence that suggest the Earth is warming at a significant rate. Scientist who have done extensive research on Global warming as it as known have concluded that the major cause is the ‘Greenhouse Effect’. The Sun emits light waves and energy that pass through our atmosphere, this is absorbed by the surface and turned into heat energy, which then radiates off and is emitted back into the direction of space. Not all of the particles are able to make it out of the atmosphere due to gas molecules clogging up the air. This is warms the Earth very similar to the way a greenhouse would; the atmosphere being the glass of the house and the Earth being the vegetation inside the house.

Although there are currently many greenhouse gases claiming earth’s atmosphere as their home, carbon dioxide is by far the most abundant and most adversely gas that affects Earth's climate. According to NASA, the amount of energy being emitted from the sun has remained constant since the 1750s. A common misconception when talking about global warming, is that the sun is the main source of the increase of the earth’s global temperatures. But if temperatures were increasing due to the sun, scientists would see warming in all layers of the atmosphere rather than just the lower ones. “Since the Industrial Revolution began around 1750, human activities have contributed substantially to climate change by adding CO2 and other heat-trapping gases

The second main “driver” of global temperature change is reflectivity. Changes in reflectivity affect how much energy enter Earth’s system. When the sunlight reaches Earth, it can be reflected or absorbed, and that depends on the Earth’s surface and atmosphere; light colors reflect the most sunlight, while dark colors absorb more sunlight. Albedo, the amount of solar radiation reflected from an object or surface, indicates the amount of sunlight reflected as a percentage. Earth has an albedo of about 30%, which means that 70% of the sunlight is absorbed (NRC, 2010). This is important because the sunlight absorbed warms the land, water and atmosphere. In the past, this can be seen in the melting of sea ice or increases in cloud cover.

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.

In space, 93 million miles away from planet Earth lies the Sun, emitting ultraviolet wavelengths to the Earth 's surface and heating up our planet. The Sun provides the Earth with energy known as solar energy (Cofey, 2010). When the Sun’s energy has reached the Earth 's atmosphere by electromagnetic radiation, some of the UV rays are absorbed and some are reflected back into space. Once the Sun 's energy is absorbed by the Earth 's surface some of the energy is then radiated back into the atmosphere and a tiny amount of energy is

Energy from the sun drives the earth’’s weather and climate, and heats the earth’’s surface; in turn, the earth radiates energy back into space. Atmospheric greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases) trap some of the

land and as it rises it hits the o-zone layer and bounces back into the earth

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.

Our solar system consists of a mixture of larger and smaller objects with its centre being the largest object- the Sun. The planets with their orbiting moons along with objects such as comets, meteoroids and asteroids all make up the solar system that we know of today. Here on Earth we are just a tiny element embedded in the solar system compared to the immense amount of space that surrounds us. Solar radiation is the energy that is emitted from the Sun by different electromagnetic waves mainly consisting of visible light. So does the solar radiation affect us here on Earth? The transparency of the atmosphere to incoming solar radiation from the Sun and outgoing terrestrial radiation is pivotal in aid for survival as too much incoming solar radiation or too little could have serious consequences for life on Earth. In order to sufficiently alter the amount of solar radiation entering our atmosphere and reaching the Earth’s surface there are three key atmospheric processes that act on the radiation: absorption, scattering and reflection.

The issue of global warming should be on the list of our top priorities. Studies show that the average of global temperatures have risen since the Industrial Revolution began. Since the Industrial Revolution, human emissions has quadrupled the frequency of certain heat extremes and many scientists have warned that a failure to bring greenhouse gases under control could eventually lead to a 62-fold increase in extreme heat blasts (Gillis Justin A17). Most of the increase is due to human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. These activities contribute to a build-up in carbon dioxide and other gases in Earth’s atmosphere. The Earth’s atmosphere is made of gases like nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen. These gases act as a blanket that covers and gives us warmth, but once these gases such as carbon dioxide absorbs heat, but does not release it back into space in which causes the increase in global temperature. This is called the greenhouse effect because it only traps heat but does not release it.

Abstract: The current energy situation with fossil fuels as the main source of the world’s energy has two main flaws: fossil fuels contribute to global warming via the greenhouse effect and they are limited in the quantity that remains. Solar power solves both of these problems and can be captured by utilizing photovoltaic cells. However, photovoltaic cells have their own drawbacks due to their high costs of installation and maintenance.